Research Project 1

Worth: 50 points
Due: Friday March 18th

Research historic plantations and present your findings

through a poster. Make sure you include at last two pictures
and address the following questions:
(a) How did the homes of masters and slaves
differ?
(b) How many slaves shared a single dwelling?
(c) Where were the slaves’ quarters located in
relation to the master’s house?

Research Project 1
Worth: 50 points
Due: Friday March 18th

Research historic plantations and present your findings

through a poster. Make sure you include at last two pictures
and address the following questions:
(a) How did the homes of masters and slaves
differ?
(b) How many slaves shared a single dwelling?
(c) Where were the slaves’ quarters located in
relation to the master’s house?
The Rise of
Realism
The Civil War and the Postwar
Period
1850-1900

• The Civil War was the culmination of 4

decades of intense sectional conflict.
• It reflected the deep-seated economic,
social, and political differences between
the North and the South.
• The South produced cash crops
(sugarcane, tobacco, and cotton) for export
to the North and Europe.
• The South depended on the North for
financial, manufacturing, and commercial
services.
• One major difference between the North
and South was the South included nearly 4
million enslaved blacks, which made up 1/3
of the population.
 • Although the slaveholding planter class
was a small minority, it nonetheless
dominated Southern politics.
• The North tended to regard the federal
government as the primary authority over
civil and economic life. While the South
championed states’ rights.
• Both the North and the South were
motivated by a combination of ideology
and economics.
o Northerners fought to end slavery and
to preserve the constitutional Union of
the founders.
o Southerners fought to uphold States’
rights and to defend the Southern way
of life from what they saw as the crass
materialism of the industrial North.
o Both fought to protect economic
interest.

Battle of Bull Run

• Since both sides were relatively untrained
and disorganized, some historians think the
war could have ended with this battle.
• At the beginning of the battle, the Union
nearly broke the left flank of the
 Confederate line.
o Had it done so, the Confederates would
likely have lost the battle and war.
• Late in the battle, the Union retreated.
o If the Confederates had pursued them,
they might have captured Washington
D.C
• But the war was to be long and painful, as
the spectators from Washington, who had
come to watch the battle with parasols,
camp stools, and picnic lunches, soon
learned.

Medical Circumstances
• Because rifle balls often shattered bones,
doctors were usually forced to amputate
wounded soldiers’ arms and legs, often
piling the limbs up on a cart outside the
surgeon’s tent.
• Ignorant of hygienic science, surgeons
frequently honed their scalpels on the soles
of their boots, so infections in the field
hospitals ran rampant.
 o There were of course no antibiotics—
Alexander Fleming did not discover
penicillin until 1928—so even minor
wounds could and often did, prove
deadly.
The Rise of Realism
• Before the Civil War, writers were known as
Romantics. They idealized people and
their lives. It was an unrealistic portrayal.
The “perfects”.
• After the war, writers were known as
Realist. Their subjects were far from
idealized characters. They were real.
o They were poor factory workers,
corrupt politicians, and even
prostitutes.

1. What/why do you think there was

a change in writing after the war?
 Shackles
Theme: questions of Freedom
Two social problems are dealt
with:
1. horror of slavery
2. subtler kind of oppression

from The narrative of the Life of Frederick

Douglass
Study Questions

1. How “a man can be made a slave and a slave be

made a man”?
2. Why does Douglass compare himself to someone
who has just barely “escaped a den of wild
beasts”? Who is this simile ironic, given the time
and place of the narrative?
3. Why do you think Master Thomas reacts the way
he does?
4. What do you think makes Douglass rebel as that
particular moment in his life?
5. What pretense does Mr. Covey try to maintain
about the fight?
6. Why is Douglass’s battle with Covey so important
 to him?
7. What action does Douglass take after Covey
strikes him? What does Thomas order Douglass
to do?
8. What is Covey’s reaction when Douglass returns
from his visit Thomas?
9. Explain how Sandy Jenkins helps Douglass?
10. Describe what Douglass calls the turning
point in his life as a slave.
11. The root Sandy Jenkins gives to Douglass is a
talisman, an object believed to possess
supernatural powers. What does Douglass
discover is even more powerful than the root?
12. What elements of humor do you find in the
part of the story involving Sandy Jenkins?
Explain
13. Based on this account, how would you
characterize the young Fredrick Douglass?
14. What does the entire incident reveal about
Covey’s character?
15. At the end of the selection, Douglass
distinguishes between being “a slave in form”
and “a slave in fact”. Explain the meaning of
this distinction.
16. Explain the comparison implied in this line:
“It [the battle] rekindled the few expiring embers
of freedom.” How are these images related to
the idea of rebirth?
17. What is Douglass implicitly comparing
slavery to when he refers to “the bloody arm of
slavery”?
18. Find the passage that specifically compares
 Douglass’s experience to a rebirth. In this
comparison, what is two things are being
compared?
19. “He only can understand the deep
satisfaction which I experienced, who has himself
repelled by force the bloody arm of slavery”. In
what ways is Douglass’s statement true? In what
ways might it not be true? Discuss how
Douglass’s feelings might apply to the problems
of racism today.
Writing Assignment 1

Read Emerson’s essay “Self-Relience” (pg. 224).

Then, write a brief essay in which you
(a) explain which of Emerson’s ideas relate
to Douglass’s experience and
(b) identify any of Emerson’s ideas that
seem to be contradicted by Douglass’s
narrative.

Writing Assignment 1

Read Emerson’s essay “Self-Relience” (pg. 224).

Then, write a brief essay in which you
(a) explain which of Emerson’s ideas relate
to Douglass’s experience and
(b) identify any of Emerson’s ideas that
seem to be contradicted by Douglass’s
narrative.

Writing Assignment 1
Read Emerson’s essay “Self-Relience” (pg. 224).
Then, write a brief essay in which you
(a) explain which of Emerson’s ideas relate
to Douglass’s experience and
(b) identify any of Emerson’s ideas that
seem to be contradicted by Douglass’s
narrative.
Writing Assignment 2
The Research Paper
Informative writing is the kind of writing you’ll do most often during your school
career and, in most cases, during your working life. A vast amount of the writing
you encounter every day—the textbook you hold in your hands, the liner notes for a
music recording, or the articles in your print or electronic newspaper—also known
as an informative report—is to collect, organize, synthesize, and present facts in
order to expand your readers’ knowledge of a topic.

(a) You are to pick a topic from the list

provided
(b) Brainstorm on your topic. List what you
already know and generate questions
for you to find out.
(c) Make sure you have 5-6 reliable sources
for your topic. Take notes as your
researching your topic.
(d) Paper must contain a thesis, or
controlling idea.
(e) Paper must contain parenthetical
citations
(f) Paper must contain a Works Cited page
(MLA style)

Topic List:
1) Slavery
2) Human rights
3) Self-esteem
4) Racism
5) Freedom
6) Women’s issues
7) The evolution of clothing
8) City life in the 1890’s
9) Historical place in Houma
10) Use of spies in the Civil War
Self-Check Inventory:
Topic:
Areas to focus on:
1.
2.
3.

Due: March 25th

Rough Thesis Statement:

Due: April 8th

Research: at least 5 sources
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Due: April 20th

Organize your material:
Take notes:
25 note cards required (approx. 5 on each source)

Due: April 20th

Brainstorm

Due: May 3rd

 Outline

Due: May 3rd

Rough draft

Due: May 6th

Final draft: typed, double spaced, 12 font, times new roman

Due: May 11th

Name:
Due: What is due: time!!
March 25th Topic and 3 Points:
main points
/12

April 8th
Thesis
statement /12

April 20th List of 5

sources and
25 note /24
cards

May 3rd

Brainstorm
/24
May 6th and Outline

/12
Rough Draft
May 11th

Final Paper
/16
Turned in on
 Spirituals and Code Songs
Study Guide Questions:
1) Why do you think masters and
overseers dislike a “silent slave”?
2) ….”The hearing of those
wild………..sympathies for my brethren
in bonds”. What does this description
add to your understanding of
Douglass’s character?
3) Did spirituals express the grief and
sorrow of the slaves?
4) Did some code songs give
directions North?
5) Many people during the time of
slavery were called __________ by those
looking for a deliverer to loosen their
chains.

Go Down, Moses
Study Guide Questions
1) Whom does Israel symbolize?
2) What does Egypt symbolize?
3) Whom do Pharaoh and Moses
symbolize?