Interactive Lesson Plan on Antebellum Cotton

What was done previously: Students have read notes from Ch. 16 of the textbook on the rise of the Cotton Kingdom.  They have also read primary sources from James Hammond, “Cotton is King,” David Walker, “Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World,” an excerpt from William Lloyd Garrison’s The Liberator, John C. Calhoun, “Slavery as a Positive Good,” and are currently reading the short book, Autobiography of Frederick Douglass. In the last unit, the students have also read excerpts of Daniel Walker Howe’s book, What Hath God Wrought, in an essay entitled, “The Changes Wrought by Cotton, Transportation, and Communication” and answered questions about the essay (essay located in Major Problems in American History, Volume 1: To 1877, 3^rd edition).

Overall plan: Students will have an immersion experience into the antebellum slave plantation life by cleaning a boll of cotton.  They will have to pick the seeds out and save them for later, and clean the cotton so that it is free of stems and leaves.  Cotton can be purchased at several locations on the internet, especially at http://cottonclassroom.com/, http://www.cottonman.com/cotton.html, and also on Amazon.   While cleaning the cotton, a YouTube compilation of Negro spirituals will play (https://youtu.be/Uoj7A649gvs), and a Power Point w/ pictures of black Americans picking cotton will be on a loop on the screen projector.   Afterwards, students will read segments of an interview with an ex-slave from the WPA interviews in 1937-41 found on the American Memory section of the Library of Congress’s website, and then they will listen to a short interview from another slave.

1. Read Mollie Williams’ interview from Mississippi Federal Writers. https://www.loc.gov/resource/mesn.090/?sp=161 pgs. 157- 164.

– Questions afterward:

1. What did you learn from Mollie’s experience as a slave? Explain.
2. Does this excerpt present a different view / challenge your perception of what slavery was like? Why?

2. Show video on cleaning cotton. http://cottonclassroom.com/videoofcottonbeingcleaned.html

3. Pass out one cotton boll to each student. Have them clean the cotton and seeds and stem and leaves as best as they can. Separate into three piles.

4. While they clean, play the music, Negro spirituals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uoj7A649gvs&feature=youtu.be

5. Also while the students are cleaning their cotton boll, show Power Point.

6. Afterwards, have students pile seeds onto a table. Put cleaned cotton into a bag or box. Throw out the stems and leaves.

7. Listen to slave interview located here, https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/vfssp.html to Fountain Hughes, aged 101. You can start around 6 minutes in or listen to the whole thing. Famous line about being a slave but nothing but a dog is around 19:00. Finish at 20:05. http://memory.loc.gov/service/afc/afc9999001/9990a.mp3

8. Student reflection. Start writing in class:
   1. What did you learn from this experience with the interviews and the cotton?
   2. What is the benefit of learning history (or anything for that matter) in a format like this? Why?

Student reactions: 

1. What did you learn from this experience with the interviews and the cotton?

“I learned that it was very time consuming to pick just one boll of cotton, and that if I had to clean 50 maybe 100 of those a day that I might really struggle.” Henry V. 

“Listening to the interviews and doing the physical task of cleaning cotton personalized what slavery was like. Instead of reading about far off slaves who died a long time ago, and thinking “wow that really sucks for them” it sort of increases both sympathy and empathy for the situations that so many people had to deal with.” Camille W.

” We usually only talk about the politics and conflicts surrounding slavery, not the people whose lives were controlled by it. It was very interesting to “zoom in” on a few specific people and learn how their lives were shaped by slavery.” Ben I.

“Being able to actually touch and feel and experience the cotton picking, it gave me a greater respect for the work slaves had to do.” Davit T.

2. What is the benefit of learning history (or anything for that matter) in a format like this? Why?

“We were always taught that the Slaves were primarily used to pick cotton, we’ve always known that. We’ve always known that it was a difficult task and that it was back breaking. So while we may have understood, we never could relate. So being able to hold the cotton in our hands and do the task of taking a part the cotton, taking out all the seeds and leaves, it was so cool. We got to see first hand what the slaves had to do everyday from sunrise to sunset.” – Tania M.