• Historical
  • Thinking
  • Resources
  • Topic:

    Abolitionists

    ;

    African American

    ;

    Quakers

  • Title:

    Quakers: Pennocks And The Underground Railroad – Lesson #1

  • Grade Level:

    Middle School

Objective:

Students will read and analyze passages, timelines, and images to learn about the Pennock family’s rise from early quaker settlers to iron industrialists.

Standards:

7.3.4.A, 8.1.4.B, 8.1.4.C, 8.1.5.C, 8.1.8.B, 8.1.8.C, 8.2.4.A, 8.2.4.B, 8.2.4.D, 8.2.5.B, 8.2.9.C., 8.2.K.B, 8.3.4.B, 8.3.4.D, 8.4.4.B, 8.8.1.5.C, The course material was written to adhere to the above listed PA Dept of Education Curriculim Standards that can be found on STATEBOARD.EDUCATION.PA.GOV

Materials Needed For Activity:

Teacher Background:

Procedure:

Step 1: Explain to students that it is necessary for them to understand how key events during the early history of the Pennsylvania Colony are related and affected each other. A timeline will help them work through some of these important dates and events and be a reference as they study this early period of American history. All students will be given a packet with the seven Hand Outs for this project. They are to utilize the Lukens Steel Historical Timeline 1620-1854 on the NISHM website and any other material they may uncover in a search of the internet. The educator may also decide to share the Teacher Background Sheets with students.

Step 2: Divide the class into three groups. Tell them that they will be focusing on the time from 1682 to 1854. One group will complete the timeline for the years 1682 – 1810. The second group will complete the timeline from 1811 – 1832. The third group will complete the timeline for the years 1833 – 1854.

Step 3: Students will need to research key events in the history of their particular time span. Students should select only those events they believe are most important, including key successes and difficulties. The main emphasis of this assignment is the Pennock (and later Lukens/Houston) families and therefore they should look for “family” details. Students should be encouraged to draw symbols and pictures, use graphics from web sites, and write short descriptions to illustrate events on their timeline. The class should agree on a uniform size for paper if anything other than regular printing paper size is to be used, so the timeline can be clipped or taped together upon completion and displayed around the classroom. Butcher block paper or attachments to a clothesline may also be used for the timeline.

Step 4: Upon completion of their research and creation of their timelines, groups should present their timelines to the class and be able to explain why the events they chose for their time period were so important to the history of the Pennock family. They may do this by having one or two presenters from each group standing next to the area they researched so the timeline becomes a “living history timeline”. Discussion should also include examining cause and effect relationships between events. Did one time period seem to be more active than other time periods in terms of notable events?

Summary Activity:

After the class has discussed the events on the timeline, ask students why it is important to study these events.

  • Why are these events important for the entire country, as well as the colony of Pennsylvania and the city of Coatesville?

A useful discussion might also include exploring certain key points on the timeline to ask “what if” questions.

  1. What if the Leni-Lenape Indians had killed Penn’s Quakers at the beginning?
  2. What if the settlers had abandoned Pennsylvania?
  3. What if Rebecca Lukens had given in and turned the mill over to her brother?

Ask students for their own “what if” questions.

Other Helpful Resources: