Background information America 1960's

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

1960s America

Literature

- To kill a Mockingbird  written in 1960 takes places in 1935

- The Help written in 2009 takes place in 1962

Both works focus on and deal with themes and issues (ex. racism and poverty) that were striking for these periods in American history.

We will focus on the 1960s but what do you know about the American 1930s?

The Great Depression

- 5 million people lost their jobs

- After the crash of wallstreet

- Dust Bowl

Hoovervilles

The Dust Bowl

1960s America

05:18

Explain what segregation is in your own words.

06:09

What is the NAACP?

1. National Anthropologists Against Civil Protest
2. Natural Aggressors of Anti Coloured Personnel
3. National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People
4. Neutral Anthropology Accepted by Certain Persons

07:28

Is this document pro or con the segregation of schools?

1. Pro
2. Con

10:52

What is the main point this video wants to make clear?

02:05

Which of these novels takes place in Mississippi?

1. To kill a Mockingbird
2. The Help

03:52

Why did Kennedy have to support the Civil Rights Movement?

05:40

"never go to war with a noun". What is this referring to?

I Have a Dream

- Important historical moment

- Background information

- Listening as well as reading exercise

- Will help you understand and read difficult and older texts.

- Read along with the speech

What is the main message of this speech? Take a few minutes

1. Figurative language (From Prentice Hall Literature: Bronze, 1991): “writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally. The many types of figurative language are known as figures of speech, which include (among others) metaphor, personification, simile and symbol.”

a. Metaphor: Something in a literary work described as though it were something else. “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”

b. Personification: When a non-human subject is given human characteristics. The wind ate through the boy’s flesh.

c. Simile: A figure of speech that makes a direct comparison between two unlike subjects using either like or as. She sings as a lark sings but stings like a wasp.

d. Symbol: Anything in literature that stands for or represents something else. The sun symbolizing hope; night symbolizing fear; the tides symbolizing change.

2. Oratory (From Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature, 1995): “the rationale and practice of persuasive public speaking.” Some oratorical devices include:

a. Refrain: A regularly repeated line or group of lines in a poem or song

b. Dramatic pause: An intentional pause in delivery in order to build suspense or magnify the importance of a point.

c. Hyperbole: exaggeration used for emphasis or dramatic effect. We will not breathe again until the injustice has stopped.

With a partner

- Read the bit about literary devices

- Answer the questions

Done? --> Read your literature!