"Becoming Southerners" Activities

Critical Thinking: Questions for discussion

• In 1848 Henry "Box" Brown, a slave from Virginia, had himself shipped to Philadelphia in a box three feet by two feet. What other means were used to escape slavery?

• How did the dispute over slavery lead to the Civil War?

• By 1860, Virginians had settled into the South and West, taking with them the two major ideas of slavery and freedom. How could such opposing ideas exist simultaneously?

• How did the failure of growing tobacco in Virginia contribute to westward migration?

• How has agricultural depression contributed to other migrations throughout history?

• How was it possible for the invention of the cotton gin to solidify pro-slavery attitudes in the South? Are there other examples in history that suggest how economics and technology can dictate the position a group takes on major issues?