Classroom Resources
Grades 5-8
by Michelle Isenhoff
Cover image by Jan-Erik Finnberg
Copyright, 2012 by Michelle Isenhoff at Smashwords
Smashwords Edition License Notes:
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A paperback edition with
printable, reproducible pages for classroom use is
available at http://www.michelleisenhoff.com
or http://www.michelleisenhoff.wordpress.com
For use with juvenile historical fiction novel,
by Michelle Isenhoff
A Note to Teachers:
Thank you for choosing to use The Candle Star in your classroom. I’ve always had a strong interest in history and in literature. Blended into a volume of historical fiction, they form a powerful teaching platform. Now I’ve drawn on my education background to create what I hope will be a useful tool for getting the most mileage out of my novel in a classroom setting.
Sincerely,
Michelle Isenhoff
About the Divided Decade Trilogy
Meeting GLCE’s and Common Core Standards
Social Studies Extension Ideas
Detroit Underground Railroad Broadside
Second Baptist Church, 1881 image
A Narrative of the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper, from American Slavery
A Few Leaves from the Diary of an Underground Railroad Conductor, by William S. Falls
Frederick Douglass speech, The Hypocrisy of American Slavery
About the Divided Decade Trilogy
Civil War-era historical fiction, ages 10+
Though Michigan never hosted a battle, it certainly played an important role in the events surrounding the Civil War. Strongly pro-abolition, several of her counties were active in the Underground Railroad, with seven documented routes to freedom and as many as 200 safe houses. The Michigan home front was also vital to the war effort, supplying food, materials and support for the northern Cause. And after the war, Michigan’s vast wilderness lured many who were looking for a new start. This trilogy spans the years surrounding the war and travels from city, to farm, to wilderness, illustrating each of these three unique Michigan roles.
The Candle Star
Detroit, 1858
After a tantrum, Emily Preston is shipped from her plantation home to her inn-keeping Uncle in Detroit. There Emily meets Malachi who challenges many ideas she grew up believing. But when she stumbles upon two run-aways hidden in her uncle’s barn, Emily faces a decision more difficult than she would ever imagine.
Broken Ladders
Wayland, Michigan, 1862
Hannah craves excitement, but all local adventures dried up long ago, when her parents unpacked their wagon on the Michigan frontier. Then war breaks out and her father and brother leave to fight the Confederacy. Hannah is left at home chaffing under the boredom of never-ending chores — until the farm is threatened, and Hannah finds adventure of her own.
Beneath the Slashings (coming Summer, 2012)
Michigan Wilderness, 1865
After four uncertain years of war, twelve-year-old Grace Nickerson is desperate to patch together what is left of her community and return to some sense of normalcy. But soon after his return, her father sells the farm and drags the family off to a lumber camp in Michigan’s northern wilderness. Will Grace ever find the peace and security she knew before the war?
Meeting Grade Level Content Expectations
and Common Core Standards
with The Candle Star
The Candle Star contains a wealth of material useful for meeting Grade Level Content Expectations and Common Core standards. Of particular value is the figurative language which characterizes my writing. In addition, vivid settings, dynamic dialogue, suspense, plot-driving conflict and a realistic heroine who moves toward maturity all help create an unforgettable literary experience.
I have created a list of high-level study questions, organized by chapter, to help make full use of The Candle Star’s strengths and meet a wide variety of the required mastery skills. Some of the things students are asked to do include:
*compare and contrast characters
*describe settings by citing details from the text
*make predictions
*analyze story structure and give examples of rising action, climax, and falling action
*make inferences and support them with text
*summarize text
*explain how word choice affects meaning and mood
*identify figurative language (metaphors and similes) and explain how they enhance
meaning
*identify sensory details and understand how they create image, sensation and emotion
*respond to conflict and explain how it drives the plot
*identify literary devises such as foreshadowing, personification, irony and suspense
*understand importance of primary sources use them in conjunction with story account
*analyze the uses of dialogue
*summarize themes
*identify symbols and elicit their meaning
*define vocabulary words, which are organized by chapter
In addition, The Candle Star contains accurate pre-Civil War American context, including the slavery issue, the Underground Railroad, Detroit history, the economy of both North and South, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and contributions each side made toward war, making it an ideal accompaniment to an American History social studies course. I’ve created a list of social studies extension ideas for this purpose.
The Candle Star brings history to life. With ample suspense and some surprising plot twists, it may even help meet that most elusive goal – creating enthusiastic readers. Kids will be drawn into the personal conflict raging within Emily, a young southern girl pitched into Abolitionist Detroit, and her interaction with a strong young black man named Malachi.
Chapter One
Vocabulary – perforated, indeterminate, valise, hacks, sorrel, traitorous, obnoxious
1. An opening sentence should grab a reader’s attention. What does this sentence tell you about Emily? What questions about her does it create?
2. Describe Detroit. Does Emily want to be there? What clues from the text give you this impression?
3. Tone is the attitude a passage takes toward its subject (for example, sarcastic, playful, ironic, serious, condescending, etc.). What tone does the opening dialogue set? What specific words help set that tone?
4. Describe Emily. How is she feeling as she rides into Detroit? Why?
5. An action verb is a verb that shows action, as opposed to a passive verb that simply is. Authors use action verbs to hold interest and heighten meaning. Find the action verbs in the following example: “The train shuttered and died, wheezing out a last breath of steam.” Evaluate its effectiveness as compared to a passive version such as “The train was still.”
6. What is Emily’s first impression of her uncle? What details about her reaction let you know her feelings? Why do you suppose she feels so strongly?
7. Conflict is a problem in a story which creates interest. What conflicts have developed in the first chapter? Explain each. How is the main character at the center of each?
Chapter Two
Vocabulary – Dutch door, accommodations, shroud, indomitable, French doors, sonata, minuet, conjuring, divan, vanity, bureau, flagstone
1. What do the items that Emily removed from her bag reveal about her?
2. Why do you suppose the woman in the kitchen doesn’t want to meet Emily? What can you infer about this woman? Why?
3. A theme is a main idea. What is the theme of the following paragraph? “For twelve years Emily Preston had been indulged and allowed to ramble at will, carefree and happy. Suddenly her parents realized she would be marriageable in only a few short years and began to prepare her. They controlled and contained her – just like the plants being forced into these boxes. All the new rules made her want to run, to scream, to fly away! How could she be held accountable for her sudden bursts of temper?”
4. This theme also stretches across the book. Where else have you seen instances of Emily’s desire to be free and unhindered?
5. A symbol is an object used in a story to represent a theme. In that same paragraph, what symbol represents Emily’s frustrations at being contained? What variation of this symbol do you see in the paragraphs about the garden?
6. Make a prediction involving the journal.
Chapter Three
Vocabulary – crinoline, petticoat, pantalettes
1. Why do you suppose it’s so important to Emily that she looks good for dinner? What does it say about her roots, her loyalties, her personality?
2. Comparisons are often made in a story to underscore meaning. In the sixth paragraph of chapter three, what comparison is made? How does it help us to better understand Emily’s desire to look good for dinner?
3. What socioeconomic class does Emily’s family fit into? (Socioeconomic just means rich or poor or middle class.) How does Emily think of her own family compared to others? On what, do you suppose, does she base this? How does it affect her words and actions? What “class rules” or proper interaction between different classes, does she hold to?
4. Prejudice is a negative attitude or feeling of superiority toward a race or individual or class. Give two examples of prejudice that Emily holds. Cite Emily’s words or actions that prove this. What does this tell you about Emily? Where do you suppose she got those feelings?
5. What do you think of Uncle Isaac’s punishment of Emily after her behavior in the dining room? Was it a good way to handle her, or a poor way? Why? What did Emily think of it? How do you know? Would you like Isaac if he was your uncle? Why or why not?
6. Identify ten action verbs in this chapter.
Chapter Four
Vocabulary – peasant
1. Imagery is using descriptive words and ideas to create a mental image, sensation and emotion. Often imagery includes details that make use of our senses (sensory details). Read the first paragraph of chapter four. List any sensory details. What senses are represented? What mood has this paragraph set? How?
2. Personification is giving human traits to non-living objects. Locate the paragraph describing the schoolhouse. How is personification used. Explain how this technique helps a reader gain a better understanding of the building’s appearance. What feelings are conveyed through its use?
3. Imagery might include figurative language, or word pictures, to help get an idea across. A simile is a word picture that makes a comparison using the words “like” or “as.” Find the simile in Emily’s words: “Where I come from, we are assigned tutors. We don’t cram into a schoolroom like chickens in a coop.” How does this description give the reader a more vivid understanding of her point?
4. What reaction did Emily get to her chicken comment? Do you think this was her intention? Why or why not? What do her words convey about her fears, her insecurities?
5. Does Uncle Isaac hold to the same rigid class structure as Emily? Does he share her prejudices? Does he hold to her class rules? Cite examples from the text to support your answers.
6. A plot twist is an unexpected event. Summarize the plot twist at the end of this chapter. Make a prediction based on this event.
Chapter Five
1. Is Emily a good worker? What does the scene with Shannon tell you about Emily’s upbringing? How does understanding her upbringing help you understand the conflict between Emily and her uncle?
2. Why do you suppose Emily won’t wear old dresses or sensible shoes?
3. Describe Emily.
4. It is important for an author to build sympathy for a main character or readers might lose interest in the story. Do you like Emily? Why or why not? Do you feel sorry for her? Why or why not? Do you understand why she behaves as she does? How has the author created sympathy for Emily?
5. Compare and contrast Uncle Isaac and Jarrod Burrows.
6. Explain how the issue of slavery creates a broad conflict for this book. What position do Mr. Burrows and his friends take? Explain their thoughts on runaway slaves and those who help them. Use quotes from the text. Who do you think is right on this issue? What makes them right?
Chapter Six
1. Another example of figurative language is the metaphor, a word picture that makes a comparison without using “like” or “as.” Often, but not always, it includes a form of the verb “is.” “My hands are ice” is an example of a metaphor. Notice how it differs from the following simile: “My hands are like ice.” Identify the metaphor in the title, The Candle Star. Explain what the title means. How does the metaphor enhance that meaning?
2. Dialogue, or the speech exchanged between characters, moves a story along, conveys meaning, adds interest and can work to crate a mood. Choose a section of dialogue in this chapter. In what ways is it more effective than a long narration? What information does it give the reader? How does it fuel this scene and push toward the next?
3. Explain what mood is created as the chapter opens and Malachi speaks to Emily. What specific details or dialogue creates this effect?
4. Explain how Emily’s inability to figure long division problem initiate a small change in Emily? How does it affect her beliefs? How does it affect her justification of slavery? What effect might it have on her fears and self-esteem?
5. Summarize the plot twist at the end of this chapter.
Chapter Seven
Vocabulary – riding habit, indecorous
1. Find and explain a metaphor in this chapter.
2. Analyze the character of Julia Watson. Why might you assume about her based on her actions and words? Why do you suppose she’s so hard on Emily?
3. Identify three sensory details.
4. Find and explain a simile in this chapter.
5. Determine how the dialogue between Emily and Isaac hustles the story along and sets a mood for the scene. Consider sentence length, word choices, and percentage of dialogue to narration. What emotions are conveyed?
Chapter Eight
Vocabulary - ravenously, etiquette, albeit, parasol
1. Give another outward indication of Emily’s prejudice.
2. Why does Emily work so hard in the barn? What does this sudden change tell us about her? Would you expect it of her? Why or why not?
3. Why do you suppose Emily isn’t devastated by the letter from her mother? Give some specific changes that have taken place in her character.
4. Analyze Isaac’s punishments. Do you think he’s reasonable? Why or why not? Do you think he’s effective? Why or why not?
5. Describe Melanie Thatcher.
6. Explain how poetry is used as a metaphor.
Chapter Nine
1. What do you think the author meant to accomplish by including the state fair in the story? Judge how effective you think it is. Back up your judgments with text.
2. On their way to watch the flying show, Malachi confronts Emily. Sum up both sides of their conflict. What side do you agree with? Why?
3. How does the flying machine affect Emily on a deep level? What does it teach us about Emily? How does it become an important metaphor?
4. How does the box symbol reveal something about Malachi? How is he breaking out of a box? How is Emily?
5. What does the dialogue in this chapter reveal about each of the children?
6. Compare and contrast Emily and Malachi.
Chapter Ten
Vocabulary – atrocities, intricate
1. Explain how those who helped runaway slaves were breaking the law. Do you think the action was justified? Were slave owners who met African ships justified for breaking the law? On what do you base your judgments of right and wrong?
2. Irony is when what actually happens differs from what might be expected to happen. Explain the irony of Michigan residents’ poor treatment of Native Americans and sympathy for slaves. In your opinion, could Indian wars be justified? Why or why not?
3. How was the northern economy dependent on slave labor? Can you identify irony in this? Knowing this, how do you feel about northern condemnation of the southern states?
4. Why do you suppose Emily has forgotten to get herself sent home? Would you say she’s happy in the North? Why or why not?
5. Does Emily admire Melanie Thatcher? Does Isaac? Cite examples to support your statements.
6. What do you think happened to Isaac’s estate?
Chapter Twelve
1. How is the Evangeline character from Longfellow’s poem similar to Emily?
2. List several sensory details associated with decorating the Christmas tree. Compare and contrast the way we implement this tradition today with what takes place in the book.
3. In what ways has this chapter progressed Emily and Malachi’s friendship?
4. A great deal of music is included in The Candle Star. How does music affect the setting? Cite sensory details involving music.
5. Identify 10 action verbs in this chapter.
6. Identify an example of personification in this chapter.
Chapter Fourteen
Vocabulary – apologetic
1. Is Melanie a good cook? How do you know? What clued you in, actions or words? Cite details. What does this exchange say about Melanie? About Isaac?
2. Analyze how the author uses work to illustrate how Emily has changed. Is it effective? Give examples of how work is shown differently at the beginning and now.
3. Do you like Uncle Isaac? Why or why not? Has your opinion of him changed since chapter one? Explain your answer.
4. What does Malachi say Emily is trying to do to her uncle’s life? Identify irony.
5. Why do you suppose Zeke’s story affects Emily so strongly? In what ways has Emily not changed?
6. Analyze the confrontation between Uncle Isaac and Emily at the end of this chapter. How does the conflict affect you? How do you suppose it affects Emily? Judge how effective you think the dialogue is in creating tension. What purpose did the author intend for this scene?
Chapter Fifteen
Vocabulary – presumptuous, crescendo, reverberations
1. Why do you think the fact that Malachi overheard Emily’s final words in chapter fourteen unnerved her? How do you suppose she is feeling? What details let you know?
2. Explain Malachi’s cage symbol. What idea does it represent? How is it similar to the symbols of a box and a room? In what new way is Malachi applying it?
3. How does Malachi explain the poetry metaphor?
4. Why do you suppose Emily grasps Malachi’s hand?
5. The Candle Star includes many references to the Bible. Why do you think the author includes these? What does she hope to accomplish? In what ways does this strengthen the story?
6. Summarize the main points of Frederick Douglass’s speech.
Chapter Sixteen
Vocabulary – charitable
1. Why is leaving so difficult for Emily? What remains undone?
2. Explain the metaphor of the family quilt.
3. Explain the rose symbol. What broad theme does it stand for? How is it related to the symbol of the box or cage?
4. Emily’s views on slavery have shifted. Give reasons why Emily doesn’t willingly embrace Malachi’s suggestion to look for “little things” that she can help change. Why do you suppose she reacts in such a way? What is she afraid of?
5. Find and explain a simile in this chapter.
6. Suspense is the revealing of information a bit at a time. Authors use this technique to hook an audience and keep them reading to the end. How does the conflict with Mr. Burrows add suspense?
Chapter Seventeen
Vocabulary – duplicity, eloquence, petulant, chastised
1. What tone is set at the beginning of the chapter? Give details as to how the author creates it, citing specific word choices.
2. Were you surprised when Emily discovered the runaways? Why or why not? What clues were planted in the text leading up to this discovery?
3. What doubts does Emily have about helping Malachi? What makes up her mind? How has Malachi prepared her for this moment previously?
4. Analyze the effectiveness of the dialogue in the scene around the dinner table.
5. You have learned how stories are structured out of scenes and chapters. These episodes can be grouped into larger categories. Rising action includes all the action, starting at the very beginning, that builds up to a main confrontation. This confrontation, or the most exciting point in the story, is called the climax. Events that occur after the climax and work to conclude the story are called falling action. In this chapter, the plot builds significantly. Give two examples of rising action.
Chapter Eighteen
Vocabulary – haphazardly
1. Why do you think Malachi is so insistent that people use the runaways’ names?
2. How has Emily’s gown become significant?
3. Give an example of rising action.
4. Explain the significance of the gray cloth in Isaac’s office. What do you suspect happened to other things from his office? Give examples.
5. Give an example of suspense in this chapter and explain how it hooks a reader’s attention.
6. Give an example of foreshadowing.
Chapter Nineteen
1. Analyze the effectiveness of the scene with Mr. Thatcher at the chapter’s opening. What did the author try to accomplish? Was it effective? Why or why not? What literary technique is used?
2. How does the fair become significant in this chapter? How effective would the children’s escape be if the guy wires hadn’t been built into the story earlier?
3. Explain what “being a raccoon” means.
4. How does the story’s title come into play in this chapter?
5. How are Emily and Isaac alike?
6. Summarize the climax of the story.
Chapter Twenty
1. Give an example of falling action.
2. Explain what “Emily finally pruned off the rest of her pride” means. Why is this an appropriate statement? What symbol does it take advantage of? Where else in the chapter is that symbol alluded to?
3. Why does Emily keep Rachel’s bandage?
4. Did you guess the journal’s significance before this chapter? If yes, when? What clued you in?
5. Explain the significance of Isaac’s gift to Emily.
6. Resolution is when a problem reaches a conclusion. Identify the resolutions to all the major conflicts.
Chapter One
perforated, indeterminate, valise, hacks, sorrel, traitorous, obnoxious
Chapter Two
Dutch door, accommodations, shroud, indomitable, French doors, sonata, minuet, conjuring, divan, vanity, bureau, flagstone
Chapter Three
crinoline, petticoat, pantalettes
Chapter Four
peasant
Chapter Seven
riding habit, indecorous
Chapter Eight
ravenously, etiquette, albeit, parasol
Chapter Ten
atrocities, intricate
Chapter Eleven
quarantine
Chapter Fourteen
apologetic
Chapter Fifteen
presumptuous, crescendo, reverberations
Chapter Sixteen
charitable
Chapter Seventeen
duplicity, eloquence, petulant, chastised
Chapter Eighteen
haphazardly
Social Studies Extension Ideas
1. Investigate the political climate in America just before the Civil War broke out. What kind of economy did the North have? What was the southern economy based on? What was each section’s position on slavery?
2. Locate Charleston, South Carolina on a map. Locate Detroit. How many miles did Emily travel? What different kinds of landforms or regions did she travel through?
3. Use the 1873 map of Detroit (see Links page) to follow Emily’s movements throughout the book. Locate parks, buildings, schools, docks, etc. that figure in the story. Compare and contrast the old map to a current one.
4. Define the landform called a “neck” and locate Charleston Neck on a map.
5. Research some of the composers, especially Beethoven, and musical terms (minuet and sonata) mentioned in The Candle Star. Locate the song Fur Elise (see Links page) and play it for the class. Discover what year Fur Elise was written. What year was it published? What year does this novel take place?
6. Look up the origin and composers of the others songs mentioned in the book, Jingle Bells and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
7. Research Quakers. What were some of their basic beliefs? What role did they play in the slavery issue? In the Underground Railroad?
8. Research the various styles of hair (including facial) and clothing during this time period. Look up individual articles of clothing mentioned in the book to understand their appearance.
9. Discuss the class structure of America before the Civil War. Identify and describe the different classes. You may want to do this for the North and South individually and note the similarities and differences.
10. Identify some of the various races and subcultures (especially Irish and free Black) that made up Detroit at this time. What prejudices featured in American culture then? Compare and contrast with today.
11. Research the beginnings of the Republican political party. What role did Michigan play in its inception? Identify some prominent Michigan politicians.
12. Learn about the birth of state fairs. What was their original purpose? Were they popular? How were they beneficial?
13. Look up some of the inventions mentioned at the state fair.
14. Sir George Cayley is considered by many to be the father of flight. Research his findings and find sketches of his original flying machines.
15. Chapter nine names several historical free Blacks from Detroit. Look up Mr. William Lambert, Mr. George deBaptiste and Doctor Joseph Ferguson.
16. Read the Fugative Slave Law of 1850 (see Links page). What was the purpose of the law? What effect did it have on the North? What response did it elicit from the North? From the South? Did it meet it’s purpose? What problems did it cause? Consider the law from the standpoint of a runaway. What logical effect did it have on the Underground Railroad?
17. Research the symptoms and prognosis of Scarlet Fever in the 1800’s. Read The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams.
18. Locate and read the actual Underground Railroad billboard that Zeke read in the story (see Links page). What hidden meanings does it convey? Do you think it fooled readers? Do you think it was intended to? How would such a publication affect readers on both sides of the slavery issue? Can you find other examples of such billboards online?
19. Research the life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Share some of his poetry with the class. Why do you suppose he was so popular?
20. Consider the quality of medical care at this time. What legal education requirements were in place to become a doctor? What major breakthroughs had not yet been discovered? Describe the role of the Civil War in medical advancements. Learn more about the beginnings of the medical school in Ann Arbor that Malachi mentioned (a department of the University of Michigan).
21. Second Baptist Church still stands in Detroit. Read further about its history and its role in the Underground Railroad (see Links page).
22. Research the life of Frederick Douglass. Trace events in his life that molded him into the effective public speaker he became. Share one of his speeches with the class (see Links page).
23. Using a map, explore other routes to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Why is it called the Underground Railroad? Find out more about what it was like to be a “conductor” or a “passenger” on this freedom train. Explore the codes used to locate safe houses, the dangers involved, and the free Black communities in Canada. Read Elijah of Buxton, by Christopher Paul Curtis. (See Links page.)
24. Look up Seymour Finney, the inspiration for this story. Who was he? Where did he live? What did he do? What character is based on him?
25. Broadsides were once a popular way of advertising. Mr. Burrows mentions “posters out of Georgia” when he captures the runaway on Christmas. Read through the runaway slave broadside (page 28). See if you can find more examples of similar broadsides online. How effective do you think such an advertisement would have been? What other means of recapturing slaves were there? How did slaves evade them? How would illiteracy be a tremendous obstacle to freedom? How has technology changed our way of advertising today?
Detroit Underground Railroad Broadside
STOCKHOLDERS
OF THE UNDERGROUND
R. R. COMPANY
Hold on to Your Stock!!
The market has an upward tendency. By the express train which arrived this morning at 3 o’clock, fifteen thousand dollars worth of human merchandise, consisting of twenty-nine able bodied men and women, fresh and sound, from the Carolina and Kentucky plantations, have arrived safe at the depot on the other side, where all our sympathising colonization friends may have an opportunity of expressing their sympathy by bringing forward donations of ploughs, &e., farming utensils, pick axes and hoes, and not old clothes; as these emigrants all can till the soil. N. B. – Stockholders don’t forget, the meeting to-day at 2 o’clock at the ferry on the Canada side. All persons desiring to take stock in this prosperous company, be sure to be on hand. By Order of the BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
Detroit, April 19, 1853.
$200 Reward.
RAN AWAY from the Subscriber, on the 21st of October, his Negro Man, called WARNER SALE. He is about 35 years of age, copper-colored, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, well made, stout build, bow-legged, a small broken piece out of one of his front teeth, a small scar on the lid of one of his eyes, small moustache and goatee, is polite when spoken to, and is fond of drinking. Clothing not recollected, but has a good supply with him. I will give the above reward for his apprehension and return to me, or if lodged in any jail, so I can get him again.
R. P. Waring,
Loretto Post Office, Essex Co., VA
Nov. 2, 1853
The site of the barn belonging to Detroit inn-keeper, Seymour Finney, the inspiration for this story, now contains a Michigan Historical Site marker. It reads:
“Seymour Finney conducted one of the principal passenger depots of the underground railroad in the Detroit area. Finney, a tailor by trade, later became a hotel-keeper, and it was in this capacity that he assisted fugitive slaves in the era prior to 1861. In 1850 he purchased a site where in later years stood the Finney Hotel, and also erected a large barn which he operated along with his tavern. Strongly sympathetic to the abolitionist cause, Finney employed every means to assist escaping slaves across the river into Canada. Detroit was one of the most important "stations" en route to Canada; if a fugitive reached this city, he was comparatively safe. Finney Barn served as a hiding-place for runaways until they could reach the river bank and freedom.”
See an image of the Seymour Finney Bar.
Second Baptist Church of Detroit, 1881
Second Baptist, the church Malachi attends in The Candle Star, still operates in its original location today. According to its website, it served as a station on the Underground Railroad from 1836 to 1865, helping 5,000 slaves on to Canada. The first black school within the city was established by the church in 1839. Frederick Douglass really did speak there in March of 1959.
See 1881 image of Second Baptist Church.
An Excerpt from A Narrative of the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper, from American Slavery
I was with Mr. Smith nearly a year. I arrived at the first knowledge of my age when I lived with him. I was then between twelve and thirteen years old, it was when President Jackson was elected the first time, and he has been president eight years, so I must be nearly twenty-one years of age. At this time I was quite a small boy, and was sold to Mr. Hodge, a negro trader. Here I began to enter into hardships.
After travelling several hundred miles, Mr. Hodge sold me to Mr. Gooch, the cotton planter, Cashaw county, South Carolina; he purchased me at a town called Liberty Hill, about three miles from his home. As soon as he got home, he immediately put me on his cotton plantation to work, and put me under overseers, gave me allowance of meat and bread with the other slaves, which was not half enough for me to live upon, and very laborious work. Here my heart was almost broke with grief at leaving my fellow slaves. Mr. Gooch did not mind my grief, for he flogged me nearly every day, and very severely. Mr. Gooch bought me for his son-in-law, Mr. Hammans, about five miles from his residence. This man had but two slaves besides myself; he treated me very kindly for a week or two, but in summer, when cotton was ready to hoe, he gave me task work connected with this department, which I could not get done, not having worked on cotton farms before. When I failed in my task, he commenced flogging me, and set me to work without any shirt in the cotton field, in a very hot sun, in the month of July. In August, Mr. Condell, his overseer, gave me a task at pulling fodder. Having finished my task before night, I left the field; the rain came on, which soaked the fodder. On discovering this, he threatened to flog me for not getting in the fodder before the rain came. This was the first time I attempted to run away, knowing that I should get a flogging. I was then between thirteen and fourteen years of age. I ran away to the woods half naked; I was caught by a slave-holder, who put me in Lancaster jail. When they put slaves in jail, they advertise for their masters to own them; but if the master does not claim his slave in six months from the time of imprisonment, the slave is sold for jail fees. When the slave runs away, the master always adopts a more rigorous system of flogging; this was the case in the present instance. After this, having determined from my youth to gain my freedom, I made several attempts, was caught and got a severe flogging of one hundred lashes each time. Mr. Hammans was a very severe and cruel master, and his wife still worse; she used to tie me up and flog me while naked.
After Mr. Hammans saw that I was determined to die in the woods, and not live with him, he tried to obtain a piece of land from his father-in-law, Mr. Gooch; not having the means of purchasing it, he exchanged me for the land.
As soon as Mr. Gooch had possession of me again, knowing that I was averse to going back to him, he chained me by the neck to his chaise. In this manner he took me to his home at MacDaniel's Ferry, in the county of Chester, a distance of fifteen miles. After which, he put me into a swamp, to cut trees, the heaviest work which men of twenty-five or thirty years of age have to do, I being but sixteen. Here I was on very short allowance of food, and having heavy work, was too weak to fulfil my tasks. For this I got many severe floggings; and after I had got my irons off, I made another attempt at running away. He took my irons off in the full anticipation that I could never get across the Catarba River, even when at liberty. On this I procured a small Indian canoe, which was tied to a tree, and ultimately got across the river in it. I then wandered through the wilderness for several days without any food, and but a drop of water to allay my thirst, till I became so starved, that I was obliged to go to a house to beg for something to eat, when I was captured, and again imprisoned.
Mr. Gooch, having heard of me through an advertisement, sent his son after me; he tied me up, and took me back to his father. Mr. Gooch then obtained the assistance of another slave-holder, and tied me up in his blacksmith's shop, and gave me fifty lashes with a cow-hide. He then put a long chain, weighing twenty-five pounds, round my neck, and sent me into a field, into which he followed me with the cow-hide, intending to set his slaves to flog me again. Knowing this, and dreading to suffer again in this way, I gave him the slip, and got out of his sight, he having stopped to speak with the other slave-holder.
I got to a canal on the Catarba River, on the banks of which, and near to a lock, I procured a stone and a piece of iron, with which I forced the ring off my chain, and got it off, and then crossed the river, and walked about twenty miles, when I fell in with a slave-holder named Ballad, who had married the sister of Mr. Hammans. I knew that he was not so cruel as Mr. Gooch, and, therefore, begged of him to buy me. Mr. Ballad, who was one of the best planters in the neighbourhood, said, that he was not able to buy me, and stated, that he was obliged to take me back to my master, on account of the heavy fine attaching to a man harbouring a slave. Mr. Ballad proceeded to take me back. As we came in sight of Mr. Gooch's, all the treatment that I had met with there came forcibly upon my mind, the powerful influence of which is beyond description. On my knees, with tears in my eyes, with terror in my countenance, and fervency in all my features, I implored Mr. Ballad to buy me, but he again refused, and I was taken back to my dreaded and cruel master. Having reached Mr. Gooch's, he proceeded to punish me. This he did by first tying my wrists together, and placing them over the knees ; he then put a stick through, under my knees and over my arms, and having thus secured my arms, he proceeded to flog me, and gave me five hundred lashes on my bare back. This may appear incredible, but the marks which they left at present remain on my body, a standing testimony to the truth of this statement of his severity. He then chained me down in a log-pen with a 40 lb. chain, and made me lie on the damp earth all night.
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From the Democrat and Chronicle
An Excerpt from A Few Leaves from the Diary of an Underground Railroad Conductor, by William S. Falls
One fine morning in the month of June, 1851, E. C. Williams...hastily entered my place of business, and in an excited manner, said “Friend Falls, put on your coat and come with me.” I asked him to explain, but he evaded the request – piloting my steps to his spacious sail loft and tent manufactory, up one flight of stairs, in the building now occupied by Wm. Burke & Co., dealers in hardware. He leading the way to the rear to the darkest nook in the premises, we came upon the stalwart form of a fine specimen of the negro race. He was in a crouching posture, and seemingly in great fear lest his master, who was upon his track, and was at that moment actually in the city in pursuit, might learn of his whereabouts. Of course “E. C.” re-assured the poor fellow that he was in a place of safety, and that I too was a friend and would not betray him. Our manner and soothing words had the effect of inspiring him with confidence as to our motives. Suffice it to say that the “fugitive” was properly cared for during the balance of that day, and when the shades of night set in, he made his way in safety to Charlotte, where lay the Canadian steamer Magnet, on board which he was conveyed beyond the reach of all earthly “masters.”
This was my first experience in underground railroading. From this time till the inauguration of the Rebellion, nearly an hundred unfortunates, male and female, children and adults, had passed through my hands...
...One morning early in my “underground” experience, when stages to Charlotte and elsewhere were wont daily to start from the “Eagle Hotel corner,” State Street, now the site of Powers’ Block, my friend “E. C.” came to me and requested my assistance in aiding a colored man and his wife and infant – all as black as black could be. It was said that men had been in the city looking for them the day before, but the colored people up on “Cornhill,” had so effectively hid them, that, after diligent search, their master was obliged to leave town without them. Well, the husband had been started before dawn down the road to Charlotte, there to await the arrival of his wife and child. It therefore devolved upon “E. C.” and myself to see that the mother and child were safely put on board of the stage for that place. As previously arranged, at an early hour, we took a position on the “Eagle corner,” at the stage office. We had not waited long before “E. C.,” rubbing his hands and smiling all over his bright and sunny face, exclaimed, “There they come! There they come!” Looking in the direction to which he pointed, a ricketty old wagon, drawn by an emaciated mule was seen coming over “Loafer Bridge,” (as Exchange Street Bridge was then called,) and down the hill to the stage office. It being about stagehour, no time could be lost, and beckoning to the little colored driver, he backed up to the sidewalk – “E. C.” politely aiding the woman by taking in his arms her little picaninny – while I, as politely assisted the mother from the vehicle to the walk. They were immediately placed on board of the stage, and the driver cracking his whip, a joyful re-union of father, mother and infant, soon followed, succeeded by the still more joyful re-union which a safe arrival in Canada assured to the fleeing family...
...In 1865, I met with a young colored man from Virginia, who related to me a most interesting history of his escape, which was accomplished chiefly from the fact that the family who owned him, having no immediate use for him, hired him out to a gentleman who knew nothing of his antecedents – the owners removing temporarily to New Orleans. Of course, he deceived his new master. He obtained leave of absence for a day or two, to go in a certain direction, to visit his wife, when in fact he was unmarried, and once out of sight of his new master, went in an opposite direction, with the North Star for his guide.
His sufferings and hardships, while making his way North, were very great; and he had many hair-breadth escapes from arrest. Finally, after a tedious journey, secreted in swamps, barns, etc., by day, and pursuing his way as best he could by night, he reached Rochester, where he found friends.
Text of The Hypocrisy of American Slavery,
a speech by Frederick Douglass
The citizens of Rochester, New York, where Douglass settled, asked him to speak at their
Fourth of July celebration. This was his speech:
Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?
Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."
But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you, that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation (Babylon) whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin.
Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!"
To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.
My subject, then, fellow citizens, is "American Slavery." I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing here, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July.
Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity, which is outraged, in the name of liberty, which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery -- the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate - I will not excuse." I will use the severest language I can command, and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slave-holder, shall not confess to be right and just.
But I fancy I hear some of my audience say it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother Abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more and denounce less, would you persuade more and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slave-holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment.
What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments, forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man!
For the present it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver, and gold; that while we are reading, writing, and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants, and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; that we are engaged in all the enterprises common to other men -- digging gold in
California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave -- we are called upon to prove that we are men?
Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? How should I look today in the presence of Americans, dividing and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? To do so would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.
What! Am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? No - I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.
What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman cannot be divine. Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may - I cannot. The time for such argument is past.
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.
What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.
Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.
Frederick Douglass - July 4, 1852
Online audio file of Fur Elise
http://www.forelise.com/recordings/valentina_lisitsa
Map of Detroit, 1873
http://www.detroittransithistory.info/DetroitMap-1873.html
Second Baptist Church of Detroit image, 1881
http://thmetrod.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/sec_baptold.jpg
Seymour Finny Barn image
http://www.doharchives.org/sitemot/mg_ed/educational/UndergroundRR.html
Map of Underground Railroad Routes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Undergroundrailroadsmall2.jpg
Underground Railroad in Michigan
http://genealogytrails.com/mich/underground.html
National Geographic’s Underground Railroad site – Kid-Friendly Site
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/
Library of Congress Photos search
Frederick Douglass
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/doughtml/doughome.html
Many Digital Slave Narrative
http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/chronautobio.html
Complete Text of the Moses Roper Narratives
http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/roper/menu.html
Complete Text of the William S. Falls Narrative
http://www.libraryweb.org/~digitized/scrapbooks/rsc00004color.pdf
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