Title of Book: To be a SlaveAuthor: Julius Lester

Name: Kelsey A.

Class Period: 5

Context CluesWord Sentence Correct

Dictionary Definition

Irretrievably “Yet I had never understood what that really meant until that moment when I knew my personal past was irretrievably lost.”

impossible to regain or recover

Imprint “One of the many mysteries of existence is why an offhand comment would imprint itself on the soul of a child…”

to fix indelibly or permanently (as on the memory)

Nondescript “ It was on the second floor of a nondescript building and specialized in books on what we call the Negro history.”

lacking distinctive or interesting qualities

Haphazardly “Books were shelved haphazardly and there were as many stacks on the floor as the shelves.”

Dependent upon a mere chance

Phenomenon “…about the new political and cultural phenomenon know as Black Powder.”

a rare or significant fact or event

Text Purpose

• The authors purpose for this book is to inform the readers about slavery through first person accounts. Since the book won

a Newberry Honor award, given by the Association for Library Service to Children, I would say the intended audience for this

book would be students.

Text Structure

• The text structure has a pattern; he introduced a subject and then began going

into detail about the topic, by giving first person accounts.

Text RepresentationI. Plantation

A. Slave owners house- brick/framework (outside appearance)- Ground floor- Attached building to house

B. Garden behind house

- 5 acres

- spacious

- well cultivated and handsomely plotted

C. Library

- small house

- master kept books there

- master spent most of the time there

D. Kitchen Quarter

- servants slept and took meals there

- washing of family took place there

- duties along with kitchen

Author’s Perspective/Point of View

Subject Author’s Feelings

Text Evidence

Slave owners being respected

He doesn’t believe slavery is right or fair

“ In the slave-holding South, the more slaves a man owned, the more respected he was. In other words, the more human beings he held by force and against their will, the more highly regarded he was.”

Main Idea

Paragraphs Main Idea

Beginning-Page # 15 The author altered grammar of the negro slang to make the material more understandable to us, the readers.

Middle-Page # 72 The number of lashes a slave receives depends on the nature of the case; the more severe a slaves actions were, determined how many lashes they would receive.

End-Page # 148 A colored man, Jim Freeman, was hung on a tree after all his stuff was destroyed because he was making money.

Supporting DetailsDetails Page

#Comments

“It is estimated that some fifty million people were taken from the continent during the years of the slave trade.”

27 This detail gives the reader an idea of how many people were slaves.

“Each slave was expected to pick at least two hundred pounds of cotton a day.”

71 This detail shows the reader how much was expected from the slaves

“Seventy years after the Civil War…” 153 This gives the reader a time frame of events

Draw InferencesWhat the Book Says Conclusions DrawnSituation: A slave drank at the dipper too long.

Character Actions: The slave grabbed a shovel and hit the man upside the head and ran.

I believe the slave eventually got in big trouble, even got killed, given the consequence of striking a white man.

Situation: Grandchildren see scars on their grandmothers back and begin mocking her.

Character Actions: Grandmother whips each one of them, enough to draw blood.

I think its safe to say that the grandchildren never mocked slavery again.

Compare-Contrast

Title: Song Importance in “To be a Slave”

1. Shows songs that the slaves would sing in the field

2. Gives proof they were real by first person accounts

3. Gives the lyrics to the songs

4. The slaves themselves interpreted their emotions behind the songs

5. “bad language”

Title: Video- www.thenewculture.com/videos/thestorybehindamazinggrace

1. Gives the melody or tune to the song

2. Tells more of the famous songs known today written by slaves

3. Doesn’t have first person accounts

4.Nothing is truly proven, theory

5. Gives the music theory the slaves grew up with

Both:

1. Mentions the importance of music in a slaves life

2. Tells why they sang songs

3. It tells examples of the songs

4.Tells where and in what situations the slaves would sing

5. Informs you on the meanings of the coded songs

FactsFacts Page # Comments

“April of 1861 the Civil War began.”

130 This gives the reader a better understanding of time frames

“It is estimated that some fifty million people were taken from the continent during the years of the slave trade.”

27 This helps the reader realize about how many people we in slavery.

“Freedom did not come to most slaves until the end of the war in 1865.”

133 One again, this give the reader a timeline

“A white terrorist group was organized right after the civil war in 1866 called the Ku Klux Klan.”

148 This fact tells introduces the group and gives the need to know basis for the group.

“White men were hired to patrol the roads and woods surrounding the plantations to catch any slave who might be going to a gathering or trying to escape.

103 This fact explains what some white men who didn’t own slaves or have a job outside of slavery did.

OpinionsOpinions Page # Comments

“The plantation was a world itself.”

60 This showed the authors opinion and how he saw the plantation being a whole different topic in itself

“The selling of slaves was inhuman itself…”

42 This tells you what side the author is on, against slavery

“The most emotional scenes took place on the auction block…”

48 This tells us that the author found the auction block scenes very emotional, it struck his heart

“It should never be thought that…”

129 He is telling us that we shouldn’t even think of what he's going to say because it was too absurd.

“It was inevitable from the moment the North…”

150 This shows us he believes that there was no hope after the North does what the did.

Reading Response 1

• Page 122- “Some would rather be killed.”

-For me, death is a scary thought, one I don’t like to think about often. To imagine someone CHOSING death is just crazy! If I had a choice, I would never want to die, but these slaves were wanting to end their life. The pain emotional and physical pain they felt must've been tremendously harsh.

Reading Response 2

• Page 128- “ life is dear to every little thing; the worms that crawl up on the ground struggle for it…”– As weird as this may seem, this really helped

me understand what the slaves were going through. To feel so small and terrified of something with more power over you 27/7 must have been rough. Just thinking about feeling hopeless makes me cringe.

Reading Response 3

• Page 136- “By moving to Texas, they hoped that they might hold on to their slaves a while longer.”– Normally I am all about the Texas pride, but

this statement actually made me feel resentment toward Texas. To think that we were once a major slavery supporter make me ashamed to live in Texas.