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In the winter of 2007, Ms. Edinger’s fourth grade class at the Dalton School has been studying the subject of forced immigration.

Each student read Ms. Edinger’s book, My Home is Africa. Ms. Edinger is still in the process of editing this book. The book describes the story of Sarah Margru Kinson, who was a child on the Amistad slave ship.

The class also wrote poems about somebody on the Amistrad slave ship. The slave ship carried captured African slaves and their captors. This activity taught the class more about African slaves.

The poet Natasha Trethewey came into the class and read poems written by her friend. Her friend writes poems about the Amistad slave ship. Poetry is an interesting way for students to learn about this subject.

One of the students brought in artifacts from Mali. Mali is a country in Western Africa. At the time of the slave trade, some people in Mali became slaves.
One of the students in the class said “I thought the overall topic of forced immigration was very interesting.” It is very important for students to understand that people were forced to leave their homes and move to America. They were treated as slaves and didn’t have freedom. This school project is just one of many ways to learn about the important topic of forced immigration.