Pre-AP American History Summer Reading

Pre-reading Activities: Answer the following questions BEFORE YOU BEGIN READING THE BOOK.1.) A student recently said "I don't care about slavery. That happened a long time ago, and I don't want to think about it in my life today. It is no longer important." What do you think about this statement? Tell why you agree or disagree. What would you tell the student if you had a chance to have a conversation?2.) Students in the United States enjoy lots of freedom. List some freedoms that you enjoy. Were these privileges always available to everyone? What might some one have had to do in order to make sure you have these freedoms? How does that make you feel about the privileges you enjoy?3.) What happens if a rule or law or a practice in a country is immoral or wrong? Who decides if it is right or wrong? What is done to change that law or practice? How does one decide what to do?Book Annotation: AS YOU READ, use the following annotations to mark in your book. If you do not own the book, keep a list of page and paragraph numbers along with the symbol on a separate sheet of paper.A = Attitudes of Africans/Slaves? = Confusing/did not understand! = Surprising/did not see comingHighlight = Historical background/informationDiscussion Topics: Answer the following questions AS YOU READ THE BOOK.1.) Describe the relationship between Amari and her parents, between Amari and her little brother Kwaski. How does the strength of her family make a difference in her life?2.) What do you know of the village of Ziavi from the descriptions given in the text? How would you describe the social structure, family structure, and cultural structure of the community? How did the customs of graciousness to the guests become a death sentence for the town? Explain why the Ashanti helped the European killers.3.) Describe the horrors of Cape Coast  Castle, the Door of No Return, and the branding on the beach. How does Amari survive? What necessary survival techniques would you have to develop to survive in those experiences?4.) Describe the Middle Passage as described in the novel. What is it about human beings that makes one person mistreat another? What is it about human beings that makes us survive in spite of it?5.)Why didn't more slaves rise up and protest or fight back? What social and cultural pieces were in place to prevent it?6.) What did you learn about Africa, the middle passage, slavery, and African American history that you did not know before? How has it changed your thinking, if any?  Post-reading Activities: Answer the following questions AFTER YOU READ THE BOOK.1.) Discuss the destruction of slave families as people were bought and sold with no regard to their family structure. When slavery ended, what was the long-range result of this family destruction?2.) Explain how slavery was an integral force in shaping American history.3.) The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery but did it end discrimination? Discuss discrimination as it exists in our world today.

Copper Sun By: Sharon Draper

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