We the People Reading List on Courage
“My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact.”
—Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass' escape from slavery into freedom and subsequent social and literary achievements in the face of overwhelming opposition is among the finest examples of courage in American history. Such strength of conviction and sense of purpose reveals how courage can result in world-shaping transformations. The National Endowment for the Humanities We the People Bookshelf reading list celebrates fifteen books that examine the theme of courage and its important function in our country's development. The We the People Bookshelf fact sheet lists the entire selection of books, separated into appropriate grade categories, and also provides general information about the program. You may request a free We the People Bookshelf poster.
Frederick Douglass—and others like him who had the courage to tell their narratives—had a profound effect on the abolitionist movement. Their stories not only influenced American letters; they changed the history of our country. Douglass' well-known work is one voice among the many African-Americans who courageously escaped from slavery and fought for emancipation. By using EDSITEment's lesson plan Perspective on the Slave Narrative, your 9th to 12th grade students will learn about the genre that Douglass helped create. This lesson examines how the slave narrative functions in a variety of important ways—as a work of literature, a political device, a historical document and, ultimately, a testament to courage. The EDSITEment lesson Slave Narratives: Constructing U.S. History Through Analyzing Primary Sources teaches younger students (3rd – 5th grade) how to use primary source documents and oral histories to evaluate the historical changes brought about by emancipation.
Listen to other courageous African-American voices—including slaves and former slaves—at the EDSITEment reviewed African-American Women On-line Archival Collections. You may supplement Douglass' accounts of slavery and Southern life with letters from Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson, house slaves in Virginia, or Vilet Lester, who wrote her former owner in hopes of reuniting with her daughter.
Complement the lesson with the EDSITEment approved websites Documenting the American South and the Freedman and Southern Society Project. Both websites provide a wealth of primary source documents and critical essays about the writings that shaped emancipation. An e-text of Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is available through Documenting the American South, as well as through links from the EDSITEment-reviewed websites American Studies at the University of Virginia and American Memory Project.
Through such websites students learn how slave narratives and other early African-American writings helped set the stage for the future American literary tradition, providing voice and style for later poets like Langston Hughes and writers like Ralph Ellison, both of whom are featured in the We the People Bookshelf. Teach your students about poetic voice with the EDSITEment lesson The Poet's Voice: Langston Hughes and You. Or, use the EDSITEment lesson plan Write Poetry Like a Pro, which employs Hughes' poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” as one example in order to teach 3rd-5th grade students how to read and write poetry so that they too can courageously speak out against injustice or praise courage in others. Read more poems by Langston Hughes and listen to him read “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” at the EDSITEment approved The Academy of American Poets website.
The We the People Bookshelf features one famous youngster who was never afraid to speak his mind—Huck, from Mark Twain's enduring classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The EDSITEment lesson plan Critical Ways of Seeing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in Context helps your students understand the complex cultural context of this oftentimes controversial novel. This lesson draws upon resources available at the EDSITEment approved website Mark Twain in His Times, where you can learn more about Mark Twain's historical circumstances and influences. While visiting, you can read contemporary reviews of the novel, view various illustrations used in different editions, or even read the entire novel, which is available in electronic form.
While Mark Twain's Huck Finn and Jim braved the Mississippi, Stephen Crane explored the theme of courage through a different youth experience via the perspective of an inexperienced young soldier in The Red Badge of Courage. Crane's novel about Henry Fleming's inaugural steps as a soldier evoked a variety of responses from his contemporaries, ranging from praise of a truth that "has never been guessed before" to sharp criticism of the novel as a “vicious satire upon American soldiers and American armies.” The EDSITEment lesson The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Courage guides your students in a discussion about differing interpretations of courageous actions, drawing on the contemporary reviews available at the Red Badge of Courage home page of the EDSITEment resource American Studies at the University of Virginia. At the end of this lesson, students will explore Crane's own deliberations on the subject, as evidenced by the three variant endings he produced for The Red Badge of Courage. Your students will read the three endings and will explain which one they feel is most faithful to the notion of courage Crane developed throughout the novel. You may use this lesson independently or combine it with the complementary EDSITEment lesson The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Realism to explore how the novel also helped shape realism in American literature.
Finally, for those books listed on the We the People Bookshelf that may not yet have specific EDSITEment lessons or websites (especially those for younger readers), you may adapt EDSITEment lesson plans Portrait of a Hero and What Makes a Hero? to explore issues of heroism and courage in your K-2nd grade or 3rd-5th grade classroom (respectively).
Also, look for news about a new program beginning in the fall, where NEH will invite applications from school and public libraries across the nation to participate in the first "We the People Bookshelf" program. NEH will award copies of the 15 books in the "We the People Bookshelf" to more than 500 eligible libraries. These libraries will organize a program or event to make their community aware of the importance of reading classic literature and the themes of the "We the People Bookshelf."
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