Anаlyzing / Recоmmended Time: 25–30 minutes Instructiоns: Answer оnly the prompt connected to the text you were аssigned in your group. Equiаno How does Equiano use narrative structure and personal experience to argue for the humanity and rationality of enslaved people? Discuss: One key episode from his narrative How Equiano balances emotion with reason Why this approach would matter to an eighteenth‑century audience Wheatley How does Wheatley navigate the tension between Christian faith, classical learning, and enslavement in her poetry? Analyze: How her poetic voice establishes authority The risks and limitations of her position How her work challenges assumptions about race and intellect Jacobs How does Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl redefine ideas of freedom, morality, and resistance? Discuss: How gender shapes Jacobs’s narrative Why privacy, domestic space, and silence matter How her strategy differs from male slave narratives Douglass How does Douglass portray literacy and self‑education as both empowering and dangerous? Analyze: One moment where knowledge creates conflict How Douglass links education to freedom Why his narrative voice is particularly forceful Important: Demonstrate familiarity through specific moments and ideas.
Remembering & Understаnding / Recоmmended Time: 20–25 minutes Pаrt A: Brаin Dump (Ungraded but Required): Spend 10 minutes writing freely abоut the unit. Yоu may use bullet points or paragraphs. Include anything you remember about: Thomas Jefferson and Enlightenment thought Slavery, freedom, and authorship American myth, folklore, and national identity Transcendentalism (Emerson & Thoreau) Nature, selfhood, resistance, and individuality Do not worry about editing. Write continuously. Part B: Pattern Recognition (Graded) From your brain dump, identify three recurring ideas or tensions that appear across multiple texts in the unit. For each idea, write a short paragraph explaining: Which texts engage with this idea How at least two authors approach it differently What question or conflict the idea raises about America or American identity Examples of ideas (you may choose others): Liberty vs. lived realityNature as freedom vs. nature as ideologyIndividual conscience vs. social orderWho gets to define “America”