1. Immigrant Experiences
Ms. Dow
Socials 10

2. Key Knowledge Points Immigration to British North America
Deadly Journeys
The People of British North America
Immigrant Women
Underground Railway
What was it? Why was it used? How was it used?
Slaves, Slave Owners and Conductors

3. Why Immigrate?
After the war of 1812, large waves of immigrants came from Britain, the US, and Europe.
The journey across the ocean was expensive and dangerous.
Immigration meant saying goodbye to your family sometimes forever.

4. Deadly Journeys
The poorest people had to travel in coffin ships - which were named because so many people died during the trip from disease, starvation and other terrible conditions.
Owners of cargo ships realized that they could make more money if they converted their ships to carry passengers when they were sailing without cargo
The ships had bunks but no bathrooms
Poor food, bad hygiene, crowded, cholera, smallpox, other diseases
Entire ships were quarantined when they reached North America. Half of all the immigrants who made it to the colonies were seriously ill.

5. Media Notes #1
Canada a People’s History: The People of British North America (Episode 8 24:00-28:00)

6. Immigrant Women
Women were defined by their social class. This determined their expectations, values, lifestyle, and beliefs.
They tended to think of themselves in terms of the successes of their husbands.
Divorce did not exist. Finding the right partner was very important.
Women were expected to do all of the household tasks including cooking, sewing, and washing. They were also expected to help with the planting, harvesting and other farm jobs.
Colonial women were expected to have large families, especially in farming communities were families needed help on the farm.
Childbirth was an additional risk where life expectancy was not high. Medical care was expensive and not available to most people.

7. Underground Railway
"When my feet first touched the Canadian shore, I threw myself on the ground, rolled in the sand, seized handfuls of it and kissed them."
These were the words of Josiah Henson recalling his first moments as a free man. Henson had escaped to Canada along the "underground railroad," a network of secret paths, hiding places and safe houses that stretched from southern states to the borders of Canada.

8. Media Notes #2
Heritage Minute – The Underground Railway

9. Media Notes #3
Dr. Martin Luther King said that in the history of black America, "Canada was the north star." The old spiritual, "Follow the Drinking Gourd," gave slaves the hidden advice to keep their eyes on the Gourd, which pointed the way north to "heaven," in this case Canada.
“Follow the Drinking Gourd” – Song Study

10. Media notes #4&5
Book of Negroes – Lawrence Hill (Preview)
Book of Negroes – Episode 1 (35:15- 40:11)
The slaves fled the inhuman treatment they suffered in the southern United States, where they were - by law - the property of their owners.
Beaten and whipped and forced to obey, many worked up to eighteen hours a day in the fields, returning at night to squalid shacks for meagre rations of corn meal and bacon scraps.

11. Underground Railway
Among the many tragic stories of slavery were tales of husbands taken from wives and of children torn from their mothers to be sold like animals.
Captured runaway slaves were often tortured. Professional slave catchers, notorious for their cruelty, tracked runaway slaves all the way from the deep South to the Canadian border.
It took enormous courage to escape.

12. Media Notes #6
Canada a People’s History – Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railway (Episode 8 – start at 26:12)
But thanks to the “Conductors" on the underground railroad [men and women, white and black, Canadian and American], many slaves found freedom in Canada.
Some of these agents have become legends. The great Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave herself, returned south again and again to lead others north.

13. Media Notes #7
Book of Negroes – Episode 5 (beginning to 10:30)
After arrival in Canada, life was not easy for escaped slaves. Many faced discrimination, poor living conditions and physical or emotional abuse.
The dream of reaching freedom became a reality of discrimination for many.

14. Media Notes #8
The discrimination faced by many black immigrants in British North America continued for many years.
Viola Desmond was an entrepreneur that challenged ______________in Nova Scotia in the 1940's.
Heritage Minute – Viola Desmond