Almost to Freedom

1. Summary: The main characters in the story are Lindy, a child slave, and Sally, Lindy’s rag doll, which is who the story is told by. The two of them best friends and always inseparable. Soon after Lindy’s father was taken and sold to another slave owner far away, Lindy and her mother were left all alone. A few days passed and Lindy’s mother woke her in the middle of the night and said they were leaving for freedom. The two of them ran all night and reached a river where her father was waiting to take them to safety. That day they stayed in a couple’s cellar where they were provided food and shelter. The next evening Lindy and her family left without Sally, who she left in the cellar. Lindy was left all alone for years until one day another little girl, who resembled Lindy, came into the cellar with her mother for safety. Sally, now had a new home and a best friend. Almost to Freedom Author: VaundaMicheaux Nelson Illustrator: Colin Bootman Minneapolis, Carolrhoda Books, Inc.

2. Activity: • You will create a rag doll similar to the rag doll in the story, Sally. After you have created your rag doll using the materials provided you will then come up with the conflicts that were in the story and write them on your rag doll. Once, you have written the conflicts down then you will use your textbook to find how the federal laws have changed in order to prevent some of these events from happening. After you have done your research using a safety pin and paper cover up each conflict with the resolution in order to see the progression of slavery over time. Conflict and resolution

3. Activity: • Imagine that you are Lindy, Sally’s owner, and you were a slave. What do you think you would be going through emotionally or physically? How would you react to your father being taken away from you? Answer these questions from the point of view of Lindy in your journal. What if you were born into slavery?

4. Activity: • Make a foldable comparing and contrasting your life now with Lindy’s life back then. How are they similar and how are they different? Topics to consider: school, jobs, food, and housing Foldable

5. Standards Standard 4-5: The student will demonstrate an understanding of westward expansion of the United States and its impact on the institution of slavery. 4-5.5 Explain how the Missouri Compromise, the fugitive slave laws, the annexation of Texas, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott decision affected the institution of slavery in the United States and its territories.

6. Rag Doll • Child Slaves • Children at Work Resources