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Decisions of Slaves to Leave the Plantation: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Contributing teacher:
Bruce Baskind
Time period: 1861–65
Overview
When W.E.B. DuBois (1868–1963) wrote his classic book Black Reconstruction (1935), he quoted a contemporary historian who wrote, "American Negroes are the only people in the history of the world, so far as I know, that ever became free without any effort of their own . . . They had not started the war nor ended it. They twanged banjos around railroad stations, sang melodious spirituals, and believed that some Yankee would soon come along and give each of them forty acres and a mule." Although this view might have been extreme, it is nevertheless true that before the civil-rights movement of the 1950s, historians basically viewed African Americans as "inert recipients of freedom at the hands of philanthropists." Professor Eric Foner's e-seminar represents a radical departure from this point of view, for to him, "the slaves took actions that propelled a reluctant white America down the road to emancipation." We have come a long way.
But how did slaves accomplish this? How did they become the driving force behind emancipation? Professor Foner tells us, "As soon as the war began, so did the disintegration of slavery . . . as soon as the Union Army entered an area, slaves by the tens, hundreds, and then thousands abandoned plantations and headed for Union lines." In doing so, the escaped slaves robbed the South of crucial labor, undermined slavery, and helped the cause of the North, first with military intelligence, then with their labor, and finally with their lives on the battlefield.
At first, Union officers were instructed to return the "contrabands" to the plantation. But when they witnessed how these runaways hurt the Southern cause and helped the North, many officers argued to their superiors that official policy was mistaken and refused to follow it. Congress came to recognize this fact in 1861 with the first Confiscation Act and again in 1862 with the second Confiscation Act. President Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) soon followed. When the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in 1863, it was in one sense merely an official recognition of what was happening anyway—that when slaves sensed the breakdown of local authority and the presence of Union troops, they left the plantation, often with their family. In turn, the Emancipation Proclamation was a blow to the legitimacy of slavery and seems to have accelerated the process of slaves leaving the plantation. In this way, escaped slaves thrust the slavery issue to the forefront of the Northern cause, perhaps forcing Lincoln to make the Civil War a war to end slavery, not simply a war to restore the Union.
Although historians now understand the importance of slaves' decisions to leave the plantation, we do not necessarily appreciate how difficult and daring the decision must have been. It makes sense to spend two days with this simulation, for your students will experience a bit of what it was like when slaves decided to leave or stay on the plantation, during the very first months of the war. They should find that the decision to leave was bold, daring, and provocative. The simulation should create an emotional as well as intellectual link between your students and those slaves, so that when the simulation is over and you go on to finish the semester, examining the Civil War and then Reconstruction, your students will be very interested in following the story of these freedmen.
The Assignment
The simulation is a device designed to engage your students with history in a powerful, personal, intellectual, and emotional way. Your students will take on the roles of historical characters headed for a crisis, who are asked to make perhaps the most important decision of their lives. We want to focus our simulations on these special moments in history, the ones bursting with tension and crisis, not only because they are the most interesting, but also because it is through moments like these that history most fully reveals itself. Just as we probably learn more about ourselves in times of crisis than during the ordinary, humdrum days of existence, so too with history. And if we learn more about ourselves through crisis, so will our students learn about their roles and themselves through this simulation.
This simulation could work nicely within your existing unit on the Civil War. But do be careful; this simulation is based on a powerful, relatively new interpretation of the Civil War and slavery. It will beg the rest of your unit to focus on what happens to the slaves as they become freedmen and enter the period of Reconstruction. If your unit does not yet have this focus, the students will demand it. You might also consider making Foner 5, DBQ #1, about the role of African Americans during the Civil War, a unit of study, with the actual DBQ as their unit essay. If you do, this simulation would fit nicely right after a discussion of Document C, President Lincoln's letter to Horace Greeley (1811–72).
I would advise you to use this simulation only if you have already taught a strong unit on slavery. Since you will be getting a number of your students to play roles as slaves, it is crucial that they have some historical base from which to understand their characters. I think it would be a bit much to ask this simulation to sustain both a study of the nature of slavery and a sense of this incredible moment in time, when slaves, if you will, pushed the envelope.
The goal of the simulation will be to have your students understand Professor Foner's argument about the central place of slaves in the study of the Civil War. But we also want them to experience the critical decisions that slaves were forced to make with the onset of the war. Herein lies the rub. From the perspective of modern high-school students, the question of whether a slave should stay or leave the plantation is probably a "no-brainer": Of course they would leave. If we simply put them into an improvisation, and ask them if they wish to stay or leave the plantation, they will all walk off. But in actuality, many slaves did stay, and it is doubtful the decision was a simple one at all. Do you take young children into the unknown? Can you trust Northern soldiers with your well-being? Are all the stories your master told you true? Do runaways become homeless beggars in the North, and will you find discrimination and poverty there? How will you eat, and where will you sleep?
In order to put our students through the crisis that slaves experienced, we have to confront them with the strongest possible case for why they should stay. The five most influential students in your class should be asked to attempt this. Three will be in roles as the planters, Rhett, Brett, and Chet, the other two as the slaves Nat and Denmark. These students will have to do a bit of work, for their arguments must be excellent. If many of the slaves elect to leave, even in the face of powerful arguments to the contrary, then we will learn and feel something powerful about the humanity of wanting to be free.
Materials
1. An index card for all but five of your students. On each card, write the name, age, and basic facts of a role you wish that student to play.
2. A sign that says, "Welcome to Plantation Paternalism, May 1, 1861."
3. A role packet for five of your most respected, influential students. Three will play Chet, Brett, and Rhett Paternal, owners of Plantation Paternalism, and two will be slaves, Nat and Denmark, committed to convincing the other slaves to stay on Plantation Paternalism. The role packet will include readings designed to get the students into the roles.
4. An Opening Speech
5. 2 Questionnaires
6. 3 Messages
7. A photo of fugitive slaves
 You can view a Group of contraband at Foller's House, Cumberland Landing, Va., May, 1862 at the Library of Congress's American Memory Web site.
Historical Characters (22, all fictitious)
1–3. Brett Paternal, Chet Paternal, Rhett Paternal
Brett, Chet, and Rhett are three brothers who own Plantation Paternalism. Their job will be to convince the slaves to stay on the plantation.
Gone With the Wind (1939)
4–5. Nat and Denmark
Their job will be to convince their fellow slaves to stay on the plantation.
You can read "Contrabands of War" at the Home of the American Civil War Web site.
6–10. The Jones family
This extended family consists of a grandparent, two parents, and two teenage children. All will be portrayed.
11. Lucy
A 24-year-old mother of children ages one, four, and seven. The children will not be portrayed but must be a factor in Lucy's actions. Her husband was sold last year to another plantation.
12–14. The McMahon family
This family consists of Spottswood, 35, and his two teenage children, ages 16 and 14. Brenda, his wife and their mother, passed away last year. All three will be portrayed.
15. Becky
A 45-year-old woman, whose two teenage boys were sold to another plantation.
16. Jonas
A 65-year-old man.
17. Gabriel
A 17-year-old male.
18. Isaiah
A 27-year-old male, recently purchased.
19–21. The Jackson Family
Liza is the 40-year-old mother of two female teenagers. The father escaped from the plantation three years ago. The mother and her teenage daughters will all be portrayed.
22. The Messenger
He or she will enter the class at key moments to announce any of the messages you wish. Your job is to know when a key moment has arrived. Three messages will be included (see below).
You must feel free to adjust these roles as you see fit, particularly if the gender distribution does not work for your class. You can also add to the brief character descriptions, though I urge you to not tell the students too much. A big part of the excitement and learning comes from allowing the students to interpret their characters. If you need more parts, simply add your own or double up on a few that are described above.
Given how highly sensitive our society is to issues of race, try to get at least two of your African American students to play the roles of the Paternal brothers. This will signal to the class that they are no longer in a literal world, but a world of drama. Similarly, the slave component of this simulation should be racially diverse.
None of the slave roles, with the exception of Nat and Denmark, have a required viewpoint. Their behavior is the wild card, as well as the focus of this simulation. How many of them will stay, and how many will leave? What reasons will they cite for their behavior? What type of person would be more likely to leave, and which to stay? Our students are incredibly different from those slaves on Plantation Paternalism. But there is also powerful continuity in human history. This simulation asks us to learn as much about those slaves back in 1861 as we can, based on the behavior of modern teenagers.
Setting Up the Simulation
- Only five roles must be set up in advance of the simulation: those of Rhett, Brett, and Chet and of Nat and Denmark. It will be their job to convince the slaves on the Butler plantation to stay. They will have a reading assignment and should be asked to write a brief paper in which they explain the 8 to 10 best arguments they can come up with. You might want to read their papers a few days before the simulation, so that you can help them with their arguments.
- I would not go into extensive explanations about the simulation, how it will work, etc., with the class prior to the simulation. This will slow things down, preempt spontaneity, and, most of all, take the drama out of the exercise.
- Place yourself in the additional role of the wisest, most respected member of this plantation's slave community. This will allow you to address the class, structure the simulation, and make sure that everything works properly in a way that will sustain the believability of the simulation.
Day 1: The Preparation
Consider making your room look significantly different. Change the arrangement of the seats. Play with the lighting and the mood of the room. Try to find as many nonverbal ways as possible to signal to the students that today will be a different sort of day. Put up the sign announcing that we are on Plantation Paternalism and that it is May 1861.
Preparing Students for Their Roles
Give the students their role cards and questionnaire #1 (included below) when they enter the class. Greet your students at the door, already in your role. Help them get into their roles with greetings such as, "Morning, Miss Bessie, how old is that Samuel getting to be?" Or, "We have important business to attend to."
Ask the students to assume their assigned roles. Families should sit near one another. The students may answer the questions in the questionnaire any way they wish, but whatever they answer must become part of their role. For example, if Maria writes that she is a shy and frightened person, she must allow those traits to influence her behavior throughout the simulation. This should take no more than 10 minutes.
Have all the characters introduce themselves.
Ask a few students to tell their stories.
Perform your opening speech. Then assume the role of chairperson. This will allow you to make sure that the simulation proceeds properly. Allow slaves to respond to your speech.
You now have five students in role as Rhett, Chet, Brett, Nat, and Denmark. You have a class full of slaves and a messenger. Your job is to orchestrate a passionate, intense, and meaningful discussion that will ultimately lead to the slaves' decisions to stay or go. Ask Rhett to speak, followed by the slaves' response, then Nat, and so on.
Whenever the level of drama flags, send in the messenger with a message that will stoke things up.
With 15 minutes left in the period, send in one additional message: "General Butler's troops are only five miles away and may never be closer."
The slaves in your class must now move toward their decision. They also need to determine whether the decision to leave will be made by the community as a whole, or if it is each man for himself.
Tell the slaves that if they decide to leave, they must do so en masse, marching together, singing "John Brown's March":
John Brown's body lies a-molderin' in its grave,
John Brown's body lies a-molderin' in its grave,
John Brown's body lies a-molderin' in its grave,
His truth is marching on.
Glory, glory hallelujah,
Glory, glory hallelujah,
Glory, glory hallelujah,
His truth is marching on.
The best possible piece of timing would be to have the slaves who wish to leave do so singing "John Brown's March" as the bell blows.
Day 2: The Debriefing
Distribute questionnaire #2 as the students enter. Allow them 10 minutes to complete the questionnaire.
The class is now ready to engage in an analysis of each of the following questions:
- Why did some slaves leave the plantation in the early years of the war?
- Why did some slaves stay?
- Who was more likely to leave?
- Who was more likely to stay?
- What effect did slaves' leaving the plantation have on the slaves who remained?
- What effect did slaves' leaving the plantation have on the plantation?
With 10 minutes left, ask the class to create a profile of the slaves who left the plantation.
When there is some consensus about the profile, distribute the picture "Group of
Contraband at Foller's House." Compare the profile created by the class with the picture. How accurate is the profile?
If time remains, ask the students what they believe would have actually happened on plantations after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Opening Speech
Dear brothers and sisters of Plantation Paternalism, thank you so much for responding to my invitation. This war that's just started puts us in a new position. Is it our best chance for freedom, or is it fool's gold? I know there's been talk about folks leaving this plantation when the time is right. And I know there's been talk about how only fools would venture off into the great unknown. Either way, together we face the biggest decision of our lives: what do we do when the Union troops get near? So as that moment draws near, let us take the time to discuss, if need be argue, about what the wisest course of action should be.
Rhett, Chet, and Brett Paternal have requested the opportunity to speak with us, and I think it is a good idea for us to listen. You can ask any questions, make any statement, say anything. This is not a time for us to be quiet. Thank you, brothers and sisters. I wish you all the wisdom in the world.
Questionnaire #1
Feel free to change any of these or add to them. The point is to have the students come to grips with their basic feelings and experiences before they start the simulation.
1. What is the worst thing that ever happened to you on Plantation Paternalism?
2. What is the best thing?
3. What lessons has slavery taught you?
4. What will you tell your grandchildren about slavery?
5. Describe your personality.
Questionnaire #2
Feel free to change or add to these questions as well. The point of this questionnaire is to get the students to start thinking analytically about the decisions that were made.
1. What decision did you make?
2. Why did you make this decision?
3. What were the two most powerful arguments you heard in favor of the decision you made?
4. What were the two most powerful arguments you heard that were opposed to your decision?
Messages
1. General Butler's troops are 25 miles away and headed in this general direction.
2. General Butler's troops are now 15 miles away and may never be closer. Some of the slaves on the Ruppert Plantation have left and plan to ask General Butler for protection.
3. General Butler's troops are now 10 miles away. There are more reports of slaves leaving. General Butler is said to be an abolitionist, but what will he do with the "contrabands"?
Concluding Remarks
The goal of the simulation is for your students to understand the central place of slaves in the study of the Civil War, and this activity will help them empathize with the critical decisions that slaves made during the course of the war.
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