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Greenhorn Sailor: John Jea, African American Preacher and Sailor, 1806

LessonGuide

Objectives:

The students will be better able to:

• Describe the experiences of a sailor during the early 1800s.

• Obtain information from a variety of primary sources.

Time:

• First Person Narrative: 4:34 minutes

• Analysis Questions: 8 minutes

Grade Level: 6th-12th

Vocabulary:

The first person narratives contain several words that may be unfamiliar to 21st-century readers. Whenever these words are used within narratives or primary sources, the Web page will include definitions for those words. Good historians always have a dictionary nearby when doing research or writing, so students should as well.

Here is the list specific to this activity:

• apprentice/’prentice – (1)(a) one bound by indenture to serve another for a prescribed period with a view to learning an art or trade (1)(b) one who is learning by practical experience under skilled workers a trade, art, or calling; (2) an inexperienced person

• victuals – supplies of food; provisions

• yards (Yardarms) – long tapering spars slung to a mast to support and spread the head of a square sail, lugsail, or lateen

Materials:

• Computer with Internet access (with Flash plug-in & Adobe Reader)

– Life at Sea—1680 to 1806 Web site (http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/oral_histories/life_ at_sea/)

– Transcript of the audio clip (http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/pdf/transcript_jea.pdf)

• Student Worksheet PDF (print or digital) (http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/pdf/worksheet_ jea.pdf)

• Printer (recommended)

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Preparation:

1. Visit the John Jea page of Life at Sea—1680 to 1806 (http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/oral_ histories/life_at_sea/jea.htm) to preview the content.

2. Download & print the transcript (http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/pdf/transcript_jea.pdf) for the John Jea recording. Consider making copies for students.

3. Print the student worksheet (http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/pdf/worksheet_jea.pdf) to distribute to students.

Standards:

NCHS 5-12 United States History Standards

Era 4, Standard 2A: The student understands how the factory system and the transportation and market revolutions shaped regional patterns of economic development.

NCHS 5-12 Standards in Historical Thinking

2B: Reconstruct the literal meaning of a historical passage

2C: Identify the central question(s)

2E: Read historical narratives imaginatively

4B: Obtain historical data from a variety of sources

4F: Support interpretations with historical evidence

Introduction:

In order to better understand events and people of the past, historians examine many different types of primary sources. Government records, letters, photographs and artifacts are just a few examples of primary sources.

First-person narratives are a very valuable type of primary source since they are the words of people who actually lived through the events they speak of. The audio recordings you will hear are dramatic readings of first-person accounts written by real people of the time periods shown.

Historical Context:

Trying to piece together a sense of what life was like for a particular group of people in any given era takes historical thinking skills. Examining multiple sources gives historians a clearer idea of how people lived in the past. Using artifacts and documents together can help determine who may have owned an object, or a person’s role and location during an important event.

Task:

Students use their listening skills to discover important information from the first-person narratives, then work with several supporting primary sources to answer questions about John Jea and/or his experiences.

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Questions:

1. According to John Jea’s first-person account and at least one supporting primary source, how was he treated by the other sailors? Do you think he was an experienced seaman? Cite your evidence.

Jea‘saccountadmitsthathewas“quiteunacquaintedwiththesea”andthatduringroughweatherhestayedawakeallnighttryingtokeeptheshipuprightbypushingonthebulkhead(wall)toholditup.Healsorelatesadetailedstoryofhowtheothersailorsgivehimtheimpossibletaskofcleaningtheironpotsuntiltheyshinelikecopperandtauntedhimbycallinghimaclumsy“horse”anda“Jonah.”TheHogarthengravingshowsveteranseamentryingtofrightenandintimidateanewsailorbypointingouttheharshtreatmenthecanexpectonboard.

2. Based on careful examination of the sea chest and review of John Jea’s first-person account, do you think John Jea brought a sea chest like this along on this journey? What evidence supports your conclusion?

Jeastatesthatwhenaskedwherehisclotheswerehetoldhiscaptainthatheonlyhadtheclothesonhisback.Laterhestatesthathe“thoughtthatapersongoingtoseacouldgooneday,andreturnthenext”andthatonceonboardhecouldeasilygetoffifhedidn’tlikeit.Hisstatementsrevealthathedidnothaveaseachestcontainingpersonalbelongingsliketheoneshownasasupportingprimarysource.

3. According to John Jea’s first-person account and careful examination of the illustration, describe where on the ship the two men were when they were killed.

Jeadescribestheothersailorsgoing“upontheyardstofurlthesails”andindoingsostruckbylightningandtwowerekilled.Theyardsarethesparsthatholdthesailstothemast.Studentscanlookattheillustration,“LossoftheAmericanshipHercules,CaptainBenjaminStout,ontheCoastofCaffraria,June16th,1796”togetasenseofhowhighupthesailorswerewhentheywerestruck.

Compare/Contrast:

Jea’s narrative pairs well with Middle Passage (Olaudah Equiano, Enslaved African Man, 1756). The narratives were written 50 years apart by two freed African slaves. Both men preserved their stories by choosing to write and publish autobiographies.

Supporting Primary Sources:

See pages 4 through 6 in this guide.

Additional Primary & Secondary Sources:

• Section of the On the Water exhibition focusing on the experience of sailors in the Atlantic World (http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/1_2.html)

• Digital Copy of “The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, The African Preacher. Compiled and Written by Himself.” (http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/jeajohn/jeajohn.html)

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ShipwreckLoss of the American Ship Hercules, Captain Benjamin Stout, on the Coast of Caffraria, June 16th, 1796

From James Lindridge (ed.), Tales of Shipwrecks and Adventures at Sea. Being a Collection of Faithful Narratives of Shipwrecks, Mutinies, Fires, Famines, and Disasters, incidental to a Sea Life; Together with Celebrated Voyages, Amusing Tales, Tough Yarns and Interesting Anecdotes . . . (London: William Mark Clark, 1846)

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. . . Turn’d Away and Sent to Sea, 1747In this 18th-century print, a young man is shown the brutality of seafaring by three unsavory sailors. While one rows, another taunts him with the lash, used for discipline on ships. The third points to the body of a pirate hanging from the gallows. His mother weeps, perhaps at the prospect of losing her son to the sea.

Engraving by William Hogarth

Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Libraries

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