Brooklyn Resists Curriculum: Section 1

Focus: Francisco dè Nègèr was from a part of Africa in what is now Angola who was a founding member of the town of Bushwick. He was enslaved by the Dutch West India Company (DWIC) and attained half-freedom.

Activity: Francisco dè Nègèr

Step 1:  Watch the Dutch Brooklyn video using the video worksheet.

Step 2: Have students, individually or in groups, examine the Listing of Town of Bushwick Citizens source in pairs using the Documents and Venn Diagram worksheets. Then, have them think about the following questions, and list any additional questions they have about the source.

• What is the plantation called?
• How does the text describe the location of the plantation?
• Look at the names on the document. Write down three things you notice about the names.

Step 3: Each group shares their answers and further questions about the document.

Step 4: Next, ask the class if the information in this lesson is new to them. If the information is new to you, tell the class.

Step 5. Discuss with the class the potential consequences of omitting a community’s history.

Suggested Questions

• What does “Half-freedom” mean?
• What don’t we know about Francisco dè Nègèr?
• What kind of primary sources would you need to find that information?

Focus: John Jea and his family were abducted from their home in what is now Nigeria when he was a toddler. Jea’s autobiography, The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea (1811), chronicles a first-hand account of the brutality of slavery.

Activity: Case Study, John Jea

Step 1: Watch the Slavery Under the British video using the video worksheet. Review their answers.

Step 2: In groups or individually, have students read the handout, "The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea" published in 1811. After reading each paragraph ask them to write a summary of the information in their own words using large pieces of paper, index cards, or Post-it notes.

Online teaching: If teaching online, we suggest using Padlet to post the document and having students use virtual Post-it notes to write summaries.

Step 3: Read the excerpt to class, and select summaries read out loud.

Step 4: Compile all of the summaries, and as a class, create a story about John Jea

Step 5: Based on the original narrative and the class narrative, facilitate a conversation using the suggested questions below:

• Where was John Jea from?
• When was John Jea kidnapped?
• Who were Jea’s enslavers?
• Why does John Jea mention horses? What is Jea trying to demonstrate by including that detail?
• What did we learn about what John Jea ate, and how might that affect the health and survival of an enslaved child?

Activity: John & Francisco

Focus: Use the handouts of Jon Jea and Francisco dè Nègèr to understand how the lives of enslaved Africans and Black people were different under Dutch and British rule in Brooklyn.

Step 1: Review the stories of John Jea and Francisco dè Nègèr and use the Venn Diagram to compare and contrast their stories.

Step 2: Have students use John and Francisco’s stories to determine how slavery differed under the Dutch (Francisco) and the English (John) in Brooklyn.

Activity: Frank & Jack

Focus: Learn the difference between abolition and gradual manumission by comparing the lives of Frank and Jack, two children in bondage.

Part A

Step 1: Use the source Frank Bill of Sale to Nehemiah Denton and handouts Frank, and Jack’s Deed of Indenture,. Either separate the class into groups or give each student one of these handout to review using Document and/or Handout Worksheets. Next, have them write their ideas on index cards or Post-it notes and have students put them on large pieces of paper: one titled “Frank” and the other “Jack.”

Online teaching: If teaching online, we suggest using Jamboard to post the document and have students use virtual Post-it notes to write summaries.

Step 2: Invite everyone to read each other's observations and discuss similarities and differences

Step 3: Ask students to Identify two things that Jack and Frank do and do not have in common.

Step 4: Read aloud the excerpt from Frederick Douglass found on the Frank handout. Do you think Jack and Frank had a similar experience to Douglass? Why or why not?

Part B

Step 5: Watch the video: Slave Statistics in Brooklyn, then have students read the Gradual Manumission Act and Gradual Manumission handouts. Using the document worksheet add to the information they found in Part A.

Step 6: In your own words, explain the “caveats” that kept children from being free.

Step 7: Ask students to review all the information they have learned from Slave Statistics in Brooklyn video, Frank handout, Frank Bill of Sale to Nehemiah Denton, Jack's Deed of Indenture, Gradual Manumission Act and Grandual Manumission documents and create a summary discussing the end of slavery in Brooklyn.

Step 8: Using two pieces of large paper titled “Positive” and “Negative." Have student use the information they learned about Frank, Jack, and Gradual Manumission to list the positive and negative effects on the enslaved.  

Online teaching: If teaching online, we suggest using Jamboard to post the document and have students use virtual post-it notes to write their summaries. 

Step 9: Discuss the lasting effects this law could have on Frank, Jack, and the formerly enslaved.

Suggested Questions

• What is the difference between abolition and gradual manumission?
• Who stood to benefit from gradual manumission, and why?
• What is an amendment?
• Which amendment is associated with the abolition of slavery? What is the context for the passage of the amendment?
• What was indentured servitude?
• What was the difference between indentured servitude and slavery?
• Why would an enslaver enter an indentured servitude contract with their “property” before July 4, 1827?
• The bill of sale lists of an enslaved child named Frank's birth date as October 7th, 1798. How old was Frank when he was “sold” to Denton as “property”?
• Under the Gradual Manumission Act of 1799, how many years would Frank have had to remain enslaved until complete emancipation? In addition, how old would that make Frank?
• According to the indentured servant contract, Jack was most likely born around 1807. How might the amendment to the Gradual Manumission law impact Jack’s pursuit of freedom?
• If the New York State legislature had implemented the total abolition of all forms of bondage, what year would Frank have been free?