Wanderer (slave ship)

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/wanderer-slave-ship

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the original design?Constructed in New York as a pleasure schooner
2. What is the illegal activity?Engaged in the clandestine importation of enslaved Africans into the United States
3. What was the Wanderer and why is it important?The Wanderer was a ship that started as a pleasure boat but was later used to bring enslaved Africans to the U.S. in 1858. It was one of the last illegal slave ships to arrive in America.
4. How did the Wanderer change from a fun boat to a slave ship?A businessman and a group of investors bought the schooner and used it to secretly bring enslaved people from Africa to the U.S., breaking the law that banned the trade.

Transatlantic Slave Trade: The forced migration of millions of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean for enslavement, primarily in the Americas.
Antebellum South: The period in the history of the Southern United States before the Civil War (roughly 1815-1860).
Abolitionist Movement: A social and political movement that sought to end slavery.
Human Trafficking: The illegal recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of persons through force, fraud, or coercion for exploitation.