Featured Texts

"Guests in the Promised Land" by Kristin Hunter
"Passing" by Langston Hughes

"Passing" by Langston Hughes examines how one character deals with racism by blending into Euro-American culture. In contrast, the short story "Guests in the Promised Land" by Kristin Hunter, presents a protagonist who fights back against his situation of oppression with anger and force. As background knowledge for this classroom lesson’s seminar discussion, students read "Guests in the Promised Land." This text pairing affords students with an opportunity to see how two different individuals might have dealt with being African American during the early 1930s. Use the companion text, To Be a Slave, by Julius Lester, to expand students’ background knowledge. To Be a Slave is a nonfiction account drawn from actual slave narratives.

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