Education Technology


CWF: The Selling of Slaves

Activity Overview

Students use the Notefolio(tm) Application to analyze a series of primary source documents about the 18th-century system of slavery and the buying and selling of slaves as property.

Before the Activity

See the attached Activity PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity.

Print the appropriate pages from the Activity for your class.

Install the NoteFolio(tm) App on the students' graphing calculators following the attached instructions.

During the Activity

  • Distribute the appropriate pages from the Activity to your class
  • Distribute the NoteFolio(tm) file(s) to your class using TI Connect(tm) and the appropriate TI Connectivity cable
  • Follow the procedures outlined in the Activity


  • Students will:
  • Explain the relationship between property and slavery in the eighteenth century.
  • Describe the activities surrounding an eighteenth-century slave auction.
  • Interpret the point-of-view of various primary source authors.
  • Read and interpret primary source materials.
  • Integrate technology into historical inquiry.
  • After the Activity

    EVALUATION: Using the information they have acquired, have the students construct a collage or create an illustration showing how slave auctions affected the lives and futures of all of the people involved in them.