THE TRANSPORTATION OF HUMAN RESOURCES

“Human beings are not property.”

Kofi AnnanSecretary-General of the United Nations

December 2, 2002International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

Essential Question:

How did slavery come to exist in the United States?

Lesson Overview

• Humans as resources have existed in North America since Pre-Columbian times. The ability for one group of humans to acquire another as slaves required transportation and the cost of transportation was part of the cost of the human resource. The economic value of human resources has fluctuated throughout the centuries depending on their purpose and availability.

Geography Elements and Standards: Places And Regions

Standard 4: The physical and human characteristics of places

National Geography Standards from Geography for Life

Oklahoma Academic Standards for the Social Studies: Grade 8 U.S. HistoryHigh School: Oklahoma History and Government, U.S. History

Literacy Skills Standard 1: The student will develop and demonstrate Common Core Social Studies reading literacy skills.

A. Key Ideas and Details1.Cite specific textual evidence to

support analysis of primary and secondary sources.C. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

7. Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

9. Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.

Grade 8: U.S. History

Content Standard 4: The student will examine the political, economic, social, and geographic transformation of the United States during the early to mid-1800s.

3. Cite specific textual and visual evidence to compare the sectional economic transformations including the concentration of population, manufacturing, shipping, and the development of the railroad system in the North as contrasted to the plantation system, the increased demand for cotton brought about by the invention of the cotton gin, and the reliance on a slave labor system in the South.

4. Analyze points of view from specific textual evidence to describe the variety of African American experiences, both slave and free, including Nat Turner’s Rebellion, legal restrictions in the South, and efforts to escape via the Underground Railroad network including Harriet Tubman.

Oklahoma History and Government

Content Standard 1: The student will describe the state’s geography and the historic foundations laid by Native American, European, and American cultures.

1. Integrate visual information to identify and describe the significant physical and human features including major trails, railway lines, waterways, cities, ecological regions, natural resources, highways, and landforms.

High School U.S. History

Content Standard 1: The student will analyze the transformation of the United States through its civil rights struggles, immigrant experiences, settlement of the American West, and the industrialization of American society in the Post-Reconstruction through the Progressive Eras, 1865 to 1900.

3. Evaluate the impact of industrialization on the transformation of American society, economy, and politics.

Geographic Themes: Region and Movement

Objectives:The student will analyze primary and secondary source material.The student will develop a rationale for selection of materials to be placed in museum exhibit.The student will prepare materials for exhibition and display.

“Willingly no one chooses the yoke of slavery.”

AESCHYLUSAgamemnon

1/11/14

Smithsonian Student Virtual Museum Website