Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt Summary
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Slavery in America
By Liane Hicks
Beginning in 1619, African men, women, and children were kidnapped from their homeland and shipped in brutal conditions to the American colonies to endure a life of hardship in bondage as slaves. While the international slave trade was outlawed in 1808, slavery continued in America, particularly in the southern states, throughout the 1800s. Slavery is an inextricable part of the story of America and it was rooted in racism that still impacts our society today.
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Storyboard Description
Use literature to bring history alive! This book is called Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson and describes how a young girl who is enslaved manages to secretly sew a map to freedom.
Storyboard Text
- SWEET CLARA AND THE FREEDOM QUILT
- AUNT RACHEL
- THE NORTH STAR
- "See there? That's the North Star. Under that star, far up north, is Canada. The Underground Railroad is people who been helpin' folks get there, secret-like"
- WHAT IS A MAP?
- 11 year old Clara was forced away from her mother and sent to work as a slave in the cotton fields. She longed to escape back to her mother. Young Jack knew it was better to have hope and encouraged her to keep believing in her dreams.
- THE FREEDOM QUILT
- Aunt Rachel took care of Clara now that she was so far from her mother. Her goal was to teach young Clara how to sew really well so that their enslavers would move her from working in the fields to doing domestic work in the Big House.
- A DARING ESCAPE
- One day, Clara became a seamstress in the Big House. She overheard the cook talking about Canada and the Underground Railroad. She asked Rachel about it and Rachel explained, but warned that if Clara tried to run away, she'd be beaten.
- A HAPPY REUNION
- Clara asked the cook more about the Underground Railroad. The cook told her about maps. Clara decided she would try to create a map to freedom. Young Jack knew more about what lay beyond the plantation, and helped Clara. First they drew it in the dirt.
- HELPING OTHERS TO FREEDOM
- Clara got the idea to sew her map onto a quilt. She took bits of fabric whenever she could to add to her quilt. She listened for information about the world beyond the plantation. Every time she heard something new she added it to her map.
- Clara kissed her dear Aunt Rachel goodbye and gave her the quilt. "Won't you need it where you're going?" Rachel asked. But, Sweet Clara had the map in her head, "I think it should stay here, maybe others can use it."
- Clara and Jack followed the trail of the freedom quilt. They made it to Clara's mother and Clara was overjoyed to see her! Clara convinced her mother to take her baby sister and escape with them, north to freedom.
- Aunt Rachel promised to keep the quilt safe for others. People would look at it and figure out their path to freedom. Not everyone was as lucky as Sweet Clara and Young Jack, but some were able to follow those stitches to freedom.
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