Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What was a slave auction like? What would an observer see and hear at one of these auctions?

Teaching Suggestion: Exploring the answer to this question primes students to understand the novel’s themes of Slavery as an Inhumane Practice Against Nature and The Vulnerability of Black People and Enslaved People. The novel’s dependence on dialogue limits students’ ability to gain background knowledge about setting, time, and place. Within reason, this exploration and the recommended resources below may help students to cultivate some of the empathy required to deeply understand the themes.

• The National Museum for African American History and Culture’s (NMAAHC) searchable museum has a page specifically about The Weeping Time called “Torn Apart.” The previous section, “Business of the Trade” will help students understand the sights and sounds of slave auctions in a more general sense.
• “America’s Story from America’s Library” (hosted by the Library of Congress) provides a brief 3-page description of The Weeping Time, geared toward younger readers.