Exploring History Through Poetry Research Questions
Exploring History Through Poetry
Excerpts are from “Alabama Centennial” by Naomi Long Madgett. Read the complete poem for the context of each passage.
Excerpt 1:
They said, “Wait.” Well, I waited.
For a hundred years I waited
In cotton fields, kitchens, balconies,
In bread lines, at back doors, on chain gangs,
In stinking “colored” toilets
And crowded ghettos,
Outside of schools and voting booths.
Research Questions:
- What could “a hundred years I waited” refer to in terms of legislation?
- What references does the author make to Jim Crow laws?
- What laws supported unfair practices at schools and voting booths?
Excerpt 2:
And other voices echoed the freedom words,
“Walk together, children, don’t get weary.”
Whispered them, sang them, prayed them, shouted them.
“Walk!”
Research Question:
- What events indicate a turning point in the civil rights movement?
Excerpt 3:
And I walked the streets of Montgomery
Until a link in the chain of patient acquiescence broke.
Then again, “Sit down!”
And I sat down at the counters of Greensboro.
Ride! And I rode the bus for freedom.
Kneel! And I went down on my knees in prayer and faith.
March! And I’ll march until the last chain falls
Singing, “We shall overcome.”
Research Questions:
- What is the significance of Montgomery?
- What might “rode the bus for freedom” refer to historically?
- How did churches become involved in the civil rights movement?
- What change did the Greensboro sit-ins bring about?
- What does the song “We Shall Overcome” promise?
Excerpt 4:
Not all the dogs and hoses in Birmingham
Nor all the clubs and guns in Selma
Can turn this tide.
Not all the jails can hold these young black faces
From their destiny of manhood,
Of equality, or dignity,
A hundred years past due.
Research Questions:
- How are “dogs and hoses” related to the Birmingham events?
- How were “clubs and guns” involved in the Selma events?
- What might “jails can hold these” refer to?