Bell Ringer #11 – 12/8/10 List 2 crops tended by “upper south” slaves. List 2 crops tended by “lower south” slaves. Identify 1 border state.

Crops tended by slaves Upper South – Region did not have long enough growing season for cotton. Tobacco, corn, hemp were most profitable. Lower South – Cotton was the cash crop. Planters began growing it in the late 1600s. Sugarcane was also profitable.

The Underground Railroad The organized escape routes for slaves from the Chesapeake, Kentucky, and Missouri that developed in the mid-1830s Escapees raised money to pay for escape northward, recruited other escapees, and sometimes became “railroad agents” themselves http://www.history.com/video.do?name=blackhistory&bcpid=2755207001&bclid=7053293001&bctid=7227461001

Escape Methods “Railroad” had no designated route. Rather, those who organized it chose routes and methods of escape that were likely to evade capture. Included: Abandoned mine shafts, tunnels built by smugglers, covered wagons with false bottoms, hidden compartments in floors and closets.

“Follow the Drinking Gourd” While escaped slaves didn’t have a map to guide them, they had a song that served as a rendition of a map. The song, "Follow the Drinking Gourd," refers to the constellation the Big Dipper, whose end stars, guide one's gaze to Polaris, the North Star. The song, was taught to the slaves on southern plantations by a carpenter named Peg Leg Joe. http://www.last.fm/music/The%2520Weavers/_/Follow%2520The%2520Drinking%2520Gourd?ac=follow%20the%20drinking%20gourd

Lyrics When the sun comes back, and the first Quail calls, Follow the drinking gourd, For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd. The riverbank will make a very good road, The dead trees show you the way. Left foot, peg foot traveling on, Following the drinking gourd.

The river ends between two hills, Follow the drinking gourd, There's another river on the other side, Follow the drinking gourd. When the great big river meets the little river, Follow the drinking gourd. For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd.

Nat Turner Nat Turner - led a violent slave result in Virginia soon after Vessey. Killed 60 whites in the area. Revolt was planned by secret messages sent by slaves on various plantations.

Southern Economy Despite the plantation stereotype, the South was a complex region. Large slaveholders were extremely rare, but they owned most of the South’s slaves. About 1/3 of all southern white families owned slaves. Slave owners were diverse. A few were Af-Am, “mulatto”, or Native American; 1/10 were women. Average slave owner lived in a log cabin rather than a mansion and was a farmer.