1. Cotton Bolls Hey! Let’s play with cotton (you’ll probably never hear those words again..)

2. The seeds must be removed from the cotton to make cloth. This process is called ginning (after Eli Whitney's cotton gin; gin is short for engine).

3. The Cotton Gin was so important because…. It made slavery pay! Before the gin, a farmer (called a planter) needed TONS of slaves to pick, and TONS to pick out the seeds-- this cost too much and planters wouldn’t get enough $ in return for their efforts (the cost of all those slaves to harvest and separate seeds cost as much or more as the farmers received from their cotton buyers!) With the gin, removing the seeds is easy-- now they can plant and produce cotton more easily, so slaves are in demand…cotton became “King.”

4. Picking cotton required many tedious hours and much back-breaking labor. A slave was expected to pick at least 200 pounds of cotton a day.

5. Your task: The cotton bolls will be hand-ginned, or dissected, by you today (we’re going to pretend the cotton gin has not yet been invented). This activity will help you appreciate what slaves did in the past and understand the significance of the cotton gin. Each cotton boll can easily be pulled apart into distinct sections to remove the seeds (Approx. 20-30 seeds in each boll).

6. When you receive your cotton, please notice: How prickly the boll is-- ouch! The weight of the boll….imagine picking 200lbs of this EVERY DAY! What a massive pain it is to remove the seeds from this plant

7. You have 4 minutes and 20 seconds to produce the biggest puff of seed-free and leaf-free cotton at your table. Winners (one per table) receive fabulous prizes. You may begin when you hear the song “Cotton Eyed Joe” play. Your pride is at steak…