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Martí's Song for Freedom/Martí Y Sus Versos Por La Libertad

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Martí's Song for Freedom/Martí Y Sus Versos Por La Libertad Martí’s Song For Freedom/Martí y sus versos por la libertad TEACHER’S GUIDE Martí’s Song for Freedom/Martí y sus versos por la libertad written by Emma Otheguy, illustrated by Beatriz Vidal About the Book SYNOPSIS Genre: Nonfiction (Biography) As a boy, José Martí was inspired by the natural world. *Reading Level: Grade 5 He found freedom in the river that rushed to the sea and peace in the palmas reales that swayed in the wind. Interest Level: Grades 2–8 Freedom, he believed, was the inherent right of all men Guided Reading Level: T and women. But his home island of Cuba was colonized by Spain, and some of the people were enslaved by rich Spanish Guided Reading landowners. Enraged, Martí took up his pen and fought Level: U against this oppression through his writings. By age seventeen, he was declared an enemy of Spain and forced Accelerated Reader® to leave his beloved island. Level/Points: N/A Martí traveled the world, speaking out for Cuba’s Lexile™ Measure: N/A independence. But throughout his exile, he suffered from illness and homesickness. He found solace in New York’s *Reading level based on the Catskill Mountains, where nature inspired him once again Spache Readability Formula to fight for independence. Themes: Freedom of Written in verse, with excerpts from Martí’s seminal Versos sencillos, this book is a beautiful tribute to a brilliant Expression, Colonialism, political writer and courageous fighter of freedom for all History, Nature, Poetry, men and women. Political Essay, Bilingual Stories, Cuban/Latino Interest, Hispanic Interest Teacher’s Guide copyright © 2017 LEE & LOW BOOKS. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to share and adapt for personal and educational use. For questions, comments, and/or more information, please contact us at [email protected]. Visit us online at leeandlow.com. 1 Martí’s Song for Freedom/Martí y sus versos por la libertad BACKGROUND support. In the 1880s and 1890s, Martí lived Afterword from Emma Otheguy: in Nueva York. He was at once dazzled and “José Martí, called Pepe (a nickname for horrified by the city, and the sentiment “José”) by his friends and family, was born is reflected in his famous essay “Nuestra in Cuba in 1853. His father, a former Spanish América.” In the essay, Martí criticized the soldier, struggled to find enough work to aggression and incursions of the United support Martí and his seven sisters. From States in Latin America, but he also urged a young age, Martí excelled in school, Latin Americans to fight colonialism and especially in writing. His mother and father oppression as the United States had done. were proud of his aptitude, but they never During this time, Martí also published the wanted him to become involved in politics children’s magazine La edad de oro. The and risk the family’s stability. stories from this collection are widely read to this day and are beloved throughout the Martí’s commitment to emancipation was Spanish-speaking world. sparked by his personal observations of slavery. He was also aware of what was Martí sometimes visited the Catskill happening around the world, especially Mountains, a hundred miles north of Nueva in the United States. From the docks in York, in the Hudson Valley. His poetry Havana, he and his best friend, Fermín collection Versos sencillos was written Valdés Domínguez, watched the ships of during one of these trips. In these poems, the Union blockade in the Florida Straits, Martí revealed a love both for the island and they read every news story they landscape of Cuba and the mountains of could find about the Civil War (1861-1865). New York State. Martí was as committed When President Abraham Lincoln was to poetry as he was to politics, and he is assassinated, they wore hemp bracelets to considered one of the founders of a literary commemorate his death. movement called modernismo, exemplified by elegant and musical poetry. Today, Cuba’s Ten Years’ War started in 1868 stanzas from Vesos sencillos are included in when a plantation owner named Carlos the song, “Guantanamera,” which has been Manuel de Céspedes declared he would recorded by many famous artists, including fight for independence from Spain. He Cuban American singer Celia Cruz. freed the men and women enslaved on his plantation to fight under him. As the war Martí continued to fight for Cuban evolved, enslaved people and free blacks independence after he returned from the organized to fight for emancipation as well Catskills. He coordinated with other Cubans, as independence. Although the rebels were particularly veterans of the Ten Years’ unsuccessful and Cuba remained a colony, War, such as Máximo Gómez and Antonio slavery was finally abolished in 1886. The Maceo, to form the Cuban Revolutionary teenage José Martí supported the Ten Party. Their goal was to gain independence Years’ War, and his first published work was from Spain and organize a democracy in praise of the rebels. As a result, Martí was that protected the rights of all citizens, arrested and exiled from Cuba. regardless of skin color or nation of origin. Even after the failure of the Ten Years’ War, The Cuban War for Independence began in Martí was unwilling to give up on Cuban 1895. Martí wanted to do more than write: independence. He traveled throughout He wanted to fight for his country. Martí Latin America and the United States, traveled to Cuba by boat, and against the building a network of financial and military advice of General Gómez, he joined the war. Teacher’s Guide copyright © 2017 LEE & LOW BOOKS. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to share and adapt for personal and educational use. For 2 questions, comments, and/or more information, please contact us at [email protected]. Visit us online at leeandlow.com. Martí’s Song for Freedom/Martí y sus versos por la libertad After only a few weeks, Martí died in his first battle, but Cubans kept fighting and Additional LEE & LOW titles to formally gained independence in 1902. teach Biography: In 1945, the mayor of Nueva York, Fiorello Take a Picture of Me, James VanDerZee! H. La Guardia, renamed Sixth Avenue in written by Andrea Loney, illustrated by Manhattan as Avenue of the Americas, Keith Mallett and later a statue of José Martí was placed https://www.leeandlow.com/books/take- near the entrance of Central Park. Nearby a-picture-of-me-james-van-der-zee are statues of two other Latin Americans, Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín. Love to Langston written by Lynn These statues honor everyone who Rubright, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie fought against slavery and the tyranny https://www.leeandlow.com/books/love- of colonialism. Although Cuba is only one to-langston island and Martí was only one man, his story speaks to the struggles faced by every Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved nation in the Americas.” Potter and Poet written and illustrated by Andrea Cheng Author’s Note from Emma Otheguy: https://www.leeandlow.com/books/ “Martí’s passion for poetry, nature, and etched-in-clay democracy bridged the values of Latin America and the United States. Martí was How We Are Smart written by W. Nikola- a man of both lands who longed for Cuba Lisa, illustrated by Sean Qualls even as he was inspired by New York State. https://www.leeandlow.com/books/how- When I read Martí’s poems and think we-are-smart about the links he created between the United States and Latin America, between The Storyteller’s Candle/La velita de Nueva York and Havana, I feel that I’m like los cuentos written by Lucía González, Martí, from every place and on the road to illustrated by Lulu Delacre everywhere: a Latina, and an American.” https://www.leeandlow.com/books/ Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War: the-storyteller-s-candle-la-velita-de-los- Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of cuentos the United States. During his presidency, Frederick Douglass: The Last Day of Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. This Proclamation Slavery written by William Miller, declared that all slaves be freed within illustrated by Cedric Lucas the Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln was https://www.leeandlow.com/books/ assassinated on April 14, 1865 at Ford’s frederick-douglass Theatre in Washington, D.C. He is one John Lewis in the Lead: A Story of the Civil of the most well-known and venerated presidents in American history. (https:// Rights Movement written by Jim Haskins www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/ and Kathleen Benson, illustrated by abrahamlincoln) Benny Andrews https://www.leeandlow.com/books/john- lewis-in-the-lead Teacher’s Guide copyright © 2017 LEE & LOW BOOKS. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to share and adapt for personal and educational use. For questions, comments, and/or more information, please contact us at [email protected]. Visit us online at leeandlow.com. 3 Martí’s Song for Freedom/Martí y sus versos por la libertad VOCABULARY BEFORE READING (Language Standards, Vocabulary Acquisition & Use, Strands 4–6) Prereading Focus Questions The story contains several (Reading Standards, Craft & Structure, Strand 5 and Integration of Knowledge & Ideas, Strand 7) content-specific and (Speaking & Listening Standards, Comprehension & Collaboration, Strands 1 and 2) academic words and Before introducing this book to students, you may wish to develop phrases that may be background knowledge and promote anticipation by posing unfamiliar to students. questions such as the following: Based on students’ prior 1. Ask students if they have ever heard of José Martí. For knowledge, review some or students who have: ask: What do you know about José Martí? all of the vocabulary below.
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