Teaching Guide
Please refer to the module Teaching
Guide for additional information.
Lesson summary
Instructional use
Pre-lesson activity
Standards covered by this lesson
Selected bibliography
Assessment
Lesson summary
Elizabeth Freeman, formerly known as Mum Bett, was the first slave to
successfully sue for her freedom under the Massachusetts state constitution
in 1781. She tells the story of her life in the household of Colonel Ashley,
and how she gained the courage to demand her rights by listening to conversations
about freedom and liberty in Ashley’s home. Later, Massachusetts
would be the first state to demand a Bill of Rights be amended to the
Constitution as a condition of ratification. The story emphasizes how
the values and beliefs expressed in the Bill of Rights (Amendments I-X)
were first expressed in the state constitutions. Mum Bett lived to be
87 years old, and was the great-grandmother of W.E.B. DuBois.
Instructional use
Please refer to the module Teaching
Guide for instructional use scenarios.
Pre-lesson activity
It is recommended that teachers preview the lesson to identify
concepts that may need to be reviewed before students begin, such as slavery
in colonial America. Teachers may also wish to create a vocabulary/spelling
list for terms found in this lesson.
Teachers may want to read the text of the Bill of Rights (Amendments I-X)
to the class and pose some questions to students before getting started:
Why do you think these amendments were important to the early Americans?
What do these amendments say about life in the colonies? What do they
mean to you in the context of today? Texts of the amendments can be found
at U.S. Constitution
Online.
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Standards covered by this lesson
Refer to the module Teaching
Guide for list a Language Arts goals covered by all WebDocent lessons.
Grades 7-8 Social Science and American History
Illinois State Goal 14
14F. Students can understand the development of United
States political ideas and traditions.
14.F.3a Analyze historical influences on the development
of political ideas and practices as enumerated in the Declaration of Independence,
the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Illinois Constitution.
14.F.3b Describe how United States political ideas and traditions were
instituted in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Illinois State Goal 16
Understand and analyze events, trends, individuals, and movements shaping
the history of Illinois, the United States, and other nations.
Illinois State Goal 18
Understand, analyze, and compare social systems with an emphasis on the
United States.
Selected bibliography
Alfred E. Young and Terry J. Fife, with Mary E. Janzen.
We the People: Voices and Images of the New Nation. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1993.
Wilds, Mary. Mumbet: The Life and Times of Elizabeth Freeman. Avisson
Press, Inc., 1999.
http://www.juntosociety.com/founders/mumbett.html
http://www.multied.com/revolt/Townshend.html
Assessment
Refer to the module Teaching
Guide for an explanation of the online journal for assessment purposes.
See the Additional Activities page for ideas
for extending the lesson offline.
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