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Overview:  In this WebQuest, you will learn about our 2007 Writer-in-Resident Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the dynamic period of change in America that surrounds his life and work, and his memoir Colored People.  This WebQuest will help you to establish a sense of time and setting for appreciating Gates’ life and work.  Following each individual Quest are questions that can be used to facilitate discussion or to check completion/comprehension of the given topic.     

Quest 1:  Learn about Henry Louis Gates.

 

Who is ?  Review his on Gale.  Finally, you may also enjoy this brief of his life and works.

 

Read about his birthplace of Piedmont, West Virginia.   Take a look at in an excerpt from Colored People, and peruse some of the additional information on the site.  You may find it helpful to peruse this , paying particular attention to those sections devoted to the history surrounding Piedmont.  While this site has an abundance of economical information about Piedmont today, you may enjoy viewing .

 

Now answer the following questions regarding Quest 1.

 

1.  Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is a scholar as well as a writer of memoirs.  Characterize his scholarship.

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Describe the influence of West Virginia on Gates’ writing and ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

Quest 2:  Set the stage for reading Gates’ Colored People.

 

Read about some of the many historical events surrounding the period of the memoir.  

 

Study Integration of schools with the Supreme Court Decision.  Review this extensive site regarding the .  Read about the , a march for voting rights.  See Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” at .  How does this famous letter serve as a catyllus for change in the African American community during the Civil Rights period in America? 

 

Listen to King’s words at the Martin Luther King, Jr. site in Atlanta, .    Study this biography of the life, leadership, and death of . This may also be useful in studying King.

 

View this abbreviated for the Vietnam War.  Visit this amazing that contains images, stories, timelines, and much more that will give you a great foundation on the period.  

 

Read about the movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Look at these thumbnail images and quote from the movement at .

 

Now answer the following questions regarding Quest 2.

 

1.  How do the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, the bombings, and the marches change people’s attitudes about African American’s in the South?

 

 

 

 

2.  What does the Vietnam War have to do with Gates’ story?

 

 

 

 

3.  How does the Black Power movement change the race discussion in America after the 1964 Civil Rights Act?

 

 

 

 

Quest 3: Learn about Gates’ Colored People.

 

Be sure to read Gates’ , a book in which he brilliantly focuses on the present and past in his experiences as being a “colored” boy in Piedmont—a vanishing experience as he writes the memoir.  Take a look at the critique of the book.  Finally, study . 

 

You may also find this with Gates to be helpful; he offers extensive information pertaining to his memoir, Colored People.

 

Before you begin the memoir, look at the “as you read” questions at the AHWIR website; click on “Colored People Assignment” at .

 

Now answer the following questions regarding Quest 3.

 

1.   What should you notice about the narrative structure or format of Colored People as you read the book? 

 

 

 

 

2.  What part will the Gates’ family likely play in his “coming of age” story?

 

 

 

 

3.  What do you think will surprise you about African American life in West Virginia in the 1950’s and 1960’s?

 

 

 

 

4.  What themes should you look for as you read?

 

 

 

 

Quest 4:  Additional Resources and Links for Teachers

Note: A few of the links below may contain material that, while relative and historical, may be inappropriate for young students.

 

Here are valuable for teachers regarding the Civil Rights Movement. 

 

Lesson plans on of Martin Luther King.

 

Here is the link to the Gates’ AHWIR website ; click on other teaching tools, the AHWIR interview with Dr. Gates, and the literary essay on Gates’ writing and scholarship.  

 

Here is the link to the Gates’ AHWIR website ; click on other teaching tools, the AHWIR interview with Dr. Gates, and the literary essay on Gates’ writing and scholarship.