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. How did the United States government treat African Americans and women of all races who served in the military during and after World War II? Do you have a sense for how the rules and laws governing minorities’ and women’s participation in the military might have changed throughout American history, and other ways it might not have?

Teaching Suggestion: The context for this novel is military service during World War II. As a Black woman, the protagonist, Ida Mae Jones, is cognizant of mistreatment and segregation as both a woman and an African American in the 1940s. Students will need to understand this context to support their engagement with all the major themes and connected activities in this unit. Understanding the complex and changing history of military service for both groups (Black people and women) will add nuance to their understanding of some of the novel’s social context.

• Students can use this interactive timeline to explore Black people’s participation in the US Military over time. Astute readers will notice that segregation was not always the normal way of things, especially in early American history.