Slavery Through Objects
In this hour-long workshop exploring the human stories behind slavery, one of the most useful and effective activities is using real and replica artefacts to produce cinquain poems, five-line descriptive poems consisting of ten words and a summary word.
These are some examples of poems produced during the workshop:
'Shackles' by Arwel, Ben Mike and Matt,Oxford and Cherwell Valley College
Shackles
Trapped, uncomfortable
Screaming, chaffing, crying
Twisted, sick, scarred, demonic
Constraint
'Neck Collar' by KS3 students from Basingstoke
Neck Collar
Restraining, Scary
Shocked, despairing, worrying
Frightening, hopeless, shameful
Stolen freedom
Or students could try something different -
The poem below explains the student's reaction to leg irons - a mixture of confusion, surprise and irony:
Trapped
Tapped alive on a dark, dark night
On a dark, dark ship
Oh what a fright!
Cold, wet and tied so tight
Oh what a fright!
Leg iron, leg iron
Oh what a fright!