I haven't seen Twelve Years A Slave but really want to go as soon as I have a chance. I think it's interesting since my paternal great grandmother was a Menorcan. I bet you have never heard of the Menorcans. Back around the mid 1700's there was a doctor who was married to a Greek woman. He had bought a plantation in Florida called New Smyrna Plantation. His wife talked him into hiring Mediterraneans to work the plantation. He sent a ship to the island of Minorca off the coast of Spain and signed up Menorcans, a few Italians and some Greeks as indentured servants. The whole group was called Menorcans as the Greeks and Italians all married within the group. The group worked hard on the plantation for 10 years and were treated like slaves by the plantation manager. Their contracts were never upheld. When Saint Augustine fell to the English in the 1780's and the Spanish middle class went back to Spain, the Menorcans' priest petitioned the governor of Florida for the Menorcans to leave the plantation and go to Saint Augustine. The petition was granted. The Menorcans left the plantation as a group and entered the Spanish village of Saint Augustine, Florida.
If you are going to teach a unit on slavery or Black History, there are two children's books I have found very interesting. One is called Dave the Potter and is about a slave named Dave who made clay pots and bowls and actually signed some of them. Another book is Faith Ringgold's "Tar Beach" about her family and the quilt paintings she has made. Try these lessons to add creativity and interest to your lessons :
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