Booker T. Washington

Critics have pointed out that Booker T. Washington in Up From Slavery adopts Frederick Douglass's slave narrative. Where does Washington copy the central elements/themes of the slave narrative? More importantly, how does he rework those elements/themes, endowing them with a different meaning or significance?

William Wells Brown II -- The Georgiana Issue

Clearly, Georgiana is an antislavery advocate. In the last part of the book, what do you think about the choices she made when it came to her slaves? Do you think Brown viewed her -- a northerner by education and sentiment -- as he viewed the North -- "prejudice[d] . . . on account of color"? In the last part of the story, how does Brown represent Georgiana?

William Wells Brown

How do Reverend Peck and Carlton differ on the importance of the Bible/Christianity to the slaves? How does Georgiana mediate their disagreement?

SBOHP History Issues

Shannon and Carol are the class historians. If you need background information or historical context either before or after you conduct your interview, please post your questions to this site and Shannon and Carol will look them up and post the answers here.

SBOHP Questions

Please share with each other one good interview question. As Fred Fussell suggested, questions should be open-ended so the person cannot just answer yes or no. Also, questions should elicit an easy response without being too invasive.

Jena 6 Rally

The Rally on Thursday was a very powerful experience for those of us who attended, and I saw a lot of you there. I wanted to create a post where you could share your thoughts in the aftermath of the event. What did you think about the rally? How did you feel? What feedback have you received?

Harriet Jacobs

Who does Harriet Jacobs imagine her audience to be? (Hint: Pay close attention to the preface.) Focusing on moments in the narrative when she breaks from the story to address her audience directly, do you find that her audience makes her self-conscious? Of what? What does she want from them? (You must post your response before class on Thursday, September 20).