Lesson 3: Agency of Enslaved People

Students will be able to:

define agency, and give examples
distinguish between Individual agency and Group agency, and give examples
make accurate observations about geography and population using a GIS data map
make inferences about how historical contexts of geography and population might have influenced historical events

Check completion of the homework notes on Denmark Vesey. Check for understanding of the main facts of Vesey's story. Briefly discuss how Vesey lived both inside and outside the law.

Introduce the concept of Agency (teachers refer to the Handout on Agency for this discussion). Students should take notes, they will need to understand this concept for their research projects.
- Define Agency: the state of being in action or of exerting power; a means of exerting power or influence (adapted from Random House Dictionary definition, 2006). Explain the difference between Individual and Group Agency.
- Students think of examples of how people can have, or lack, agency in their lives. Include examples of people who seem powerless: little children, people in prison, etc. How do they exercise agency in their lives?

Discuss: Did enslaved people have agency?
- Refer back to Olaudah Equiano and Frederick Douglass. What examples did we see of them exercising agency?
- Find examples in Denmark Vesey's story. How did he exercise agency, both while enslaved and after gaining his freedom?
- Come up with as many examples as possible to emphasize that there are many ways to exercise agency: individual, group, within the law, outside the law

GIS map discussion: When and where did Vesey live and die? To understand Vesey's actions, we need to look at the historical context in which he lived.
- Turn on the "Case Study Locations" layer in the GIS map, and review the basic controls of the GIS map from Lesson 1.
- Find "Vesey's Rebellion" on the map (located in Charleston, SC) and click the marker on the map. Show how the link to the Vesey Case Study documents can be accessed from the GIS map's Query History.
- Discussion: Make observations about the location where Vesey's Rebellion happened. Teacher can use the Case Study Worksheet Observation Questions to guide the discussion: What are the geographic characteristics of Charleston, SC? What is it near? What region of the country is it in?
- Use the GIS data to make observations about the population in Charleston County SC during the decades leading up to Vesey's Rebellion – total population, white, black, enslaved, and free. What are the demographic characteristics of the population?

Discuss: We have just made some observations about Charleston, SC. What inferences can we make about what life may have been like for Denmark Vesey, based on these observations? These are not things we can observe, we need to make connections and use our imagination.
- Connect this discussion with the document students read about Vesey for homework. What observations did we make from the document?
- Can we connect any events from the documents with our observations from the GIS map?

Assign Case Study groups of 3 students each. There are 7 Case Studies, more than one group could study the same person (do not assign Denmark Vesey).
- Each group will do research using the Document links and the GIS map to become experts on one case of an enslaved person exercising agency in different ways.
- Each group will complete a Case Study Worksheet for their person, and prepare to present that person's history to the class. Use today's discussion of Vesey as a model of the observations and inferences they will be making.
- Pass out the Case Study Documents pages and the Case Study Worksheet to each group.

Read their Case Study Documents handout and begin filling in the Case Study Worksheet from the reading.