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Section 4: Overview

A Different Life?

We will continue to follow Ida, George, and Robert and their journeys as well as the effects of their decisions on their families, the South, the North, and the West during Part 4 of The Warmth of Other Suns, focusing on the following question:

  • What were the long-term impacts of each single decision to leave the South?

Additionally, we continue and deepen our examination of Wilkerson’s structural decisions as she constructs this complex time in history while continuing our study of the epigraphs in this section of the text.

  • Lesson 1:

    We will begin Part 4 of The Warmth of Other Suns and extend our understanding of the factors that influenced Southern African Americans to migrate, then we will compare those factors to the conditions the migrants faced in the North and West. We will revisit “The South” by Langston Hughes and then compare and connect the ideas presented in the poem to Wilkerson’s text. We will then consider the impact of Wilkerson’s choice to use an excerpt of the poem as an epigraph and title for Part 4 of the text.

  • Lesson 2:

    We will begin another jigsaw about our three focus figures, developing our understanding of the conditions African Americans faced in the North and West and continuing to track the events and experiences of each person as they began their new lives away from the South. We will also examine the epigraphs Wilkerson uses to begin this section of the text and their relationship to the content of this section.

  • Lesson 3:

    In a jigsaw discussion, we will share and discuss the details from the previous lesson’s jigsaw reading and will continue to explore the new lives waiting for and experienced by those who left the South in hopes of a better quality of life. We will also continue to track the sources, organization, and structure of Wilkerson’s text to better understand what those choices convey about her point of view and the important ideas in her text.

  • Lesson 4:

    We will again return to our focus figures, participating in another jigsaw about their continued experiences in the North and the West to deepen our understanding of the complexity of the impact of migration on the lives of Southern African Americans. We will also examine the epigraphs Wilkerson uses to begin this section of the text and their relationship to the content of this section.

  • Lesson 5:

    We will share and discuss the details from the previous lesson’s jigsaw reading. We will read the final sections of Part 4 to expand our understanding of the new lives waiting for and experienced by those who left the South in hopes of a better quality of life. We also will examine the impact of their decision to leave on them, their families, and the United States as a whole. This work will ensure that we will be prepared to complete the Section Diagnostic. We will also continue to track the sources, organization, and structure of Wilkerson’s text to better understand what those choices convey about her point of view and how those choices impact our understanding of this complex time in history.

  • Lesson 6:

    We will continue to develop, plan, and receive feedback on our writing plans in order to prepare for the Section Diagnostic.

  • Lesson 7:

    We will write about the impacts of migration on either Ida, George, or Robert.

  • Lesson 8:

    We will review feedback on the Section Diagnostic. We will use the feedback to make revisions to our work.

  • Lesson 9:

    We will share the understanding we have gained through our independent reading and continue to read our texts.