Procedure

Time: Approximately 45 minutes.

Materials: Student Directions and computers with Internet OR print-outs of several slave narratives / interviews from the following web site(s):

Faces and Voices from the Presentation from the Days of Slavery: Former Slaves Tell Their Stories collection; and/or American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology.

Implementation: This RWLO can be implemented during class time if each student has access to a computer and the Internet for viewing the above collections. Otherwise, it should be provided as an out-of-class assignment however you may find it useful to demonstrate how to access the audio recordings and transcripts from the Faces and Voices from the Presentation collection (see step 2 below).

Steps:

Provide access to the Student Directions and/or print and distribute the Student Worksheet (narratives.doc - 170.5 KB) located in the Content Material section of this RWLO.   Review the instructions with the class as needed. You may find it helpful to preview and guide one or more of the narratives from the collections with the students to prepare them for the language and structure of the interviews. Time permitting, you should demonstrate how to listen to the audio recordings from the Faces and Voices from the Presentation collection in both Real Audio and MP3 format and how to access the "Transcription" located at the bottom of each resource page from each former slave under the Related Digital Items section.   Students should select and read and/or listen to a minimum of two former slave narratives / interviews from either Faces and Voices from the Presentation or American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology.   After students have selected and read / listened to two narratives, they should respond to the corresponding questions in Parts B and C of the Student Directions.   Students should respond to the synthesis questions found in Part D. If you plan to use this RWLO in a literature course written about or during the time period of American slavery as described in the Recommendations for Integration section, you may opt to include the optional question 3 comparing the narratives with the way slave life is described in the novel(s) the students are reading.