Library lesson booklet

Year 8 term 3
Name:……………………………..
Teacher:…………………………..

This booklet is designed to help you better understand the complex ideas you will find in
your English lessons on poetry from other cultures. It will also help you in other aspects
of your learning, as many ideas about the world we live in are explored in these lessons.
This is called cultural capital.
You will spend half of your library lessons on this booklet, and half on your DEAR silent
reading.
Lesson 1

Clash of Cultures: Two Worlds Collide By UShistory.org 2017

The Aztec empire was an advanced civilization that ruled in Mexico before Spanish explorers arrived. This
informational text discusses the events that lead to the fall of this great civilization. As you read, think about how
the Spanish were able to defeat the Aztecs.

The Aztec empire was large and powerful. It stretched across central Mexico and had a population of 5 million
people. Montezuma was the king of the Aztec empire from 1502 to 1520 CE. During this same time, explorers from
Spain came to the Americas. Christopher Columbus was the first Spanish explorer to come to the Americas. He and
the other explorers were looking for gold. They also wanted to convert Native Americans to Christianity. Another
Spanish explorer to come was Hernán Cortés. He arrived in the Aztec empire in 1519. By 1520 he had killed
Montezuma, and in 1521 he conquered2 the Aztec empire. How was he able to take control of the Aztec empire so
fast?

Cannons vs. Clubs

The Spanish army was the best on earth during this time. It had not lost a single battle for 150 years. The Spaniards
had cannons and arquebus (simple guns). These weapons scared the Aztecs because they had never seen them
before. The Spanish also had horses. This allowed them to travel easily. The Aztecs didn’t have horses. The Spanish
also had strong and deadly swords. The Aztecs’ main weapons were only wooden clubs. Aztec warriors had several
opportunities to kill Cortés. However, it was their custom to capture their enemies alive. Each time they tried to
capture Cortés alive he escaped. The Spaniards, on the other hand, killed their enemies as quickly as they could.
When an Aztec leader was killed, the other Aztec soldiers lost hope and ran away.

Conflict

Many Aztecs disliked Montezuma because of the taxes he forced them to pay. These Aztecs supported Cortés.
When Cortés attacked and conquered the Aztec capital, he had only 900 Spanish soldiers, but he was joined by
150,000 native Aztecs.

Disease

The Europeans also brought with them diseases such as measles and smallpox. The American tribes immediately
became sick. The diseases spread quickly and killed many Aztec leaders and millions of other people.

Superstition

Montezuma was also superstitious. When Cortés landed in the Aztec empire, Montezuma thought he might be the
feathered snake god, Quetzalcotl. This god was thought to have vanished into the eastern ocean long before.
Montezuma half-believed that Cortés was this god returning from the sea. This made Montezuma afraid and
respectful of Cortés. Battle When Cortés and his army of 500 Spanish soldiers faced off with Montezuma, they had
actually been invited into the city. This was a big mistake because Cortés kidnapped Montezuma. Montezuma was
killed a couple of months later, although it’s not clear who killed him. Cortés then left the city, but came back several
months later with a larger army and conquered the city on August 13, 1521. The combination of good weapons,
internal conflict, disease, and superstition helped Cortés conquer the Aztec empire.
Text-Dependent Questions

Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. PART A: Which sentence best describes the central idea of the text?

A. The Spanish had several advantages over the Aztec that led to their defeat.

B. Cortés was considered a savior by Aztecs, as he freed them from Montezuma’s rule.

C. The Aztecs would have likely kept their empire, if they hadn’t trusted Cortés. D. Cortés believed he was has
helping the Aztecs when he took over their empire.

PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A?

A. “He and the other explorers were looking for gold. They also wanted to convert Native Americans to Christianity.”
(Paragraph 2)

B. “Many Aztecs disliked Montezuma because of the taxes he forced them to pay. These Aztecs supported Cortés.”
(Paragraph 6)

C. “When Cortés and his army of 500 Spanish soldiers faced off with Montezuma, they had actually been invited into
the city.” (Paragraph 9)

D. “The combination of good weapons, internal conflict, disease, and superstition helped Cortés conquer the Aztec
empire.” (Paragraph 10)

2. Why did Spanish explorers come to the Americas?

A. There was no more land available in their home countries.

B. They were looking for ways to make themselves rich and spread their religion.

C. They wanted to educate native populations in the Americas.

D. They wanted to learn about the customs in the Americas.

3. How does the author organize the information in “Clash of Cultures: Two Worlds Collide”?

A. The author discusses Columbus’ conquests, and then Cortés’ defeat of the Aztecs.

B. The author describes the fall of the Aztec empire in the order that it happened.

C. The author states that Cortés conquered the Aztec empire, and then describes how.

D. The author discusses the Aztec’s culture, and then compares it to the Spanish’s culture.

4. Describe the relationship between the Aztecs and their leader.

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Lesson 2

What's It Like to Live Without Electricity? By Julie McCarthy 2015

The following article is a production of National Public Radio (NPR), written by Julie McCarthy. Life without
electricity may seem impossible to imagine, but for millions of people around the world it is a reality. This article
provides a glimpse into the lives of people without electricity, specifically in rural India, and the struggle to
implement clean energy in their homes. As you read, consider the causes of this energy crisis and any possible
solutions.

Imagine living in a world with little or no light when the sun sets. That’s the plight of an estimated 300 million Indians
— a quarter of the population, mostly the rural poor. They’re not left completely in the dark. Kerosene lamps
provide light. Cow dung patties provide fuel for cooking. But these options take a toll on time and health. That’s why
India’s prime minister is calling for global partnerships to bring green energy to the powerless millions.

The village of Sadikpur is a good place to gain an understanding of life without electricity. It’s about a five-hour drive
from Delhi in India’s most populous state of Utter Pradesh, in the north of the country. The road leading to the
village is lined with cow dung pies drying in the sun, a serene if jarring scene that lends a 19th-century feel. They’re
made by women like Sagarwati, 30. She digs her hands deep in manure and slaps cow dung into paddies to burn as
fuel to cook for her three children. Watching mother and daughter-in-law Sheela and Sunita Devi provide the manual
horse-power for their shredder, I discover that it’s a village operated by hand. Their scarves dangling dangerously
close to the wheel they push to move the blade that slices sugarcane into feed for animals, who are quartered steps
from their door. Sitting cross-legged in a courtyard hand-weaving a basket, 70-year-old resident Baburam says
“nothing is mechanized” here. The residents of Sadikpur have never been connected to the national power grid. It’s
the sort of place that would benefit from the multibillion dollar green energy initiative President Barack Obama
announced on his recent India visit.

Baburam, a grandfather, is angry that six decades after India’s independence, kerosene still illuminates the houses
with a light so dim he says it discourages anyone from learning to read. And there are health costs from kerosene,
which is the main source of lighting for 43 percent of rural India. Baburam says fumes from kerosene and wood
burning indoors “burn our eyes” and “we cannot breathe.” Kerosene fires and explosions are well-documented. Less
known are the hazards from kerosene combustion. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
“exposure to indoor air pollution” as a result of smoke from burning animal or vegetable matter is estimated to
cause more than a half a million premature deaths a year in India. One study has found that India’s indoor pollution
contributes to disabilities and early death to a greater degree than tobacco, high blood pressure and heart attacks,
says Rahul Tongia. He’s a fellow with Brookings India who specializes in sustainable development and energy policy.
“It disproportionately impacts those who are indoors a lot, which is women and children,” Tongia adds. The World
Health Organization says India has 154 deaths per 10,000 people from chronic respiratory diseases — the world’s
highest rate. And in Sadikpur, their lack of electricity could jeopardize its future.

Farmer Papu Singh, 28, says more than one family has turned down his proposal for marriage. The brooding
bachelor asks, “Who wants to marry a poor man” in a place with no power? It’s not as if Sadikpur hasn’t tried to get
electricity. The village chief has a file spilling with petitions accumulated over the years, asking for connection to the
national power grid. The requests are caught up in a complex web of government edicts,4 public power companies
and private suppliers that is electricity in India. The problem turns out to be one of numbers. The village falls short of
the 3,000 residents required to qualify for electricity. At the local electric company, we ask the superintendent
engineer Punkaj Kumar how it can be that decades after independence a sizeable village like Sadikpur is still without
power. “It’s a very big country,” Kumar replies. “In 67 years we have completed almost 95 percent of the country
[getting] electrified.” But there’s a difference between reaching a village and connecting to all its houses. The 2011
census says that just 55 percent of rural homes use electricity as the primary source of lighting. By comparison, the
World Bank says 99.7 percent of Chinese homes have access to electricity. The yawning energy shortfall in one of the
world’s largest electricity markets is stirring opportunity.

A group of some 200 high-profile investors convened in New Delhi this week to strategize on renewable energy for
India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi told them that India needs $100 billion in green energy and is prepared to offer
incentives. Companies in attendance ranged from the U.S.-based SunEdison to the Indian conglomerate5 Reliance.
They pledged to double India’s energy capacity by adding 250,000 megawatts of sustainable green energy to the
national grid over the next five years. As in the U.S., coal is India’s main source of energy. India’s Minister for Power,
Coal and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal told NPR that even if “some fraction” of the commitments does not
materialize, the pledges will help reduce India’s dependence on fossil fuels. “And for the people of India, it’s more
power to the villages, it’s more power to the common man, it’s more power to the last man on the street who’s
been deprived of it for 67 years,” Goyal says.

In the short term, small entrepreneurs are making a go of it. “This is the place where you don’t have any electricity at
all,” says Ananth Aravamudan, who accompanied me to the remote villages that lie in land in the southern Indian
state of Karnataka that the government wants preserved as forest. Aravamudan is with the Indian energy company
Selco (Solar Electric Light Company) which has provided power solutions to 100,000 underserved households since
1994. Field staff works with local banks to make loans to poor villagers to buy Selco’s $200 solar home lighting
system on installments for as little as 100 rupees — $1.60 — a week. Its founder, social entrepreneur Harish Hande,
says the mission is to “eradicate7 poverty and the darkness” with renewable energy. He says the poor are not
looking for sympathy; they are looking “for a partner.” In the village of Tulasikere, women fetch water from a well as
they have for centuries. A 36-year-old farmer named Dummada says “there’s been no development here for the last
three generations” though politicians have promised “roads, lighting and health centers.” Feeling “let down by the
government,” Dummada says he electrified his home on his own with solar power and became the first in the village
to acquire the small solar home lighting system. Three quarters of the villagers now have solar panels installed on
their roofs, and there are many benefits. Dummada says the panels charge the “portable torches8 villagers use at
night to protect their fields against pillaging animals,” including elephants. He says children can study at night with
solar-charged lanterns. Selco pioneered a lantern program to distribute solar lights to kids who first had to come to
school in order to get the battery charged. Harish Hande says, “There is a huge potential of entrepreneurs,
mathematicians, innovators, inventors that is just lurking behind darkness. So by putting that one light, we are taking
the first step out of ten” toward a more equitable (equal) India.

Text-Dependent Questions

Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. Reread the first paragraph. Which of the following best describes why the article is introduced in this way?

A. The author wants the reader to pity the people of India and think about how they can support the country.

B. The author wants the reader to empathize with those who do not have electricity.

C. The author wants the reader to confront the assumption that no one can live without electricity.

D. The author wants the reader to recognize their own privilege as someone who most likely lives with electricity.

2. Which of the following statements best describes a central idea of the text?

A. Millions of people around the world live without electric power because they cannot afford to pay for electricity.

B. India’s government cannot give its rural population electricity because they live too far away from a power source.

C. Growing concern and new initiatives for green energy may give electricity to the disadvantaged.

D. Lack of electricity is the main cause of death and continued poverty in certain regions of the world.
3. In the second paragraph, the author describes the path to the village as having “a 19thcentury feel.” How does
this description contribute to the central idea of the text?

A. It emphasizes that un-electrified regions have been left behind by international advances in technology.

B. It highlights how living without electricity is the norm and the rural population accepts this way of life.

C. It portrays the people in the rural villages as inferior because of their subpar living conditions.

D. It characterizes the lifestyle of those living without electricity as being of a “simpler time.”

4. What are some alternatives that the people of Sadikpur use to survive without electricity?

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Lesson 3

Swarm – Alan King

Alan King is a Caribbean American, whose parents emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago to the U.S. In this

poem, a speaker witnesses two boys fight. As you read, think about how the speaker reacts to seeing the two
boys fight.

In a mob of school kids,

two boys shove each other
before they’re on the ground

They jab at air and grass,

missing the jaw, cheek and eye.
A girl standing at the edge
screams at the boy
straddling his opponent.

Leave him alone.

This won’t make me like you.

I watch from my car

across the street
after cruising through an old ‘hood,
two decades removed
from my childhood.

And yet this gust spirals

the pinwheel of memory,
whirling me back to third grade,

when I obsessed over Tia Jones

the way my friends swarmed
the ice cream truck for grape Pixy Stix.

She was a sixth grader, who mistook

my lamppost legs and power line arms
for a fifth grader.

She was as old as the boys

throwing grass in each other’s hair,
rolling around in a kind of awkward
tango towards manhood.

Watching the chubby kid

overpower his skinny enemy,
I’m reminded of Darnell,
an older boy too short for Tia.

That’s when I wonder

if Insecurity’s the biggest instigator.
The one constantly egging you on
to prove yourself,
like that day Darnell kept asking,
Why you so stupid?

It was the day I gave Tia

a Valentine’s card I made
with construction paper
and magic markers.

She kissed my cheek,

her lips flipped the switch
to the streetlights inside me.

Why you so stupid? Darnell said.

He shoved me. You so stupid
you don’t even speak.

Tia’s fingers locked with mine,

Let’s get out of here.
I didn’t speak when he snatched her card
and tore it, when I unzipped my bag,
pulled out cleats, and smacked him.

I was a nest of wasps.

Each cleat stung him
over and over.

A woman’s yell calls me back

across the street. It’s the neighbor
on her front porch, wearing
a blue tattered housecoat
and floppy pink slippers.

She holds up her phone,

and the crowd scatters,
Y’all need to stop! I got police on the line!
I wish I had someone like her
to save me from myself
before Darnell’s tears streaked
over welts big as bee stings.
Tia nowhere in sight.

Text dependent questions

1: Which of the following describes the main theme of the poem?
A. Boys are encouraged to fight from a young age.
B. Boys sometimes feel like they have to prove themselves with violence.
C. Kids are often pressured to fight by their peers.
D. As people age, they tend to regret decisions from their youth.

2: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to part A?
A. “the pinwheel of memory, / whirling me back to third grade” (Lines 17-18)
B. “if Insecurity’s the biggest instigator. / The one constantly egging you on” (Lines
34-35)
C. “Why you so stupid? Darnell said. / He shoved me.” (Lines 46-47)
D. “I wish I had someone like her / to save me from myself” (Lines 65-66)

3. How do the girls’ responses to the boys fighting contribute to the poem?
A. They emphasize that violence doesn’t accomplish or prove anything.
B. They stress how much girls dislike violence in comparison to boys.
C. They prove that the boys are trying to impress the girls with violence.
D. They reveal how impressed the girls are by the boys’ fighting.

4. How do lines 33-38 contribute to the development of the poem’s theme?

A. It emphasises the idea that everyone is insecure.
B. It shows how boys can avoid getting into fights.
C. It stresses the idea that fighting is harmless.
D. It reveals what the speaker thinks drives boys to fight.

5. How does the speaker’s use of figurative language relating to bees contribute to the poem?

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Lesson 4
From Africa to America
The buying and selling of slaves has a long history. Ancient Egypt and the Roman world rested upon a
foundation of slavery. From the 10th through the 16th centuries, slave markets in areas bordering the
Mediterranean Sea featured Christian Slavs from the Eastern Adriatic and the Black Sea, as well as those
from Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. The Islamic world in North Africa and the Middle East drew
millions of slaves through trade with sub-Saharan Africa. Eventually, Christian societies forbade the owning
of slaves who practiced Christianity. Muslim societies did the same, banning the owning of slaves who were
Muslim. That ban, however, did not apply to anyone who followed other beliefs. In addition, through the
millennia, prisoners captured in war might find themselves enslaved and transported long distances to
provide labour for their captors.
If slave ownership and the trade in slaves had a long history, the Atlantic slave trade that began in the
middle of the 15th century represented a new stage. It was, as British historian Hugh Thomas wrote, a
“commercial undertaking involving the carriage of millions of people, stretching over several hundred years,
involving every maritime European nation, every Atlantic-facing African people (and some others), and
every country of the Americas.” Indeed, it laid the basis for our modern world.
The small nation of Portugal set the Atlantic slave trade in motion in the mid-15th century. Its traders,
equipped with the most modern maps and navigation equipment of the time, ventured south along the
African coast seeking gold and other goods. They also found slaves. Beginning in 1444, they bought
enslaved prisoners from African rulers and traders. They then transported some back to Portugal or Spain to
work as domestic or farm labourers. Others went to Portuguese-controlled Atlantic islands where they were
put to work on sugar plantations on the islands of Madeira and the Canaries. Still others were sent to work
on farms raising cotton on the islands of the Azores. In exchange, the Africans who sold slaves received
cloth, which initially was the most important commodity traded. They also received cowry shells, tobacco,
alcohol, iron, and weapons. Few Portuguese buyers or African sellers questioned the morality of slavery or
the trade in slaves. Both institutions were recognised as a source of wealth for those involved.
The landing in the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492, followed by the arrival of other Europeans,
gave a massive boost to the trade in human beings. Europeans established colonies in the Americas to
enhance their prestige2 and to make money. In the Caribbean, in Central and South America, and then in
North America, the Portuguese, Spanish, English, Dutch, and French established colonies and set to work to
make them profitable. But they needed people to work on the sugar and tobacco plantations, mine the gold,
or otherwise build towns and cities in the Americas. Efforts at forcing Native Americans to do so proved
unsatisfactory. Vast numbers of indigenous peoples died from diseases brought by Europeans or from harsh
forced labour. The solution to the “labour problem” that Europeans arrived at was African slaves.
Although the slave trade was a thriving business engaged in by Europeans and Africans, it was the
Europeans’ demand for workers that drove the trade. The numbers grew over time. In the 1450s and 1460s,
Europeans transported 800 slaves a year. Eventually, by the late 18th century, as many as 75,000 Africans
were sold into slavery every year. While precise figures are impossible to determine because record-keeping
in many of these years was imperfect, scholars conclude that between 12 and 13 million enslaved Africans
were transported forcibly to the Americas. Not all of them survived the three-to-four-month journey. One
estimate puts the number of those who died en route to the Americas at 1.8 million. Over time, 600,000 -
650,000 of these Africans found their way to the North American colonies (later the United States). The rest
were destined to labour and die in the islands of the Caribbean and in the colonies and later nations of
Central and South America.

When the Portuguese first purchased Africans as slaves in the mid-15th century, there was no firm
connection between race or skin colour and slavery. Before that time, slaves could be white Christians from
Europe, Muslims from North Africa or the Middle East, or darker-skinned Africans from the sub-Saharan
part of the African continent. With the inauguration3 of the Atlantic slave trade and the growing numbers of
darker-skinned Africans as slaves, European traders came to equate slavery with skin colour or race. To
justify the enslavement of Africans, they developed an ideology of black inferiority and white supremacy.
The legacy of this thinking still affects society today.
The language of business fails to capture the impact of the trade on those who were bought and sold. The
black scholar and activist W.E.B. Du Bois, writing in the 1930s, described the slave trade this way: The
“transformation of ten million human beings out of the dark beauty of their mother continent into the new-
found Eldorado6 of the West” was the most “significant drama in the last thousand years of human history.”
The men and women captured and sold into slavery, he argued, had “descended into Hell.” They had been
ripped from their families and forced to march long distances in Africa in chains (perhaps almost two
million died in the process). They were then imprisoned in slave forts, dungeons, or barracoons (cages) on
the African coast before being placed into the holds of slave ships.
“They are imprisoned in the ships,” reported a Spanish Jesuit in South America in 1627, “lying with one
person’s head at another person’s feet. They are locked in the hold and closed off from the outside.” These
men and women were fed “a half cup of corn or crude millet and a small cup of water” but once a day.
“Other than that, they get nothing else besides beating, whipping, and cursing.” After this treatment, they
arrived in the Americas “looking like skeletons.”
The enslavement process was brutal and the conditions under which the enslaved worked and lived were
harsh. Yet, the Africans brought to the Americas, and their descendants, managed to build their own
communities and create a thriving culture under harsh conditions.

Text dependent questions

1: What is the central idea of the text?
A. Europeans were the first people to trade and sell others through the Atlantic
slave trade.
B. Europeans tricked Africans to come willingly to America by promising them
payment for their work.
C. The enslavement of people in America was an illegal practice and was not
allowed to continue for long.
D. The enslavement of Africans by Europeans was a brutal practice that would have
lasting effects on America.
2: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A?
A. “Christian societies forbade the owning of slaves who practiced Christianity.
Muslim societies did the same." (Paragraph 1)
B. “Vast numbers of indigenous peoples died from diseases brought by Europeans
or from harsh forced labour.” (Paragraph 4)
C. “slaves could be white Christians from Europe, Muslims from North Africa or the
Middle East, or darker-skinned Africans from the sub-Saharan part of the African
continent.” (Paragraph 6)
D. “They had been ripped from their families and forced to march long distances in
Africa in chains (perhaps almost two million died in the process).” (Paragraph 7)
3. How did the Atlantic slave trade contribute to the history of slavery? (Paragraphs 2-3)
A. It made it so only Africans in America could be legally enslaved.
B. It commercialized the slave trade and made it wide-spread.
C. It hurt the slave trade by losing potential slaves at sea.
D. It limited the slave trade to only European countries.
4. What is the meaning of “commodity” in paragraph 3?
A. gift
B. information
C. product
D. wealth

Lesson 5
Frederick Douglass: A biography
In his journey from captive slave to internationally renowned (1) activist, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) has been a
source of inspiration and hope for millions. His brilliant words and brave actions continue to shape the ways in
which we think about race, democracy, and the meaning of freedom.
SLAVERY AND ESCAPE
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born into slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in February 1818. He
had a difficult family life. He barely knew his mother, who lived on a different plantation (2) and died when he was a
young child. He never discovered the identity of his father. When he turned eight years old, his slave owner hired him
out to work as a body servant (3) in Baltimore.
At an early age, Frederick realized there was a connection between literacy and freedom. Not allowed to attend school,
he taught himself to read and write in the streets of Baltimore. At twelve, he bought a book called The Columbian
Orator. It was a collection of revolutionary speeches, debates, and writings on natural rights.
When Frederick was fifteen, his slave owner sent him back to the Eastern Shore to labour as a field hand. Frederick
rebelled intensely. He educated other slaves, physically fought back against a “slave-breaker,”(4) and plotted an
unsuccessful escape.
Frustrated, his slave owner returned him to Baltimore. This time, Frederick met a young free black woman
named Anna Murray, who agreed to help him escape. On September 3, 1838, he disguised himself as a sailor and
boarded a northbound train, using money from Anna to pay for his ticket. In less than 24 hours, Frederick arrived in
New York City and declared himself free.
THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT
Frederick and Anna married and moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where they adopted the last name
“Douglass.” They started their family, which would eventually grow to include five children: Rosetta, Lewis,
Frederick, Charles, and Annie.
After finding employment as a labourer, Douglass began to attend abolitionist meetings and speak about his
experiences in slavery. He soon gained a reputation as an orator, landing a job as an agent for the Massachusetts Anti-
Slavery Society. The job took him on speaking tours across the North and Midwest.
Douglass’s fame as an orator increased as he travelled. Still, some of his audiences suspected he was not truly a
fugitive (5) slave. In 1845, he published his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, to lay
those doubts to rest. The narrative gave a clear record of names and places from his enslavement.
To avoid being captured and re-enslaved, Douglass travelled overseas. For almost two years, he gave speeches and
sold copies of his narrative in England, Ireland, and Scotland. When abolitionists offered to purchase his freedom,
Douglass accepted and returned home to the United States legally free. He relocated Anna and their children to
Rochester, New York.
In Rochester, Douglass took his work in new directions. He embraced the women’s rights movement, helped people
on the Underground Railroad, and supported anti-slavery political parties. Once an ally of William Lloyd
Garrison6 and his followers, Douglass started to work more closely with Gerrit Smith (7) and John Brown (8). He
bought a printing press and ran his own newspaper, The North Star. In 1855, he published his second
autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom, which expanded on his first autobiography and challenged racial
segregation in the North.
CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
In 1861, the nation erupted into civil war over the issue of slavery. Frederick Douglass worked tirelessly to make sure
that emancipation (9+) would be one of the war’s outcomes. He recruited African-American men to fight in the U.S.
Army, including two of his own sons, who served in the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. When black
troops protested they were not receiving pay and treatment equal to that of white troops, Douglass met with President
Abraham Lincoln to advocate (10) on their behalf.
As the Civil War progressed and emancipation seemed imminent (11) Douglass intensified the fight for equal
citizenship. He argued that freedom would be empty if former slaves were not guaranteed the rights and protections of
American citizens. A series of postwar amendments sought to make some of these tremendous changes. The 13th
Amendment (ratified in 1865) abolished slavery, the 14th Amendment (ratified in 1868) granted national birthright
citizenship, and the 15th Amendment (ratified in 1870) stated that no one could be denied voting rights on the basis of
race, skin colour, or previous servitude.
In 1872, the Douglasses moved to Washington, D.C. There were multiple reasons for their move: Douglass had been
traveling frequently to the area ever since the Civil War, all three of their sons already lived in the federal district, and
the old family home in Rochester had burned down. A widely known public figure by the time of
Reconstruction,12 Douglass started to hold prestigious (13) offices, including assistant secretary of the Santo
Domingo Commission (14) legislative council member of the D.C. Territorial Government, board member of Howard
University, and president of the Freedman’s Bank.
POST-RECONSTRUCTION AND DEATH
After the fall of Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass managed to retain high-ranking federal appointments. He served
under five presidents as U.S. Marshal for D.C. (1877-1881), Recorder of Deeds for D.C. (1881-1886), and Minister
Resident and Consul General to Haiti (1889-1891). Significantly, he held these positions at a time when violence and
fraud severely restricted African-American political activism.
On top of his federal work, Douglass kept a vigorous speaking tour schedule. His speeches continued to agitate for
racial equality and women’s rights. In 1881, Douglass published his third autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick
Douglass, which took a long view of his life’s work, the nation’s progress, and the work left to do. Although the
nation had made great strides during Reconstruction, there was still injustice and a basic lack of freedom for many
Americans.
Tragedy struck Douglass’s life in 1882 when Anna died from a stroke. He remarried in 1884 to Helen Pitts, an activist
and the daughter of former abolitionists. The marriage stirred controversy, as Helen was white and twenty years
younger than him. Part of their married life was spent abroad. They travelled to Europe and Africa in 1886-1887, and
they took up temporary residence in Haiti during Douglass’s service there in 1889-1891.
On February 20, 1895, Douglass attended a meeting for the National Council of Women. He returned home to Cedar
Hill in the late afternoon and was preparing to give a speech at a local church when he suffered a heart attack and
passed away. Douglass was 77. He had remained a central figure in the fight for equality and justice for his entire
life.
1. Renowned (adjective) :
known by many people
2. From the 1700s to the mid-1800s, plantations were large estates that grew cash crops, like cotton and sugar, using
slave labour.
3. Body servant was a term for a slave who worked inside their owner’s household performing the duties of a maid.
4. A slave-breaker was a person who would use violence and intimidation to control slaves who were considered
“unruly.”
5. someone who has escaped from a place or is in hiding to avoid being arrested
6. William Lloyd Garrison was an abolitionist and reformer who helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society.
7. Gerrit Smith was a reformer who gave financial support to abolitionists.
8. John Brown was an abolitionist who believed that using armed resistance was the best method to end slavery.
9. the fact or process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions; the end of slavery
10. Advocate (verb) :
to publicly recommend or support
11. Imminent (adjective) : about to happen
12. Reconstruction was the period from 1865 to 1877, when the country was rebuilt after the Civil War and changes
were put in place to transition from the end of slavery.
13. Prestigious (adjective) : inspiring respect
14. The Santo Domingo Commission (1869-1871) investigated and recommended that the United States attempt to
annex, or take, the country now known as the Dominican Republic.

Text dependent questions

1. PART A: Which statement best captures the author’s perspective on Frederick Douglass’s life?
A. Douglass’s life was typical of freed slaves who were able to live in Northern cities.
B. Douglass made important contributions to the abolition movement by advocating for change both inside and
outside of government.
C. Douglass was rewarded with important appointments as a result of his connections to other influential abolitionists.
D. Douglass would not have accomplished much if he had not learned to read and share stories from his life as a
slave.
2. Which sentence from the text best supports the answer to Part A?
A. “At an early age, Frederick realized there was a connection between literacy and freedom.” (Paragraph 3)
B. “For almost two years, he gave speeches and sold copies of his narrative in England, Ireland, and Scotland.”
(Paragraph 9)
C. “When abolitionists offered to purchase his freedom, Douglass accepted and returned home to the United States
legally free.” (Paragraph 9)
D. “Frederick Douglass worked tirelessly to make sure that emancipation would be one of the war’s outcomes.”
(Paragraph 11)
3. PART A: What does the word “orator” mean as it is used in paragraph 7 of the excerpt?
A. traveling protestor
B. supporter of freedom
C. skilled public speaker
D. escaped slave 4.
PART B: Which section from the text best supports the answer to Part A?
A. “In less than 24 hours, Frederick arrived in New York City and declared himself free.” (Paragraph 5)
B. “The job took him on speaking tours across the North and Midwest.” (Paragraph 7)
C. “Douglass’s fame as an orator increased as he travelled.” (Paragraph 8)
D. “Still, some of his audiences suspected he was not truly a fugitive slave.” (Paragraph 8)

Lesson 5
‘CHASING MEMORIES’ IN THEIR REFUGEE CAMP 40 YEARS AFTER FLEEING VIETNAM
The Vietnam War, which occurred between 1955 and 1975, was fought between the
North Vietnamese army and the South Vietnamese army. It is considered a Cold War-
era proxy war because the North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union,
while the South Vietnamese army had the support of the United States and other anti-
communist allies. The war ended with the fall of Saigon in November 1975, which
marked the beginning of a period of reunification of Vietnam under communist rule.
Due to the horrific violence, approximately 2 million Vietnamese people fled their
country between 1975 and 1995 and were resettled in such countries as the United
States, Australia, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom.
As you read, think about the ways that the Vietnam War changed refugees’ lives.

My mother’s family fled communism (1) twice.

The first time was from China. Then, after Saigon fell in 1975, they left Vietnam.
My mother, Kuo Nam Lo, was 24 when she spent her first few months in the U.S. at a refugee camp at a military base
along a stretch of the Appalachian Mountains in central Pennsylvania.
“I’ve always wanted to come back here,” my mother told me in Cantonese (2) on a recent drive through Fort
Indiantown Gap.3 “Son, you’ve made my dream come true.”
It was the first time she had returned after she left to re-start her life in Philadelphia 40 years ago.
We kept driving until we arrived at a banquet hall on the base. About 200 other refugees and their families—plus a
few Army reservists and volunteers who worked at the camp—gathered there for a 40-year reunion on a rainy
weekend in late June.
Some of the former refugees stayed overnight in army barracks down the road. They slept in bunk beds and tried to
relive camp life. Mary Pham, 61, said coming back felt like returning to where she started her second life as an
American.
“In my heart, I feel like this is my birthday,” she said with a laugh after greeting other returning refugees at the
registration table.
Pham, who gave birth to her oldest son in the camp and now lives in Newport Beach, Calif., was one of the reunion’s
organisers. They decorated the wood-panelled hall with miniature American and South Vietnamese flags. Before
dinner, they handed each person a copy of a meal card that refugees used to eat at mess halls4 on the base in 1975.
“Every day we had to get in line and show the card to get the meal,” Pham explained. “We want to do exactly like 40
years ago.”
Back then, Fort Indiantown Gap was one of four processing centres in the U.S. for refugees from Vietnam. It was
opened shortly after the U.S. government realized that Camp Pendleton, Calif., Fort Chaffee, Ark., and Eglin Air
Force Base, Fla., would not be enough to process all of the refugees waiting to be resettled from temporary camps in
Guam, the Philippines and other parts of the Pacific, according to a 1981 report on the refugee program commissioned
by the U.S. Army Forces Command.
Before they were eventually taken in or sponsored out by American families, around 22,000 refugees passed through
Fort Indiantown Gap’s camp, which George Padar, a retired colonel in the Army Reserve, helped run.
“We understood that there were people who lost their home. This was their home for now,” Padar explained. “We
were here to prepare them to become good American citizens, which they have. Look at the engineers, the doctors, the
singers, the young people, the grandchildren.”
Padar, a refugee himself from Hungary after World War II, helped organize the reunion. These events, he said, are
important to keeping family history alive.
“We want to believe that we can go back to the way things were, but then we finally realize that it’s not possible. So
we’re chasing memories,” he said. “Some people are disappointed. For others, it brings closure,(5) or it renews their
spirits to get back into their past life.”
Four decades ago, Thang Nguyen of Lancaster, Pa., was a 25-year-old South Vietnamese sailor, who came to the
camp with no family and having lost a country to serve. He spent evenings looking up at the mountains outside his
barracks. “Foggy and sad” are how he remembers them.
“You’d have nothing to do and just walk around,” he said about his time in the camp.
None of these immigrants spent more than six months or so at Fort Indiantown Gap. But a persistent pull to reconnect
with others who were there remains strong.
After the reunion ended, my mom told me that she was disappointed. “Not a single person I knew was there,” she said
in Cantonese.
Sixty-six-year-old Be Nguyen (no relation to Thang Nguyen) told me he, too, felt let down. Before he left the camp in
1975, he passed around a notebook and asked his friends to each write a farewell letter.
One of his friends, Phung Quang Hoa, wrote in Vietnamese: “I do not know what to write while there is a feeling of
emptiness in my mind.”
None of those friends who wrote letters came to the reunion. Be Nguyen, who now lives in Harrisburg, Pa., said he
only knows their names.
“I hope that I can see more of my friends before my life ends,” he told me.
Refugees like him, he said, left the camp like birds fleeing their nest, scattered in different directions. Now, 40 years
later, he’s not sure what or where everyone calls home.
Notes
1. Communism is a political theory that supports public ownership of all property. Under communism, people should
work and be paid according to their abilities and needs.
2. a form of Chinese spoken mainly in southeastern China, including in Hong Kong
3. a U.S. Army post located in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
4. a room or building where groups of people, such as soldiers, gather to eat
5. a comforting or satisfying sense of finality

Text dependent questions

1: Which of the following best identifies the central theme of this interview?
A. Refugees who travelled to the United States to avoid living under communist rule widely consider their close
friendships with other refugees critical to their happiness.
B. Vietnamese refugees who fled communism often have trouble reconnecting with friends from refugee camps and,
more broadly, reconciling different stages of their lives.
C. The time spent by Vietnamese refugees at Fort Indiantown Gap and other U.S. processing centres was defined by
boredom, sadness, and discontent.
D. Efforts to bring refugees together years after they have gone their separate ways are vital to ensuring they feel
comfortable in their new lives as American citizens.
2: Which phrase from the text best supports the answers to Q1?
A. “’In my heart, I feel like this is my birthday,’ she said with a laugh after greeting other returning refugees at the
registration table.” (Paragraph 8)
B. “He spent evenings looking up at the mountains outside his barracks. ‘Foggy and sad’ are how he remembers them.
‘You’d have nothing to do and just walk around,’ he said about his time in the camp.” (Paragraph 16 and Paragraph
17)
C. Before he left the camp in 1975, he passed around a notebook and asked his friends to each write a farewell letter.
(Paragraph 20)
D. “One of his friends…wrote in Vietnamese: ‘I do not know what to write while there is a feeling of emptiness in my
mind.’…None of those friends who wrote letters came to the reunion.” (Paragraph 21 and Paragraph 22)
3. What does the phrase "persistent pull" most closely mean in paragraph 18.
A. ambivalence
B. indifference or lack of care
C. regret
D. strong desire

Lesson 6
Diary of a teenage refugee.

In the spring of 2011, protests erupted in the Middle Eastern country of

Syria against President Bashar al-Assad’s government. The protests were
met with violence. The conflict gradually led to rebellion. Now, Syria is
experiencing a civil war that has already left over 400,000 people dead and
created 4.8 million refugees who have left the country, as well as another
6.3 million who have had to flee their homes for elsewhere in Syria.
Millions more have been left in poor living conditions with shortages of
food and drinking water. The following account comes from a 16-year-old
Syrian girl named Amira detailing the past three years of her life in a
refugee camp in the neighbouring country of Lebanon.

As you read, think about the different ways Amira’s life has changed since the outbreak of the Syrian war.
Amira is a pretty normal 16 year-old. She’s got the usual interests: pop music, boys and her mobile phone. But, along
with 30 million other children and young people around the world, she’s a refugee. Amira lives in a camp with her
family after fleeing the civil war in Syria. This is her story, in her own words.
AMIRA’S STORY
One night the bombs were coming closer and closer. We were all sitting together downstairs because we couldn’t
sleep. As houses were being destroyed one by one in our village, neighbours were running from one house to the
next. So some neighbours were gathered in our house too.
A rocket landed on the roof of our house, but no one was injured. We ran in fear to another house. We were so
terrified we didn’t even think about taking anything with us. Soon after, our house was totally destroyed. We left
with no IDs, nothing.
Our dad took us out of the country through a smuggler. We escaped that night in a rented car. Whenever we passed
a checkpoint, we hid under the seats of the car and the driver covered us up.
We crossed the border illegally, through the mountains. We got out near the border and had to walk about 100
metres1 across the mountain. When we heard a plane, we started running. We were very scared.
THE CAMP: LIFE ON HOLD
When we arrived at the refugee camp, there were already many tents. We bought some materials to make a tent—
some wood and plastic sheeting. The men built it. Our tent has two rooms and a kitchen area. There are 13 of us
living here.
The neighbours helped us by giving us things like bottled water, mattresses, blankets, cups and plates. We could pick
up and leave at any time, as we don’t have anything of value here. My most treasured things are my necklaces. I
wear them all at the same time, because they have many memories. One was given to me by a boyfriend, but I don’t
want my mother to know about that!
We have so many needs that you can’t count them. At home things were cheap. Everything is expensive here. We
even have to pay for water. In winter there was snow halfway up the sides of our tent and we couldn’t even see out
of it. At home we had our own bedrooms, but here we all sleep together in the tent on the ground.
We can’t go to school here, and there are no jobs available because too many people are looking for work. We don’t
even have any books. So we just help out with cooking and cleaning, or watch TV all day. We are really bored.
To pass the time we do each other’s hair and draw pictures of each other, or listen to popular songs on the TV. We
also make our own clothes.
We are afraid because the government doesn’t know we are here. If they find out, we could be sent back to Syria.
But the UN (2) protects us.
Some of the people who are not registered go into the mountains and hide whenever the officials come to count
people in the camp. Then they come back to the camp afterwards.

HOMESICK
We hear from home mostly via WhatsApp and sometimes TV. Only a few old people are still living in our village.
There are a few rooms still standing in the destroyed houses, and they live in those.
[We have to pay for water to be brought in by truck, but it’s very dirty. But now we have a water filter in our tent.
We now have a latrine (4) that was installed by an NGO (5). We receive food distributions, so we have enough food.
We make large amounts of simple meals that we can share out easily for all the children, like rice, beans and peas.
There are shops, hairdressers and tailors here.
It helps to know that we are not alone, as there are many others here in the same situation as us.
We’ve been here for three years now. We miss everything about home. We would love to go back.
Notes
1. 100 meters is about 328 feet.
2. UN stands for the United Nations, an organization of 193 countries formed after World War II to prevent
international conflict and promote world peace.
3. WhatsApp is a mobile messaging app that allows people to exchange messages without having to pay for a text
messaging plan.
4. A latrine is a toilet or outhouse, especially one used by large groups in a camp.
5. NGO stands for “non-governmental organization,” which is any not-for-profit citizens' group that is organized on a
local, national, or international level.

Text dependent questions

1. Which of the following best describes the central idea of the text?
A. Amira is a normal teenage girl living through extraordinary circumstances as a refugee.
B. Amira and others like her have built communities in refugee camps that resemble home.
C. The United Nations needs to better protect refugees, particularly those fleeing Syria.
D. More refugees should tell their tales in order to spread awareness about the issues they face.
2. Which statement best describes how the refugee camp is first portrayed in the text?
A. Life in the camp is safer and easier than life at home, where there is war.
B. Life in the camp is engaging and fun because community members make it so.
C. Life in the camp is difficult and dirty, and there is no sense of community support.
D. Life in the camp is uncertain and there is little to do, but the community is kind.
3. What does the term “smuggler” most closely mean as used in paragraph 5?
A. one who books safe passage for legal immigrants through dangerous places
B. one who leaves a country to escape danger
C. one who secretly moves something or someone from one country to another
D. someone who avoids paying taxes for goods they bring in or out of a country
4. Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Q3?
A. “Soon after, our house was totally destroyed.” (Paragraph 4)
B. “Our dad took us out of the country” (Paragraph 5)
C. “We escaped that night in a rented car.” (Paragraph 5)
D. “We crossed the border illegally, through the mountains.” (Paragraph 6)