KEENA DAY, M.A. A Summer Tragedy: Literature Guide

Author: Arna Bontempts Harlem Renaissance writer Close friend and collaborator of Langston Hughes Librarian of Fisk University Leading curator of African-American Renaissance Literature Author of: Black Thunder God Sends Sundays Several Children’s Books

Terms You Should Know The Great Migration Sharecropping The Great Depression Model T Ford

Sharecropping

Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land (e.g. 50% of the crop). Sharecropping became widespread as a response to economic upheaval caused by the emancipation of slaves and disenfranchisement of poor whites in the agricultural South during Reconstruction.emancipation slaves agriculturalSouthReconstruction

Sharecropping Plantations had first relied on slaves for cheap labor. Prior to emancipation, sharecropping was limited to poor landless whites, usually working marginal lands for absentee landlords. Plantationsslaves Following emancipation, sharecropping came to be an economic arrangement that largely maintained the status quo between black and white through legal means.

Sharecropping In Reconstruction-era United States, sharecropping was one of few options for penniless freedmen to conduct subsistence farming and support themselves and their families.ReconstructionUnited Statesfreedmensubsistence farming However, sharecropping was an easy way for white former slave owners to take advantage of uneducated freedmen. Former slaves had little to no education, so the landowner could draw up a contract instead of half.

Sharecropping The sharecropper purchased seed, tools and fertilizer, as well as food and clothing, on credit from a local merchant, or sometimes from a plantation store. When the harvest came, the cropper would harvest the whole crop and sell it to the merchant who had extended credit. Purchases and the landowner's share were deducted and the cropper kept the difference—or added to his debt. In the 1930s and 1940s, increasing mechanization virtually brought the institution of sharecropping to an end in the United States.1930s1940s

The Great Migration

Wikipedia says: The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest and West from 1910 to Some historians differentiate between a First Great Migration (1910–30), numbering about 1.6 million migrants.blacksSouthern United StatesNortheastMidwestWest Because blacks looked to leave the pain of poverty caused by sharecropping and segregation in order to work in factories, African-Americans left the South behind.

The Great Depression

Model T Ford

Breaking Down the Text Part I: Basic Story Map Completion  Exposition  Conflict  Rising Action  Climax  Falling Action and Resolution

Setting Analysis What was the time, place and time period of the text? How did the setting affect:  Characters (cite specific examples in text)  Plot (cite specific examples in the text)  Mood/ Atmosphere (cite specific examples in the text)

Character Analysis Characterization:  How was Jeff described (cite specific examples)? Was this direct or indirect characterization?  How was Jennie described (cite specific examples)? Was this direct or indirect characterization?  Were the characters Round or Flat? How do you know?  Were the characters Dynamic or Static? How do you know?  Roles:  Protagonist  Antagonist

Foreshadowing and Flashback Where were there specific examples of Foreshadowing? As you read, did you pick up on these hints? Where were there specific examples of Flashback? As you read, how was the flashback helpful in understanding the characters?

Save the Last Word for Me Take an index card and a marker Write one quote from the text that had the most vivid imagery. Write it word for word. Put it in Quotations. On the back of the card tell why you thought it was so vivid.

Writing Activity: Description For homework, write a paragraph or poem in which you describe the South. In it, you must use vivid description (smells, sounds, tastes, sights, and feelings) Due date: October 21

Blog Activity Go to Go to the tab “Blog” Click on the title “Summer Tragedy- What do YOU think” Write a response to the question: Based on what you know about the characters, was it ok for this couple to commit suicide? What were your original thoughts as to the purpose of their trip? What was your reaction when you realized the pair instead killed themselves? Due Date: October 28 (REQUIRED)