Pattin' Juba

Objective: Students will learn about the life of a slave with emphasis on the music they created through song and instruments.

Pre Activity

Activity 1

Suggested Reading:

The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl written by Patricia McKissack

Harriet Tubman; Conductor on the Underground Railroad, Written by Ann Petry

North Star to Freedom, Written by Gena Gorrell

The Drinking Gourd Written by F. N. Monjo

Get On Board: The Story of the Underground Railroad Written by Jim Haskins

Abraham's Battle: A Novel of Gettysburg by Sara Harrell Banks

Suggested Resource for teachers on Black History Month

A Kid’s Guide to African American History by Nancy I. Sanders

Activity 2

Study the following songs Manipulative 1 & 2 Slave songs. Have the children in their own words tell what they mean to them.

Activity 3

Invite an African American vocalist from the local church or community to come sing several spirituals to the class.

Post Activity

Activity 1

After reading one of the suggested books or discussed and played one of the slave songs from above, have the students write a letter as a freed slave living in the North. Ideas students may include are how they escaped or were freed, trials they faced, and their family life.

Activity 2

Have the students research and do an oral report on one of the famous African Americans throughout history.

George Washington Carver (1860-1943)

Harriet Tubman (1820-1913)

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

Fredrick Douglas (1817-1895)

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)

Sojourner Truth

Crispus Attucks (17232-1770)

Rosa Parks

Martin Luther King

Jesse Owens

Thurgood Marshall

Estevanico (?-1539)

James Forten (1766-1842)

Phillis Wheatley(1753-1784)

Joseph Cinque (1811-1852)

Nat Turner (1800-1831)

James Beckwourth (1798-1866)

Robert Smalls (1839-1916)

Susan King Taylor (1842-1912)

Ida B. Wells Barnett (1862-1931)

Louis Armstrong (1898-1970)

Bessie Smith (1894-1937)

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Malcolm X (1925-1965)

Carter Woodson (1875-1950)

Colin Powell (1937-)

Thomas Green Bethune (1849-1908)

Activity 3

Have students make their own slave musical instrument if they did not already do so in the outreach.

Tambourine: Use 2 white dinner sized paper plates, staple together with plates facing each other to form a tambourine. Punch out at least 10 holes, with a hole puncher, around the edge of the plates. Tie small bells to each hole. Have students decorate their tambourine.

Shaker: Use a coffee can, oatmeal container, or small water bottle. Have the students fill with different dry ingredients, i.e.: pinto beans, small rocks, or any hard type of hard bean. Have them decorate their instrument.

After students have made their instrument, play some slave songs and have them use their instrument to play along to the beat of the music.

Activity 4

Have the students evaluate the purpose behind the Slaves’ music. Have the students listen to a blues or Jazz song from Billie Holliday, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong or other musicians, then analyze the meaning of the song and determine its similarities and differences from the slave’s music from earlier generations. Are they similar? Do they possess the same rhythm? What is different?