“I CANNOT BE A SLAVE”—FACT AND FICTION

ELA Standards: 9--Making Connections, 10--Genre, 13--Nonfiction

On page 93 of Lyddie, Betsy explains to Amelia how she led a turnout in 1836, when she was only ten years old. She sings the song "I Cannot Be a Slave," which causes Lyddie to snarl, "I ain't a slave!" In a later section of Loom and Spindle, Harriet Hanson Robinson says more about this turnout (p. 51):

One of the girls stood on a pump, and gave vent to the feelings of her companions in a neat speech, declaring that it was their duty to resist all attempts at cutting down the wages. This was the first time a woman had spoken in public in Lowell, and the event caused surprise and consternation among her audience.

Cutting down the wages was not their only grievance, not the only cause of this strike. Hitherto the corporations had paid twenty-five cents a week towards the board of each operative, and now it was their purpose to have the girls pay the sum; and this, in addition to the cut in wages, would make a difference of at least one dollar a week. It was estimated that as many as twelve or fifteen hundred girls turned out, and walked in procession through the streets. They had neither flags nor music, but sang songs [such as] . . .

"Oh! Isn't it a pity such a pretty girl as I

Should be sent to the factory to pine away and die?

Oh! I cannot be a slave,

I will not be a slave,

For I'm so fond of liberty

That I cannot be a slave."

FOR DISCUSSION

1) Why did the women “turn out,” or strike, according to Robinson?

2) What other things did the women do to protest, besides “turning out” (leaving their places in the mill)? List three things.

1—

2—

3—

3) When she was writing Lyddie, author Katherine Paterson knew about Harriet Hanson Robinson's story of the 1836 Lowell mill worker "turnout" or strike. The song above appears on page 92.

What do you suppose Paterson found so interesting about this story?

WRITE A LETTER

Now tell about these interesting events in a letter. Imagine you are writing to your family back on the farm. Pretend you actually experienced the strike, either as a participant or as an onlooker.

Choose to be one of the following:

1) eleven-year-old Harriet Hanson Robinson leading the workers of your floor out of the mill to join the strike

2) one of the reluctant workers Robinson leads out

3) the overseer of the floor Robinson works on

4) the girl on the pump speaking to the crowd

5) a man in the crowd who has never before heard a women speak to a group in public

In your letter, tell your family about what you did, what you saw, and what you thought. Use the chart below to prepare.

WHAT I DID / WHAT I SAW / WHAT I THOUGHT

Now, write your letter home, telling all about the strike or “turnout.”


When everyone’s letter is done, compare your various versions of the same story. When you “become” different characters (who have different points of view), does the story of what happened stay the same?