8th grade Life under slavery, resistance and the Underground Railroad worksheet

Life under slavery, resistance and the Underground Railroad

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Resistance and risk, 1850 to 1863 (cards A to E). Card A, the Fugitive Slave Act (approved September 18, 1850; Avalon Project): a commissioner "shall be entitled to a fee of ten dollars in full for his services in each case, upon the delivery of the said certificate to the claimant, his agent or attorney; or a fee of five dollars in cases where the proof shall not, in the opinion of such commissioner, warrant such certificate and delivery". "In no trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of such alleged fugitive be admitted in evidence". A summary in our words: Section 7 punished anyone who rescued a person from custody, helped a person escape, or harbored or concealed a person claimed as a fugitive, with "a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months". Card B, a summary in our words from three National Park Service pages on Harriet Tubman: one says that over about a decade, in about thirteen trips, Tubman "led approximately 70 people to freedom and provided instructions to 50-60 others". Another says that she made about 13 trips into Maryland to rescue family and friends and "gave instructions to about 70 more who found their way to freedom independently." A third says she is believed to have assisted about 70 people and that the names of almost 40 are known. Card C, a summary in our words from the National Park Service: on June 1, 1863, Tubman joined Colonel James Montgomery and the 2nd South Carolina Infantry, a unit of emancipated men, in a raid on plantations along the Combahee River that "rescued more than 700 enslaved people". The Park Service also says: "The decision to self-emancipate was a difficult one with complicated considerations about family ties, children, how to make a living, and how to navigate the unknown." Card D, from the National Park Service page on the Underground Railroad: it describes "ordinary men and women coming together" and says the movement "thrived from the late 18th century through the Civil War". Card E, from the National Park Service page on Tubman and the Underground Railroad: Tubman said in 1896: "I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say — I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger." It adds that abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison called her "Moses".

2. 1.

   The three Park Service pages in card B give about 70 people twice, but differ on the others. How should a reader treat this, Bo asks?

   • They say that she led 140 people to freedom in the 13 trips
   • They agree on about 13 trips and 70 people but differ on about 70 others
   • They disagree on the number of trips she made into Maryland
   • The difference settles that the estimates are completely worthless to any reader
3. 2.

   Card B: she is believed to have assisted about 70 people, and the names of almost 40 are known. About what share are named, Esme asks?

   • About 57 percent, so for the rest the evidence is an estimate
   • About 43 percent, the share whose names are not known to the Park Service
   • About 100 percent, because the Park Service gives the totals
   • About 5.7 percent
4. 3.

   Card B: about 70 people over about thirteen trips. Card C: more than 700 in one raid. About how many times as many, and what is the limit, Jun asks?

   • About 10 times as many, though the raid was an army operation, not a guide's trip
   • About 630 times as many, found by subtracting 70 from 700
   • About 10 times as many, so Tubman alone led the 700 people in the raid at the river
   • About 10 percent as many, because 70 is a tenth of the 700
5. 4.

   A student says: "Commissioners were paid only when they returned a person." How strong is that claim, given card A, Kira asks?

   • Strong: card A pays ten dollars whenever a certificate is delivered to the claimant
   • Weak: the claimant paid the fee in either case, so the fee did not matter
   • Weak: card A pays five dollars even when the proof did not warrant a certificate
   • Strong: card A says commissioners got nothing otherwise, when no certificate was given
6. 5.

   Card A says the alleged fugitive's testimony cannot be admitted "in evidence." What does that show about the hearing, Luz asks?

   • The person accused alone was allowed to testify in the hearing on the case
   • No witness of any kind was allowed to testify in any hearing under the act
   • It made each hearing fair to both sides, as the law required of it
   • The person accused could not testify in evidence about his or her own case
7. 6.

   Card E has Garrison calling Tubman "Moses" and Tubman calling herself a conductor. How do they differ in emphasis, Milo asks?

   • Both statements described the same Combahee River raid of the year 1863
   • Both statements are neutral counts of her work, made by outside observers
   • Garrison described a safe record, and Tubman used the name Moses for herself in 1896
   • Garrison's "Moses" stresses leading people out of slavery; her words, a safe record
8. 7.

   Card A punishes anyone who harbored or concealed a person claimed as a fugitive. What does it suggest about the people who helped, Noah asks?

   • The penalty shows that commissioners were paid fees for each case they heard
   • The penalty was created after the Civil War had already come to an end
   • The penalty ended the help given to people who were then trying to escape from slavery
   • Helping could be punished by a fine and prison, so those who helped risked the law
9. 8.

   A student asks how many people Tubman actually led. What new evidence would help most, Pia asks?

   • One more statement from an author that the number was about 70 people
   • A longer retelling of the Park Service numbers, in a new book for readers
   • Names, dates and places from records made at the time, such as letters
   • Just her own 1896 statement about the trips that she had made earlier
10. 9.

    A student says: "The Underground Railroad began with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850." How strong is that claim, given cards A and D, Ren asks?

    • Weak: card D says that the movement ended in the year 1850
    • Weak: card D says the movement thrived from the late 18th century on
    • Strong: the Act punished helping, so it must have started the helping
    • Strong: card A shows that the law was passed in the year 1850
11. 10.

    Card C says deciding to escape involved family ties and the unknown. What new evidence would best show why some people stayed, Zee asks?

    • The accounts of the people who escaped, with nothing from those who stayed
    • A modern textbook paragraph that summarizes escapes in a few lines
    • Letters, interviews or records by the people themselves from the time
    • A statement that the people wanted to leave, with no names or dates given