Lesson 10: Stories of the Confederate South – “Freedom: An Allegory”

Opening Epigraph by Benjamin Franklin:

1. Discuss Benjamin Franklin, his life, and writings.
2. Discuss the symbol of the eagle in history. What other nations/empires have used the symbol?

Questions and Topics for Discussion, Writing, and Projects

1. Free people of color in the South before the War (Antebellum South) and during the war. (The minister in the story was a free person of color) Many were born free, and many became free. For more insights read Myths of American Slavery by Walter D. Kennedy (Pelican Publishing).

2. According to this site, <http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/allegory.html> an allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas such as charity, greed, or envy. Thus, an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.  Some famous allegories are Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, Paul’s allegory in the New Testament in Galatians 4, and perhaps, The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. Discuss how this story can be thought of as an allegory. What are the ideas of the story? What or who does the eagle represent?

3. Have the class sing together, “Poor Wayfarin’ Stranger.” Discuss its meaning.

Vocabulary:

1. eulogy –  a speech praising someone who had died.
2. talons – claws
3. rogue foragers – violent, out of control Federal soldiers
4. nanny – one hired to take care of children.
5. regal – royal

Study Guide Lesson 9: Stories of the Confederate South – “The Yankee in the Orchard”

This story is set in modern times along the Red River, near Alexandria, Louisiana. However, the backdrop is the Red River Campaign during the Civil War. The story is based on a family legend. The legend is true, but the modern day application is fictional. The orchard is still on the family’s farm and perhaps someday the story will be vindicated by archaeologists.

Topics and Questions for Discussion, Papers, and Projects:

1. The Red River Campaign. Use the school’s data base for further research. However, here is a good site: http://www.civilwarhome.com/redriverrecords.htm  Students can construct an illustrated map of the campaign. Another good  resources is One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End: The Red River Campaign of 1864, by Gary Joiner.

2. Students can discover, record, and present a family legend.

3. Students can analyze modern differences between Southerner and Northerners.

4. Research the story of Louisiana’s Catahoula Cur dog.

5. Research and discuss the Southern view of treatment of women and contrast the South’s  chivalric view to that of other views. What view does Billy have of women?  What does he not know of these women? What does he not know of history?

6. Research Reconstruction from a Southern point of view.

7. How does this story define the Southern Woman?

Lesson 8: Stories of the Confederate South — “The Hanging of David O. Dodd.”

This story is about one of the two boy martyrs of the Confederacy, David O. Dodd. (The other child-martyr is Sam Davis, who was hanged in Pulaski, TN, and whom you can read about here: http://www.tennessee-scv.org/samdavis.html) David O. Dodd was a seventeen-year-old boy who was hanged by the Yankees as a spy in Little Rock, AR. Like the story of Sam Davis, Dodd’s story is a tragic one. He and his father were sutlers, merchants selling goods to soldiers. David also knew Morse code as he worked in a telegraph office in Monroe, Louisiana for a while. Dodd recorded all kinds of things he saw in his journal in code, and this of course was what got him in trouble. Here is a photo of David O. Dodd:

The Epigraph:

“Stand fast, good Fate to his hanging!
Make the rope his destiny our cable . . .” – The Tempest I.1.16

Discuss how the quotation relates to the message of this story.

Further Research:

Here is a photo of David O. Dodd Elemntary School in Little Rock, AR.

You can read in greater detail about Dodd at these websites:

http://www.civilwarbuff.org/dodd.html and at

http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2536

http://www.onlinelittlerock.com/content/historic/civil-war-david-o-dodd.htm

http://users.aristotle.net/~russjohn/warriors/dodd.html (this site has several photographs)

Project Ideas:

1. Here is a site where your students can learn and practice Morse code. http://www.omniglot.com/writing/morsecode.htm

Have students construct a small David O. Dodd or Mary journal with notes, letters, drawings, photographs, clippings, etc. Also, here is a site with an online translator: http://morsecode.scphillips.com/jtranslator.html
2. After researching his life, draw an illustrated map of Dodd’s travels.
3. Have students reeanact the trial of David O. Dodd. A school in Arkansas, using students about Dodd’s age, did this. See http://www2.arkansasonline.com/events/2008/jan/12/4954/
See also http://www.civilwarbuff.org/trial04.html

Vocabulary and Allusions

1. miser – a greedy stingy person
2. fur muff – a small cylindrical fur or cloth cover, open at both ends, in which the hands are placed for warmth.
3. magical runes – Any of the characters in several alphabets used by ancient Germanic peoples from the 3rd to the 13th century. A similar character in another alphabet, sometimes believed to have magic powers.
4. gallows – constructed platform used to hang people from
5. muleskinner – one who drives mules or drives a wagon pulled by mules.
6. provost marshal – The head of a unit of military police.
7. martinet – a puppet on a string
8. cipher – a secret code
9. Tyburn Tree – A famous hanging tree in England. See this site for more information: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-london/A988833
10. insurrection – a rebellion, riot.
11. “Women at the foot of the cross” – See Matthew 24:54-56

Stained glass from the Little Rock Arsenal in the Museum of Natural Science and History.

Here are photos of Dodd’s tombstone and footstone:

Lesson 7: Stories of the Confederate South– “Moses”

This is an Underground Railroad story, loosely based on the well-known Harriet Tubman. However, I wanted to reveal some lesser-known insights into her character and into the Underground Railroad.

Epigraph: “O Liberty, how many crimes are committed in thy name” — Madam Roland.

For Discussion and Study:

1. Madam Roland and her husband were outspoken supporters of the French Revolution, but they too fell out of favor with those in power and died by the guillotine. Research her life and discuss the meaning of this epigraph and how it relates to this story.

2. Some servants (slaves) like Daniel were allowed to earn extra money. Many were able to even buy or earn their freedom. Discuss how this is a different perspective from the stereotypical view of slavery in the South. See Myths of American Slavery by Walter. D. Kennedy (Pelican Publishing) for even more insights.

3. Harriet Tubman was called the Moses of her people. Discuss the comparison of this woman leader to Moses. Like the Moses in the Bible, this Moses had good qualities and bad ones. Find and discuss the Biblical allusions she uses.

4. While the other servants are running away from slavery and their masters, Daniel is going with them for another reason. What is the reason for Daniel’s journey?

5. Discuss why escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad often had to go to Canada. Most are unaware of “Black” laws in many of the northern states and of the prejudice against black people that existed in the North as well as in the South. For more information go to this site on black codes.

http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Black_Codes_in_Northern_USA/id/1933573

6. Discuss the irony in the scene of Jacob’s death. Did Moses have a right to kill him? Daniel wanted to return, but is not allowed to. Does Daniel “truly” have freedom?

7. “Go Down Moses” is an old spiritual. Find, discover, and with your own voice or with recording, present some of these spirituals to your class. Here is a site devoted to Negro spirituals: http://ctl.du.edu/spirituals/Times/times.cfm

You can find some lyrics for 21 spirituals here: http://newdeal.feri.org/fwp/fwp05.htm