Roots lesson plan- For a few years now I wondered when to show my daughter this movie. When she was a preteen she started asking questions about slavery when we were covering more in depths in our history books about the Civil war. This movie has a lot of injustice, rape implied but not seen, violence, scene of unrestrained whipping. The story also shows of strong family bonds, hope, dreams when one has nothing. In this story a young boy Kunta Kinte was taken from his home and family in Africa the story goes on about his family as they become slaves from generation to the next and there road to freedom. I would advice parents to seriously think about showing this to their children at an early age, it depends on the maturity of your child, You should even watch it before you show this to them so you can answer questions. Not recommended for younger children. This movie is a classic which I personally think each generation should see.
Movie: Roots-Warner Home Video released in 1977 can be found on DVD now and rented at your library or bought.
Other related horse movies: Remembering Roots (2002), Uncle Toms Cabin
PBS -slavery and the making of America- A great timeline along with a movie that shows certain dates or you can order it.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/
Africana.com has video clips, history and other info on the movie roots http://archive.blackvoices.com/roots25/
Reading: Roots, Alex Haley http://www.kintehaley.org/rootskintebio.html -Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Ann Petry
Supplies: Have handy for any unit Study: Globe, Computer Internet, Enclopedia, Notebooks, Paper/Pens, books checked out of library concerning subject
Geography: Gambia River, Binta (Cicely Tyson) where Kunta Kinte was taken map out the slave ship destination to Americas
Yahooligan Countrys http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/around_the_world/countries/
Yahooligan States http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/Around_the_World/U_S__States/
Time in different countrys http://www.worldtimezone.com/
World Climate http://www.worldclimate.com/
History: Slavery/Civil War
Check out pages like
Discovery
School-Understanding Slavery http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/slavery/
Digital History http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/
Mr Dowlings http://www.mrdowling.com/
Writing: Have them
write two paragraphs or book report on what they liked and didn’t like about the
movie. Who was there favorite character and why?
Math: Calculate how many years there was from the start of slavery to the end for the United States. Create a timeline with dates
Life learning lessons/bible: Caring, Family commitment, In Justice, Patience, Cruelity, Prejudice, -Words to discuss Check out bible search site such as http://www.blueletterbible.org/search.html#search Discuss slavery in the bible.
Science: Social Science-Family Genealogy-Discuss your family history
Arts and Craft: Crayola has great ideas and not just
coloring pages
Foods: Make something from Marilees International foods site related to Africa or Southern foods http://marilee.us/intrntlfoods.html
Field Trip: Find out in your area especially if you live in the south areas where they might have civil war or historical information on the slave era. Try also a virtual trip Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam007.html The Under Ground railroad National Geographic http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/99/railroad/
Extra Discussion Questions or to use as a Quiz:
What important event was Kunta Kinte doing when he was captured? He was training or just trained to become a warrior.
Discuss the living condtions of the ship.
Discuss the feeling that they must have had being in a slave auction and how it would have felt to you torn from your family and sold to strangers.
Discuss the determination that Kunta Kinte had for freedom and how he instilled it in his family. How did he pass it along? By telling the family history to each generation.
Discuss the rights that a slave had when owned example, couldnt travel without written note from his Owners, Could not learn to read or write etc
Discuss share cropping and how it was or was not fair to slaves-With sharecropping, freed slaves would pay the plantation owner rent on a portion of property by giving the owner a share of the crops grown on that land. The plantation owners provided housing, materials, and machinery needed for farming the land. The practice of sharecropping sustained the plantation owners far better than it sustained the freed slaves.
Discuss other slavery around the world through out time and about the different kind of slavery that may exist in todays world. Here is a website but it must be for either older students or find what you need with adult supervision this site discusses slavery throughout time including today child labor and cheap labor in some countries. http://www.freetheslaves.net/slavery/timeline/ or Britanica http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/reference/articles/slavery.html
Things to do for extra credit: Use related links below to find answers
African American Cross word
puzzle http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/xwords/java/19990201.html
Listen to famous speakers for Black History month including the famous Martin Luther King Jr. famous speech http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/specials/bhm/0,8805,97373,00.html
Related Links:
Digital History Slavery
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/black_voices/black_voices.cfm
Music, Visual arts, Literature wonderful contributions from African Americans http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/specials/bhm/0,8805,197085,00.html
Black History time line then and now http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/specials/bhm/0,8805,97502,00.html
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