Module 4

Module #4: Controlling Movement Overview: In this module we explored the ways that Virginia laws and customs contrained Black mobility and expressions of freedom and how Black Virginians demonstrated resistance and resilience against these restrictions. We explored fugitivity and maroonage (creating maroon communities in the Great Dismal Swamp) as resistance. We explored the use of slave patrols as forms of surveillance for Black mobility. We also explored how the American Colonization Society and the colonization movement represented constraints and opportunities for spaces between enslavement and freedom. Through readings we discussed how fugitivity, resistance, and choice were tied to larger narratives of racism and discrimination. Most importantly, we uncovered stories of resilience and resistance and ways that individuals, families, and communities thrived despite these restrictions. This Module Reflection assignment helps develop and assess the following Course Objectives: • Experience the work of historians through gathering evidence, communicating ideas, and engaging with historical scholarship. • Identify the history of racist policies and practices that created inequities for generations. • Develop strategies for critically reading information • Communicate an interpretation of the past through different modalities Deadline: "ideally" by 11:59pm on Sunday, October 22 through the portal in Assessments - Module Reflections. You can draw from any resources we have discussed, from class discussions, from your classmates, or from any other relevant resources or experiences to compose your reflections. Assignment: For this Module Reflection, respond to question #1 . Then respond to either #2 or #3 : You can submit a written reflection (at least 3 pages) or an audio file or video file of similar length and quality. • #1 Reclaiming Voices (required): We had a chance to explore stories of freedom-seekers, maroons in the Great Dismal Swamp, people caught up in the domestic slave trade, and colonizationists from Virginia to Liberia. Select one of the persons you found in the primary sources or assigned readings in this module and address the following questions (about 2 pages): o What was one thing you remember most about this person and their story? o How did the primary source or assigned readings help you better understand their life? o What does the source suggest about the types of choices and constraints on that person's life? o What does the source silence about the person's life? If you were to interview this person, what would you hope to discover about their life and choices? Provide five questions you would ask this person. Design your question to help you identity the legal, social, political, or economic constraints on this person's choices in life as well as how this

person may have demonstrated resistance or resilience in their life. Explain why you would ask these questions. Choose one from Prompts #2 or #3 to address in addition to answering Question #1: • #2 Critical Reading of Policing and Black Mobility: Given the assigned readings on fugitive slave laws, maroon communities, and the video on policing in America and other sources, address the following questions using specific evidence (about 2 pages): o How did the Fugitive Slave Acts contribute to the policing of Black bodies? o Does learning about the role and function of slave patrols from the past help with understanding policing in the present? Or are these two different things? Explain your position on this question. o How can reading ran away advertisements create a different narrative about Black bodies besides criminality? What does fugitivity suggest about resistance and resiliance? o Dr. Golden's article about maroon communities in the Great Dismal Swamp argues that place, geography, and ecology were key factors in insurgency. She wrote, "We cannot begin to comprehend the choices, actions, or inactions of human beings threatened by captivity without looking closely at the ways they shaped and were shaped by the landscapes around them." (Golden, 6-7). How do you see landscape as playing a role in slavery, freedom, policing, resistance, or resiliance? • #3 Critical Reading of the Colonization/ACS Movement: Given Dr. Kendi's chapter on "Colonization" (p. 143-158), Marie Tyler-McGraw's article "'The Prize I Mean Is the Prize of Liberty’: A Loudoun County Family in Liberia” and class and discussion notes from class, address the following questions with specific evidence from our sources (about two pages): o What were the goals of the American Colonization Society? o How did the American Colonization Society contribute to narratives of assimilationism, segregationism, and/or antiracism? ▪ What kinds of biases or beliefs led people (Black and White) to support the American Colonization Movement? ▪ What were arguments against colonization and the work of the American Colonization Society? o This semester we have discussed the meanings of slavery and freedom in Virginia along a spectrum of constraints and liberties. Given the information from the Lucas/Heaton letters (in Tyler-McGraw's article) and other sources we have discussed, how would you characterize colonization to Liberia? Was it closer to slavery or closer to freedom? Why? Explain your answer with specific evidence and analysis. o You can use any of our class resources to address this question and outside (credible) resources. Grading Criteria: • Are you drawing from other sources to support your response (from experiences, classmates, books/texts/documents/learning materials)?