Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Offer your students a connection to African-American History Month with this stage adaptation that features verbatim portions of the critically acclaimed memoir. This solo performance illuminates the traumas of slavery, particularly for women and children, including the author’s account of the seven years she spent hiding in her grandmother’s attic. This powerful performance explores themes such as social institutions, resilience and survival.

California Content Standards easily applied in your classroom:

• 6-8.HI.RE.2: Students distinguish fact from opinion in historical narratives and stories.
• 8.HI.8.9: Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish slavery and to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.
• 9-12.HI.CH.2: Students analyze how change happens at different rates at different times; understand that some aspects can change while
  others remain the same; and understand that change is complicated and affects not only technology and politics but also values and beliefs.

LESSON PLAN IDEA: Students imagine themselves as a slave during the time of Harriet Jacobs and write their own account of their daily life.

Visit the artist’s website at www.americanplacetheatre.org.