The Slave Narratives: a Mighty Mighty People THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON

$The Slave Narratives: a Mighty Mighty People THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON$

THE SLAVE NARRATIVES STUDY GUIDE

The Broad Stage and Bonnie Franklin’s Classic and Contemporary American Plays Presents The Slave Narratives: A Mighty Mighty People THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON

STUDENT MATINEE TUES OCT 25, 2016 and WED OCT 26, 2016 10:30 AM GRADES 11-12

THE BROAD STAGE AT THE SANTA MONICA COLLEGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 1310 11TH ST., SANTA MONICA, CA 90401 / 310.434.3560 1 THE SLAVE NARRATIVES STUDY GUIDE

Jane Deknatel Director, Performing Arts Center

EDUCATION & COMMUNITY PROGRAMS STAFF Alisa De Los Santos, Manager of Education & Community Programs Mandy Matthews, Education & Community Programs Associate Sam Sandoval, Education & Community Programs Assistant

EDUCATION & COMMUNITY PROGRAMS Phone 310.434.3560 [email protected] thebroadstage.com/education

THE BROAD STAGE 1310 11th Street Santa Monica, CA 90401 THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ Box Office 310.434.3200 Fax 310.434.3439 [email protected] thebroadstage.com EDUCATION

16\17 SEASON Education and Community Programs at The Broad Stage is supported in part by Herb Alpert Foundation Bank of the West Johnny Carson Foundation City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Commission Colburn Foundation The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Leonard M. Lipman Charitable Fund Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation SMC Associates David & Linda Shaheen Foundation Sidney Stern Memorial Trust Dwight Stuart Youth Fund Ziering Family Foundation, a Support Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles

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Greetings from The Broad Stage!

Dear Educators,

We are so excited to bring Bonnie Franklin’s Classic and Contemporary American Plays back to The Broad Stage for another season of education partnership. CCAP was founded to fill a void in the English and Humanities curriculum of the greater Los Angeles public school system by providing underserved junior and senior high school students the opportunity to experience staged concert readings of plays by great American playwrights. This is the perfect collaboration for high school teachers (like you!) with curious and capable students.

This season, Bonnie Franklin’s CCAP is presenting a piece entitled The Slave Narratives: A Mighty Might People, written by playwright and CCAP board member, Ms. Hattie Winston. This play is woven from the rich tapestry of stories collected from former slaves in 1933 as THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ a part of the Federal Writers Project. With remarkable grace, the power of unvarnished truth and the uncommon poetry of common folk, these narratives unveil the searing reality of life in bondage from the last living voices to bear witness.

Please take some time to work through some or all of the activities in this guide with your

students. Each element of the guide has been developed by theatre artists and educators EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON to help explain the concepts behind the performance you’ll be seeing and to engage your students both pre- and post-show.

Again, in preparation for the performance, we encourage you to look through this study guide and implement some (or all!) of these activities in your classroom. As always, the activities are supported by the California Common Core and the VAPA Standards. We hope that this guide proves to be helpful in preparing your students for the presentation. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions or ideas. We’ll see you at The Slave Narratives: A Mighty Might People!

Sincerely,

Education & Community Programs Staff

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Contents

Lessons

Lesson 1: The World of The Slave Narratives

Handout 1: The History of Enslavement in America

Handout 2: The World of Slave Narratives

Handout 3: A Note from Ms. Hattie Winston Lesson 2: A Common Language

Handout 4: Hidden Messages

Hanout 5: Linguistics of “Black English” THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ Lesson 3: The Power of Identity EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON Appendix

Story Circle Guidelines

Handout 1: The History of Enslavement in America

Handout 2: The World of Slave Narratives

Handout 3: A Note from Ms. Hattie Winston

Handout 4: Hidden Messages

Handout 5:Linguistics of “Black English”

Further Reading

Standards Addressed

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Lesson 1: The World of Slave Narratives

Description: Students discuss the power of narratives and storytelling in order to better understand Hattie Winston’s The Slave Narratives: A Mighty Mighty People. Goals: 1. Students will create their own narratives in a story circle. 2. Students will understand the historical backdrop of the play. Materials: Handout 1: The History of Enslavement in America, Handout 2: The World of Slave Narratives, Handout 3: A Note from Ms. Hattie Winston Duration: 120 minutes over two class periods

Part 1: An Introduction to Story Circles Day 1: 60 Minutes

Rearrange the classroom so that students can sit in a circle. THEBROADSTAGE.COM/

Remind students of what they discovered in their reading of the play: the structure of The Slave Narratives: A Mighty Mighty People is one of storytelling. The characters are weaving the world of the play with their words, each one adding to another’s story.

Lead students through a Story Circle exercise, following the guidelines found in the Appendix EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON section of this guide. *Adjust the time per storyteller to fit the strengths of your students.

Prompt students to share a story that addresses identity in a low-pressure manner, such as “Tell a story about an event that taught you something about the kind of person you are.” *Students’ stories can be lighthearted or more serious, but must address the prompt and build on one another, based on the Story Circle guidelines.

Discuss the experience of participating in a Story Circle. • How would you describe your experience of telling a complete story in 2 minutes? • How did your ability to actively listen relate to your ability to tell your own story effectively? • Why do we tell stories?

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Lesson 1, cont.

Part 2: The World of the Play Day 2: 60 minutes

Begin Day 2 with a recap of the Story Circle experience and its relationship to the structure of The Slave Narratives: A Mighty Mighty People.

Discuss the importance of storytelling and oral tradition, especially among enslaved people. Examine the ways in which stories kept collective and individual histories alive and recalled family members from whom they had been separated.

Distribute and review both Handout 1: The History of Enslavement in America and Handout 2: The World of Slave Narratives. *Students may also go online to interact with the more detailed timeline here:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/timeline/index.html THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ • Did any information surprise you? Did you discover something that you previously did not know? • What evidence of “the world of the play” do you find in the text of The Slave Narratives: A Mighty Mighty People? EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON • Why do you think Ms. Winston chose to set the play in Galveston, Texas?

Make predictions as to Ms. Winston’s motivation for writing the play based on your discussion.

Distribute Handout 3: A Note from Ms. Hattie Winston.

Divide into small groups and have students discuss Ms. QUICK WRITE: Winston’s message. In five minutes: Give an example of a narrative that has been largely excluded • Do you see that message reflected in any of the from “mainstream” American history. characters and their dialogue? Where? Why do you think it has been excluded? Is there value in ensuring that all stories are This play gives voice to people who have traditionally • represented in the history students learn been left out of American history. Are there other from school? Why or why not? examples of narratives that have been left out of TAKE IT FURTHER! “mainstream” American history? Recall the significance of the title A Mighty Mighty People to Ms. Winston. Interview a parent, grandparent, or other living Regroup as a whole class and share insights on the board. relative. What was life like when they were your age? What events shaped who they have become? What makes you proud to be a part of their family?

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Lesson 2: A Common Language

Description: An exploration of the power of a common language and how it can unite a people. Goals: 1. Students will learn about the origins and current form of Black English. 2. Students will make connections between language, art, and identity. Materials: Handout 4: Hidden Messages, Handout 5: Linguistics of “Black English” Duration: 60 minutes

Part 1: Story Circle

Separate students into small groups of eight and review the guidelines of a Story Circle. Assign a timekeeper and have each group complete the activity again, sharing a story using language that

establishes a specific place and dialogue that gives the group clues about the speakers (age, THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ ethnicity, education level, habits, etc.)

Part 2: Discussion

Examine the dialogue in The Slave Narratives: A Mighty Mighty People by asking several EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON volunteers to read a favorite passage aloud.

Discuss the language of the characters and how it evolved. Ask students to consider what might happen when a people is taken away from their homeland, language, music, dance, etc. How might that effect spoken language? In what ways could a people keep a lost culture alive through language?

Distribute Handout 4: Hidden Messages and read as class. Discuss the ways in which a shared language and music can unite a group of people and be used as powerful forms of resistance. Note: The music in The Slave Narratives: A Mighty Mighty People is a continuation of dialogue, another way of communicating. Singing spirituals represented a form of expression that masters could never take away from those enslaved, binding them together in a shared language of hope for a better future, whether in The North or in Heaven.

DANCE CONNECTION! “Wade in the Water” Watch the dance company, Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, perform a dance piece to “Wade in the Water”. Do you see any similarities between the dancers’ movement and the meaning of the song? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9uEq9Sjefg&index=2&list=RDFzq5kX6 OT_s Start at 3:00 minutes

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Lesson 2, cont.

Recall and discuss the specific language captured in the recorded slave narratives. This spoken version of English, indicative of a particular time and place, later evolved into what is more commonly spoken today as “Black English”, which is governed by a set of rules, just like Standard English.

Read James Baldwin’s “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin-english.html

Discuss what happens when a group of people share a common language, music, or dance. How does that affect the people within the group? To what extent does it inform a member’s identity with relation to those outside the group? As dancer Camilla Jones says in her TEDtalk (link in blue bubble below), “Why do we dance together? To say: ‘We speak a common language, we exist and we are free.’” THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ Part 3: Activity

Each of us speaks and understands Standard English. But we are also part of a subgroup that uses its own version of Standard English, whether we speak “Black English” with our neighbors, EDUCATION

16\17 SEASON are part of a bilingual family that combines English with another language, or simply text our friends differently than we would text our parents. Adapting our use of language to fit the situations we are in is called code switching.

Watch a comedy duo’s Kay and Peele’s take on code switching here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzprLDmdRlc

Write a song, poem, or narrative in a variation of Standard English with which you identify.

DANCE CONNECTION! The Cakewalk The cakewalk dance was originally performed by slaves in order to mimic and exaggerate the mannerisms of their wealthy owners. Ironically, the plantation owners who watched the cakewalks never knew they were the subject of ridicule. Watch Camille Jones’s TedTalk to learn more about the Cakewalk and other African-American social dances. http://www.ted.com/talks/camille_a_brown_a_visual_history_of_social_dance_in_25_moves

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Lesson 3: The Power of Identity

Description: After viewing the play, students will come together to explore its relationship to real world attitudes and current events. Goals: 1. Students will reflect on their experience of attending The Slave Narratives: A Mighty Mighty People. 2. Students will make connections between the themes of the play and current events. Materials: Further Reading Articles or access to the Internet Duration: 50 minutes

Part 1: Engagement

Discuss students’ reaction to watching The Slave Narratives: A Mighty Mighty People at The Broad Stage. THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ Did hearing the words of the play spoken aloud change their effect? How? Was the performance powerful? If so, in what way?

Revisit Ms. Hattie Winston’s interview on The Slave Narratives: A Mighty Mighty People and review Ms. Winston’s mission in writing the play. How do you think the play communicates Ms. Winston’s EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON pride in her ancestry?

Group students into small groups and ask them to share their answers to the following: How do you feel connected to your ancestry today? How much do the deeds of your ancestors define who you are?

Part 2: Written Response

In the last scene of the play, Dilce states, “Til we talk ‘bout slavery, ain’t nobody gon be free – don’t matter if you black or white.” • Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? How might we benefit as a nation by telling the more complete history of those who were enslaved? • What is the legacy of slavery in American society? How does it affect you personally? • Do you feel there is a connection between the racial tensions in our country and a lack of understanding of our nation’s history? Why or why not?

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Story Circle Instructions

In brief, a Story Circle is a group of people sitting in a circle, telling personal stories, led by a facilitator. Story Circles are always meant to create a safe space for people to share across dif- ferent experiences.

1. Assign a timekeeper (2 minutes per person). 2. Go clockwise from the first storyteller. 3. Make sure you tell a story based on the prompt.

What is and is not a story? • A story is a narrative of events drawn from the teller’s personal experience. • A story can be from a memory, a dream, a reflection, a moment in time, and more. • A story typically has a beginning, middle, and end, as well as characters and atmosphere. • A story is not a lecture, an argument, nor a debate.

Story Circles should: • Participants should be seated in a circle without notepads, pencils, etc., and so that each

person has a good view of every other participant. THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ • Have one trained facilitator who begins, oversees, and ends the Circle. • Have a stated time that each story lasts and a timekeeper. • Allow for silences between and within stories. • Be as much about listening as about telling. No cross talk. • Allow each story to build off of or influence the next story. EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON

Story Circle is a group facilitation process built around narrative and personal experience. John O’Neal and his work with the Free Southern Theater made Story Circles available to the Ashé Cultural Arts Center and Junebug Productions who helped bring the process to College Unbound.

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Handout 1: The History of Enslavement in America

1619 A Dutch ship brings the first Africans to Jamestown, Virginia 1663 A Virginia court decides that a child born to an enslaved mother is also a slave 1730 From this time onward, England trades slaves in North America with Boston, New York and Charleston as the main ports 1775 Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery is established as the world’s first antislavery society 1787 The ratified U.S. Constitution rules a male slave to count as three-fifths of a man when de- termining representation in the House of Representatives. The Constitution also set 1808 as the earliest date to abolish the slave trade 1794 Congress passes the Federal Slave Trade Act of 1794 prohibiting American vessels to trans-

port slaves to any foreign country THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ 1804 After the final defeat of the French in St. Dominguez, Haiti is declared an independent black nation. Haitian Independence Day is celebrated throughout the northern free black com- munities 1808 United States bans American participation in the African Slave Trade EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON 1820 The Missouri Compromise allows Missouri to become a slave state and Maine as a free state. Slavery is banned in the territory west of Missouri 1849 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and plays a major role with the Underground Railroad 1850 The Compromise of 1850 includes a Fugitive Slave Act that calls all citizens to help with returning fugitive slaves to their owners 1861 Abraham Lincoln is elected as President and spurs the beginning of the Civil War 1863 Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation abolishing slavery in territory controlled by the Confederate States of America 1865 The Civil War ends with a Northern victory and freedom to slaves 1868 The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified and grants citizenship to newly freed slaves 1870 The Fifteenth Amendment is ratified and grants black males the right to vote 1896 U.S. Supreme Court establishes ‘separate but equal’ doctrine with Plessy vs. Ferguson. This law enables segregation and allows “Jim Crow” practices to spread across America, with many states adding segregation into state constitutions

Sources: http://www.ushistory.org/more/timeline.htm

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Handout 2: The World of Slave Narratives

Playwright Hattie Winston sets her play in 1937, Galveston, Texas, soon after “Miss Marjorie Jones” of the Federal Writers Project interviewed and recorded the stories of former slaves in the early 1930s. In the beginning of the play, two of the characters, Anderson and Delia, allude to General Gordon Granger and their freedom “two and a half years” after the Emancipation Proclamation. If it weren’t for General Granger riding into Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, as Delia declares: “We still be out there in them fields working for the marster” (p. 7).

General Granger proclaimed what was supposed to be a new order for all Americans. In the beginning of the “General Order Number 3” it reads: “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.” THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ As a result of this historic moment that took place in Galveston, Texas, many African-Americans throughout the United States of America celebrate “Juneteenth” (the June 19, 1865 proclamation) as a holiday of freedom every year. As the characters narrate their stories of mayhem, miracles, and profound courage, they are very well aware of the injustices inflicted upon them in 1930s America, a time of Jim Crow, discrimination, segregation, and violence. Their world speaks to our present world today. EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON

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Handout 3: A Note from Ms. Hattie Winston

MY JOURNEY to “THE SLAVE NARRATIVES”

It was Norma Moore, founder and executive director of “Stories on Stage” in Denver, Colorado who suggested that I might be interested in exploring the collection of slave narratives and writing a play based on them.

I read hundreds of narratives and became engrossed in the lives of these enslaved people, my people. I can see a human connection between the experiences of those enslaved and those of many peoples who have suffered genocides throughout history. All people who endured such tragedies are to be remembered and honored. There is a line in “The Slave Narratives: A Mighty, Mighty People”, that says, “My folks don’t want me to talk about slavery. They ‘shamed we were slaves.” I say there is nothing to be ashamed of. These were a mighty, mighty people. As their de- scendants, so are we.

Hattie Winston THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON

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Handout 4: Hidden Messages

Many religious hymns commonly sung by those enslaved had multiple meanings. They were simultaneously expressions of faith and coded communications about escape, which enabled singers to celebrate faith, honor their roots and send messages of escape plans, meeting places and travel routes. Below are some examples.

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Steal Away to Jesus”, Wallace Willis, Prior to 1862 “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (Oklahoma’s State song) was written by Wallace Willis, a slave in Oklahoma. While working in the fields, Wallace started to compose his “plantation songs” that would transform into black spirituals. “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” became the first of Wallace’s “plantation songs” and spoke of a divine help that was coming, as did “Steal Away to Jesus”. Some historians also believe that there was a code associated with Harriet Tubman and the movement North within the lyrics.

Try exchanging the word “chariot” with Harriet. Are there any lyrics that might be specific di- What might “swing low” and “carry me home” rections for escape? mean? THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” “Steal Away to Jesus” Swing low, sweet chariot Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus Coming for to carry me home Steal away, steal away home Swing low, sweet chariot I ain’t got long to stay here Coming for to carry me home My Lord, he calls me I looked over Jordan, and what did I see He calls me by the thunder EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON Coming for to carry me home? The trumpet sounds within-a my soul A band of angels coming after me I ain’t got long to stay here Coming for to carry me home Green trees are bending If you get there before I do Po’ sinners stand a-trembling Coming for to carry me home The trumpet sounds within-a my soul Tell all my friends I’m coming, too I ain’t got long to stay here Coming for to carry me home

“Wade in the Water” Water plays an important spiritual role to black hymns. Captivity began by crossing the Atlantic Ocean and the Ohio River was the dividing line between slavery and freedom in the Underground Railroad. The hymn, “Wade in the Water”, was a song that spoke of God’s ability to restore and redeem the slaves and also held instructions from Harriet Tubman to avoid walking on trails when escaping. Instead, the song advised them to “wade in the water” so the search party couldn’t track their path. Wade in the Water, wade in the water children. Wade in the Water. God’s gonna trouble the water. Who are those children all dressed in Red? God’s gonna trouble the water. Must be the ones that Moses led. God’s gonna trouble the water.

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Handout 5: Linguistics of “Black English”

Linguistic scholars in the early 1980s recognized “Black English” (BE) as a distinct form of speech with “its own history, logical rules of grammar and pronunciation, and discourse practices that are traceable to West African languages”1 This study guide is not the place for a lengthy analysis of “Black English”, but some of the key characteristics of its own vocabulary and rules may show some of the distinctive features.

BE is more than vocabulary or slang; however, African-American oral tradition and playfulness with language can be seen and heard over the years in words such as: • “crib,” for home • “up-tight” for tense • “threads,” for clothes • “my bad,” or making a mistake or being at fault • “cool” or “fine” for good

There are also differences from standard English in pronunciation:

1. Consonant clusters endings are softened or dropped; r and l sounds softened or dropped: THEBROADSTAGE.COM/ “doe” for door, “sistuh” for sister, “goin’” for going, etc. 2. Irregular verbs are not present: e.g. String/Strung, Bring/Brung 3. Deletions of the 3rd person singular making language more regular: “I walk”, “you walk”, “he walk ”. 4. Hypercorrection is the establishment of regularity: “I hates”, “we gots”, “they likes”. -“He always do silly things.” EDUCATION 16\17 SEASON -“He have a bike…” -Children becomes childrens -They mines, his, hers, its, yours, ours, theirs 5. Diphthong, blend of two vowel sounds in one syllable: right/”rat” now. 6. Double negatives: I don’t want none. -Ain’t no book on the table. -Nobody ain’t got nothing. 7. Ain’t replaces is, am, are, have, had, there is:

The verb “to be” has many more forms and uses: According to Fasold and Wolfram, two linguistic scholars, “he be tired” could mean either will be, would be or “non-tense” be. The non- tense be implies a general state rather than a single event, thus “he be tired” might mean “his is tired” often or “he is tired right now”.

Many more distinctive rules, pronunciations, and expressions make up “Black English”; According to researcher Kenya Hicklen “it is certainly not a foreign language for it is not dif- ferent enough from what linguistic scholars refer to as standard English. Nevertheless, it is not slang, broken down English, lazy or defective speech, substandard or in some sense linguisti- cally inferior. Like standard English and other American dialects, it possesses a structure with logical rules and the ability to convey complex meaning. Accordingly, its speakers should not be considered less intelligent, wrong or lazy.”

Sources: 1. Maria Puente, “War of Words over Ebonics’ Debate Intensifies after California School System’s Vote,” USA Today, 23 December 1996,p. 1A.

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