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Chapter 9: Sallie Myers and the Beauty of the Earth
Sallie Myers scooped up the grasshopper and held it, one hand cupped over the other. She felt it jump around, smacking against her top palm. When it stopped at last, she carefully moved her top hand and peered down at the grass-green two-inch long insect. Its eyes were large for its body and seemed almost…
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New Learning Activities Posted
I have now created five chapters of learning activities. These range from simple math exercises to a map-based hotspot game to matching cards. The design isn’t for grading or to test knowledge but to learn by activity, so it’s no big deal if people get something “wrong.” Give these a spin and feel free to…
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Updates to American Civil War Historical Context and Activities for Parents and Teachers
I use fiction to dramatize the real-life stories of people in the American Civil War historical context. I am purposely targeting a young audience in doing so, and hence I am have also been including historical context and learning resources. I’m pleased to say that I have created my first simple interactive exercises to help…
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Chapter 8: Old Enough to Drive a Plow
Content Warning: While nothing is portrayed graphically in the following, this chapter deals with some of the worst aspects of slavery in the antebellum South and the resulting trauma. The learning resources give additional background that parents and teachers can use to modify the discussion to the appropriate level for young readers. Jim used to…
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Chapter 5.2: You Were Holding Them in Bondage
Mary found a spot in the orchard about two rows over where she could keep eyes and ears on the men as Mr. Wright walked slowly up to see them. He, too, had taken his time after Mary had found him, and now, he sauntered slowly into the orchard from the field he had been…
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Chapter 5.1: Internal Silence
As noted in previous posts, the Catherine Payne storyline happened about eight years before Captain James Wade was committed to the Almshouse, and so I placed it in an Introduction and a Chapter 0. The real events featured in this post actually occurred about two years before Captain Wade’s commitment, but I have made them…
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Chapter 0: Freedom from Slavery in Prison
What Samuel Maddox really wanted was to sell his uncle’s former slaves. And for that reason, Kitty, Eliza Jane, Mary, and Arthur James went to prison. After the nighttime kidnapping, the speedy wagon journey got them over the Mason Dixon line, and from there, a day or two later, they stopped at the plantation of…
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Introduction: When the Freed are Still Enslaved
Even when enslaved people had been freed, they were still in danger, as this true incident shows. At eight years old, Eliza Jane Payne was used to work—she was born enslaved and had been helping with laundry and cleaning chores since before she could remember. In her early years, it was for Mrs. Mary Maddox,…
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Chapter 7: A Business I Can Do
“Christian perseverance” was how the obituaries often said it, as in, “She bore her final affliction with great resolve and Christian perseverance.” Carrie Sheads often thought of that phrase as she listened to her young piano students butcher Chopin or pound Mozart with the hammers of their clumsy hands and stubby farmer fingers. Of course,…
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Chapter 6: Penny Candy
Samuel Milton Bushman was restless. School was out, Pa was working, and Ma had kept him occupied with morning chores. They lived on Baltimore Street near the base of Cemetery Hill. They had a few chickens that Ma made him feed and cleanup after. He also had to help sweep the kitchen, the front room,…