THAT SUMMER I LEFT
CHILDHOOD WAS
WHITE
1982, Zami: A New Spelling of My
Name
Audre Lorde
AudreLorde
• Was a Caribbean American novelist, teacher, poet and essayist
• Born in Harlem
• February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992
That Summer I left Childhood was White
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American Racism
Washington, DC
Audre Lorde describes the racism
she experiences when visiting
Washington as a child
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
BOWkgl9qHlo
What’s the piece about? What’s it for?
• Context/genre
• Autobiographical
• Experience of racism
• Growing up into real world
• Childlike innocence - transition
Stylistic features
• The family has not much money:
‘ I wanted to eat in the dining car because I had read all about them, but my
mother reminded me for the umpteenth time that dining car food always
cost too much money…’
‘My parents did not approve of sunglasses, nor their expense’
-Racism:
‘they did not rent rooms to negroes’
‘American racism was a new and crushing reality that my parents had to
deal with every day of their lives once they came to this country’
‘We were told we must never trust white people’
Go through the text and highlight more stylistic features…
Ideas for recasting tasks
- Put yourself in the position of Aurde Lorde when she first visited
Washington. Write a diary entry of the experiences that you
encountered.
- Write a personal account from Audre’s mother as she notes down
the trip.
- Write a transcript of the conversations that occurred between
Aurde’s mother and father