Literature of the Civil Rights Movement

Vacant Lot and Worlds

The first poem, “Vacant Lot,” is a type of poem called a pantoum. The second poem, “Worlds,” is part of a longer work by poet and playwright Edgar Lee Masters. Read the poems. Then, answer the question(s).

Vacant Lot

Bulldozers have passed their blades, returning the land to wild, Now armies of weeds entangle newly broken ground, Fists of broken brick, cinderblock splinters are foreign seed, Between them rises traveling life, tumbling until soil is found.

5 As the armies of weeds entangle newly broken ground, From my window I witness the struggle for sun, light, life. Between bricks rises the first traveling life, tumbling on soil found. The tiny, quick leaves spread and carpet ground, now rife.

From my window I witness the struggle for sun, light, life.

10 The tallest with deep roots aspire to tower over all,

While tiny, quick leaves spread and carpet ground, now rife. Weeds and trees elbow each other to heed the sun’s call.

Soon builders put down roots, aspire to tower over all. New stacks of building bricks, cinderblock pallets are foreign seed.

15 Metal and concrete now elbow weeds to heed the sun’s call.

Bulldozers will pass their blades, returning the land to pavement.

Worlds by Edgar Lee Masters

I have known or seen all the worlds of this world, And some of the worlds of the world to come; And I say to you that every world lives to itself, And is known to itself alone,

5 Though it moves among the other worlds of this world.

… And I saw that every soul is a world to itself….

Which element does Masters use in “Worlds” to add structure to his free verse poem?

• He uses the same number of syllables, or beats, in each line.

• He divides the poem into stanzas of equal length.

• He uses repetition of important words and phrases to build meaning.

• He repeats the same idea in every other line.

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Which answer states the reason “Vacant Lot” and “Worlds” should be identified as lyric poems?

• They both use characters to tell a complete story.

• They both repeat important lines using a predetermined structure.

• They both express a single speaker’s thoughts in a musical way.

• They both describe beautiful natural scenes.

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Memoir

ANALYZE CRAFT AND STRUCTURE

Memoir

The author of this passage recalls how his perception of being cool changed over time. Read the passage. Then, answer the question(s).

(1) What does being cool mean to you? I didn’t speak more than a few words until I was four years old. Being a silent observer runs in my family, but it doesn’t exactly make you cool. My father always said that while the person with the loudest mouth and the flashiest act might hold center stage for a while, the spotlight swings away soon enough because it has to find someone new. “Who cares if you’re ahead for miles but collapse at the midpoint?” my father used to intone, “Slow and steady wins the race.”

(2) What is so fascinating about cool kids at school? Despite my father’s wise words, I was awestruck by the flashy kids with the big mouths. From kindergarten to my teenage years, I sat in the back of the class, said little, rarely raised my hand, and watched the popular and outgoing kids chatting comfortably with each other. I, along with most of my classmates, longed to be like these chosen few. They had the best clothes and hair and their easy laughter was enticing. Slow and steady, but feeling left behind and boring, I did my schoolwork and watched on.

(3) Who has an easy time during the teenage years? Many of us had difficulties. Others transformed from awkward ducklings into sport stars or witty sophisticates. I still lingered on the fringe of packs and cliques, wanting in, and feeling pretty awful. But I felt worse for the once-cool kids who lost their standing and pretended not to be bitter, as though they weren’t obsessed with their loss. Slow and steady, I kept up with the pack, even if they didn’t much notice me.

(4) Where did we get the idea that being cool has an expiration date? Out of school, in the workplace, I finally became cool. I blossomed into myself while my once-cool classmates, who’d been chosen “most likely to succeed,” kept their high school friends, were afraid to take chances, and took dead-end jobs. I was still an observer, but now I had the confidence to participate, too. As an adult, success flowed easily, like the cool-kid banter I had long envied. As I looked around at my great job and new, “cool-to-me” friends, I realized popularity doesn’t mean much when it comes to you easily and early. After years of slow and steady, I felt like I had won the race.

What does the author realize by the end of the passage?  What three experiences in his life lead

him to this realization?  Use evidence to support your answer.

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Which important phrase does the author repeat throughout his memoir?

• come to you easily

• Silent observer

• Awkward ducklings

• slow and steady

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Read the following passage. Then, answer the question(s).

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s took place in churches, courtrooms, legislative houses, and yes, libraries. Readers were deeply affected by novels like Native Son and Nat Turner’s Rebellion. Richard Wright’s Native Son described one man’s struggle to change his life and find a vocation. William Styron’s novel Nat Turner’s Rebellion provided insight into horrific events that had occurred a hundred years earlier. Readers who had once been disengaged from the struggle for freedom were called to participate in the movement after reading books like these.

What is the meaning of the Latin root -voc-?

• “to love” or “to befriend”

• “to learn” or “to study”

• “to give” or “to serve”

• “to call” or “to name”

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Based on your answer to the last question, choose the correct meaning of vocation, which is underlined in the passage.

• a free service offered to help a community

• a course of study in school or college

• a calling to a given profession

• a meaningful relationship

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Use context clues in the sentence below to determine the meaning of plausible.

Grandma always said that his war stories ranged from factual to plausible to outright false depending on Grandpa's mood.

• Based on facts rather than feelings

• Lacking any meaning

• Possibly true or believable

• Unsuitable for a polite conversation

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7. Use context clues in the passage to identify the correct meaning of disengaged.

• judging someone or something wrongly or incorrectly

• unable to contain anger about something or someone

• overcome by a strong reaction toward something or someone

• uninvolved or lacking connection to something or someone

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Identify each following sentence as an example of one of the following: 

_______________Using words like slashed rather than reduced, dreadful rather than bad, triumphant rather than successful, and superior rather than better is an example of what?

• Parallelism

• Antithesis

• Charged Language

• Analogy

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___________People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.

• Parallelism

• Charged Language

• Antithesis

• Analogy

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