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The Shaping Role of Place

“connecting  local African American History and Culture to the  American story”
Shaping Role of Place Home |    NEH Curriculum Project

In-school, hands-on, history program for 3rd grade “Elizabeth Freeman and every day life in berkshire county in the 18th century”

Presented by Ann-Elizabeth Barnes

RATIONALE:
The purpose behind bringing an outside story teller into a classroom is to augment the classroom experience and provide a fresh view of the subject being taught. In this case we are trying to make history relevant to the 21st century by bringing local history to life. The students are studying Colonial history in early New England and the role African Americans played in the settling of Berkshire County. The focus is on the historical figure of Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman, the enslaved African American who successfully sued her owner, Col. Ashley, for her freedom based on the Massachusetts constitution, thereby setting the stage for the abolition of slavery in the same state two years later. The 3rd grade students will have begun the unit on local history and the role Africans played in it before this program is brought in (please see Karen Ketchen’s 3rd Grade Lesson Plan Early New England: Mumbet, Agrippa Hull also on this website)

In the classroom program, the students are told the story of Mumbet, given a sense for her life in bondage and her successful suit for freedom and her life after this momentous event. Then they are given ½ hour play time with reproduction items from a colonial kitchen, study, and toys and clothing. The students experience hands-on the difference between 18th century life and their own lives.

After their interaction with historic artifacts the students are drawn back into a circle by an 18th century dance tune played on a wooden flute. They have been asked to bring with them one item that has caught their fancy and be willing to discuss what it might be, who might have used it and what it might have been used for, as well as why they like it. This is shared in the circle (ca 10 minutes). The students then are arranged playfully into a human time-line to get a visual sense for how many generations ago Mumbet was born. After this the students are given an 18th century snack of dried apple chips and peppermint tea with honey. They are encouraged to compare and contrast how their lives are different from those who lived in the 18th Century.

At a later date the students come to the Col. Ashley House in Ashley Falls where Mumbet grew up. This is the oldest house in Berkshire County and is a museum. The children cannot touch anything there. Because of this constraint the aforementioned program was developed. Now when the children come they have already experienced hands-on what it was like to live in the 18th Century, have heard the story of Mumbet and have used many of the tools displayed in the house. Now the tour can focus on giving an imagination of a day in the life of Mumbet (“how did she and the other slaves live, sleep, worship? What did they eat? What kind of work did they do? How did they spend their free time? Etc.”). This reinforces what they have learned previously and also provides a backdrop for continued learning about different lifestyles, values, cultures as well as history in general and how things are continuously changing.

In portraying 18th century life and local history to the students, we keep the following points in mind in this program: Slavery shouldn’t be interpreted as a remote concept – it really happened right here in this place (their hometown); we continue to confront the commonly held belief (the “heritage”) that slavery didn’t happen in the north with the historical facts. The purpose of the story is to draw a more complete picture of the African-Americans at the Ashley House – a fuller picture of Elizabeth Freeman and the other slaves, John, Zack and Harry. The students will be learning about real people who lived right here. They will gain an imagination of “the olden days” of their ancestors that includes new players in an old drama, thereby giving them access to a new perspective of local history that they and most others never had before.