Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson

While still a student at Pratt, James was one of twelve finalists out of two thousand selected to illustrate the annual Citibank calendar. Students will create their own map of the school, using different colors to identify the areas they travel to the most (such as the cafeteria, art room, and gym).Born in North Carolina, James Ransome is a graduate of the Pratt Institute with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in illustration.

The teacher will show the students a map of the school as a guideline, and distribute construction paper, glue, and scissors.

The teacher will explain that the students will be making their own freedom quilts with the layout of the school.

The teacher will introduce the lesson by rereading Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt to the class.Copy of Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson.Social Studies Standard 1-1: The student will demonstrate an understanding of how individuals, families, and communities live and work together here and across the world. New York: Dragonfly Books.Īccompanying Lesson: Making your own Freedom Quilt She left the quilt at the plantation it served as a guide to other slaves, seeking freedom. Clara escaped with her friend, Jack, and was able to rescue her younger sister. The more information Clara received, the larger her quilt became one day, she had completed the path to freedom. She began collecting scraps of fabric as she sewed she gathered information about the route to Canada from the other slaves in the Quarters.

Clara begins to sketch a map of the plantation in the dirt of the fields she soon realizes that although dirt will wash away, she can create a map in fabric and it will remain. There is one difficulty with escape – there is no map to help slaves on their way to freedom. The sewing room was near the kitchen, and Clara soon learned about routes of freedom that other slaves had taken into Canada, through the help of the Underground Railroad. She was rescued from a life in the fields by her “Aunt” Rachel, who taught her how to sew until she has perfect stitches Aunt Rachel takes her to the Big House, where Clara is allowed out of the fields and becomes a seamstress. When Clara was twelve years old, she was sent to the Home Plantation as a field hand.