I. Getting introduced to the ship manifests:
Choose a ship manifest and spend a few minutes looking through it, perhaps paying attention to the layout of the page/s, torn, smudged or faded bits, maybe noticing words that are typed or those written in cursive, or their meaning, or anything else that catches your attention. Take a few minutes to sort through your impressions and then answer in writing the following questions:
- What information does the ship manifest include? How is this information organized? Make sure to describe with complete sentences what you see; don’t list.
- To whom and for what was this ship manifest useful at the time? Use at least 2 specific examples from the ship manifest of your choice to support your answer.
- Can the information found in this ship manifest be useful today? If so, which information specifically, to whom, and for what purpose? If not, what, do you think, makes this information not useful to us nowadays?
II. Analyzing the ship manifests:
Let’s consult our ship manifests again. Take a look at the one that you had chosen. Then take the time to pursue a few more ship manifests as well. They are indispensable primary sources for anyone who wants to research the domestic slave. But, do they give us all the information about this subject that we may want to know? Take a moment to think about something that you are curious about. Perhaps you’d like to know some details about what it was like for enslaved people to travel in these ships. Or maybe you’d like to know who the ship captains were. Or maybe you are wondering what people who were not involved in the domestic slave trade thought about it. Do the ship manifests contain the information you are looking for? If they don’t, consider the questions listed below. Write down your answers and be prepared to discuss them with your classmates.
- What type of information is absent from the ship manifest? Why, do you think, this is the case?
- What type of additional primary sources would you need to address the questions that you (and others may) have? List at least three sources that you would like to read and explain what information you hope to find there.
Now, your next step is to figure out if the sources you want to read actually exist. You may want to read the autobiography of an enslaved individual listed in a ship manifest but a search will not lead you far. To understand some of the reasons, please read Chapter VII from Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass – An American Slave Written by Himself (New York: Signet Classics, 2005).
III. Continued exploration: Guided Research Project/s
Now that you have gained some experience analyzing primary sources such as the ship manifests available to you on this website, you are ready to try something more challenging. Use the ship manifests along with another set of primary sources to delve deeper into the topic of the domestic slave trade.
Read the slave narrative of Solomon Northup, which was published in 1853 under the title Twelve Years a Slave. Compare Northup’s itinerary into enslavement with the trips recorded in the ship manifests. Pay attention to dates, names of places, and the people involved. Describe the similarities and differences you see. Then write an essay that analyzes Northup’s narrative. Use the guiding questions listed below to organize the content of your essay.
Option 1
- What caused Northup’s enslavement and subsequent 12 years of life as a slave in Louisiana? Make sure to explain both the immediate as well as the broader reasons for his enslavement.
- What, do you think, are some of Northup’s experiences into slavery that made it possible for the domestic slave trade to persist and be profitable? To support your answer, please discuss in detail at least 3 such experiences.
- What, do you think, sustained Northup’s spirits during these 12 years?
Option 2
- In his preface to Solomon Northup’s narrative, the editor stated that Northup’s statements “are corroborated by abundant evidence” and that Northup “has adhered strictly to the truth.” Why did the editor feel compelled to emphasize that Solomon Northup told his story accurately and truthfully?
- Solomon Northup dedicated his story to Harriet Beecher Stowe whose name, Northup noted, was “identified with the Great Reform”, i.e. the abolition of slavery in the United States. He hoped that his narrative would be another contribution to that struggle. What, do you think, are some of Northup’s experiences that could have shown to his contemporaries that slavery had to be abolished? Explain why. Please discuss in detail at least 3 such experiences.
Reading Resources for Teachers:
Deyle, Steven. Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade in American Life. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Chapters 1 and 2 provide historical context for analyzing the ship manifests. Chapters 6 is helpful if a student wants to pursue the second essay option.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass – An American Slave Written by Himself (New York: Signet Classics, 2005). This edition has a helpful introduction as well and an essay at the end.
Northup, Solomon. Twelve Years a Slave, edited by Henry Louis Gates, J. and Kevin M. Burke (New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2017). For teachers especially this edition is highly recommended because it provides historical and historiographical contextualization of the narrative. Students can be asked to read the introduction to this edition as well.
Still, William. The Underground Railroad. New York: Arno Press, 1968. Very useful for students (and the teachers guiding them) who want to work on the second essay option.
This lesson plan is provided by Dr. Anna Mirkova.