Lesson 4 Activity 4.1 Frederick Douglass - Author, Abolitionist, Activist

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Abolitionist Frederick Douglass posed for this portrait, by an unknown photographer, in 1856. (National Portrait Gallery)

Summary: An abolitionist, Frederick Douglass was one of the leading African American figures of the 19th century. A talented orator and champion against slavery, Douglass was equally talented with his words in print. He spoke on behalf of those who were unrepresented or worse yet, invisible.

Benchmark:

11.5.4.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text

Learning Target(s):

I can discuss the various uses of terms effectively over time in a text.

I can comprehend an appropriate level of literary nonfiction.

Essential Question(s):

How does an author use and refine terms over the course of a text?

How does reading and comprehending literary nonfiction at a high level of complexity benefit a reader?

You will need 2 -3 class periods

                Internet Access

                Journal

STEP 1: 

Read article #1 to get some background knowledge on Frederick Douglass. Take notes in your journal on the challenges and accomplishments noted in the article.

STEP 2 

These are links to various texts by/about Frederick Douglass.

• An article about F. Douglass The Pen of Frederick Douglass ^[2]
• A speech The Hypocrisy of American Slavery^[3] 

• Text of Speech (for collaborative Google doc activity) Speech Text

• 3. Articles by F Douglass - text Collected Articles of Frederick Douglass, A Slave^[4] 

• Audio Collected Articles of Frederick Douglass^[5]

STEP 3: Step 4:

Read Douglass’s speech. Form a small group 3 or 4 students. Each group should have one copy of the text to mark in Google docs. Determine one person in each group to make a copy of Douglas’s speech and share the doc with the rest of your team. In your groups, identify the technical terms Douglass repeatedly uses to express his emotion at the hypocrisy of the request. Also mark/indicate/comment where the tone of the speech comes across when you read between the lines of the speech. Use the notes you took earlier in STEP 1. How do Douglass’ challenges and accomplishments come across in this speech?

STEP 5: STEP 6:

Divide the class into two groups.Have ½ read the first article, “My Escape from Slavery”. Have the other ½ read the second article, “Reconstruction”.

Write a summary of the main point of the article. Identify key terms he uses in the article.

STEP 7:

Have a whole class discussion on the two articles, noting similarities or differences in his message between the two articles, using textual evidence for support.

STEP 8:

Submit your responses to Steps 3, 6 and 8.