Alabama Social Studies SS24.4.13c

Social Studies4th GradeCivil War and Reconstruction

The Standard

SS24.4.13: Describe how slavery contributed to sectional disagreements, divisions over states’ rights, and economic disputes resulting in the Civil War.

Describe the significance of the Clotilda’s delivery of kidnapped people to Mobile Bay as an effort to expand slavery.

2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students locate Mobile Bay and trace the Clotilda’s route from West Africa. They explain that kidnapped people were brought there in 1860 to be enslaved, despite a federal ban on bringing enslaved people into the country.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can explain how the arrival added people to slavery. They can tell the difference between the 1808 ban on importation and the later end of slavery.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think the 1808 ban ended slavery. They may mistake the voyage for immigration rather than kidnapping and forced enslavement.
How to Assess It: Ask: “Why was the Clotilda’s arrival in Mobile Bay an effort to expand slavery, and why was the voyage illegal?”

Lesson moves

Give students a blank Atlantic map; have them draw a route from West Africa to Mobile Bay and label the Clotilda’s 1860 arrival.
Ask: “How could people still be enslaved in 1860 if bringing enslaved people into the country had been banned in 1808?”
Have pairs match event cards to 1808, 1860, and 1865, then explain why the order matters.
Show a map of present-day Africatown in Mobile; ask students to write one sentence connecting the community to Clotilda survivors.

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