Assignment: Race Relations
Template for: Life on the Color Line: The True Story of A White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black. By Gregory Howard Williams
1. As you read, think about your own identity, and what determines who you are? How would you feel if your world was suddenly turned upside down and your own identity/status was suddenly challenged or lost? How do you think it would change you and the way you see the world.
2. Use the following questions to guide your reading-by writing a small commentary to address these issues.
a. How do the issues of race emerge as the central component of the text?
b. Choose three of the central characters and think about how race affected there lives, was it different, the same, or not a factor?
c. Do you think the race of the reader will have an impact on how one views the story, in what ways will the difference manifest itself?
3. Choose an important passage from the book (approximately 40 lines) and explain the following:
a. Why do you think this passage important, how is it connected to the rest of the book, and why did you choose this passage, and what does it reveal about the plot or character, or setting.
4. Choose three issues from the book and discuss how the impacted the story, how they were resolved, and how these issues have changed since then.
1. Education
2. Family
3. Parenting
4. Poverty
5. Racial Conflict/Cooperation
6. Racial Identity
7. Dating
8. Community Involvement
9. Athletics
10. Alcohol/Drugs