Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: Past and Present
NHPRC QIH Assignment Title:
Past and Present
NOTE: This assignment was created by the participant educator named below as part of the Queens Immigration History curriculum development project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission division of the National Archives (grant #DH-50022-16). For more information on this grant project, please visit the Queens Immigration History website at https://queensimmigrationhistory.wordpress.com
NHPRC QIH Assignment Creator:
Created by NHPRC Teacher Participant/Creator Michael Mondello(C1, July 2017 – June 2018) Mr. Mondello teaches Social Studies in Queens, New York. He earned a Master’s degree in Social Studies Teacher Education from Molloy College, and is a Member of the NYC Social Studies Leadership Committee to create models to for the C3 Social Studies Framework. He continues to develop his craft by continuously setting ambitious professional goals, seeking out professional development opportunities, and collaborating with fellow teachers to develop engaging lessons for this high school students.
Summary/ Description Overview:
Created by NHPRC Teacher Participant/Creator Michael Mondello for Global History. Using primary documents from the Transatlantic Slave Voyage Database to trace patterns between a selected African country and a select Latin American/ Caribbean country and to analyze the circumstances surrounding the Age of Exploration.
Historical Context:
Throughout the 15th through 19th centuries, Europeans traveled far beyond their borders in the name of God, glory, and gold. What began as conquest for territory quickly spiraled into a human rights issue that will impact millions across four continents. With the Transatlantic Slave Trade coming to an end less than 200 years ago, the impacts of such migrations, mistreatment, and displacement can be felt today.
Purpose/Learning Goal
- To apply historical thinking (complexity, causality, change over time, contingency, context).
- To engage with data in primary documents from the Transatlantic Slave trade period
Task/Assignment/Activity
Task 1: Choosing your nation
SlaveVoyages.org is a website dedicated to a database of over 35,000 slave ship ledgers and itineraries. As you begin to explore the data contained within this website, begin to notice more popular African nations or region that was heavily impacted by the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Choose one African nation or region to be the focus of your case study.
Task 2: Narrow your search
Sort through the ledgers to identify a location that many of the slaves from your chosen country were brought to in Latin America or The Caribbean.
Task 3: Collect your data
Find 15-20 ledgers that support the connection between the two nations. Record the ledgers by “Voyage Identification Number”.
Step 4: Analyze your data
Using the itineraries you gathered in Step 3, identify at least 2 patterns within the data that may give clues about why the African territory was sought after by the Europeans. Offer an explanation for any pattern that you find, noting the document number for any supporting evidence.
Step 5 – Pulling it together
In an essay, identify the two territories that have been connected as part of the Transatlantic Slave Trade by examining the slave voyage ledger database. As you present the information, identify patterns that are key to understanding the impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Be sure to clearly identify your claim, and refer back to the documents to support your arguments, analysis, and interpretations.
Required Resources
More Resources from the NHPRCQIH LibGuide:
Misevich/Atlantic Slave Trade Tab -- for contextual research and supplementary sites
[Note: this lesson plan was created in June 2018 based on SlaveVoyages 1.0; Slavevoyages 2.0 launched March 1, 2019.]
Assessment/Rubric
Mondello – Department DBQ rubric