Cool Lesson

Last week I came up with a really cool lesson...we were talking about the slave trade in my U.S. History class. You know the triangle trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas- anyways I like to make my students read a first hand account of what is was like on a slave ship. I turned off the lights and blacked out the window- then I made them sit on the floor in a very tight space and told them about the living conditions these people were forced to live in (no restrooms, no light, very little food, 3ft. high ceilings). Most of the students got the point, but then I read them a first hand account by a African that was captured and taken to the South Carolina. I just wish I could have stretched out the lesson a little more, but I think it was a success.