Suggested Activities for Make your Mark
- Mercer states, "The price of freedom was eternal vigilance."
Have your students explain the significance of this quote for both Mercer
and other fugitive slaves in 1855. Ask them to discuss what groups this
quote could apply to today.
- Ask students to describe in writing what characterizes a place where
they feel safe versus a place where they feel vulnerable.
- The imprisonment of Passmore Williamson is mentioned in this chapter.
Share the copy of the political print of this event with your students
and have your students compose a hypothetical journal entry that Williamson
might write about his imprisonment.
- Mercer was subjected to a variety of indignities in this chapter.
Although she did not speak out in response to these occurrences, the
author showed us her true feelings in each occasion. Have the students
discuss what may be the reasons that Mercer kept her thoughts to herself.
Based on her experiences in this chapter, Mercer may have delighted in
being present when Frederick Douglass presented his speech, "What
to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" at a meeting sponsored
by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. Share this speech with
your students and have them predict what the answer might contain.
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