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Mike T.
Rohlin
Project
Summary
Chautauqua Lake Central
School
1. General
Overview of the Proposed Project:
I have been
accepted to participate in a National Endowment for the Humanities
Landmarks of History workshop on the Underground Railroad. This
program is designed for teachers and is an intensive week long
course. It involves expert speakers on the topic and visits to
historic sites related to the topic. I will be involved in the
creation of lesson plans and projects that can be used by teachers.
In this project I will be working with teachers from around the
country in creating useable classroom materials. Since our county
and surrounding area played a role in the Underground Railroad I
really want to make the material applicable for our students. There
is also a growing interest in this topic in the community in general
and I hope to be able to use what I learn and work to produce to
enhance the understanding of the Underground Railroad in my
classroom as well as in the Jamestown area. The Fenton History
Center is currently in the process of creating an exhibit on runaway
slaves and I would like to be able to use what I learn to help in
this project also. The workshop is being held at Dickinson College
in Carlisle, Pennsylvania._
2. Clear
Purpose and Objective:
The purpose of
this project is help me to better teach the topic of the Underground
Railroad to my students and to help them identify what routes slaves
may have taken and what houses and people may have been involved in
the rescuing of slaves in Chautauqua County.
3.
Stakeholders: grade level, who will benefit, who will participate in
this project.
The students
in my seventh grade class are the first beneficiaries of this
project, but I would like to see it go beyond my students to my
school as a whole and through the Fenton History Center to the whole
community. As the President of the Fenton I will be able to work to
make this happen.
4. U.S.
History Content Area
The content
area that is going to be addressed in American history in the middle
19th century.
5.
Outline Describing Content
This topic
falls into what I teach on slavery just prior to the Civil War. It
falls in my spring semester of teaching.
6.
Software to be used, internet materials, contacts, etc.
I am not sure
what materials will be used, but I know that as I teach this I will
be using on-line sources and materials to enhance my teaching.
7.
Level of Student Involvement
For
the original workshop the level of student involvement will be
little, as this is a summer teacher's conference. But I would
really like students to be involved in finding information on the
Underground Railroad in Chautauqua County and create useful guides
and handouts for community members.
8.
Evaluation process (include students when possible)
In
evaluating this workshop and its benefits at first it will be what I
learned on the topic and then as I implement it in my classroom it
will be evaluated by the students' enthusiasm and interest in the
topic and how much desire that they have to pursue a greater
understanding. _
9.
Timeline: how you envision the project being carried out between
start up and conclusion
The
first step is to attend the conference and perform the required
assignments.
The
second step will be to bring the information back to my colleagues
and get them interested in the topic. I would like to find other
teachers who are interested in doing something on the Underground
Railroad.
Thirdly, I want to teach the information to my students and build in
them a desire to do more with the topic locally.
The
challenge will be that I do teach the topic until the spring, as
that is where it falls chronologically. What I may do is see if
there are students who would like to work on this as an
extracurricular.
10.
Comments or Questions:
This
conference will be a real benefit to me as the Underground Railroad
is something that I do not know enough about. I would also really
like to use this to get my students to connect to our local
history. I know that attending this will work to accomplish both
goals of knowledge and application.
TAH Summer Project
Report from Michael T. Rohlin
During the summer
there are many opportunities for educators to receive quality
professional development. One of the agencies that offer teacher
workshops is the National Endowment for the Humanities. It was to
one of these workshops that I was privileged to attend July of
2008.
The workshop
was entitled the Underground Railroad from Christiana to Harpers
Ferry and was conducted by a professor from Dickinson College in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania and held in the same place. The conference
consisted of lectures by the professor, Matt Pinsker on what the
Underground Railroad was and what it was not and lectures by three
leading authors on the topic. There was also time doing research
and working on lesson plans that would be turned in to possibly be
placed on the college’s website
www.housedivided.org. The lesson plan is
attached and is something that I will most likely use this year in
my classroom. Possible the most beneficial part of the workshop was
actually being able to go to the sites that we talked about. We
were able to visit the site of Christiana where the first southern
slave catcher was killed. We went to Columbia, PA where there was a
very strong Underground Railroad network and a very prominent free
black community. We were able to see the work that is being done to
restore the home and office of Thaddeus Stevens a US Congressman who
has the only proven tunnel used by runaway slaves. And we visited
Harpers Ferry and Charles Town, WV where John Brown’s raid and trial
and execution took place. We also made tours of the National Civil
War Museum in Harrisburg, PA and the National Battlefield at
Gettysburg. Visiting these places really allowed us to see and
understand better what role the Underground Railroad played in
helping slaves to freedom and being a direct cause of the American
Civil War.
One of the things
that I hoped to gain from this conference was a greater
understanding of the Underground Railroad and how better to teach it
in the classroom. I also wanted to develop something that could
connect the Underground Railroad to our local area. This conference
has started me on that process. I definitely see the UGRR
differently now than I did before I went. I often thought of it as
secretive and hidden and run by white northerners. I know see that
it was none of those. It was well know and even advertised in some
places and the leaders of this movement were largely blacks. I also
am learning that Jamestown and Chautauqua County played a greater
role in this movement than I originally thought and I would like to
take this further with my students next year. There were several
key leaders and activists who were from our area. And in listening
to one of the speakers Busti might have the only case in NY in which
a runaway was actually returned to the south. See the Harrison
Williams case in the lesson plans. The leading author on the
subject who spoke at the conference, Fergus Bordewich, stated that
he knew of no such cases. Well I have found one and have the
newspaper reports that in detail describe the case. Our little
region may be more important than we think.
This conference made
me realize that the actions of the UGRR were extremely important and
was a major cause of the South’s desire to leave the Union. I hope
to be able to explain this to my students next year and in years to
come.
The process for
attending this type of conference is not that complicated. If you
go the NEH’s website they list all the workshops that they will
offer for the summer. You then have to fill out an application and
send in letters of recommendation and a resume. The organizers of
the event then evaluate the application and award the individuals a
place at the workshop. Educators from around the country came to
this workshop; my roommate was from the state of Washington. This
presented us with a great system of networking and exchanging
ideas. All of us had to produce a lesson plan, so we were able to
share ways that we could use our learning in the classroom. I would
highly recommend NEH conferences to other teachers. It is a great
way to spend a week in the summer and a great way to develop one’s
understanding and teaching skills. It was a great privilege to
attend this one and I know that I will be using this information for
many years to come. Hopefully, we will be able to discover more
about our county’s role in the UGRR and that students will want to
delve into this extremely interesting and important part of our
history.
Underground Railroad Lesson
Plans Michael
T. Rohlin
Lesson: What was the Fugitive Slave Law of
1850 and how did Northern communities
React to this new law? Tying in local
reaction is possible with this lesson.
Level: 7-12 with modifications
Length: Two or three 40 minute classes
Standards: NY State Standard 1 History of the
United States and New York
Procedures:
Examine the Fugitive Slave Law of
1850
Older students could
be given a copy of the actual law and younger
students could be given a short overview.
After discussing this law, the
reasons it was passed, and the potential problems
that it could create begin to look at specific
events that took place as a result of this new law.
Divide the class in groups and
assign specific events to each group and have them determine what
happened and how the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was related to or a
cause of this event.
1.
Students should read the primary account and summarize what
it said. They will need to be able to present their information to
the whole class.
2. Students should know who was involved and
what happened.
3. Students should explain how this event was
related to the
Fugitive Slave Law.
4.
Students should predict how this event could influence the
public’s attitudes and could be fuel for
the Civil War.
5.
After all the presentations students should compare and
contrast the different events.
Assessment:
Student will write a
comparison essay on two of the accounts. They will base their
information on what they learned and what the other groups
presented. This could be homework or in class writing.
Conclusion:
The
teacher will review the different presentations and make sure that
the class understands what was presented
Materials Needed:
(These could be adjusted to make the
lesson pertain to the local region’s history.
Most historical societies and
libraries would have the information)
Copies of the following primary sources of the
events or web access in order to obtain them are required.
Fugitive Slave Act
www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1850fugitive.html
One could also use the summary at
the end of this source list.
Response of blacks in Buffalo, NY
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/archives/exhibits/old/urr/Mass_Meeting_of_Colored_Citizens,_1850.html
Response of blacks in Collins Center, NY
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/archives/exhibits/old/urr/Meeting_to_Protest_FSL,_Collins_Center,_NY,_1850.html
J. W. Loguen’s response to the act
http://www.nyscss.org/resources/publications/NYandSlavery/Chapter%20E/Documents/1850ELOG.SYR.pdf
Christiana Tragedy
http://itech.dickinson.edu/hd/index.php?q=node/1800
http://itech.dickinson.edu/hd/index.php?q=node/1782
http://itech.dickinson.edu/hd/index.php?q=node/1837
These views present the event differently
Accounts
of a local Anti-slavery society from a newspaper
The Trial of the Slave Daniel
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/hwny.daniel.1851.html
Story of a
slave Daniel and the case in August 1851 before the Commissioner in
Buffalo
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/archives/exhibits/old/urr/daniel.html
This is the new web address or the Daniel case.
Catherine Harris in
Jamestown, NY a local underground railroad operative
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/archives/exhibits/old/urr/jamestown.html
This is the story of
Catherine Harris’s work in helping slaves in Jamestown, NY.
http://www.prendergastlibrary.org/jamestown/catherinedickesharrisobituary.htm
Catherine Harris’s
obituary
Accounts of the capture of a runaway slave in Busti, NY
Capture of Harrison
Williams
“1851f. January 12
or 13th, 1851, a slave known as "Harrison" about 19 years old
escaped from a Dr. Nathaniel D. Parren (or Parron) of Hardy County,
possibly with a group of other slaves. Harrison (or Harrison
Williams) was living in Busti, Chautauqua County, New York,
September 1851, when apparently Dr. Parren learned where he was.
Parren went to the
County Court of Hardy County, and on 22nd Sept. 1851, obtained
papers showing Harrison was a fugitive. He, accompanied by a
neighbor, George S. Neff, went to Buffalo, New York, and obtained a
warrant for the capture of Harrison and (apparently) four other
fugitive slaves. With law enforcement officials from Buffalo and
Chautauqua County, Parren and Neff went to Busti (about 70 miles
south west) and captured Harrison at the home of a free black
family. This was on or about Sept. 30, However, local abolitionists
were alerted and the other fugitives excaped and later went to
Canada. They were pursued part way back to Buffalo by armed local
residents on Busti who intended to recapture Harrison, but gave up.
Harrison was taken to Buffalo and after a hearing to determine his
status, was returned to Hardy County under the terms of the 1851
fugitive slave law on or about October 3.”
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/1830-1865.html
“The kidnappers among us.-Early yesterday
morning, a young colored man in Busti, named Harrison, residing with
Lewis Clarke, was seized by a party of slave-catchers while milking
the cows of his employer, and forcibly carried off. The party were
well armed, and displayed heir revolvers, and threatened to shoot
down any one who should interfere. No legal process was exhibited.
The party passed through this village about nine o’clock, but made
not halt. The friends of the young man soon after arrived in
pursuit. We have not learned whether the slave catchers have been
overtaken. It is supposed they are intending to reach Buffalo.-
Northern Citizen
Freemen of Chautauqua! Is our country to be
made slave-catching ground!”
October 9, 1851
Item #24246 Frederick Douglass Papers
“Jamestown, N.Y., Sept. 30, 1851”
“H. GREELEY: DEAR SIR:- Our village was
thrown into a great excitement this morning, by the appearance of
three carriages, containing Deputy Marshal Gates of Buffalo, with a
posse of eight or ten men, and a fugitive slave by the name of
Harris, under arrest. The were followed by some half-dozen men with
rifles, shouting ‘Manstealers!’ ‘Kidnappers!’ &c. Gates passed
through town, without being molested however. Harris was arrested
in Busti, about daylight, while milking. It is said that he made
his escape from Virginia before the Fugitive Slave Law was passed.
The town of Busti is the stronghold of Abolition, and is pretty
thoroughly stirred up.
Yours in haste, J.W.F.”
Item #24342 Frederick Douglass Papers
The Sugar Grove Anti-Slavery Convention
“I have time to send you but a line or two for
our next number. What with lecturing, traveling, and conversing,
you will easily believe, I have little time for disposition for
writing. I am in Chautauqua for the first time, and am much pleased
with it every way. It is a County remarkable for excellent water,
good pastorage, fine cattle and honest people. I should think there
is very little liquor used or abused in the county. I have not seen
a drunken man since I entered it.- There are sprinkled over the
county a few genuine abolitionists, a good many Free Soilers, and
the majority of the people are ready to strike any where and any how
against slavery. You know I came into this County with a view to
attend a series of meetings in company with J. W. LOGUEN, of
Syracuse-a man, the qualities of whose head and heart make him every
way an excellent companion and a most desirable co laborer. The
meetings here were planned by him, and were his meetings, I being
called into the County assist him in holding them.
The crowning Convention was held Saturday and
Sunday, in a beautiful grove in SUGAR GROVE, Warren County,
Pennsylvania, about three miles from Busti. The responsibility of
getting this meeting rested upon the Storum family at Busti- an
enterprising family of farmers, well to do on the world and when I
tell you that these industrious and well to do farmers are of the
color of you and me, you will derive from it the right lesson, and
draw from it the right hopes for our whole people.
But a word of the convention; it was, as I
said, the crowning one of all. It reminded me of some of the
meetings held in Ohio several years ago, by Mr. Garrison and myself,
when it was impossible to meet with a house spacious enough to hold
the people. The grove presented a beautiful and cheering
appearance, especially on Sunday. Seats had been arranged on the
gradually sloping hill side, sufficous to accommodate about five
hundred persons, fronting the platform. These seats were filled by
Ladies’, and formed a little more than a half circle. Around these
stood a large body of men-real men- hardy and sunburnt. On the
outside were drown upon in various position, horses and carriages in
great numbers. These carriages furnished convenient seats for their
owners. I never attended an out door meeting which was so orderly
and impressive as that at Sugar Grove yesterday. The meeting was
strictly a religious Anti-Slavery meeting, and left a most favorable
impression for the cause.
Truly and fraternally yours,
FREDERICK DOUGLASS”
Originally appeared in Frederick
Douglass’s Newspaper, June 23, 1854
Summary of the
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
1.
Congress can appoint commissioners to enforce this act. They
will act like judges.
2.
Runaways can be pursued into other states and reclaimed if
taken before a judge or commissioner. This can be done even if the
state is a free state.
3.
Reasonable force and restraint may be used.
4.
The fugitive may not testify on his or her behalf in the
court.
5.
Those interfering in the process may be fined not more than
$1000 and not more than six months in jail.
6.
Commissioner received $10 for delivering back the fugitive
and $5 for letting the person go free.
7.
Officers may require people to help obtain the fugitive.
Underground Railroad Lesson Plans
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