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. How can freedom be defined? What opportunities does freedom afford a person when compared to someone who is not free?

Teaching Suggestion: This question might be used to broach the topic of enslavement if students are new to it. Discussion on this topic can be a gateway to introducing the theme of Connections Between Opportunity, Equality, and Freedom.

• The Smithsonian’s “Defining Freedom” resource site from the National Museum of African American History & Culture discusses the concept of freedom with regard to the lasting legacy and impacts of slavery.
• A resource site such as History’s “Slavery in America” may serve as a starting point for those students who would benefit from the context of a variety of topics related to enslavement.

2. What is empathy? What literary or historical figures display empathy, and in what ways?

Teaching Suggestion: Students might use a dictionary to answer this question if they do not have prior knowledge of the word. Students with familiarity might make a connection to the idea of “being an empath,” but it may be beneficial to focus the conversation on traditional definitions of empathy.