Lesson plan
Following a Commodity from Field to Table
Grade band: middle school · 55 minutes
Objectives
- Trace a commodity through the Atlantic economy.
- Explain how enslaved labour supported European consumption.
- Recognise the people behind goods and ledgers.
Materials
- Cards describing sugar, tobacco, rice and cotton
- Large paper
- Markers
- Short background text on plantation labour
Steps
- Introduce the idea that everyday goods have histories, and ask students to name something sweet or made of cotton they used this week.
- Divide the class into groups, each taking one commodity card and a background text.
- Groups draw a journey chart with stages for growing, processing, shipping, selling and using the commodity.
- Ask each group to add a second layer to the chart showing the people involved at each stage and what is known about their lives, skills and resistance.
- Groups present their charts and the class compares what changed between commodities.
- Close by discussing what the ledger leaves out and how historians find other evidence.
Discussion questions
- Who benefited at each stage of the journey, and who did not?
- What skills and knowledge did enslaved workers bring to these crops?
- Why is it important to see the people behind an economic system?
Assessment
Assess the journey chart against a simple rubric: accuracy of stages, inclusion of the people involved, and a sentence explaining one thing the ledger would not record.