Slavery’s Storm

The struggle of slaves for their freedom grows in the years before the Civil War. Witness Nat Turner’s Revolt, the largest slave uprising in United States history. See how the land grab of the Mexican War opens the West to the arguments between free states and slave states. Hear the arguments in Dred Scott’s legal battle for freedom and the Supreme Court’s decision that he was not a man but a piece of property. With hope of compromise dwindling, John Brown raids a weapons factory to start a slave revolution and sparks the Civil War. This colorful graphic novel will excite reluctant readers, prepare students for standardized tests in history and help homeschooling parents!

Comic sample page #1: Did Dred Scott’s case stop civil war?
Comic sample page #2: What land did Mexico give the U.S.?
Topics covered in this comic book
View the Teacher’s Guide for this comic

Mexican American War Mexican Cession

Did slave Dred Scott's case cause the Civil War?

Chapter 1: Nat Turner’s Revolt

Slavery in the Americas is at least 300 years old when Nat Turner is born to a slave in Virginia. He learns to read the Bible as he learns the harsh demands of slave work. As an adult, Turner sees visions that tell him he must lead his fellow slaves to freedom, even if this freedom march will spill blood . . .

Nat Turner’s Revolt includes the following topics:

How bad was the middle passage?
What was life like for slaves?
How did Turner plan his revolt?
What convinced Turner to attack?
Did Nat Turner’s revolt succeed?

Chapter 2: The Mexican War

Despite the scare of Nat Turner’s revolt, the “Missouri Compromise” has kept the political peace between Northerners and Southerners since 1820. No slave states have gone north of the latitude 36° 30’ except for Missouri. Then Americans bring their slaves into Mexico’s Texas territory. This sparks a war that will bring the arguments about slavery back into American life . . .

The Mexican War includes the following topics:

Who remembers Mexico’s Alamo?
Who annexes Texas?
Who starts the Mexican War?
How did America invade Mexico?
What land did Mexico give the U.S.?

Chapter 3: Dred Scott’s Case

Dred Scott is born a slave in Virginia, but he will search for his freedom in a different way than Nat Turner did. He lives a quiet life, serving his owner in the western United States, along the Mississippi River. He spends some time in free territories and goes to court to ask for his legal freedom, using the “Missouri Compromise.” What he finds in America’s courts will shock him and divide the nation even further over slavery . . .

Dred Scott’s Case includes the following topics:

Where was Dred Scott a slave?
Did Missouri courts free D. Scott?
Did federal courts help Dred Scott?
How was Dred Scott’s case debated?
Did Dred Scott’s case stop civil war?

Chapter 4: John Brown’s Raid

John Brown’s Raid includes the following topics:

One man watches the growing heat in the slavery debate and catches the fire in his own eye. John Brown helps slaves to escape through the Underground Railroad, then moves to “Bleeding Kansas” for the slavery fight there. When he hears the Dred Scott court decision, Brown decides that only a slave revolt much larger than Nat Turner’s will bring freedom to the millions in chains . . .

What job did John Brown do?
What was Brown’s mountain plan?
Why did the new Kansas bleed?
Why did John Brown take the ferry?
How did Robert E. Lee stop John Brown?

Slavery’s Storm

View the Teacher Guide of this comic