Year 5 have been learning about the Slave Trade, as part of our Black History topic. We have been learning about triangular trade, the middle passage, and the horrific conditions that enslaved people lived in on their journey to America.
As part of this, we wrote narrative stories, imagining what it would feel like to be part of this. We also wrote letters to parliament like the abolitionist William Wilberforce did, to encourage them to change the laws around Britain’s involvement in the slave trade.
We also created poems using the ‘diamante’ structure of repeated nouns, verbs and adjectives, to illustrate the horrors of the slave trade.
Finally, on our ‘dress up as a historical character’ day, we also wore stickers to encourage people to quiz us on our knowledge. We used this to share with people the importance of learning about the slave trade!
On why it is important to learn about slavery, Year 5 had these thoughts:
I think it is important to learn about slavery because we should know what people went through and how they escaped. – Lyna.
I think it is important to learn about slavery so that we can make sure it never happens again. – Kayah
I think it is important to learn about slavery because so we know about the horrific lives some people had to live. – Dan.
I think it is important to learn about slavery so that we can reflect on the bad things that that have happened, and be grateful that we don’t live in that time now. – Lacey
