The+Book+of+Negroes


 * The Book Of Negroes: By Lawrence Hill**


 * Summary:**

The story is told in first personal narration from the perspective of a former African, female, Muslim, slave, Aminata Immediately from the beginning Lawrence Hill does an excellent job in playing with the readers emotional responses through the way Aminata explains her present day situation, creating suspense and building anxiety urging the reader to want to read further to find our more about her life Aminata tells the story about her past which has led to the current point in her life She lived a happy free life in Africa, until the age of eleven when she witnessed the death of both her parents, and was stolen away Striped of all of her clothing, occasionally given water, tied together with other captives and constantly beaten, she was forced to walk for hours each day They were branded with hot metal She and many other captives were loaded jam-packed on a ship, many of them were held in metal cages that were long in length but only one foot in height, forcing them to lay flat tied to each other, surrounded in their waste, many died of dehydration and poor supply of oxygen On the ship she witnesses many tragic deaths, and people going insane because of psychological trauma (eg, women throws baby overboard) The ship ends up in the United States of America She is sold to an evil slave owner who rapes her She has a baby for another slave; her master eventually sells her baby She loses her husband and her baby, she finds her love fourteen years later when she was in the hands of a new slave master, but never finds her son She Documents her story for Abolisitists, which gets published in the real “Book of Negros” She lives the rest of her life in fear of being re-enslaved and never finds her son or husband and her daughter marries and leaves her

• May cause many to feel uncomfortable • Violence, rape, slavery, emotional and psychological abuse, gender inequalities, loss of love ones, torture • In an educational system that fails to teach black history, makes novel seem unnatural to teach; therefore as a African male some may think that I am trying to impose my views onto them; hence I have to allow them to understand that learning about African history is natural because it is apart of our history as Canadians • The title may offend some students, which is why I would have to first explain the origin of the word and how it has evolved (Spanish word for the color black, which was socially constructed with negative connotations to refer to individuals of African descent) and may allow students to question today’s definition of being “black”
 * Challenges In Teaching the Text**

Lawrence Hill is a true artist that can perfect any form of genre Does an excellent job in creating suspense throughout the novel making it hard for the reader to put down the book He intelligently starts the novel from the present in the early 1800s where Aminata states that she is old, tired, lonely, and does not have any of her children or husband by her side, which intrigues the reader to want to learn more about her story The story continues with Aminata telling her story from when she was nine years old up until the present, switching from present to past throughout the story He cleverly forces the reader to learn the history of slavery without complete victimizing the protagonist, but instead empowering her by allowing her to survive and become well known as she functions as an activist and works with the abolitionist by documenting her story Conveys her as a positive character by allowing her to be one of the few women that could read, speak multiple languages, at the age of nine she was functioning as a mid-wife He allowed her to maintain a positive resilient attitude even through all the tragedies that she had to face, which allowed the readers to empathize with her and understand her story rather than pity her because of her being presented as inferior He cleverly shows the positive and rich African culture Focalization is through the eyes of Aminata Cleverly chose when to give detailed information: gives very detailed accounts of scenery, conversations, and emotions which allows the reader to develop a strong emotional response to the story and have a clear understanding of the history But he uses metaphors, similes, and personification (“THE SHIP WAS AN ANIMAL IN THE WATER”(57) or, the moon climbing) to allow the reader to develop vivid imagery Many tragic events occurred which he did not explain in detail so avoid turning his readers off from the text, but we were still able to know from a distance through the focalization of Aminata that terrible incidents such as rape were occurring to other slaves Incidents in which Aminata witnessed or experienced first hand were not as descriptive as real historical accounts of events (i.e The Slave ship a human history). Some instances are down played, e.g. hours later that the yoke was making her skin raw, instead of giving a detailed description of how it felt and what it looked like By basing the story on real historical events it forces the reader to read every single detail of information about factual evidence and gain a great understanding of the causes, experiences and effects of slavery through the eyes of a fictional character Perfect novel to teach in schools to be equitable because it speaks about the history of a marginal character and allows for the class to have an opportunity to celebrate difference which allows them to shed ignorance by gaining knowledge of other cultures Equitable because the protagonist comes from many marginal groups as she is a female, Muslim, African who is very intelligent and resilient
 * Critical analysis**


 * __Teaching the text__**

· Fictional biography based on real historical events, allowing students to learn about their history of slavery · Educating students about social injustices, based on race, culture, gender and language · Allows students to not only view marginal groups as helpless victims, but they are given a detailed description of the knowledge they had and used to survive to fight their way out of slavery · Allows students to make sense of the present by understanding the pictures of the past
 * Topic knowledge:**

• Fictional Biography • First person narration • Starts in the present then flashes back and focuses on her past but at times jumps back to the present • Excellent use of descriptive language created vivid pictures for the reader to perceive • Excellent use of personification and metaphors to develop wonderful imagery and rhythmic sentences • Language is easy to understand allowing for a smooth easy read
 * Textual knowledge**

Inequalities between males and females (Females were not allowed to be educated) Derogatory terms used to refer to females and Africans Africans were viewed as inferior by the whites Africans matured fast in their society (greater family responsibilities at a younger age, and career knowledge at a young age e.g. Mid-wife at age 9)
 * Social Knowledge**

Religious beliefs and practices of Muslims, Jews, and Christians African foods: Yams, corn cakes, boiled ginger with honey, mangoes, peppers Difference in activities in Africa compared to other countries (Africans strong and enjoyed wrestling, whites enjoyed playing ball sports)
 * Cultural Knowledge**


 * Possible assignments/ Activities**

- Day before begin reading the novel I would ask the students to all anonymously write how they feel about reading the book and also write about what they know about Africa - Next class I would reassure them that we would be reading and learning together in a safe and respectful setting, also that we are not reading the text to point fingers at anyone or belittle anyone - I would show clips of African tradition and also of all the many things that Africans have created and developed - We would think compare what we taught we knew to the new information that we attained through videos and documents - The second class I would then introduce the novel by playing music to create a sad mood, with dim or no lights and have a stuffed animal laying on the ground - Then lights would come on and I would show the stuffed animal laying in dirt and explain that this five year old child was found here exhausted because of dehydration - The class would function as experts and ask questions to the slave owner to try and figure out what happened to the child - The slave owner would be a student in the class who I would have explained his character and what had happened so that he could answer the questions for the class - This would allow them to understand the idea of the story, I would then present them with the text and explain the Origin of the word Negro to avoid any misconceptions - Go over pre-reading and during reading strategies and then begin activities
 * Hook before begin reading book**


 * English Grade 12 Academic**
 * 1) ****Journal:** Have students create weekly journals placing themselves as the character of Aminata in the 1700s and explain what their weeks were like and how they felt
 * -** Allows them to further emotional connect by empathizing with the character


 * 2) ****Essay compare and contrast:** Five page paper compare and contrast this book to another book or movie, or compare the views of slavery from the perspective of a captive and a slave
 * -** Allows students to develop argumentative writing skills, organizational skills and allows them to understand the positions of characters as well as develop rational reasoning

- Each group will then have to research the historical and present day traditions and accomplishments of each culture and perform a presentation based on their research as well as their literature circle reading - Finally, individually each student will be required to reflect on their presentation as well as in essay form compare and contrast two other presentations that they watched in class
 * 3) ****Literature circles:** Each group will focus on a text that explores a different cultural struggle and examine the novels through roles such as a discussion director, connector, artful artist, vocabulary enricher, poetic master ect.

In drama the entire book will be summarized to the students but not read Each group will perform a scene in the book All chosen scene will come together to create a story, which will be presented in front of an audience to raise social awareness of injustices in society Money that is raised will go towards an African cause
 * 4) ****Grade 12 Drama or Grade 12 Academic English: Perform a play**

Practice by telling them a scenario in the novel Have them write it as descriptive as possible Compare it to how Lawrence Hill wrote it and see how could improve writing and how looks compared to Hill Empowers students by putting them on the same level as great writer Show them exemplars of short story’s written by students of the past and create a criteria with them as a class to evaluate their story’s Next they can create their own two page story that will teach a moral lesson based on an injustice
 * 5) English Grade 12 Writers Craft: Create short story**

- Create a case study based on scenes in the text e.g. when Aminita was a slave and wondering why other black servants who outnumbered the whites would not help her then when she becomes like an indentured servant she does not even consider helping them either) - These case study’s can be analyzed through theories such as the self fulfilling prophecy, guilt complex, inferiority complex ect.
 * Psychology**

- Create case study’s based on the story and have students determine the rational of slavery based on a capitalist view point - Figure out the problems of social structures - Conduct research, then take social action as a class to advocate for social justice
 * Sociology**