Opportunities for Close Reading and Advocacy with "William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad"

BY AMINA CHAUDHRI AND MARY ANN CAPPIELLO, ON BEHALF OF THE BIOGRAPHY CLEARINGHOUSE

“William Still’s records,
and the stories he preserved,
reunited families
torn apart by slavery.

Because that’s what stories can do.
Protest injustice.
Sooth. Teach. Inspire. Connect.
Stories save lives.”
            - Don Tate, from William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad

As 2021 begins, we want to acknowledge the continued need to show young people that Black Lives Matter. Part of that responsibility is shifting our curriculum away from a white-centered view of U.S. history and towards a more multifaceted exploration of all of the communities that have lived on this land from prehistory to today. 

Don Tate’s picturebook biography William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad, this month’s featured text on The Biography Clearinghouse, is an important text to help make this change in elementary and middle school classrooms. William Still and his Freedom Stories is one of several recent publications that highlights the role of African Americans in the freedom struggle, countering the narrative that freedom from slavery depended on the actions of whites. 

A precise, linear narrative takes readers through significant events that shaped William Still’s understanding of the world and his role in making it better for African Americans. Readers follow Still from childhood to adulthood, bearing witness to his desire to learn, the grueling labor he endured to earn a living, and eventually, the risks he took to secure freedom for enslaved people and his post-Civil War activism to fight segregation. This deeply-researched and powerfully-illustrated book has layers of curricular potential: as a read aloud, as a mentor text for literacy skill development, as a model of the genre of biography, as an important piece of history, and much more.

Operating within the Investigate, Explore, and Create Model of the Biography Clearinghouse, we designed teaching ideas geared toward literacy and content area learning as well as opportunities for socio-emotional learning and strengthening community connections using William Still and His Freedom Stories. 

Featured here are two teaching ideas inspired by William Still and His Freedom Stories. The first engages students deeply with the text itself - its form and content, and the second extends learning beyond this picturebook to explore multiple sources for inquiry and research.

---

William Still and his Freedom Stories as a Mentor Text for Close Reading, Writing, and Research.

Don Tate, like William Still, understands the importance of word choice and organization of ideas in writing. William Still and his Freedom Stories can be used as a mentor text to teach these literacy concepts. The brevity of the picturebook lends itself well to repeated readings and analysis of the precise language Tate employs to convey his message. A writer’s message is effective if it evokes a response in the reader. The suggestions below invite students to reflect deeply on the text and their own responses in the process of making meaning. 

From the Biography Clearinghouse

• William Still and His Freedom Stories (Don Tate)
• What Do You Do With a Voice Like That?​ (Chris Barton)
• Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere (Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Katherine Roy)
• Maritcha: A Nineteenth Century American Girl (Tonya Bolden)
  

If you have 1-2 hours….	If you have 1-2 days…	If you have 1-2 weeks….
Teachers model the Double Entry Journal strategy for responding to text with a focus on text analysis/close reading using a selection of quotes from William Still and his Freedom Stories: “Learning to read would have to wait a few seasons.” “From that point forward, William recorded every detail about each freedom seeker who passed through his home or office.” “The laws were meant to shut down the Underground Railroad. But shut it down, they did not.” Students choose their own quote and explain why it is important.	William Still’s writing was a form of activism because it contributed to the work of changing people’s lives and resisting a brutal system. Compare and contrast this form of activism with the work done by other historical and contemporary figures in other biographies. A graphic organizer such as a T Chart can help students organize their observations. Next, following a discussion, students can identify the skills and talents these subjects brought to their work. Finally, they can extend their thinking by listing other ways people can use their skills (such as in art, music, sports etc.) in order to build awareness and create change. This list can lead to inquiry projects.	When students have understood the concept of turning points as life-altering experiences, and as literary devices that authors use to further their ideas, they can synthesize their learning within the context of studying biographies.  One project could be to create a biography of someone in their community with specific requirements including elements found in William Still and his Freedom Stories. These include but are not limited to: childhood, youth, and adult phases of life; ideas and/or people who were influential; and 2-3 turning points that were particularly salient in the person’s life. If possible, the student could research the person’s context in order to understand the various factors that inform decisions and actions.  The project can be taken through all the stages of the writing process and completed in pairs or groups. Final projects could be written, illustrated, recorded, dramatized or created in any way that suits the form and content.

Advocating for and Learning from 19th Century Black-Authored Texts 

For far too long, too many students in the U.S. have been taught a white-centered modern history that avoids a close examination of imperialism and the legacy of Europe’s colonial reach. The brutal history of the global slave trade of the 17th - 19th centuries has been marginalized as have the many stories of Black agency, resistance, and liberation. As a consequence, young people - and many adults - have limited knowledge of that history. We need this to change. William Still and His Freedom Stories is one text that helps to make that change. In this teaching idea for middle school students, we leverage the conversations that this book can open with more in-depth research writings of 19th century activists such as William Still and 19th century Black journalists. 

If you have 1-2 hours….	If you have 1-2 days…	If you have 1-2 weeks….
After reading William Still and His Freedom Stories, provide students with the opportunity to read pages from Journal C of the Underground Railroad. Support students as you examine the information, as this material is painful to read. What kinds of information did Still document to help reunite loved ones? What are some connections students are able to make across the journal? How were those fleeing slavery similar to one another? How were their circumstances different from one another?	After exploring Still’s own writing, have students consider his personal path to literacy. How might his writing voice and identity have been shaped by the texts that he read? In the narrative, Don Tate notes that Still read The Colored American. “An “anti-slavery newspaper,/it was owned and published by Black people.” Share this description of the newspaper with students. Next, have students spend some time reading through digital copies of The Colored American from The Center for Research Libraries. What do they notice about the information in the newspaper? Have students take notes on what they are learning about the lives of free and enslaved Blacks at the time of the newspaper’s publication.	The Historical Society of Pennsylvania has created a prototype of a digital database, the “Family Ties on the Underground Railroad” project, that connects information from Journal C with Still’s 1872 book The Underground Rail Road. You and your students can access the prototype with the codes available on the landing page. Provide students with time to explore the prototype and see the ways in which it uses information from the two texts and allows us to learn more about Black individuals and communities “geographically and chronologically.” Students can learn more about the process of putting the prototype together via the blog entries available on the right margin of the site.  Next, you might partner with your local historical society to see what you can learn about Black history in your area from the texts and artifacts from the collection. How can your students raise awareness of that history? What new texts can they create in response to their learning? Allow students to make those choices and determine a way to share  their texts with your local community. You could also inform students of the Pennsylvania Historical Society’s efforts to raise money to expand the digital “Family Ties on the Underground Railroad” project. Have students brainstorm ways to raise both awareness and funding for this important project and then carry them out, using their literacy skills as a force for good like William Still.

Amina Chaudhri is an Associate Professor of Teacher Education at Northeastern Illinois University. She is a reviewer for Booklist and a regular contributor to Book Links. 

Mary Ann Cappiello teaches courses in children’s literature and literacy methods at Lesley University, blogs about teaching with children’s literature at The Classroom Bookshelf, a School Library Journal blog, and is a former chair of NCTE’s Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction K-8.