Geography and Literature:
African American Experience in North Carolina

by Patsy Hill, NCGA Teacher Consultant

Follow the Drinking Gourd
By F.N. Monjo

It wasn’t easy for a southern slave to escape to safety in the North. The slaves had no maps to help them on these dangerous journeys. Their only guide was the North Star, which was located by using the Big Dipper. They called the Big Dipper the “drinking gourd.” The drinking gourd and the North Star became symbols of freedom.

Lesson Ideas:

  1. Share the story with the class and show the video Follow the Drinking Gourd produced by Rabbit Ears and told by Morgan Freeman, if available. Discuss the story with the class. Sing the song if you have the video.
  2. Acquaint the class with the Big Dipper and North Star. Prepare a model of the constellation by making holes in clear wrap and placing it over an empty tube. Place a flashlight in the tube and shine on the wall or ceiling of a darkened room.
  3. A drinking gourd hanging outside of a house served as a symbol that this place was safe for an escaping slave to hide. Ask students to design their symbols for safe hiding places Remind students that it is important that their logos be ones that could have been understood by a slave but would not be obvious to others.
  4. Write a short story, from the viewpoint of a slave, telling about life in slavery or the journey to freedom.

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
By Deborah Hopkinson

Clara is a seamstress and a slave on Home Plantation. She knows that the Underground Railroad can lead her to freedom. The only problem is how to find it? By piecing together scraps of cloth with scraps of information gathered from other slaves, she fashions a map so secret that even her master won’t suspect that she is planning to escape.

Lesson Ideas:
  1. Read the story to the class and discuss the secret messages used in the book, such as a hidden boat for crossing the Ohio River and the star on the top of the quilt.
  2. Provide students a pattern of the quilt square and allow each student to design a square with a hidden message. Help the class put the quilt together on a board or hang it on the wall. Ask students to find the hidden symbols created by others in the quilt. Each student should write an identification for the symbols used.
  3. Assign students to create a map showing how to get to a friend’s house using paper, fabric, and pictures from old magazines. Directions for the map are on the back cover of the book. They should test their maps the next time they visit their friends.
  4. Invite someone who quilts to visit the classroom and demonstrate quilting and display quilts they have created.