Unit Overview

This humanities unit provides a thoughtful approach to a class reading of Toni Morrison's Beloved. Not only does it address the novel, this unit also gives students the opportunity to respond to the history of slavery's deeper context and its aftermath by creating plays and other writings. This unit is intended for an upper-level high school class of above average ability, possibly AP.

Curriculum Standards

For a list of standards that this unit addresses, click here.

1. Pre-reading Activities


1. African Ideas of the Afterlife and Beloved: Students read excerpts from African-American scholars on African beliefs in the afterlife. They then use that information to better understand Beloved's role in Sethe's life.



2. The Tragedy of Slavery and its Aftermath, in Beloved: Establishing Contexts for Understanding: Students review the history of slavery in America to understand better its long-lasting damage on the African-American psyche.



3. Creating Characters in a Historical Context: The Family Tree: In this extension of the history of slavery activity, students create a family tree based on their research into the periods of history involving slavery.


2. Support for the Reading Activities


1. Literature Circle Reading Response Activity: Students focus on parts of Beloved in this group activity.


(The following two assignments interrelate)


2. Connecting the History of Slavery and Scriptwriting: A Checklist: In preparing to write scripts of slaves' experiences, students research slavery by reading slave narratives and analyses of slavery' effect on the people enslaved.



3. Adapting Beloved: A Readers Theatre Approach: In this extension of the lesson on scripting, students write out class scripts for sections of Beloved.


3. Post-Reading Activity


A Culminating Assignment: Weaving Together Strands of Memory: In this culminating assignment that synthesizes the history with the fiction, students write their own "re-memories" using Morrison's style.

Rick Vanderwall is the Chair of the Language Arts Department at Malcolm Price Laboratory School in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Paul Horton teaches History at Holy Innocents Episcopal School in Atlanta, Georgia.

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