Slavery in the United States

Hello. I am a very old and sad rule. I made people work all day long with no breaks and no pay. It was like carrying a big, heavy backpack that you could never, ever take off. It made people feel so tired and so sad. I was a dark shadow that covered up the sunshine and made it hard for people to be happy with their families. It was not a fair rule at all.

My story in a land called America started a very long, long time ago, around August of 1619. That's when some people were brought on boats from far away and told they had to follow my unfair rule. For many, many years, I said that some people could own other people just because their skin was a different color. This was very, very wrong. But lots of kind and brave people knew this was not right. Two of these brave people were named Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. They were heroes. They helped people find their way to freedom and told everyone, loud and clear, that all people should be free.

After a big, sad fight, a good leader helped make a new, much better rule. On December 6th, 1865, a special paper called the Thirteenth Amendment was made. It told me, the sad, unfair rule, that I had to go away and never come back. It said everyone is free. Now, we remember my sad story so we can always remember to be kind and fair to everyone. We celebrate all the brave people who helped freedom shine bright for everybody.