Sample
Lessons:
The African American Heritage
Trail of Martha's Vineyard:
A Model Project
by: Elaine Cawley Weintraub, Ed.D
The African American Heritage Trail is a physical
entity consisting of a series of identified sites
commemorating the history of people of color on Martha's
Vineyard. There is also a nonprofit corporation founded
by myself and the vice-president of the Martha's Vineyard
chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., known by the name The African
American Heritage Trail History Project. The mission
of the corporation is to research, disseminate and
educate the community of Martha's Vineyard about the
African American history of their island.
Several sites have been identified and plaques celebrating
the existence and achievements of individual people
of color placed at each one. A brief history of people
of color, whose lives on Martha's Vineyard I had researched,
has been published (Weintraub, 1997).
The sophomore history classes of Martha's Vineyard
Regional High School assisted in archival research
for the Heritage Trail by reading through census reports
and legal documentation of peoples lives. They became
involved in gathering oral histories, undertaking
archival research, painting murals, writing poems,
preparing reports, and undertaking landscaping and
site maintenance under my direction and control.
The African American history of this island is still
a constantly evolving, and only partially revealed,
story. To date, the history of the island's only African
American whaler has been uncovered, and three generations
of his ancestors stretching back to his great-grandmother,
Rebecca from Africa. Rebecca's documented story begins
in a deposition where she is referred to as a guinea
woman. Her daughter, Nancy Michael, was the subject
of a legal battle between the towns of Edgartown and
Chilmark - the topic at issue? Was she enslaved, and
if so, was this a legal enslavement?
Archival sources, though sparse, are relatively rich
on the family because of Nancy's interaction with
the legal system and the inevitable records that would
result.
How can you adapt this project to work in your
community?
My students have used archival sources to
examine the lives of people of color on this island,
and to establish, where possible, their status in
the society in which they lived. (Several of the Massachusetts
learning standards are met by this approach to learning
history: specifically standard 1: Chronology and Cause;
standard 2: historical understanding, standard 3:
research, evidence and point of view and standard
4: society, diversity, commonality and the individual,
standard 5: Interdisciplinary learning: Religion,
Ethics, Philosophy and Literature in history, standard
6:Interdisciplinary learning: Natural Science, Mathematics,
and Technology in History.)
Archival resources I have used with my students
include:
Census records (both federal and state). These records
are a valuable source of information, and my students
have been instructed in how to use the census not
merely for raw data but as an interpretation tool.
Registry of Probate, Town Clerks‚ Office. These
archives contain records of wills dating back to the
early European settlement on the Island. Students
read the wills and use the inventory of listed property
where they may find human beings listed as in „one
garl (girl), Nancy, aged 7…180 pounds. (Probated
will of Colonel Cornelius Bassett, (1779) Dukes Country
Probate Division. (standards 1, 2, 3 and 4)
Newspaper archives (in this case the Vineyard Gazette).
Microfilmed copies of the Vineyard Gazette are held
in the Edgartown library and students have been taught
to read through those looking for specific references
to people of color. A link can be established between
names found on the census reports and the newspaper
articles can make this kind of search easier, and
more successful. (standards 1, 2, 3 and 4)
Birth and Death records are also kept on record in
the Town Clerks department of each town, and they
are a valuable indicator even though it was not custom
or practice for peoples of color lives to be recorded.
We were able to find the date and cause death of Nancy
Michael, her daughter Rebecca, and her grandson, William
A. Martin. (standards 2 and 3)
Court and jail records are another valuable indicator
of the lives of the community at a specific time.
It is useful to look at the kind of crimes that were
punished and recorded. We were able to trace that
Nancy Michael was the complainant in the case brought
against her daughter, Rebecca, for theft and non-payment
of debts. Young Rebecca was imprisoned on two occasions
for these offenses when she was 11 years old. (standards
2, 3 and 4).
These are some of the archival sources that are available
in every community that have been of great value as
a teaching and research tool to me and my students.
Develop a timeline that can link to other timelines:
Some significant dates in the history of African
American people on Martha's Vineyard.
1747 - sale of Peter by Zachary Mayhew of Edgartown
to Eben Hatch of Falmouth.
1779 - death of Colonel Cornelius Bassett and the
sale of Nancy Michael, aged 7, to Joseph Allen of
Tisbury.
1787 - John Saunders, formerly enslaved in Virginia,
arrives on Martha's Vineyard and is believed to have
brought Methodism to the island. John being an exhorter
(having it understood held that position among his
fellow slaves) preached to the people of color on
Farm Neck. (Banks, 45).
A deposition from Mr. Saunders granddaughter, Priscilla
Freeman, suggests that Mr. Saunders may have been
smuggled to the island as a fugitive.
1790 - federal census shows 27 people of color living
on Martha's Vineyard. All are described as living
as servants in the homes of white people.
1829 - birth of Captain William Martin - the island's
only African American whaling captain.
1854 - escape to the island of Randall Burton, a
fugitive from enslavement in Mississippi, successfully
hidden and smuggled to freedom in Canada.
1857 - death of Nancy Michael, wise woman formerly
enslaved on Martha's Vineyard.
1861 - a report, and census survey, on the condition
of the Indians by John Milton Earle, describes conditions
on the Chappaquiddick Plantation where many African
American people lived among the Native Americans.
1900 - the Reverend Denniston came to Martha's Vineyard
to be the African American pastor of the Bradley Memorial
Church in Oak bluffs.
1920 - Shearer Cottage, Oak Bluffs becomes the first
African American owned guest house to be open to guests
of color on Martha's Vineyard.
@weintraub, 1997.
This chronological approach to the study of history
directly relates to learning standards 1 and 2. These
events in Vineyard history can be directly related
to similar narratives for other areas such as Boston,
Nantucket and any of the Massachusetts towns. Events
can be compared and similarities and differences observed.
What was happening in Martha's Vineyard in 1854? Were
there similar events happening elsewhere? What would
be the factors influencing those events?
Extensions of this project, key questions,
and lesson ideas:
A specific project on which students are working
is a new dedication for the Heritage Trail relating
to the Fugitive Slave Act, and the possibility of
rescue on Martha's Vineyard. Two plaques will be placed:
one in Aquinnah to honor the Wampanoag tribe's rescue
of Randall Burton and Edgar Jones.
Students will read two newspaper articles relating
to fugitives from enslavement on Martha's Vineyard.
There is a distinct disconnect between the articles.
One is dated 1854 and describes the rescue of one
Randall Burton attributing his rescue to the actions
of two good women and the other written in 1921 describes
a rescue from the perspective of a member of the Wampanoag
Tribe recalling her grandmother's story about a rescue.
Students use this material to compare and contrast
information and formulate essential questions.
A typical question may be: Why would the first article
not mention the Wampanoag people though it does mention
that the fugitive was hidden in a swamp in Gay Head
(Aquinnah)? Another might be: Why may the Native American
people have involved themselves in rescuing a fugitive
from enslavement? Students are encouraged to use both
detective skills and higher level thinking strategies
to formulate theories about the type of rescue, the
motivation of rescuers and research skills to establish
information relating to rewards given for returning
a fugitive.
The various theories are presented in the class and
discussed, and students then receive an assignment
to write an essay, create a journal, write poetry,
make visuals that tell the story using the information
they have and the interpretations they have made.
(This learning experience reflects the Learning standards
1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).
A poem written by a student entitled The Rock
is included here:
We don't even have a place to go into
Our church is too small
I stand among this crowd and listen
Listen to what my friend has to say.
Up on that rock he preaches to us
He tells us of things we have to deal with day by
day
I long for the chance to be lucky enough to have a
real place we can communicate inside
Just like the others.
We have feelings too just like everyone has feelings.
(with permission Ryan Correrira and Nick Sweet)
