Introduction

This unit of work is prompted by a desire to offer an investigation of Slavery which would be accessible to students withinWales.

It was stimulated by three things:

  • The revelation that as well as providing copper for the cladding of merchant and warships in the 18th century, the GreenfieldValley near Holywell had also produced artefacts used in the ‘Triangular trade’ exchanged by Liverpool-owned ships for human beings in West Africa. I see this as providing a ‘way in’ to the issue of slavery for children in Welsh Schools.
  • Heightened awareness of Slavery as an issue, and the prescription of it as a topic for study in Schools in England and Wales.
  • The discovery and excavation of the ‘Old Dock’ in Liverpool, as part of the ‘Liverpool One development’

The object of the materials is to provide a resource, linked in the form of a journey.

Students will follow the travels of a fictitious character from Greenfield, whose letters home to his sister form the narrative tread the project. It is divided into five discrete phases, which may be used separately or in sequence.

Contents of the package

Part 1 Setting out

1a The Diary of William Parry.ppt

1b Conversations with Idris I – on the ship

1c Captain Wainwright’s Test.ppt

1d Equiano’s Story.ppt

Part 2 Middle Passage

2a Letter 1 – on the Ship.ppt

2b Boarding the Slaver.ppt

2c Slavery Image Quiz.ppt

2d Conversations with Idris 2-below Decks in Benin

2e Conversations with Idris 3 – on the Middle Passage

Part 3 Caribbean

3a Letter 2 – Off the Island of Dominica.ppt

3b A slave Auction.ppt

Part 4 Plantation

4a Letter 3- Jamaica.ppt

4b Exploring the Plantations.ppt

4c Public Cruelty – an incident of the Plantation.ppt

Part 5 America

5a Letter 4- A letter from Charleston.ppt

5b News of Mr Wilberforce.ppt

5c Stories of Escape 1.ppt

5d Stories of Escape 2.ppt

Who can it be used with?

It has been used with year 7 students in a mixed ability group, with year 9 students (also mixed ability) and with English GCSE groups. It is equally usable in the English and the Humanities curriculum: it explores varieties of experience, historical documents, and moral issues arising from both.

The material has been designed to give teachers the maximum freedom in its use

The central figure in the story is William Parry. His travels take him, first, as an apprentice to Liverpool, then to the Caribbean via the west Coast of Africa.

The material is of three types:

Letters from William

These are fictitious narrative letters, in which William Parry, a young native of Greenfield, gives an account of his travels to his sister Sophia, back at home in Wales.

Original Documents

These have been chosen to reflect the various stages of William’s discovery of the realities of slaving, and to reflect the ‘parallel’ experience of some of the slaves: they end with William becoming involved with the abolitionist movement in America and returning home to Wales

Teacher’s Notes

Designed to suggest possible wars in which the material may be used, and identifying other materials and links which could be exploited.

The Map

Before the course is started it will help the narrative thread if a MAP is created, either by making an OHP transparency of the ‘Triangular Trade’ illustration, or by projecting it with a video projector, and making a large wall display (and adding to it William’s route and whatever illustrations students might create or find).