4/6 Class Notes

Today in class, Dr. West encouraged to share our own experiences and influences that have shaped our relationship with race and racism in our in-class writing at the beginning of class. Dr. West mentioned the importance of this activity was to help us start to understand racial justice. We must start with the mind and “notice the water we swim in” which is often heavily influenced by our race. We should not feel the heavy burden of taking responsibility for our ancestors, rather be honest about our history and not gloss it over. She discussed the importance of balancing stories (the unfortunate details and the themes of love and resiliency of the human spirit) since there is an entanglement of goodness and brokenness.

Next, Morgan shared his historical context about the Underground Railroad. The name refers to the secret communication of “conductors”, “passengers”, and “stationmasters”. Encoded letters and gospel songs sung while working on the plantations would pass along messages. White and black abolitionists worked to free 100,000 slaves and instigate the Civil War. Some key figures in the operation were: Isaac Hopper, Harriet Tubman, Levi Coffin, and Frederick Douglas.

Dr. West shared a presentation that continued to give us context for the novel in a chronological fashion. Prior to 1650, indentured servitude was utilised before slavery. Freedom was an option if servants were baptized, and children were free when they were born. Starting in 1650 until 1700, slavery was race-based in the New World. Slaves were treated as economic commodities, mere pieces of property rather than humans. Violence and terror were used as control mechanisms. Families and groups were divided by language so as to suppress communication. Children were now born as slaves and women were raped to produce more slaves. Baptism did not lead to freedom any longer. 1700-1860 was defined by violent slavery. These conditions were reported. Class and color hierarchies were formed to further division. Laws passed in 1850 made it very difficult to remain free. Female slaves turned to infanticide to protect their children from the horrors of life as a slave. This period of time was challenged by abolitionists such as Frederick Douglas, David Walker, and Harriet Jacobs. Looking back on this time is crucial to avoid repeating it, yet glossing it over is even more dangerous than ignoring it. Dr. West shared the importance of a plantation museum that was created recently that does not romanticize plantation life. The Whitney dedicated a monument to writing the name of each slave they could trace. Statues were erected all over so visitors would not be able to ignore the fact that slavery took place there.

Next, we watched an interview with Yaa Gyasi, the author of Homegoing. She discussed How she wanted to write about the legacy of Ghana in America. She is from Ghana, but has lived in America. During a trip to Ghana in college,she realized how much she did not know about Ghana and the slave trade and wanted to make that information easier to get a hold of. She wanted her book to be fiction that was factually correct without preaching.

We ended class with an activity that had partners dive into a specific chapter of the novel to analyze the plot (what?), setting (where/when?), and character (who?) in that chapter. We will be creating a map to keep everything straight. We created a basic timeline of each sister’s descendents:

Effia (~1770s; Fante village/Cape Coast Castle)

Quey (~1779; takes over for father in the castle, then village)

James (~1824; British and Asante Wars, Fante, Kumasi, near the castle, and village)

Abena (~1860s; village and Kumasi)

Esi (~1770s; Asante and then Castle)

Ness (~1796; Alabama cotton plantations)

Kojo (~1850s-1860s; Baltimore)