9th Grade
Informational Text
1080L
A Child Of Slavery Who Taught A Generation
Karen Grigsby Bates
2015
Passage Summary:
This article from National Public Radio reports on the life and success of Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, an American author, educator, prominent scholar, and one of the first black women to earn a doctoral degree in United States history.
When and How to Pair: Cooper was a proponent of African Americans achieving progress through intellectuality. Introduce this text after reading chapter 15, in which Mrs. Flowers encourages Maya to speak by having her read poems. Pair I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings with “A Child of Slavery Who Taught A Generation,” and ask students to compare Cooper and Mrs. Flowers’ philosophies on education as a vehicle for freedom from oppression. What claims about the role of education would both women agree with?