Story Summary
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt is a wonderful book about a young slave girl who is separated from her family and is taken to work in the fields of a plantation. She soon discovers that fieldwork is not for her, and is permitted to work in the house, helping with the sewing and mending. She begins to hear conversations about others who have escaped their plight, and comes up with a brilliant idea: she uses the leftover scraps of cloth from her sewing to begin to make her own quilt...a map that will lead her to her family and then to freedom. From the conversations she hears about the layout of the surrounding land, she meticulously creates her quilt. Upon its completion, she flees to find her family and leads them all to freedom. Having memorized its every detail while making it, she leaves the quilt behind for others to likewise memorize and reach safety.
Lesson IdeasThis story lends itself particularly well to both history and art lessons. It would be especially appropriate to use it for language arts in an integrated lesson on the Civil war, specifically when dealing with the issues of the horrors and injustices of slavery at that time.
Take a field trip with your class to a plantation house, touring the grounds and learning the surrounding history. Concentrate especially on the places where the slaves were made to live and work. Upon returning to the classroom, break students into small groups and have them each choose a topic connected to slavery. Take time in the library for them to research their topics (which might include slave auctions, living conditions, working conditions, etc.). Allow them to share what they've learned with the class through a descriptive presentation, re-enactment, or any other creative method. As a closing activity, you might choose to have an African-American storyteller who specializes in period folklore to come make a presentation to the class.