Ambleside Online Additions - Living books for Year 5 & Year 10 (19th century)

We will be starting AO Year 5, 1800s history rotation, next week. This post is to catalogue books that we will use in addition to (or in some cases substituting) the Y5 list. They are from non-white perspectives during this time period: mainly Black and Native American.

Let me start by saying we will not read every single book this year. These are books I keep on hand to preview and then pull out depending on our time allowance. Books that we don't get to read together this year, can be read independently during the summer or are purposely saved for the next cycle of the 19th century, during high school (Year 10).

I have researched these titles and chose them because they are almost all living books with reputable authors (seeking out "own voices" when available). How did I find them? First I had to find out who lived during the 19th century! I used a few resource books for that: A Child's Introduction to African American History by Jabari Asim, They Showed the Way : Forty American Negro Leaders by Charlemae Hill Rollins, and BlackPast.org.

Then I looked through various book lists (Reshelving Alexandria, The Parallel Narrative, Redeemed Reader, Blessed Heritage and typically Heritage Mom Blog...except she hasn’t covered this time period yet! So I had my work cut out for me.), searched for books in certain series or by certain publishers (i.e. Julian Messner), or if I found an author I like, I looked for more books by that author. 

First, Tweaks & Book Removals:

1. We eliminated Madam How and Lady Why half way through last year and will not read it this year either. This allows space for our additional books during all 3 terms!

2. Alexander Graham Bell and/or Marie Curie biography book will be a free read book for the boys. (Term 1 and part of Term 2)

3. Carry A Big Stick or The Courage and Character of Theodore Roosevelt (Term 2) - We will not be reading this book. We will revisit this president in high school and use Albert Marrin’s book, The Great Adventure: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America. From my reading of other Marrin biographies, he is better at presenting both the flaws and successes of the people he writes about. 

4. The Story of Inventions -  We will supplement the readings from this book with African American inventors. 

Second, Additions:

I have not linked to each and every book photographed because I don’t have time to do that right now, but I may come back at the end of the year to write reviews once we’re finished. Please let me know if you can’t find a certain book in the photographs. We will probably read many of the picture books because they are short. Below are the main chapter books I plan on read aloud with my students:

Term 1:

Sacajawea by Joseph Bruchac - this book and the York book are to balance the one-sided story of Lewis and Clark (Of Courage Undaunted). 

Journey of York: The Unsung Hero of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Hasan Davis - There isn’t a book on York that I love 100% but this was the best out of the 3 pictures books. The other book, which is poetry, will be saved for Y10.

Nat Turner by Judith Berry Griffin (Week 10 & 11) - this is a very short chapter book and can be covered in 2 weeks. 

Term 2:

Dr. George Washington Carver Scientist by Shirley Graham 

Harriet Tubman by Ann Petry - The newest edition of this book has a forward written by Jason Reynolds, which is really neat if you know who he is. I have a whole blog post about Harriet Tubman books. 

William Still and His Freedom Stories by Don Tate - Please note that chapter 79 from This Country of Ours (week 16, Term 2) has an inaccurate description of the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman.  Before this reading, we will read this picture book about William Still, the Father of the Underground Railroad. I will either edit TCOO reading or leave it and discuss the problems with my students. 

There Once Was A Slave The Heroic Story of Frederick Douglass by Shirley Graham 

Trail of Tears & Bison/Buffalo - chose one book about each

Sitting Bull by S.D. Nelson

Term 3:

John Brown by Jeannette Covert Nolan - I have a whole blog post about John Brown. 

Sojourner Truth Ain’t I A Woman by Patricia and Frederick McKissack  

Red Cloud by S.D. Nelson

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Here is a crude list of people, events, and links (in alphabetical order by last name) that I compiled to help me find what I needed:

History 1800-1914 to WWI

African Americans:

James P. Beckworth 1798-1867

Stephen Bishop - Mammoth Cave National Park; two books

Sara Breedlove 1867-1919 - (Madam C.J. Walker) I have one or two books - Vision of Beauty

Clara Brown 1800-1885 - two books

Buffalo Soldiers

George Washington Carver 1860-1943

Lewis G Clarke - (Stowe’s subject) https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/lewis-g-clarke-harriet-beecher-stowe-s-forgotten-hero/

Joseph Cinque 1814-1879 - Mende people - revolt Amistad

Frederick Douglass 1817-1895 abolitionist - biographies, autobiography & speeches

Sarah Mapps Douglass 1806-1882 - Carved In Ebony

Web Du Bois - 1868-1963 - Wrote The Souls of Black Folk, one of the founders of the NAACP (“My name is pronounced in the clear English fashion: Du with u as in Sue; Bois as oi in voice. The accent is on the second syllable) (bump to Y6/Y11)

Alexander Dumas 1802-1870 - Three Musketeers and Count of Monte Cristo

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872-1906 - Black Poet Laureate by Pearle Henriksen Schultz; two poetry books

Grimké sisters: Sarah 1792-1873 ; Angelina 1805-1879 - Creative Minds biography book 

Francis Grimké 1850-1937 - helped found the NAACP; Meditations on Preaching (Y10) - Thabiti’s book (Y10/11)- nephew of Grimké sisters 

Archibald Grimké 1849-1930 - biography book - brother to Francis

Charlotte Forten Grimké 1837-1914 - married to Francis Grimké - in Carved in Ebony

Francis Ellen Watkins Harper 1825-1911 - abolitionist & poet

Harriet Jacobs - 1813-1897 Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Y10)

Jubilee Singers

Edmonia Lewis 1845-1890 - Sculptor

Maritcha Lyons (I have a book on her, I believe)

Nat Turner - one book

Bass Reeves 1838-1910 - Bad News For Outlaws picture book

Mary Jane Seacole 1805-1881 - Black nurse in Crimean War

Robert Smalls 1839-1915

William Still - Underground Railroad; picture book

Henry Ossawa Tanner - Heritage Mom blog resources

Mary Church Terrell - 1863-1954 Creative Minds Biography (n-word in the introduction); bump to Y6/Y11

Sojourner Truth 1797-1883 - book by Aletha Lingstrom (Y10) - book has the n-word, Mckissak biography (Y5) 

Harriet Tubman 1822-1913 - books, house in Auburn, NY

Booker T Washington 1856-1915 - The Madison Square Garden Address 1898; Up From Slavery book

York (w/ Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery)

White Abolitionist additions:

John Brown 1800-1859 - abolitionist

William Lloyd Garrison - Messner biography

Ernestine Rose - Eloquent crusader messner biography

Harriet Beecher Stowe - Harriet by Norma Johnston biography, Uncle Tom’s Cabin author, read James Baldwin’s review

Native Americans:

My Name is Sally Little Song

Birch Bark House books

SD Nelson books - Buffalo Bird Girl; Red Cloud; Sitting Bull; Black Elk’s Vision

Crossing Bok Chitto book

Trail of Tears - Cornerstones of Freedom and Joseph Bruchac books

Tim Tingle Ghost book

Sacajawea

Carlos Montezuma - book called A Boy Named Beckoning 

Susan Laflesche Picotte - 1865-1915 Native American Doctor by Jeri Ferris 

Sequoyah - died in 1843 - Sequoyah and The Cherokee Alphabet by Robert Cwiklik, landmark book

Red Cloud - 1822-1909 - 2 books SD Nelson & Sioux War Chief Virigina Voight

Geronimo - 1829-1909 - The Story of Geronimo by Jim Kjelgaard

Crazy Horse - 1840-1877 - Crazy Horse’s Vision by Bruchac & illustrated by S.D. Nelson; there is a monument being carved out of stone in South Dakota by Korczak Ziolkowski

Buffalo/Bison stories

Chief Joseph - 1840 - 1904

Events/Institutions:

Battle of Nashville

Fort Negley 

Trail of Tears 1830-1850

Battle of Wounded Knee - 1890 - Cornerstones of Freedom book

Dred Scott vs Sandford 1857 (Dred Scott Decision)

1850 Fugitive Slave Acts

Nat Turner's Revolt 1831

Fisk University  - founded 1866 ; singers

Juneteenth

Reconstruction

Underground Railroad 

Nicodemus, Kansas 1877 - picture book

Abolitionism 

Clotilda schooner- 1859/1860 - last known slave ship to bring slaves to the USA - I have a book?

NAACP - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - founded 1909 - A history of it by Charles Flint Kellogg); The Crisis - the official magazine

Black codes, 13th amendment - 40 acres and maybe a Mule, borrow The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch - Barton, Chris from library, ordered another book about reconstruction

contraband camp / hospital - https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/contraband-hospital-1862-1863-heath-care-first-freedpeople/ - Jasmine highlight, and book The Grand Contraband Camp 

Jeremiad - David Walker’s Appeal 1830; Jasmine highlight

Civil War & Emancipation 1861-1865

54th Massachusetts Regiment - Undying Glory by Clinton Cox; Men of Color book 

Pullman Strike - 1894  - Cornerstones of Freedom book / Pullman porters

Books about Reconstruction

Books:

Henry Box Brown (picture book)

The Daring Escape of Ellen Craft 

Pink and Say - Civil War

Brady by Fritz

Show Way 

Follow The Drinking Gourd

By Secret Railway by Enid LaMonte Meadowcraft

Sweet Clara & Freedom Quilt

Dave The Potter

Cornerstones of Freedom - book on Underground Railroad, Reconstruction

Nathan Hale Underground Railroad 

40 Acres Maybe A Mule - reconstruction 

Crow (Y10) - during reconstruction 

The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch (need to borrow) - reconstruction 

Uncle Tom's Cabin (Y10 - already schedule; also Key To Uncle Tom’s)

Carved in Ebony (Y10) - Releases November 2021

A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, A Slave Girl, Belmont Plantation - Underground railroad (Dear America series)

Christmas In The Big House by McKissacks - Christmas on a pre-civil war plantation 

Days of Jubilee (Y10)

Jeffersons Sons (Y10) 

Field Trips:

Harriet Tubman’s house & grave in Auburn, NY

Fisk University - Nashville, TN

Jubilee Singers concert - Nashville, TN or online

Fort Negley - Nashville, TN

York statue - Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail - Louisville, KY