Reimagining New England Histories K-12 Curriculum Project

An Educator’s Guide for Teaching about Historical Injustice, Sovereignty, and Freedom in the Dawnland (New England)

People of Color in the Maritime World: The Inspiring Stories of Four Mariners

The lives of Venture Smith, Paul Cuffee, William Martin, and Amos Haskins help demonstrate both common themes in New England’s history and its at-times underexplored diversity. African, African American, Afro-Indigenous, and Indigenous people played an important role in the maritime world, including in whaling and shipping. Opportunities these men had in maritime professions were so important because of the many roles denied them on land. Their lives serve as a simple but powerful reminder that New England ports, waterfronts, and ships at sea were diverse spaces.

Top left: Venture Smith. Courtesy of the Stonington Historical Society; Top right: William A. Martin. Courtesy of Martha’s Vineyard Museum; Bottom left: Amos Haskins. Courtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum; Bottom right: Paul Cuffee. Oil painting by Larry Johnson. Courtesy of Bridgewater State University

On Traveller, Paul Cuffe sailed from Westport again in 1815 to Sierra Leone carrying 38 free black people who volunteered to go to Africa to help the people of Africa become more productive. Courtesy of the Westport Historical Society

Selected State Standards

Massachusetts

Grade 5 Content Topic 1- Early colonization and growth of colonies:

  1. Explain the early relationships of English settlers to Native peoples in the 1600s and 1700s.
  2. Describe the Triangular Trade and the harsh conditions of trans-Atlantic voyages (called the Middle Passage) for enslaved Africans.

Common Core State Standards

ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.1.b. Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources

Rhode Island

HP 1: Students act as historians using a variety of tools (e.g., artifacts and primary and secondary sources) by…

  1. 5-6: identifying appropriate sources (e.g., historical maps, diaries, photographs) to answer historical questions; using sources to support the stories of history (How do we know what we know?); asking and answering historical questions, organizing information, and evaluating information in terms of relevance; identifying the point of view of a historical source (e.g., media sources).

HP 5: Students demonstrate an understanding that a variety of factors affect cultural diversity within a society by…

  1. 7-8: identifying how movement (e.g., ideas, people, technology) impacts cultural diversity; applying demographic factors (e.g., urban/rural, religion, socioeconomics, race, ethnicity) to understand changes in cultural diversity in an historical and contemporary context.

Background and Context

For Educators

This lesson offers students a chance to read primary sources, practicing analyzing and synthesizing historical materials to tell the life story of one of four mariners who lived in New England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Some, like Paul Cuffe and Venture Smith, have been well-researched–you can find books, journal articles, museum exhibits, and videos about them online (see below for some links). Others, like Amos Haskins and William Martin, are less well known but no less important for our understanding of the past. Combined, these four mens’ stories help students see what life was like for Black and Indigenous people in New England–not just their hardships and struggles, but their love, their families, and their community life. While the materials provided should help address questions students may have about their topics, you may want to know more about the following.

New England was and is home to many Indigenous communities. The men featured in this lesson had connections to and were a part of Wampanoag communities–communities that remain important to the region today. In this era–from the late eighteenth into the nineteenth century–Indigenous communities in New England faced many challenges. One was the ongoing struggle for recognition and community preservation. Since maritime labor was one of the few professional avenues open to Indigenous men, this had a clear impact on the gender balance and makeup of their communities. Sometimes, that impact was used to argue that the scale of communities had changed–that they were disappearing. Other times, their communities faced challenges connected to forced assimilation, losing recognition as Indigenous through state efforts. You will also see that Wampanoag and Black communities interacted and built new relationships, like Paul Cuffe’s parents did. While some experiences were shared, others were unique. 

Black communities in New England have centuries-long roots. You’re likely already familiar with the stories of enslaved Black people like Frederick Douglass or Ona Judge emancipating themselves by traveling to places like Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Less frequently discussed are the stories of enslaved people made to live and work in the region. Although the lives of enslaved people looked different from the large-scale plantation slavery of states like South Carolina, their forced labor shaped New England. Black people both free and enslaved worked in homes and industries throughout the region, including in maritime trades. Sometimes a life afloat provided a means to escape enslavement, other times it created access to wages and limited opportunities for promotion that were even harder to find on land. Thus we see Black and Indigenous people working on New England’s ships, sharing in the labor that helped define the region.

For more information on Paul Cuffe and Venture Smith, see:

For Students

See lessons below for student materials that provide context. 

Lesson

Teams of 4-5 students will select one of these men to research and complete a biography about, and present their work to the class. This is one overarching lesson to be completed over several sessions. The actual number of sessions will depend on if students do some of the work for homework, how involved the projects are, etc. In this example below the project is done over six sessions.

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

  • Employ primary, secondary, and tertiary sources to appraise the history and relevance of four mariners of African, African American, Afro-Indigenous, and Indigenous descent—Paul Cuffe, Amos Haskins, William Martin and Venture Smith.
  • Examine how New England ports, waterfronts, and ships at sea were diverse spaces with many cultures represented.
  • Situate African, African American, Afro-Indigenous, and Indigenous histories within the appropriate social, cultural, political and historical contexts using a maritime lens.

Essential Questions:

  1. How did African, African American, Afro-Indigenous, and Indigenous mariners shape maritime industries in New England and the United States?
  2. How did African, African American, Afro-Indigenous, and Indigenous mariners use the maritime world as a means to better lives for themselves and their communities?
  3. How have African, African American, Afro-Indigenous, and Indigenous people and their histories shaped the United States?
  4. How do the enduring struggles for progress throughout African, African American, Afro-Indigenous, and Indigenous histories connect to other social movements, historically and today?

Historical Context: All of the conditions that surround a historical event and give us greater insight into why it occurred in the ways it did. This can include the social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental conditions before, during, and after the event occurred.

Afro-Indigenous: A person who has native American (usually from central America) and African ancestry.

African American: An American of African and especially of Black African descent.

African: A person and especially a Black person of African ancestry.

Indigenous: Of or relating to the earliest known inhabitants of a place and especially of a place that was colonized by a now-dominant group; used to refer to, or relating to, the people who originally lived in a place, rather than people who moved there from somewhere else.

Whaling: The hunting of whales for baleen and oil.

Maritime: Of, relating to, or bordering on the sea; of or relating to navigation or commerce on the sea.

Mariner: A person who navigates or assists in navigating a ship; a person who works on a boat or ship.

Primary sources: Immediate, first-hand accounts of a topic, from people who had a direct connection with it; an original object or document that is the source material closest to what is being studied.

Secondary sources: Content written about and analyzing primary sources; they are one step removed from primary sources, though they often quote or otherwise use primary sources. They can cover the same topic, but add a layer of interpretation and analysis.

Tertiary sources: Source that gives an overview of information gathered from primary and secondary sources but does not provide original interpretations or analysis.

Ditty bag: Bag used especially by sailors to hold small articles (such as needles and thread).

Sailors’ sea chest: A sailor’s wooden storage chest for personal property.

Session 1 ~ 45 minutes

Lecture (15m): Provide students with a brief historical context of the time period in which each of the four people lived and why their individual stories are important. Click here for the slides presentation.

Group Work Activity (30m): Explain that the class is going to investigate four mariners through primary, secondary and tertiary sources and then develop a biography based on those records. Introduce students to the research materials. Click here for the primary and secondary source packets. Note that these packets can be a jumping-off point for further student research. Organize students in groups of 4 with each group or group member assigned one of the four mariners to research. Allow time for students to review resource materials during class and fill out their graphic organizers. Click here for the biography graphic organizer. If needed, allow students to complete research guide for homework.

Anticipatory Set — KWL Chart: Have students create a KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) graphic organizer about the lives of mariners to create anticipation and prepare students for the lecture. Click here for a KWL Chart template.

 

Session 2 ~ 45 minutes

Group Debrief Activity (15m): Allow time for groups to briefly recap what they have learned so far about each of the four mariners. Click here for a Venn Diagram graphic organizer.

Group Work Activity (30m): Teams spend class time continuing to research their selected person. Actively monitor the progression of the research and provide support as needed.

 

Session 3 ~ 45 minutes

Group Debrief Activity (15m): Allow time for groups to briefly recap what they have learned so far about each of the four mariners (continue to add to graphic organizer, if applicable).

Group Work Activity (30m): Teams spend class time continuing to complete their research and choose their biography format.

Sample Biography Formats:

    • Create a ditty bag or sea chest with items representing the mariner
    • Design a poster or presentation
    • Prepare a short theatrical performance or skit about the mariner
    • Prepare and perform a first-person speech as the mariner
    • Write a standard biographical paper
    • Draft a newspaper interview

 

Session 4 ~ 45 minutes

Group Debrief Activity (15m): Allow time for groups to briefly recap what they have learned so far about each of the four mariners. Continue to add to graphic organizer, if applicable.

Lecture (10m): Review expectations and format for biography projects. Additional resources for writing biographies:

Group Work Activity (20m): Teams spend class time working on their biography projects.

 

Session 5 ~ 45 minutes

Lecture (10m): Review format and expectations for biography project presentations. Click here for biography presentation guidelines.

Group Work Activity (35m): Teams spend class time completing their biography projects.

 

Session 6 ~ 45 minutes

Group Work Activity (45m): Teams present their biographies and complete the presentation engagement activity. You might have students use the jigsaw method so they present their project to small groups rather than to the whole class.  Click here for resources Jigsaw Activity, if applicable. Click here for biography presentation guidelines.

 

Enrichment/Extension

Students can take a field trip to Mystic Seaport Museum to participate in a program about another mariner of color, Captain Gonsalves: To Brava and Back: Navigating the Life of a Cape Verdean Whaleman is an interactive program that explores the life of Cape Verdean whaler Capt. John T. Gonsalves through a series of games and puzzles. Capt. Gonsalves was a highly successful captain of 12 whaling vessels who is credited with capturing more whales than any other whaling captain of color. He also lived through a vessel being crushed in Arctic ice, multiple hurricanes at sea, a mutiny, and a run-in with a German U-boat. Captain Gonsalves was also the last historic captain of the Charles W. Morgan, guiding her through her 37th and final whaling voyage. Contact sarah.cahill@mysticseaport.org.

Students can select an additional mariner of color and compare/contrast the life of that person with their selected person. It could be an historical or contemporary figure.

Students reflect on how these stories connect to other social movements, historically and today.