Major Themes of Book 2:

The Establishment of Jamestown (Chapters 1-13)

Early Religion in America (Chapters 14-20)

The Establishment of Colonies (Chapters 21-42)

We continue to read aloud Katz’s Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage. The book chronicles the relationships between Africans and Native Americans well through the Civil War, but we will stop in the era of slavery.

Students will read Milton Meltzer’s They Came in Chains: the Story of the Slave Ships. How were millions of Africans taken from their homes, forced onto a ship and transported across an ocean? Many books speak of the horrors of slavery, but few discuss the cultural, societal, and even religious practices made slavery successful for hundreds of years. Meltzer explains the origins of the slave trade in this book, written for a child to understand.

As I mention on page 13, there is irony in the fact that several groups came to America to pursue religious freedom, yet they bound each other in strict rituals. A Break with Charity tells the story of a young girl whose innocent fun and desire to be with the popular crowd lands her in the middle of the famous Salem witch trials.

Finally, there are several interesting characters in the associated readers. We began reading the biography of Junipero Serra at the end of Unit 6. Father Serra’s work is introduced here to show the work of the Spanish in what is now California and the growth of the western portion of our great nation. For students who want more information on how this country grew to 50 states, consider reading From Sea to Sea: The Growth of the United States by Harold Faber.

Lerone Bennett writes of the slave trade:

During this period Africa lost an estimated 40 million people. Some twenty million of these men and women came to the New World. Millions more died in Africa during and after their capture or on the ships and plantations.

These figures, though instructive, do not say anything meaningful about the people involved. The slave trade was not a statistic, however astronomical. The slave trade was people living, lying stealing, murdering, dying. The slave trade was a black man who stepped out of his house for a breath of fresh air and ended up, ten months later, Georgia with bruises on his back and a brand on his chest. The slave trade was a black mother suffocating her newborn baby because she didn’t want him to grow up a slave…The slave trade was a greedy king raiding his own villages to get slaves to buy brandy. The slave trade was a pious captain holding prayer services twice a day on his slave ship and writing later the famous hymn, “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds”. The slave trade was deserted villages, bleached bones on slave trails and people with no last names…

(Bennett, pgs. 29-30)

Reading Plan:

Week 7

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
A History of U.S.: The First Americans by Joy Hakim	Chapters 37, 38, and 39
A History of U.S.: Making Thirteen Colonies by Joy Hakim			Preface, Chapters 1 and 2		Chapters 3 and 4
READ-ALOUD: Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage by William Katz		pgs. 9-14		pgs. 14-19
READER: A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla	Chapters 7-8	Chapters 9-10	Chapters 11-12	Chapter 13

Week 8

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
A History of U.S.: Making Thirteen Colonies by Joy Hakim	Chapters 5 and 6		Chapters 7 and 8		Chapters 9 and 10
READ-ALOUD: Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage by William Katz		pgs. 20-26		pgs. 26-32
READER: A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla	Chapters 11-12	Chapter 13
READER: They Came in Chains: The Story of the Slave Ships by Milton Meltzer			Chapter 1	Chapter 2	Chapter 3

Week 9

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
A History of U.S.: Making Thirteen Colonies by Joy Hakim	Chapters 11 and 12		Chapters 13 and 14		Chapters 15 and 16
READ-ALOUD: Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage by William Katz		pgs. 33-42		pgs. 43-48
READER: They Came in Chains: The Story of the Slave Ships by Milton Meltzer	Chapter 4	Chapter 5	Chapter 6
READER: A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials by Ann Rinaldi				Prologue and Chapter 1	Chapters 2 and 3

Week 10

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
A History of U.S.: Making Thirteen Colonies by Joy Hakim	Chapters 16 and 17		Chapters 18 and 19		Chapters 20 and 21
READ-ALOUD: Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage by William Katz		pgs. 49-55		pgs. 56-62
READER: A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials by Ann Rinaldi	Chapters 4 and 5	Chapters 6 and 7	Chapters 8 and 9	Chapters 10 and 11	Chapters 12 and 13

Week 11

	Day 1		Day 2		Day 3		Day 4		Day 5
A History of U.S.: Making Thirteen Colonies by Joy Hakim	Chapters 22 and 23			Chapters 24 and 25				Chapters 26 and 27
READ-ALOUD: Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage by William Katz		pgs. 63-69				pgs. 69-75
READER: A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials by Ann Rinaldi	Chapters 14 and 15	Chapters 16 and 17		Chapters 18 and 19		Chapters 20 and 21		Chapters 22 and 23

Week 12

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
A History of U.S.: Making Thirteen Colonies by Joy Hakim	Chapters 28 and 29		Chapters 30 and 31		Chapters 32 and 33
READ-ALOUD: Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage by William Katz		pgs. 76-82		pgs. 82-88
READER: A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials by Ann Rinaldi	Epilogue and Author’s Note
READER: Junipero Serra by Donna Genet		Chapter 1	Chapter 2	Chapter 3	Chapter 4

Week 13

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
A History of U.S.: Making Thirteen Colonies by Joy Hakim	Chapters 34 and 35		Chapters 36 and 37		Chapters 38 and 39
READ-ALOUD: Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage by William Katz		pgs. 89-94		pgs. 94-99
READER: Junipero Serra by Donna Genet	Chapter 5	Chapter 6	Chapter 7	Chapter 8	Chapter 9

Week 14

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
A History of U.S.: Making Thirteen Colonies by Joy Hakim	Chapters 40 and 41		Chapter 42 and After Words
READ-ALOUD: Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage by William Katz		pgs. 100-108		pgs. 109-113
READER: Junipero Serra by Donna Genet	Chapter 10
READER: Benjamin Banneker by Kevin Conley		Chapter 1	Chapter 2	Chapter 3	Chapter 4

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

1. A Letter Home

On page 42 of Book 2 of A History of US, Joy Hakim says, ‘The year 1619 was a turning point…It was a year of many firsts in Virginia:

first boatload of Africans

first boatload of women

first labor strike

first time English settlers are allowed to own land

first elected lawmakers’

Pretend you have arrived in 1619 America. Write a letter or journal entry from one or more of the following viewpoints:

a Native American noting changes as the English settlers establish themselves

a native American interacting with African transports

an English settler having just arrived in America

an African who has just arrived in America

Note to Parents: You might have your child write 3 letters, each from a different perspective, as a comparison and contrast of the events and emotions associated with coming to America.

2. Use books 1 and 2 of A History of US to study the Protestants, Quakers, and Puritans. Develop a chart regarding common beliefs among them. What beliefs separated them? Who were the leaders of each group?

3. In Book 2, we follow Joy Hakim as she develops a colony-by-colony depiction of early America. For each colony, list the following:

How was the colony formed

Where the colony is geographically

Who were leaders/ important people

What significant events occurred during the formation of the colony

SHINING GOD’S LIGHT ON OUR JOURNEY:

1. The irony present in this and previous sections from book 1 of A History of US is that many traveled to America to worship God freely, yet they bickered and separated themselves because of the refusal to give others the same freedom. What can I learn about God’s perspective on true worship? Use scriptural references. How do I use what I learn when communicating with other Christians who have different religious practices?

2. The first thirteen chapters of A History of US detail the settling of Jamestown while sharing various encounters between whites and Native Americans. What did you learn in these chapters about relationships? Use scriptural references. How do I use what I learned to change my community? My church? My community?