CENTER FOR TEACHING
FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
Gevirtz Graduate School of Education
University of California, Santa Barbara

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Henrietta Marie Main Page



WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW TO DO THIS?





 How do I introduce this?

There are many ways to introduce any subject matter (e.g. the Henrietta Marie) to your students.  Perhaps, first ask yourself:

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What are some resources to get me started?

You may link here to a variety of resources to help you introduce students to, and prepare the mind for, engaging with the issues raised by the Henrietta Marie exhibit.  You will find both trade books and web sites.  You will find resources that will enable you to conduct an academic study of the Henrietta Marie itself, the Middle Passage and the transatlantic slave trade.  In addition, you will find multiple resources for working within a larger context: slavery as an institution, colonization, free people of color, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, immigration and migration, comparison and contrast across groups, events, and time periods, slavery as both an historical and a contemporary issue, and more.  Many of these resources provide access to primary source materials.

Link to resources

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What are some things I can help students to consider when they interact online with these complex issues?

It’s important to help students both to question and to revisit information, particularly online information.  Teachers can explicitly teach students to question the source of information (who has created the web site, for what purpose), to select information based on their purpose for investigating (rather than simply printing out web pages indiscriminately), to look for multiple sources of information.  While teachers might find or design interactive investigations to be completed online by students, it is important to explicitly teach students what to do when they have questions that don’t appear or cannot be answered through pre-determined inquiry.  Pre-designed investigations called Web Quests are examples that require teacher thought about what students are really being asked to do and how they can investigate new questions.

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Can you show me a model for the kind of context for academic study and social action you’re talking about?

Yes.  We've included a frame for unit design and sample ideas.

Click here to see a model with sample ideas for multiple grade levels.

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How can I find the time to do this?  How can I balance depth and coverage issues?

This question is an extremely important one and one that all of us ask as we attempt to find time to address complex issues in depth.  The first question we ask ourselves is how can we not address these issues?  Certainly, no matter what curriculum we are using, we can engage students in questioning and revisiting information.  We look for connections between what we are already doing and the topic or themes we’d like to address, but feel we don’t have time for.  This enables us to think about the issues the Henrietta Marie exhibit represents, for example, as we read or do math.  We look for the underlying principles and practices that cross disciplines and/or topic areas.  We also look at the content standards students need to meet.  If we can meet those standards by preparing for, engaging with, and taking action from the ideas represented by the Henrietta Marie, then we can talk clearly about why we’re doing what we’re doing with the students.

Please see questions below about California State Language Arts and History/Social Science standards , grades 4-12, that can be met through academic study of issues related to the Henrietta Marie exhibit.

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What if I'm not "doing" slavery right now?

The Henrietta Marie raises questions that can lead to discussions of migration of African-Americans during the westward expansion in the United States.  Issues of colonization flow naturally from an examination of the slave trade.  Studies of economics can be grounded in the economics of the slave trade and of contemporary manufacturing and trade policies.  The Henrietta Marie lends itself to comparative and contrastive studies of the experiences of other groups and from multiple points of view.  In other words, there are multiple connections no matter where we are in our particular history/social science curriculum.

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How can participating in the Henrietta Marie exhibit and studying about issues related to slavery and the slave trade help my students meet language arts and history/social science standards?

When students are given opportunities for preparing the mind for, engaging in or with, and taking action on and/or from complex issues, such as those represented in the Henrietta Marie exhibit, they inevitably engage in processes and practices that enable them to meet content standards as well.  What kinds of opportunities for meeting standards become available depend on the direction teachers choose to take in working with these issues.

California language arts and history/social science content standards (and standards for history/social science analysis skills) can be met, depending on the focus teachers choose to take, through a study of the Henrietta Marie and its larger context.

Link to standards

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Do you have feedback, questions or comments you'd like to share with us?
Please contact us at socialjustice@education.ucsb.edu.

California History/Social Science and Language Arts Content Standards That Can Be Addressed Through Preparing For, Engaging In And/Or With, and Taking Action On and/Or From the Complex Issues Represented by the Henrietta Marie Exhibit

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