Title: Maritime America in the Age of Winslow Homer

Title: Maritime America in the Age of Winslow Homer

Sailing to Freedom: New Bedford and the Underground Railroad
US History Thematic Unit: Fugitive Slave Posters with a Twist
Grade/s: 6 – 8,9-12
Duration of Activities: 2 class periods
Author: Kathryn Berry Poulin
Date: 7/29/2011
Unit: American Slavery/Pre-Industrial Revolution/Antebellum Period
Lesson: FugitiveSlave Runaway Posters with a Twist / MA Curriculum Frameworks Visual Arts Learning Standards
#2 Elements and Principles of Design: #2.15, 2.16
#3 Observation, Abstraction, Invention, and Expression: #3.4, 3.5, 3.9, 3.12
#10 Interdisciplinary Connections:
#2 Historical Understanding
#3 Research, Evidence, and Point of
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Lesson Objective/s
  1. Student will be able to locate and use primary sources of Fugitive Slave posters.
  1. Student will be able to use Slave Narratives to identify descriptions of plantation Masters/Slave Catchers.
  1. Student will be able to create a Warning art poster.

Depiction of a runaway slave which was often used in notices offering rewards.

England, James W. Runaway Slave Ad for Joshua, North Carolina, 1813 /
Historical Newspapers - Slavery in Maryland

Humphyville, Elizabeth. Runaway Slave Ad for Ann,
Essential Questions
How would you as an individual living in the 1800s, warn fugitive slaves in hiding in Northern towns, cities and ports, that Masters and Slave Catchers were hunting them down? / Guiding Questions
  1. How would you warn your friends and relatives that they were being hunted so that they could hide and avoid capture? In the 1800s? Today?
  1. What traits would Slave Masters and /or Slave Catchers have to handle the challenges to hunt down fugitive slaves in Northern cities/towns?
  1. Did tracking/catching runaway slaves impede or enhance the Master’s financial profit? In other words, if the slave catchers come back empty-handed would the financial loss stop the Master from looking for his property?

Assessment Evidence
See rubrics.
Problem/Activity
Students will use primary sources found on the internet and in local historical societies (tie in Library activity).
Motivation
Be a righteous tattle-tail for Freedom! Help fugitive slaves along the Underground Railroad reach safety in ports (such as Philadelphia, New Bedford, Boston), cities (such as New York, Boston, etc.) and towns, on their routes by warning them of chasing Masters and Slave Catchers! / Materials
18x12 white paper, aged
Pencils
Erasers
Black ink markers; fine/bold
Rulers
Glue
Scissors
Lettering guides/books
Procedures
Groups of 2-4 students may be set up to:
1. Using primary sources of Fugitive Slave posters from antebellum south, design a poster warning of Slave Catcher presence in area.
2. Read descriptions of plantation masters and slave catchers from various slave narratives (see list below).
3. Write Master/Slave Catcher description for poster.
4. Study public newspapers/writing of the era, especially letter type face.
5. Design bold type poster lettering.
6. Design ‘Slave Catcher’ picture slug for top of poster.
7. Letter in the Master/Slave Catcher description in a block below the ‘Slave Catcher’ slug. / References and Resources
Brown, William Box. Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown
Crafts, William and Ellen. Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom
Douglass, Frederick. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
Grover, Kathryn. The Fugitive’s Gibralter: Escaping Slaves and Abolitionism in New Bedford, Massachusetts
Fleischner, Jennifer. Mastering Slavery
Foreman, P. Gabrielle. Activist Sentiments: Reading Black Women in the Nineteeth Century
Jacobs, John S. A True Tale of Slavery
Jabobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself
Keckley, Elizabeth. Behind the Scenes; or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
White, Deborah Gray. Ar’n’t I a Woman?Female Slaves in the Plantation South
Extension of Lesson
1. Posters can be designed using Adobe PhotoShop for advanced level students.
2. Artist Glenn Ligon asked his friends write a missing person police report as if he were missing. He inserted their observations into a format similar to the historical runaway ads that used stock wood engraving slugs to describe a fugitive slave. Each of his friend’s account differs, calling into question the notion of individual identity. Ligon explained that his ‘Runaway’ series “is broadly about how an individual’s identity is inextricable from the way one is positioned in the culture, from ways people see you, from historical and political contexts.”
Students may try to set up a similar series reflecting their friend’s descriptions, or descriptions of teachers/ parents that are missing. Use typical runaway slugs and design an ad with a monetary reward for a finders fee. /


Glenn Ligon (American, born 1960) Ran Away from Runaways portfolio, c. 1993, Lithograph on paper, ed. 41/45;16 x 12 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Sample Primary Sources

Elizabeth Humpheyville advert:

England, James advert:

Mules! Mules! Mules!:

Runaway slug:

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