The Queens Historical Society

Teachers

DOCUMENT-BASED TEACHING AIDS PRODUCED BY THE QUEENS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Document-Based teaching aids from the Queens Hostorical Society use historic materials to bring slavery and the Underground Railroad in New York alive for school children. Help your students understand slavery and the abolition of slavery in New York City, New York state and in our nation as a whole.

THE ROAD TO FREEDOM: The Underground Railroad, New York and Beyond
A Supplementary American History Textbook
 9 x 7.5 inches            108 pages            $10 plus $3 for shipping and  handling (20% discount on school and library orders of 25 copies or more)*
The Road to Freedom is on the NYSTL list for the New York City
Department of > Education (Fast Track)

The Underground Railroad helped a people in bondage fulfill their
dream of  freedom. The Road to Freedom is the history of men and women of conscience: Quakers, abolitionists, and"conductors" of the secret road to freedom. It is a chronicle of African-American heroism in the face of cruel  inhumanity.

How the Underground Railroad affected the coming of the Civil War is
a  tropic emphasized by the New York State Social Studies Standards.
The Road to Freedom is designed for 7th grade students and older.
At the end of each chapter is a document with a series of questions
to help students practice the "Constructed Response" questions on the state  examination. The book ends with a document Based Question exercise similar to those on the state exam.

Teaching With Documents:  SLAVERY IN NEW YORK
a Teaching Kit for 4th Grade Students and older                   
$25 per class kit (plus $5 for shipping and handling)
*call (718) 939-0647 ext. 17 for shipping and handling charges on  multiple copy  orders.
The Slavery in New York teaching kit includes a complete class set of copies (30 each) of the following three historic documents:

1. A composite colonial-era newspaper advertisement page with actual
runaway slave ads.
2. Cato's Manumission Paper: documents the freeing of a Long Island
slave by Nicholas Wyckoff in 1812 (with transcription).
3. William Tallman's Inventory: lists items belonging to the estate
of a Queens farmer in 1766, includes the names of his slaves  and their
estimated market value (with transcription).

A teacher's manual with a brief history of slavery in New York, and
lesson  plans with worksheets for each of the three historic documents are included.

Click here for order form


SEVENTH ANNUAL FOURTH GRADE STUDENT ART CONTEST

The Queens Historical Society is sponsoring its seventh annual student art & history contest open to all 4th graders in Queens.

This contest encourages pupils, whose 4th grade social studies curriculum is local history, to share their artistic talents while learning about the history of their local community. Art entries may include drawings of historic buildings, homes, houses of worship, libraries, post offices, cemeteries, bridges, statues, parks or neighborhoods in Queens.

Students must use 8 ½ by 11-inch or 8 ½ by 14-inch paper and may draw with pencils, color pencils, crayons or watercolors. Youngsters are also asked to write a paragraph about the history of their subject and why they selected it.

There will be three prizes awarded of $100, $50 and $25. Every participating student will receive a certificate of achievement. The three winning drawings will be placed on display in Kingsland Homestead, headquarters of the Queens Historical Society.

The winners of the contest will be announced on Saturday, November 15, 2003, at 2:00 PM in the Dr. William O. Benenson Pavilion, 36-17 Parsons Boulevard., between Northern Boulevard and 37th Avenue in Flushing. A reception in Kingsland Homestead for the students, their families and friends will follow the awards ceremony. For contest regulations and entry information, contact the Queens Historical Society at (718) 939-0647 ext. 17.

Entries must be submitted by October 31, 2003.

Previous Art Winner
[photograph of previous winning drawing]

This project is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, administered by Queens Council on the Arts and is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.