A Summer Tragedy: Literature
Guide
KEENA DAY, M.A.
1902-1973
Harlem Renaissance
writer
Close friend and
collaborator of
Langston Hughes
Librarian of Fisk
University
Leading curator of
African-American
Renaissance
Literature
Author of:
Black Thunder
God Sends Sundays
Several Children’s
Books
Author: Arna Bontempts
Terms You Should Know
 The Great Migration
 Sharecropping
 The Great Depression
 Model T Ford
Sharecropping
Sharecropping
 Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in which
a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return
for a share of the crop produced on the land (e.g.
50% of the crop).
 Sharecropping became widespread as a response to
economic upheaval caused by the emancipation of
slaves and disenfranchisement of poor whites in the
agricultural South during Reconstruction.
Sharecropping
 Plantations had first relied on slaves for cheap labor.
Prior to emancipation, sharecropping was limited to
poor landless whites, usually working marginal lands
for absentee landlords.
 Following emancipation, sharecropping came to be
an economic arrangement that largely maintained
the status quo between black and white through legal
means.
Sharecropping
 In Reconstruction-era United States, sharecropping
was one of few options for penniless freedmen to
conduct subsistence farming and support themselves
and their families.
 However, sharecropping was an easy way for white
former slave owners to take advantage of uneducated
freedmen. Former slaves had little to no education,
so the landowner could draw up a 70-30 contract
instead of half.
Sharecropping
 The sharecropper purchased seed, tools and
fertilizer, as well as food and clothing, on credit from
a local merchant, or sometimes from a plantation
store. When the harvest came, the cropper would
harvest the whole crop and sell it to the merchant
who had extended credit. Purchases and the
landowner's share were deducted and the cropper
kept the difference—or added to his debt.
 In the 1930s and 1940s, increasing mechanization
virtually brought the institution of sharecropping to
an end in the United States.
The Great Migration
Wikipedia says:
 The Great Migration was the movement of 6
million blacks out of the Southern United States to
the Northeast, Midwest and West from 1910 to 1930.
Some historians differentiate between a First Great
Migration (1910–30), numbering about 1.6 million
migrants.
 Because blacks looked to leave the pain of poverty
caused by sharecropping and segregation in order to
work in factories, African-Americans left the South
behind.
The Great Depression
Model T Ford
Breaking Down the Text
 Part I: Basic Story Map Completion
 Exposition
 Conflict
 Rising Action
 Climax
 Falling Action and Resolution
Setting Analysis
 What was the time, place and time period of the text?
 How did the setting affect:
 Characters (cite specific examples in text)
 Plot (cite specific examples in the text)
 Mood/ Atmosphere (cite specific examples in the text)
Character Analysis
 Characterization:
 How was Jeff described (cite specific examples)? Was this
direct or indirect characterization?
 How was Jennie described (cite specific examples)? Was this
direct or indirect characterization?
 Were the characters Round or Flat? How do you know?
 Were the characters Dynamic or Static? How do you know?
 Roles:
Protagonist
 Antagonist

Foreshadowing and Flashback
 Where were there specific examples of
Foreshadowing? As you read, did you pick up on
these hints?
 Where were there specific examples of Flashback? As
you read, how was the flashback helpful in
understanding the characters?
Save the Last Word for Me
 Take an index card and a marker
 Write one quote from the text that had the most vivid
imagery. Write it word for word. Put it in Quotations.
 On the back of the card tell why you thought it was
so vivid.
Writing Activity: Description
 For homework, write a paragraph or poem in which
you describe the South.
 In it, you must use vivid description (smells, sounds,
tastes, sights, and feelings)
 Due date: October 21
Blog Activity
 Go to www.mrsdaysheffield.weebly.com
 Go to the tab “Blog”
 Click on the title “Summer Tragedy- What do YOU
think”
 Write a response to the question: Based on what you
know about the characters, was it ok for this couple
to commit suicide? What were your original thoughts
as to the purpose of their trip? What was your
reaction when you realized the pair instead killed
themselves?
 Due Date: October 28 (REQUIRED)