Exploring the Underground Railroad
Summer schooling for us often just means following rabbit trails. This one all started when we began reviewing The Book of Astronomy, which led to talking about constellations, which led us to review a literature guide for The Drinking Gourd by F.N. Monjo. As we’re going through it, we’ve been having fun finding other ways to learn about the Underground Railroad.
Here are some of the resources my 4-8 year olds have found interesting along the way.
Books
Who Owns the Sun? by Stacy Chbosky (a Five in a Row book)
Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter (Part of Five in a Row Vol. 2)
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford (This is a beautiful Caldecott Honor book that is essentially a long continuous conversation between Harriet Tubman and God as she travels the frightening and dangerous road to freedom.)
Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine (This is another Caldecott Honor book based on the true story of a man who had himself mailed to freedom in a shipping crate.)
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson
Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson
The Secret to Freedom by Marcia Vaughan
(The three stories above all talk about the role of quilts in helping slaves find their way to freedom. I hope to revisit them when Arianna is older and we can do a quilting project to go along with our study.)
Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold
…If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America by Anne Kamma
Harriet Tubman by Catherine Nichols
Videos
Adventures in Odyssey: Race to Freedom, video on Amazon Prime
Harriet Tubman from the Inspiring Animated Heroes series
Other
Adventures In Odyssey episodes #314-316 “The Underground Railroad” (audio)
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