Curated and Reviewed by
Lesson Planet
This Beloved by Toni Morrison activity also includes:
- Excerpt of a video in which Professor Juliette Cherbuliez explains the Medea myth, 2009
- Image of a sculpture entitled The Jealousy of Medea, 1852
- Illustration of “Medea musing on the murder of her children,” 1869-1870
- Illustration depicting “The Modern Medea: The Story of Margaret Garner," 1864
- Broadside announcing the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
- Illustration of slaves chained inside a cargo hold
- Illustration of slave traders separating a black woman from her children, 1838
- Picture of shackles used to punish slaves who attempted escape, ca. 1850
- Excerpt from Autobiography of a Female Slave by Martha Browne Griffin, 1857
- Map of the nineteenth-century Underground Railroad, 2005
- Illustration captioned “The road to liberty; a station on the Underground Railroad," 1857
- Activity
- Join to access all included materials
Any classroom study of Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved requires careful planning and scaffolding. A primary source set that includes a video, illustrations, photos of artifacts, and a broadside of the Fugitive Slave Act provides readers with the context they need to understand Sethe's actions.
12 Views
7 Downloads
CCSS:
Adaptable
Concepts
toni morrison, primary source analysis, primary source images, primary sources, racism, slavery, the underground railroad, author's purpose, point of view, historical context, the atlantic slave trade, magical realism, injustice, justice, greek tragedies, cross-media analysis, media analysis, compare and contrast
Instructional Ideas
- Pair the reading of Beloved with a study of Euripides version of the Greek myth of Medea
- Have groups investigate and report on Euripides's Medea, on the story of Margaret Garner, Magical Realism, and the Fugitive Slave Act
Classroom Considerations
- A protocol must be in place to assure a safe, respectful discussion of the text
- Requires access to computers with internet
Pros
- Materials in the set reveal the parallels between the classic Greek tragedy, Medea, and Morrison's novel
- The packet includes discussion questions and activities
Cons
- None