Journal+Project

 Africans who were sold into the slave trade had identities beyond being "a slave." They were people living their lives, surviving as human beings, and performing day-to-day activities. These people were individuals with skills, hopes, dreams, and feelings. They had identities beyond the world they were forced into once captured.  Assignment: Students will assume the role of an African and create a personal journal that details their life both before and after being sold into slavery.
 * Creating African Journals Assignment**

__**Due Date:**__ __**Steps 1-4a due Wednesday 8-12-09**__ __**4b-c due Wednesday 8-19-09**__ __Steps for Completion__:
 1. Brainstorm 2. Choose a region of Africa and a particular time period to research. In your research, focus on finding out information that will help you infer your character’s day-to-day life. For example, you may want to find out information about: - Environment - Jobs and daily habits - Culture and traditions - Religion 3. Choose an African name and begin to imagine this person’s life. Examples include: Women: Men: Adanna Babu Adetokumbo (ah-Deh-toh-koom-boh) Banga Adebumi (Ah-day-boo-me) Faraji Adowa Fela Aina (eye-nah) Abimbola Dacia Adisa Dericia Besa Tanginika (Tann-J-Nee-ka) Adofo Takiyah Kantigi Tatu Kashka Obax (OH-bah) Zahur Obioma (O-be-o-ma) Barrak 4. As you brainstorm, begin to create your African’s journal entries. Your journal should contain beginning, middle, and closing entries. a) Your beginning entries should be set in your African home. In your beginning entries, consider: Created by the North Carolina Civic Education Consortium www.civics.org   - Who are you? - Describe where you live. - What do you do each day? - Who is around you? Who do you spend your time with? - What do you enjoy? - What are your hopes and dreams? - What are your skills? - What do you dislike? b) Middle entries should take place after you have been captured. Write about the voyage across the Middle Passage and your arrival in the Americas. - Where are you while writing each entry (on a boat, in a cell/stockade, at a sale…)? - How were you captured? Who captured you? What were you doing before captured? What was your life like before captured? - What is happening around you? - What do you see? Smell? Hear? Feel? Hope? Fear? Wish? - How are you handling this situation? - How are others around you handling this situation? - What do you think is going to happen? - How are you managing to survive? c) Final entries should conclude your experiences. - What have you discovered about yourself? - What are your reflections regarding this experience thus far? - What happens to you? (Does your journal have an ending entry, does the writing simply drop of the page and we never know, etc.?)  5. Be creative in how you artistically design your journal. How did the environment and experience of your journal’s African owner affect the design and type of the journal? Was it bought or homemade? Does it look aged? Has it suffered damage over the years? What materials would it have been made of and what would have been used to write the entries? Infer and be creative!