Alabama Social Studies SS24.US1.8b
The Standard
- SS24.US1.8
- Explain how the acquisition of new land in the South and the invention of the cotton gin contributed to the growth of the cotton economy and increased demand for enslaved labor.
Describe how enslaved people maintained African traditions and created their own unique culture, including foodways, spiritual beliefs, and ceremonies.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how enslaved Africans kept knowledge and practices from their home cultures while adapting to life under slavery. They use examples from food, worship, and ceremonies to show what continued and what changed.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain how rice-growing knowledge helped shape food in coastal South Carolina. They can also describe how a ring shout combined African-derived music and movement with Christian worship.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat Africa as one culture or assume every practice stayed the same. They may see spirituals and ring shouts as only Christian customs, missing the African musical and ceremonial practices within them.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: “Enslaved people grew rice using skills from West Africa and held ring shouts that joined African-derived singing and movement with Christian worship.” Name one practice that continued and one way people created something new.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Place rice and okra picture cards on a West Africa to South Carolina map; students add notes about how people used them in local meals.
Read a short Smithsonian account of a ring shout, then ask: How can a ceremony keep older practices while taking on new meanings?
Play an evidence-match game with cards for rice growing, okra dishes, and ring shouts; pair each with an African connection and an adaptation.
Print a Gullah Geechee red rice recipe; students compare its use of rice with their map notes on rice-growing knowledge.
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Printable SS24.US1.8b Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.4.12b
Describe the living and working conditions and the cultural practices of enslaved persons engaged in skilled trades, domestic roles, and agricultural production...
- SS24.7.9b
Describe common tenets of indigenous religion practiced in Africa, including the beliefs of the Ashanti, Dogon, and Igbo religious traditions.
- SS24.HG.4a
Identify and describe essential aspects of culture, including architecture, art, belief systems, customs, food, languages, religion, technology, and traditions.
- SS24.8.6c
Explain how religious beliefs and practices shaped culture in Indigenous societies.
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