#103 Race and Revolution

Detail from portrait of Maria Birch Coffing and her slave Jenny Winslow in Salisbury, Conn.,  1844. Salisbury Association.

Background

• As we saw in our previous lesson, much of the opposition to British policies were framed in relation to the “rights of Englishmen.”
• ​As Eric Foner notes: ​“Britons saw no contradiction between proclaiming themselves citizens of a land of freedom precisely when British ships were transporting millions of Africans to bondage in the New World. ‘Britons never, never, never will be slaves,’ ran the popular song, ‘Rule Britannia.’ It did not say that Britons could not own slaves, since for most of the eighteenth century, almost no one seemed to consider Africans entitled to the rights of Englishmen” (Eric Foner, The Story of American Freedom, 6).
• This view was hardly universal, especially among Americans of African descent. A former slave, Caesar Sarter was “one of those obscure individuals who suddenly emerged as a spokesman for Africans in America” (Nash, Race and Revolution, 167).
• At the time Sarter wrote, slavery was legal throughout the colonies, including here in New England.
• In the 1770s, nearly 1 in 5 Americans, or 300,000 people, were enslaved. At the time, the majority of black Americans lived in the South, driving agricultural economies based on tobacco in Virginia and Maryland as well as on rice along the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia.

Student-led discussion

• Your task, as a class, will be to conduct a 25-minute conversation on last night’s reading. You have no particular directives beyond that, and Mr. Hall’s role will be to observe rather than to guide the discussion.

Teacher observations

• Mr. Hall will project his notes of the activity up on the board.
  • ​HH250-02 discussion chart (JPG)
    
  • HH250-08 discussion chart (JPG)
    
  • HH250-12 discussion chart (JPG)
    

Reflection

• Based on your own experience during the discussion and Mr. Hall’s observations, consider the following three questions by briefly answering the three questions (Google Form). The questions are copied out below for reference:
  • What did you learn during this discussion about the topic of “race and revolution”?
  • What do you think went well during this discussion?
  • How do you think this discussion shows we might improve our discussion skills as a class?

Homework: Assignment #104