Haitian/Haitian American Curriculum – Tenth Grade Social Studies Lesson Plan Haiti: Exploration and Colonization Content/Theme: Exploration Grade Level: Tenth Textbook Connections: World History – Patterns of Interaction. (2005) McDougal Littell • Unit 4: Connecting Hemispheres Primary Benchmark: • SS.912.W.4.14 Recognize the practice of slavery and other forms of forced labor experienced during the 13th through 17th centuries in East Africa, West Africa, Europe, Southwest Asia, and the Americas. Time: 1-2 class periods Objective(s): • Students will learn about the first inhabitants of Haiti. • Students will understand the circumstances that led the slaves to revolt and fight for their freedom. Teacher Preparation/Materials: • Multicultural Content Knowledge and Evaluation • Vocabulary List • Map of Caribbean • KWL Chart Suggested Activities: 1. Assess prior knowledge on the exploration of the Americas/Caribbean and the history of the island of Haiti. • Teacher will give background information on Christopher Columbus: Who is he? Why did he decide to make that trip? • On the world map, trace Columbus’ journey from Spain to Hispaniola. • Locate Haiti in the Caribbean (map included). Does anyone know the name of the native people from Haiti? 2. Read aloud the reading passage or give as a group reading assignment or individual reading. Give students a purpose for reading: tell students to underline each time they mention native people. 3. Complete the K & W section of a KWL chart. Teacher may use KWL as an independent or shared activity by utilizing 4. Review Multicultural Content Knowledge with students by discussing the main points or giving the reading passage to the students in cooperative groups to read, discuss, and report the answers to the following questions to the whole class. Facilitate groups by circulating and clarifying misconceptions when needed. • Discuss the treatment imposed on the slaves. • Could the Europeans have obtained the same results without slavery? Explain. 5. Have groups fill out the vocabulary page (included) by defining words through context clues. Facilitate groups by circulating and clarifying misconceptions when needed. 6. As individuals or in a group, complete the last section (L) of the KWL chart. Review of Lesson and Assessment: 1. Review key points from the lesson • Columbus’ trip • Disease and demographic disaster of the Native Americans • Marronage • Slaves’ revolt 2. Give students unit quiz and short answer response questions. Answers: (answers vary) 1. At first, the Tainos were scared, then, when they captured a native and sent her up to her people with gifts, they came down to greet the Spanish. 2. B 3. C 4. La Pinta, La Nina, La Santa Maria 5. D 6. Code Noir 7. Marronage was a way for slaves to rebel. The natives and slaves were not being treated fairly, were worked to death, and punished severely. The slaves were able to benefit from this by running away and retreating in groups to fight again. 8. The native’s behavior in 1472 was naïve. They trusted the Spaniards. In 1782, the maroons had had enough. Their pre-thoughts of gathering and running away and retreating was a precursor to the leaders like Toussaint L’Ouverture who gathered people to fight for their freedoms. ESOL Strategies: • Read aloud, cooperative groups, draw examples from the experiences of students, identify and teach essential vocabulary, use facial expressions and gestures to add meaning. Resources: Anthony S. (1989). Places and peoples of the world - Haiti. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. Debs-Heinl, Jr.& N. Gordon-Heinl. (1996). Written in blood. New York: University Press of America, Inc. Visual Geography Series. (1995). Haiti in pictures. New York: Lerner Publications Company. Maps101.com. 5 October 2001. EARLY HISTORY OF HAITI The history of Haiti before 1492 is not clear, but researchers and authors have documented that the Native Americans of South America were the original inhabitants. They were divided into five kingdoms named caciquats. These kingdoms were: Magua, Marien, Xaragua, Managua, and Higuey. When Christopher Columbus left Spain in 1492 in search of gold, he landed on the northern part of Hispaniola, which was said to have resembled the Bay of Cadiz in Spain. With his three ships: la Pinta, la Nina and la Santa Maria, he landed on a beach to find no inhabitants. The Taino, who were the original natives of Haiti, retreated to the hills once they saw the ships. The first name given by Columbus to that beautiful tiny island was: “Ysla Espanola” (Spanish Island). Peter Martyr, a royal chronicler for Spain who followed discoverers on their voyages, later Latinized the name into Hispaniola. The Native Americans called their island Bohio, Quisqueya or Babeque meaning vast country (Heinl p.12). They also referred to it as Hayti, (high land, mountainous land). Haiti, the name that remained, was very beautiful. The coasts, the mountains, the land, and the scenery made it one of the most beautiful places in the world. During their stay at the Moutisques, a place that is called today, “Port au Moutisques,” the Spaniards planted a cross; there they captured a young and attractive Native American woman dressed in clout and wearing a gold nose earring. The Spaniards clothed her well, gave her some accessories to match her attire and then sent her back to her people. This simple gesture reassured the Native Americans of the Spaniards’ good will and opened a door for Columbus to find the source of that golden nose ring. A few hours later, the Tainos came down from their high retreat to greet the Spaniards. To Columbus’ team, the Tainos were the perfect type to be ordered around and put to work. They were lovable, naïve, peaceful, decorous and defenseless. They bore no arms and had no skill with arms. The Spaniards would be the owners, and the natives the slaves. The seed of slavery was planted. Unable to tolerate both harsh treatment and new diseases brought about by the Spaniards, the Tainos disappeared rapidly from a population of 3 million when Columbus debarked in 1492, to 60,000 in 1508. Their population depleted to 14,000 in 1514, then to 600 in 1533. By 1550, a mere 150 Tainos could be found. Still, a labor force was needed to work the cane fields and the mines; thus, forty thousand Native Americans were imported from the Bahamas. These Native Americans were enslaved, prone to illnesses brought by the Spaniards, and faced eventual death. To spare the Native Americans, Bishop Bartolome de Las Casas, asked Spain to bring Africans to Haiti, a decision that he later regretted. Slavery was not new to Spain; Portuguese navigators had brought slaves to Iberia. They believed the blacks to be superior to the Native Americans because of their endurance. The eighteenthcentury chronicle reported: “…that a black can do more work than six Indians…he contents himself with little to eat…stays strong and robust.” In 1510, the first shipment of Africans to Hispaniola was sent by King Ferdinand with the contingency for them to work the Santo Domingo mines only, but soon they ended up working the cane fields as well. They replaced the population of the Native Americans as they diminished. In 1697, with the Treaty of Ryswick, Spain granted France the western territory of Hispaniola, named Saint Domingue, by the French settlers. The French, contrary to the Spaniards, had different objectives. The French buccaneers sometimes used the island to badger English and Spanish ships, while the French adventurers became planters. The Spaniards, in quest of gold, used Haiti as a springboard to explore the western hemisphere. During this period, Africans were brought as slaves to work the sugar cane and the coffee plantations. Saint Domingue/Haiti became the richest colony of the 18th century French Empire. Both Spanish and French used the work of the slaves to get rich, and both transferred the proceeds to Europe. The slaves and their families were treated very inhumane. They were drowned in sacks, crucified on planks, buried alive, and crushed in mortar, just to name a few atrocities that were imposed by their owners. Their treatment did not get any better even with the passing of the Code Noir by Louis XIV in March, 1685, that granted slaves some human rights. Tired of being abused and mistreated, the slaves rebelled, and went into marronage. The maroons retreated to the caves in the mountains. There they built ditches and set obstacles with sharp stakes to protect themselves and their camps. Marronage represented a big problem for the French. Like guerrillas, the maroons organized themselves into bands. Some bands were reported to have almost 2,000 men. In 1720, 1000 maroons were counted; by 1751 the number had tripled. During this period, Saint Domingue witnessed several insurrections. The public execution of Francois Mackandal, a famous maroon, did not discourage slaves from running away. In 1782, to end the eighty-three years of marronage, French officers had to negotiate a political settlement with Bahoruco, one of the successful maroon leaders, and his band. This settlement conceded personal freedom to the maroons, gave them a territory of their own, and bounded them to accept the authority of the French king. Marronage represented the embryo of the fight for freedom. The concession and the defeat of the French army in the insurrection, headed by Bahoruco, let the slaves know that freedom was attainable. As maroons, they were able to keep alive their African traditions and practices. They became skilled warriors, a talent that would later serve to develop heroes in the fight for independence such as: Toussaint L’Ouverture, Jean Jacques Dessalines, and Henry Christophe. These men would be some of the leaders who would help Haiti win its first independence. VOCABULARY LIST ARMS: weapons CACIQUATS: the five kingdoms of South America CLOUT: a piece of cloth CODE NOIR: a systematically arranged and comprehensive collection of laws. CONCEDED: granted CONTINGENCY: a condition of dependence on chance; uncertainty DECOROUS: proper behavior (decorum) HISPANIOLA: the name of the island that is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic MAROON: a plantation slave who ran away to live free in an uncultivated area. MARRONAGE: the act of running away to live free in the mountains. PROCEED: amount of money derived from a commercial or a fundraising venture. QUIZ HAITI: DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION NAME_______________________________________________DATE_________________ Directions: Answer the following questions derived from the reading passage: 1. When Christopher Columbus’ ships arrived at the north shore of Hispaniola, why did the natives withdraw into the hills, and why did they decide later to come down to greet them? ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ 2. “Quisqueya” means: a) Kingdom b) Vast country c) Xaragua d) None of the above 3. What was the name of the original natives of Island? a) Americans b) Caribbeans c) Tiano d) Haitians 4. The names of the three ships that Christopher Columbus and his team disembarked from are: ____ _________, ____ _________, ____ ___________ 5. Who/What granted the western part of Hispaniola to France in 1697? a) Christopher Columbus b) England c) St. Domingue d) The Treaty of Ryswick 6. In March 1685, Louis XIV passed a set of laws that conceded some human rights to the slaves. What was the name of this set of laws? ________________________________________________ SHORT ANSWER RESPONSE QUESTIONS Using details from the passage, briefly explain the concept of marronage. What circumstances led the slaves to use it as a resort? Using details from the passage, compare the natives’ behavior in 1492 with the maroons’ behavior in 1782. Also, explain what is meant in the passage: “They became skilled warriors, a talent that would later serve to develop heroes in the fight for independence such as: Toussaint L’Ouverture, Jean Jacques Dessalines, and Henry Christophe. These men would be some of the leaders who would help Haiti win its first independence.”