LE 3 - Part A
Part I
1. Identify the grade level and subject area that you think would benefit form reading this work
and explain why. Then identify the level of achievement of the class and explain why the team
picked this achievement level.
 We believe this text would be beneficial for a tenth grade English class. In tenth grade,
many students are turning 16 and beginning to experience their first sense of freedom and
separation from family. This may help students relate to several of the themes in the play.
We believe this play could be taught to mixed-achievement students. Because it is a play,
it may be more accessible for some lower-achievement students. Plus, there are many
rich themes that can be discussed on a variety of levels.
2. Place the time and setting of the book in an historical context to relate to the book.
a. Identify the setting and time in which the book occurs.
 The play takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1936.
b. Identify five events that happened in the country/world at the time the story takes place.
 The Great Depression
 Dust Bowl in US Midwest
 Franklin Roosevelt wins US Presidential election
 Berlin Olympics
 First successful helicopter flight takes place
 Debut of electric guitar
c. Identify two sources in which you located this information.
 Fact Monster: http://www.factmonster.com/year/1936.html
 Encyclopedia Britannic Online: http://www.britannica.com/search?query=1936
d. Provide one citation for a newspaper or periodical on the book's topic published at the time
the story takes place.
 Associated Press. "Influx Boosts Negro Census in the North: 8 Centers Report Half of
Colored Populations Came From South." Washington Post. April 12, 1936.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/150790983?accountid=14709
e. Identify the source in which you located this citation.
 ProQuest database using PittCat+
Part II
1. Select three suggested background readings for teachers to help them prepare to teach this
work.
a. Provide full bibliographic citations.
 Ball, Edward. Slaves in the Family. New York: Ballatine, 1998.
 Hamilton, Virginia. The People Could Fly. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985.
 Bryer, Jackson R., and Mary C. Hartig, eds. Conversations with August Wilson.
Mississippi: UP of Mississippi, 2006.
b. Identify the source(s) in which you located this information.
 Found Slaves in the Family on Amazon.com.
 Found The People Could Fly through the LIS 2327 Recommended Readings.
 Found Conversations with August Wilson on Amazon.com.
2. Select two items related to the book or the topic for teachers and/or students to be obtained
through InterLibrary Loan (ILL) on ACCESS PA.
a. Provide full bibliographic citations.
 Blassingame, John W. The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South.
New York: Oxford University, 1979.
 Haley, Alex. Roots: The Saga of an American Family. New York: Vanguard, 1974.
b. Identify the source library (ies) from which to borrow.
 Borrow The Slave Community from Horsham Township Library, Horsham, PA.
 Borrow Roots from Ardmore Free Library, Ardmore, PA.
3. Select and describe briefly five related web sites for teachers and/or students to obtain more
information about the book, the topics, or the historical period.
 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/index.html
o PBS richly comprehensive site on slavery in American. Includes narratives, primary
documents, and lesson plans for K-12.
 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/
o Library of Congress site focusing on African Americans. Good resource on prominent
figures, slavery, and freedom.
 http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/hill/hill_n4.html
o Site gives historical account of the Hill District.
 http://www.loc.gov/preservation/family/
o Library of Congress website on preserving one’s family heritage.
 http://www.americaiam.org/
o The website for the exhibit America I Am. Contains photos and stories about
historical artifacts relating to the African American experience.
a. Identify the search engines used.
 Found PBS site through Google.
 Found Library of Congress site on African Americans through the PBS site.
 Found Carnegie Library site on the Hill District through Google.
 Found Library of Congress site on preservation through Google.
 Found American I Am site through Academic Search Premier.
b. Identify the search terms used.
 Used “Slavery in America” to find the PBS site and Library of Congress site on African
Americans.
 Used “Hill District Pittsburgh” to find the Carnegie Library site on the Hill District.
 Used “Preserving Family Heritage” to find the Library of Congress site on preservation.
 Used “African American Heritage” to find the America I Am site.
4. Select five periodical articles related to the topic(s) of the assigned work.
a. Provide full bibliographic citations and one-sentence summaries for each.
 Hurley, Alice Rose. "Gifts from the Heart." Academic Search Premier. N.p., n.d. Web.
Dec. 2005.
o This article tells the story of two friends who share their treasures, heirlooms from
their past.



Lillios, Katina T. "Objects of Memory: The Ethnography and Archaeology of
Heirlooms." JSTOR. N.p., Sept. 1999. Web.
o Lillios writes about the meaning of artifacts in cultures and how they connect us with
out pasts.
Sommariva, Ami. "Heirlooms." ABC-CLIO. N.p., n.d. Web.
o Sommariva gives a clear understanding as to why heirlooms are kept and revered by
family members.
Young, Amy L. "The Beginning and Future of African American Archaeology in
Mississippi." Academic Search Premier. N.p., 2004. Web. 12 July 2012.
o Author talks about her work with a program to locate more on the history of slaves in
Mississippi.

b. Identify the subject headings/search terms used and the sources used to retrieve citations.
 Search terms used: cultural heritage, African American heritage, African American
artifacts, family heirlooms.
5. Select three primary sources related to the topic(s).
a. Document (For example, advertisement, diary, newspaper)
b. Public record (For example, birth, death, or marriage certificate)
6. Select two items on the topic(s) as new purchases.
a. Provide full bibliographic citations.
b. Identify the source(s) in which you located this information.
7. Create a playlist of four related songs or musical pieces available on CD or iTunes or another
source.
a. Provide full bibliographic citations.
 “Symphony in Black.” Duke Ellington and His Orchestra with Billy Holiday, 1935.
 “All of Me.” Louis Armstrong, 1932.
 “Maple Leaf Rag” Ragtime. The Music of Scott Joplin, 2006.
 “The Entertainer” Ragtime. The Music of Scott Joplin, 2006.
b. Identify the source(s) in which you located this information.
 Found “Symphony in Black” and “All of Me” on “Manufacturing Memory: American
Popular Music in the 1930s” website.
o http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug03/jukebox/front.html.
 Found “Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer” on iTunes.
8. Select two photos and two paintings or works of art for the period or location of the book.
a. Provide full bibliographic citations.
 Photographs
o Harris, Charles “Teenie.” “Junilla Street with Walker Moving Company Truck in
Foreground, Hill District.” c. 1938-1940.
o Harris, Charles “Teenie.” “Exterior of Loendi Club, 83 Fullerton Avenue, Hill
District.” c. 1940.
 Works of Art
o Bearden, Romare. “Piano Lesson.” 1983.
o Benton, Thomas Hart. “Mural Painting: no. 3: ‘Arts of the City.’” 1932.
b. Identify the source(s) in which you located this information.
 Found “Junilla Street” and “Exterior of Loendi Club” through the Carnegie Museum of
Art website, the Teenie Harris collection.
o http://teenie.cmoa.org/default.aspx.
 Found “Piano Lesson” through the National Gallery of Art website.
o http://www.nga.gov/feature/bearden/170-130.htm
 Found “Mural Painting” through ArtStor.
o http://library.artstor.org/library/secure/ViewImages?id=%2BDpVYis9LCldLS04e
TxxSngvXg%3D%3D&userId=hTJAdzg%3D&zoomparams.
9. Select two related poems or collections of poems on topic(s).
a. Provide full bibliographic citations.
 Rampersad, Arnold. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. New York: Knopf, 1994.
 “‘Of Things Exactly As They Are’: American Poetry of the 1930s.”
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma05/dulis/poetry/index.html, June 2005.
b. Identify the source(s) in which you located this information.
 Found The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes on Amazon.com.
 Found “Of Things Exactly As They Are” through the “American Popular Music of the
1930s” website listed earlier.
10. Select two related biographies and/or autobiographies related to the topic(s).
a. Provide full bibliographic citations.
 Bryer, Jackson B. Conversations with August Wilson. Jackson, MS: University Press of
Mississippi, 2006.
 Harrington, Joan. I Ain’t Sorry for Nothin’ I Done: August Wilson’s Process of
Playwriting. New York: Limelight Editions, 2004.
b. Identify the source(s) in which you located this information.
 Found Conversations and I Ain’t Sorry through Amazon.com.
11. Select two related videos from YouTube or TeacherTube and/or spoken word audios for
teacher use in the classroom.
a. Provide full bibliographic citation.
 “Let’s Face the Music and Dance 1936 Irving Berlin Song Player Piano Roll.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aj5mDQx37Q.
 “History Channel – The Great Depression.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8k0jJdqKP0&feature=related.
b. Identify the source(s) in which you located this information.
 Found the videos through YouTube.
12. Identify two possible community and/or human resources who could relate to the topic(s).
a. Provide contact information.
 Dr. Michael Downing, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English at Kutztown University;
teaches courses in American drama, specifically August Wilson downing@Kutztown.edu.

Dr. Laurence Glasco, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History at University of Pittsburgh;
teaches a course on the history of black Pittsburgh; projects include history of black
Pittsburgh, August Wilson's Hill District, and Teenie Harris' visual imagery of black
Pittsburgh - lag1@pitt.edu
b. Describe how you located these individuals.
 Located Dr. Downing’s August Wilson website (www.AugustWilson.net) and August
Wilson Blog. Then found his contact information by searching for "Dr. Mike Downing,
Kutztown" in Google.
 Searched for "Pittsburgh, PA Hill District History" in Google and eventually found Dr.
Glasco's university web page.
13. Identify two sources of biographical information (print or electronic) about the author.
a. Provide full bibliographic citations.
 Conversations with August Wilson. Edited by Jackson R. Bryer and Mary C. Hartig.
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2006.
 "Biographical Sketch of August Wilson." August Wilson Center for African American
Culture. Accessed July 9, 2012.
http://www.augustwilsoncenter.org/aacc_pdfs/AugustWilsonBioSketch.pdf.
b. Identify the source(s) in which you located this information.
 Found Conversations with August Wilson after viewing another item on Amazon.com and
then viewing other items customers browsed.
 Found “Biographical Sketch of August Wilson” on the August Wilson Center for African
American Culture webpage.
14. Identify two sources of critical evaluation about this work or about the author's work(s).
a. Provide full bibliographic citations.
 Bloom, Harold. August Wilson. New York: Chelsea House, 2009.
 Bogumil, Mary. Understanding August Wilson. Columbia: University of South Carolina
Press, 1999.
b. Identify the source(s) in which you located this information.
 Found August Wilson by searching PittCat+.
 Found Understanding August Wilson by searching the Library of Congress Catalog.
15. Identify other related works by this author.
 The August Wilson Century Cycle
a. Provide full bibliographic citations.
 Wilson, August. Gem of the Ocean. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2006.
 Wilson, August. Joe Turner's Come and Gone. New York: Theatre Communications
Group, 2007.
 Wilson, August. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. New York: Theatre Communications Group,
2007.
 Wilson, August. Seven Guitars. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2007.
 Wilson, August. Fences. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2007.
 Wilson, August. Two Trains Running. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2007.
 Wilson, August. Jitney. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2007.
 Wilson, August. King Hedley II. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2007.
 Wilson, August. Radio Golf. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2007.
b. Identify the source(s) in which you located this information.
 Found the August Wilson Century Cycle titles on The Piano Lesson book jacket.
 Found the bibliographic information using the Indian Valley Public Library Online Card
Catalog.
16. Make two suggestions for what students could read after reading and studying this work.
a. Provide full bibliographic citations.
 Wilkerson, Isabel. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great
Migration. New York: Random House, 2010.
 Mathis, Ayana. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.
b. Identify the source(s) in which you located this information.
 Found The Warmth of Other Suns by conducting a search through AccessPA, and then
found a Library Journal online review.
o http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/collectiondevelopmentbestbooks/887782476/lj_best_books_2010_our.html.csp
 Found The Twelve Tribes of Hattie through a School Library Journal online search and a
Library Journal online review.
o http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/07/prepub/fiction-previews/fictionpreviews-jan-2013-pt-1-seven-debut-historical-novels-with-buzz/
17. Identify any possible person, group, or institution to follow on Twitter and provide a sample
tweet.
August Wilson Center: @AWC_Pittsburgh - "Ladies...do you like tea and fabulous gospel
singers? Join us on Sunday, June 10th at 1PM prior to the 3PM performance of WHO DO YOU
LOVE? Evangelist Terina Hicks will be our host! The tea is only $5.00 @ the door."