Mississippi
Writers
Unit Two: Introduction
Theme: “A Sense of the Past”
Materials:
o
“A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty.
o
“A Worn Path” sung by Lester Senter.
o
“Brother Zeke” from Jubilee by Margaret Walker Alexander.
o
Chapter 2 from “The Robber Bridegroom” by
Eudora Welty.
o
Sam Mason’s story from “The Devil’s Backbone”.
o
The story of the Harp
Brothers from “The
Outlaw Years”.
o
“Ghosts” video by Walt Grayson.
o
“October Journey” by Margaret Walker Alexander.
o
“A Worn Path” video.
o
“A Worn Path” audio read by Eudora Welty.
o
“For My
People” by Margaret Walker Alexander.
o
“This is My
Century: New and Collected Poems” by Margaret Walker.
o
“The
Devil’s Backbone: The Story of the Natchez Trace” by Jonathan Daniels.
o
“The Outlaw
Years: The History of the Land Pirates of the Natchez Trace”.
o
By Robert M. Coates.
o
“The
Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness” (audio driving tour).
o
Natchez Trace Park Service map of the Natchez Trace.
o
Mississippi State Highway Commission map of
Natchez/Southwest Mississippi
o
“Mississippi
Scenes” by Elmo Howell.
o
“Mississippi Home-Places” by Elmo Howell.
o
“Country
Churchyards” by Eudora Welty.
o
“Trees of
Mississippi” by Mississippi
Forestry Commission.
o
“Gardening
Southern Style” by Felder Rushing.
o
“Scarecrows” by Felder Rushing.
o
“Mississippi Writers: Reflections of Childhood and
Youth (vol. III, Poetry).
o
“Ghosts! Personal
Accounts of Modern Mississippi Hauntings” by Sylvia Hubbard.
o
“13
Mississippi Ghosts and Jeffrey” by Kathryn Tucker Windham.
o
“Trees of Mississippi and
Other Woody Plants” by George Dukes.
o
“Pilgrimage: A Tale of
Old Natchez” by Louise Wilbourn Collier.
o
“Native Land” by Mary Ann
Wells.
o
“Searching for Red Eagle”
by Mary Ann Wells.
o
“Natchez: Symbol of the Old South” by Nola Nance
Oliver.
o
“This Too is Natchez” by Nola Nance Oliver.
o
“The Majesty of Natchez” by Reid Smith and John
Owens.
o
“The Natchez Trace: A Pictoral History” by James A.
Crutchfield.
o
“Natchez Trace: Two Centuries of Travel” by R.C.
Gildart.
o
“William Johnson’s Natchez: The Ante-Bellum Diary of
a Free Negroed”.
o
by William Ransom Hogan and Edwin Adams Davis.
o
“The Barber of Natchezed”. by Edwin Adams Davis and
Wm. Ransom Hogan
o
By Virginia Meacham Gould
Literary terms to be covered: (Review: Voice/Persona)
Short Story, Vocabulary words: loess, archive, oral
tradition, epitaph, and elegy
Projected time: six class periods
Assessment/Evaluation:
1.
Memory piece (one of Walker’s poems)
2.
Quiz on literary devices/vocabulary and section content
3.
Participation in group map of Natchez/Natchez Trace/ SW Mississippi
This section will include writing across the curriculum in
geography, history, science, music, art, and
math.
Day One:
I. Expectations: Students will begin to become
familiar with the Natchez Trace
In tandem, run film “A
Worn Path” muted, and Eudora Welty reading her short story by the same name.
Run film up to point when
Phoenix says, “What kind of ghost are you?”
Ask question: DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?
DO YOU HAVE A GHOST STORY TO SHARE/
Guest speakers: Jim Richie
(oral tradition/ghost stories)
Walt Grayson
(reporting on ghost stories)
Ghosts:
“Ghosts” Velma Sanders
Walt Grayson’s vhs
(accompanied by Guest Speaker Walt Grayson)Ghosts of King’s Tavern
Ghost of Sam Mason
Margaret Walker
Alexander’s “October Journey”
Students will read (or
recite) their ghost stories (written and illustrated to turn in)
HW: write an original
ghost story
Day 2:
WHERE WOULD WE MOST LIKELY
EXPECT TO FIND A GHOST?
Read from Tom Sawyer
My mother’s ghost story
Poems:
o
“Moundbuilders”
o
“Death in the Family”
o
“Grave Digger”
o
“Mississippi Hills: My Epitaph” William Faulkner
o
“Elegy for the Girl Who Died in the Dump at Ford’s
gulch” Joan Johnson
Cemeteries:
o
Emerald Mound/Winterville Mound
o
Natchez City Cemetery (Desecration)
o
Yazoo Cemetery (Witch)
o
Freedom Cemetery (Memorial Day)
o
Vicksburg National Military Cemetery (Battlefield)
o
Greenwood Cemetery (Oldest/Integrated)
HW: Students will draw
their own tombstone and write their own epitaph
Day 3:
Scarecrows
“Scarecrows” by Felder
Rushing
Students will construct and/or draw
scarecrows
(If this is close to Halloween I may have
(some of) them carve pumpkins
(divided into groups, depending on how
many students are in the class)
There will be a group technical writing
exercise with this lesson.
(Devise a pamphlet on how to construct a
scarecrow)
HW: Students will bring to
class a leaf from a tree or bush and a flower from a bush, both of which must
be from outside the home.
Day 4:
Natchez Trace National Parkway
“The Natchez Trace” Anne
Carsley
Scope
Nashville (Grand Ole Opry: Charley Pride, Tammy
Wynette, Conway Twitty, Faith Hill, O.C.
McClinton, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Jones,
Mickey Gilley, Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Russell, Moe
Bandy, Hank Cochran, Bobbie Gentry, Marty
Stuart, LeAnn Rimes, Mac McAnally)
(Play some of the music of
several of these singers/show pictures)
Explain why some (Twitty,
Russell, etc.) should be included in Mississippi Writers
Tennessee portion (Meriwether Lewis)
Alabama
North Mississippi (Tupelo)
around Jackson
(lawsuit)
South Mississippi
Deep
South by Nevada Barr
Hunting Season
by Nevada Barr
(Read excerpt from each of
these novels)
(Check on possibility of
getting Barr for guest)
Barr’s other books with National Park Assignments
(Guadalupe Mtns NP, TX; Isle Royal NP, Lake Superior; Mesa Verde NP, Colorado;
Lassen Volcanic NP, CA; Cumberland Island Nat. Seashore off GA coast;
Lechugilla Cave near Carlesbad Cavern NP, NM; Ellis Island Nat. Monument,
Liberty State Park, NY Harbor; Watertown/Glacier National Pace Park,
Montana/Canadian Border)
(Identify each assignment
on a map of the US)
Flora(kudzu, wisteria,
azaleas, yellow jasmine, dogwood, redbud, moss, oak, pine, walnut, pecan,
)
Discuss and identify
leaves and flowers students brought to class
Fauna (deer, raccoon,
possum, rabbit, armadillo, turkey, vulture, quail, dove, hawk, owl, snakes,
panther, black bear)
Show pictures of
Mississippi wildlife
HW: Compose a two-page
outlaw story that takes place on the Natchez Trace
Day 5:
(Trace-cont’d)
Have students divide into
groups and share stories
One student from each
group will share with entire class
Outlaw stories
Mason
Big Harp
Little Harp
Have students read
excerpts from The Robber Bridegroom
From The
Devil’s Backbone
From The
Outlaw Years
Natchez
o
History (5 Flags) (show)
o
Natchez Indians (Aztec descent)
o
Under the Hill
o
Millionaires
o
King’s Tavern (Mt. Locust)
o
Longwood (Waverly)
o
Homes and Pilgrimages
o
Seminary for Freedman (Jackson College/JSC/JSU)
o
Famous Literary Personages:
o
William & Ann Battles Johnson (journals)
o
Richard Wright
o
From Black Boy
o
From Richard
Wright: Daemonic Genius
o
Ellen Douglas (ss/novelist)
o
Greg Iles (mystery writer)
o
Neil Mc Gaughey (mystery writer)
o
J.F.H. Claiborne (historian)
Others:
o
General James Wilkerson (story)
o
Aaron Burr (treason trial)
o
Phillip Nolan (excerpt from Man Without A Country/real
Phillip Nolan story)
o
Jessie James (story)
o
Andrew and Rachel Jackson (pictures/story)
o
Mickey Gilley (music)
o
Linda Lee Mead (’60) (picture)
o
Jim Bowie
Films:
excerpt from “Huckleberry Finn” 1974 (musical version)
excerpt from “Huckleberry Finn” 1993
excerpt from “Good Ole Boy”
Day 7:
o
SW Mississippi
(Students will maintain and annotate a map with people and locales)
o
Woodville (Newspaper & Railroad)
o
William Grant Still & Lester Young
o
John J. Audibon
(St. Francisville/Myrtles)
o
Book of prints of birds (compare with Walter
Anderson)
o
Ft. Adams (Story of the real Philip Nolan; The
Man Without a Country)
o
Inventor of “$” sign; ($ sign was first image
transmitted on television—1927) Rodney
o
Almost made state capitol; river; cannonball in
church; Zachary Taylor;
o
Church in Grand Gulf
o
Lorman/Alcorn
o
Washington
(first capitol; Jefferson College, Oaks
o
Old Greenville (Old Prentiss)
o
Windsor
o
“Desire Under the Elms”
o
Fayette (Richard Truly/Charles Evers)
o
Rocky Springs
o
Port Gibson
o
Churches/Grant/Chamberlain-Hunt
o
Resin Bowie
o
Irwin Russell “Christmas Night in the Quarters”
o
Read prayer from this poem
o
Centerville (Anne Moody)
o
Liberty (Jerry Clower & Will Campbell)
o
Play from Clower CD and read from Campbell’s Brother to a Dragonfly
o
Bruinsburg (Grand Gulf; Grand Gulf State Park)
o
Summit (Rose Budd Stevens)
Common Task (unit test):
Divide students into groups.
Have each group work on an elongated, ILLUSTRATED map of a section of
the trace (Nashville-Jackson and Jackson-Natchez), the city of Natchez, and the
Southwest Mississippi area (from I55 to the river and south of I20 to the
Louisiana line).
Maps will be hung in the
classroom.
-Bill Patrick