Transcript The Only Man on Liberty Street

The Only Man on
Liberty Street
By William Melvin Kelley
Warm Up Activity
1. What’s your general feeling about
interracial marriages? Do you support
it? Why or why not?
2. What are some of the challenges and
rewards of being a mix-raced child?
Round Robin
 Each person must share his/her
response.
 No interruptions or discussions until
everyone has shared.
Making Predictions
 Based on our discussions in the warm up
activity and the title, what do you think
the story is going to be about?
 One or two sentence answer is
unacceptable.
Annotations
 Summarize
 Ask questions
 Make comments
 predict
Plot Diagram
 Draw a plot diagram
 Explain the conflict
Character Analysis
 For each character, gather evidence to
analyze the characters:
 Name
 Who is this person?
(race/ethnicity/class)
 How does the person look like?
 How does the person behave? What
can we infer from their behaviors and
attitude?
Instructions for Discussion
Questions
 ALWAYS find quotations to support your
answer.
 When you share your answer, say your
answer first. Then tell the class what
page and paragraph is your quotation
before reading it to the class.
Discussion Questions
1. What kind of prejudice do you see in this
story? Find two examples.
2. What is Mr. Herder’s conflict? How does
Mr. Herder’s racial background create this
conflict? How would you resolve the conflict
if you were Mr. Herder?
3. How does Mr. Herder’s wife use racism to
justify her violence?
Discussion Questions
4. Why is the story titled “The Only Man on
Liberty Street”? Why is Mr. Herder
considered as “the only man”?
5. What is the theme of the story?
Interpretations & Evaluations
(2-chunk)
1. In your opinion, how does Jennie view
race in her society?
2. Mr. Herder is the only non-prejudice
white in the story and the rest of society
is prejudice. What message do you think
Kelley is trying to convey?