Connect Reading and Writing

Vocabulary assisted

  • assist

  • capture

  • escape

  • freedom

  • rewards

  • rights

  • slaves

  • traveled

Critical Thinking

  • 1. SUM IT UP Make a Venn Diagram. Compare people in the past who wanted freedom with people who seek equal rights today.

    Venn Diagram

    Venn Diagram

  • 2. Interpret Suppose you lived in the 1830s and saw a poster offering a reward for a runaway slave. How would you react? Explain why.

  • 3. Describe How would you describe people who joined the Underground Railroad to assist slaves? Give three adjectives.

  • 4. Infer Look at the map on page 366. Do you think it was easier for Henson to escape than for many other slaves? Explain.

Reading Fluency

Intonation Read the passage on page 583 to a partner. Assess your fluency.

  • 1. I read

    • a. great

    • b. OK

    • c. not very well

  • 2. What I did best in my reading was _______.

Reading Strategy

Determine Importance

Show your notes to a partner. Explain how summarizing helped you decide what was important as you read.

Vocabulary Review

Oral Review Read the paragraph aloud. Add the vocabulary words.

To________from slavery, Josiah Henson________to Canada, which did not allow slavery. In Canada, African Americans had the same ________, or legal powers, as other citizens. Enslaved people who avoided ________ and reached Canada got their liberty, or ________. Although many owners offered ________, Canada would not return escaped ________. Henson then ________ former slaves.

Written Review Imagine that you live in the past and that you travel from town to town to speak out against slavery. Write your speech. Use at least five vocabulary words.

Illustration of a pen icon Write About the Guiding Question

Explore the Struggle for Freedom

How does “Follow the Drinking Gourd” go with “Escaping to Freedom”? Reread both texts. Find examples in each one to support your ideas.