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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Perspectives on the slave narrative

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=321

A lesson plan for Grades 11–12 United States History

Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities

About this resource

Appropriate grades
11–12
Subjects
social studies (African Americans, United States history)
Provider
National Endowment for the Humanities

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This lesson plan introduces students to one of the most widely-read genres of 19th-century American literature and an important influence within the African American literary tradition even today. The lesson focuses on The Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave (1847), which, along with The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845), set the pattern for this genre and its combination of varied literary traditions and devices.

To help students recognize the complex nature of the slave narrative, the lesson explores Brown's work from a variety of perspectives. Students first consider the narrative as a historical record, examining episodes that describe the conditions Brown lived through as a slave. Next, they examine it as a work of literature, investigating the rhetorical techniques Brown uses to shape his experiences into a story. Third, students consider the work's political dimension, weighing the arguments that Brown presents as an abolitionist spokesman and the degree to which his narrative should be treated as political rhetoric. Finally, students approach the narrative as an autobiography, a work of self-actualization in which Brown charts a spiritual as well as a literal journey to freedom.

To conclude the lesson, students produce an essay or editorial explaining how Brown's narrative challenged the prejudices of white readers in his own time and how it challenges prejudices today.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Social Studies (2003)

Grades 11–12 — United States History

  • Goal 2: Expansion and Reform (1801-1850) - The learner will assess the competing forces of expansionism, nationalism, and sectionalism.
    • Objective 2.02: Describe how the growth of nationalism and sectionalism were reflected in art, literature, and language.
    • Objective 2.04: Assess political events, issues, and personalities that contributed to sectionalism and nationalism.
    • Objective 2.05: Identify the major reform movements and evaluate their effectiveness.

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 11 — English III

  • Goal 1: The learner will demonstrate increasing insight and reflection to print and non-print text through personal expression.
    • Objective 1.02: Reflect and respond expressively to texts so that the audience will:
      - discover multiple perspectives.
      - investigate connections between life and literature.
      - explore how the student's life experiences influence his or her response to the selection.
      - recognize how the responses of others may be different.
      - articulate insightful connections between life and literature.
      -consider cultural or historical significance.
  • Goal 3: The learner will demonstrate increasing sophistication in defining issues and using argument effectively.
    • Objective 3.02: Select an issue or theme and take a stance on that issue by:
      - reflecting the viewpoint(s) of Americans of different times and places.
      - showing sensitivity or empathy for the culture represented.
      - supporting the argument with specific reasons.
    • Objective 3.03: Use argumentation for:
      - interpreting researched information effectively.
      - establishing and defending a point of view.
      - addressing concerns of the opposition.
      - using logical strategies (e.g., deductive and inductive reasoning, syllogisms, analogies) and sophisticated techniques (e.g., rhetorical devices, parallelism, irony, concrete images).
      -developing a sense of completion.
  • Goal 4: The learner will critically analyze text to gain meaning, develop thematic connections, and synthesize ideas.
    • Objective 4.01: Interpret meaning for an audience by:
      - examining the functions and the effects of narrative strategies such as plot, conflict, suspense, point of view, characterization, and dialogue.
      - interpreting the effect of figures of speech (e.g., personification, oxymoron) and the effect of devices of sound (e.g., alliteration, onomatopoeia).
      - analyzing stylistic features such as word choice and links between sense and sound.
      - identifying ambiguity, contradiction, irony, parody, and satire.
      - demonstrating how literary works reflect the culture that shaped them.
    • Objective 4.03: Assess the power, validity, and truthfulness in the logic of arguments given in public and political documents by:
      - identifying the intent and message of the author or artist.
      - recognizing how the author addresses opposing viewpoints.
      - articulating a personal response to the message and method of the author or artist.
      -evaluating the historical significance of the work.
  • Goal 5: The learner will interpret and evaluate representative texts to deepen understanding of literature of the United States.
    • Objective 5.01: Interpret the significance of literary movements as they have evolved through the literature of the United States by:
      - analyzing the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry, and how the selection of genre shapes meaning.
      - relating ideas, styles, and themes within literary movements of the United States.
      - understanding influences that progress through the literary movements of the United States.
      -evaluating the literary merit and/or historical significance of a work from Colonial Literature, the Romantic Era, Realism, the Modern Era, and Contemporary Literature.