Paired Passage: Amanda Gorman + Fredrick Douglas
Paired passages = questions that ask you about the IDEAS in TWO STORIES.
Step 1: As you read the texts, annotate for #main idea. Think about what is the SAME
and what is DIFFERENT between the two stories!
Text 1: "The Hill We Climb" by Amanda Gorman
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn't always just-ice
1. What does she mean when she says the notions/ideas of "what just is / Isn't always
justice?"
She means that ______________________________.
Create a #main idea ______
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn't broken
but simply unfinished
2. Does she feel positive/negative/neutral about the nation? Why?
She feels __________ (positive/negative/neutral) because ______________.
Create a #main idea ______
We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one
3. What is her tone?
A. Resentful
B. Victorious
C. Dejected
D. Whimsical
Create a #main idea ______
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine (*clean and spotless)
but that doesn't mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
Create a #main idea ______
Text 2: Preface from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
Frederick Douglass was born in slavery as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey near
Easton in Talbot County, Maryland. He was not sure of the exact year of his birth, but he
knew that it was 1817 or 1818. As a young boy he was sent to Baltimore, to be a house
servant, where he learned to read and write, with the assistance of his master’s wife. In
1838 he escaped from slavery and went to New York City, where he married Anna
Murray, a free colored woman whom he had met in Baltimore. Soon thereafter he
changed his name to Frederick Douglass.
4. Why do you think he changed his name? What hints do we see in his original
name?
We can infer that he changed his name because ________________________.
In 1841 he addressed a convention of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in
Nantucket and so greatly impressed the group that they immediately employed him as an
agent. He was such an impressive orator that numerous persons doubted if he had ever
been a slave, so he wrote Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass. During the Civil
War he assisted in the recruiting of colored men for the 54th and 55th Massachusetts
Regiments and consistently argued for the emancipation of slaves. After the war he was
active in securing and protecting the rights of the freemen. In his later years, at different
times, he was secretary of the Santo Domingo Commission, marshall and recorder of
deeds of the District of Columbia, and United States Minister to Haiti. His other
autobiographical works are My Bondage And My Freedom and Life And Times Of
Frederick Douglass, published in 1855 and 1881 respectively. He died in 1895.
5 What is the text structure of this text?
A. Chronological
B. Compare and contrast
C. Problem and solution
D. Cause and effect
6. Based on the preface above, what is the primary purpose of this Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass?
A. To persuade readers to assist with ending slavery
B. To explain the hardships of Douglass' early life
C. To inform the reader of racial conflict in the south
D. To describe the town where Douglass grew up
Paired Passages
7. Take 3 minutes to write down what is the SAME and what is DIFFERENT between
the Preface from the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and "The Hill" by
Amanda Gorman.
Things/Ideas that are the SAME
____________
____________
____________
Things/Ideas that are DIFFERENT
____________
____________
____________
MC PRACTICE
MC Practice CFS
1. Is this a SAME question or DIFFERENT question?
2. Find the IDEA they are asking about
3. Check each answer choice against BOTH TEXTS
8. Both Amanda Gorman in "The Hill" and Frederick Douglass in Preface from the
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass*Is this a SAME question or DIFFERENT question?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Grieve the hardships they have had to endure
View their life as a success story
Emphasize the importance of poetry
Hold the military in great esteem
Read this stanza from "The Hill."
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine (*clean and spotless)
but that doesn't mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
Which sentence from Preface from the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
connects to the main idea of this stanza?
*Is this a SAME question or DIFFERENT question?
9. What is the main idea of this stanza? ______________
10. Find the sentence that shows the SAME idea
A. In 1841 he addressed a convention of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in
Nantucket and so greatly impressed the group that they immediately employed him as an
agent
A. In his later years, at different times, he was secretary of the Santo Domingo
Commission, marshall and recorder of deeds of the District of Columbia, and United
States Minister to Haiti.
B. During the Civil War he assisted in the recruiting of colored men for the 54th and
55th Massachusetts Regiments and consistently argued for the emancipation of
slaves.
C. His other autobiographical works are My Bondage And My Freedom and Life And
Times Of Frederick Douglass, published in 1855 and 1881 respectively.
11. Both texts discuss success stories. What is the primary difference between "The
Hill" and Frederick Douglass in Preface from the Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass
Although both texts, _______________________, in __________,
_____________________ while in ____________, _____________________________.