Day of Tears

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What was a slave auction like? What would an observer see and hear at one of these auctions?

Teaching Suggestion: Exploring the answer to this question primes students to understand the novel’s themes of Slavery as an Inhumane Practice Against Nature and The Vulnerability of Black People and Enslaved People. The novel’s dependence on dialogue limits students’ ability to gain background knowledge about setting, time, and place. Within reason, this exploration and the recommended resources below may help students to cultivate some of the empathy required to deeply understand the themes.

• The National Museum for African American History and Culture’s (NMAAHC) searchable museum has a page specifically about The Weeping Time called “Torn Apart.” The previous section, “Business of the Trade” will help students understand the sights and sounds of slave auctions in a more general sense.
• “America’s Story from America’s Library” (hosted by the Library of Congress) provides a brief 3-page description of The Weeping Time, geared toward younger readers.
• Smithsonian magazine’s “The Horrors of the ‘Great Slave Auction’” provides a narrative overview of some of the details from eyewitnesses to The Weeping Time.

2. What effect did “The Weeping Time” have on the American economy, history, and culture?

Teaching Suggestion: The Weeping Time is a historic moment that represented the major threads of conflict that were driving the country toward change. Exploring the auction and its impacts will provide students with context for the novel’s importance and highlight the complex humanity of all who were involved.

• Nobis Project’s “The Weeping Time” is a 2-minute video that breaks down both the local and national impact of this singular slave auction.
• “An Interview with Anne C. Bailey, Author of The Weeping Time” – In this 7-minute video, Anne C. Bailey, the author of a book of the same name, describes why The Weeping Time was a moment of grave historical, cultural, and economic impact in both the short term and the long term.
• This informative 8-minute lecture from Georgia Highlands College will help students complete both of the Short Answer questions in this section.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students with limited background knowledge, it might be helpful to present these Short Answer questions as open-ended explorations of the era using a KWL chart or other graphic organizer. You might also review the suggested resources as a class and allow students to answer the questions in a think-pair-share activity in which they add to their previous answers after reviewing each resource. Students will gain more knowledge with the review of each resource and will be able to provide more nuanced answers to the question each time they return to it.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Define family. What value or importance do you place on familial relationships? When you are separated from your family (whether by time, space, or circumstance), how do you keep in touch?

Teaching Suggestion: If students have trouble completing this personal reflection, provide prompts to help them expand their definition of family. Preview this assignment by having a whole-group discussion on what makes a family a family. Guide them to think about and define family beyond genetic and blood relationships. Alongside the video resources from question 2, this expansive definition will help students understand the important role that family played in the events that unfolded in both reality and fiction.

Differentiation Suggestion: For a more kinesthetic or art-focused approach, it might be helpful to allow students to complete this assignment in the form of a poem, a song, a collage, or a dance.