2006 CSK Winners

In Day of Tears, Julius Lester exposes the devastating reality of the slave

experience. The novel begins with the largest slave auction in American

history (later known as The Weeping Time). During the auction, members

of slave families are sold to different masters and must face the fact that

they will never see each other again. Lester takes you into the minds of the

slaves and masters as he follows a girl’s journey from slavery to a life of

freedom.

Page 3

A c T i v i T i E S

Keep a reading journal

Have the students write down everything they know about the slavery

of black people in America before reading the novel. Have them jot

down reactions, questions, and thoughts. Ask the students to revisit their

initial list after completing the book. Has the book revealed anything

surprising about slavery? Did the students have misconceptions that

have now changed?

research projecTs

Have two or three students work together to research a topic and give a

presentation to the class. The students should create visual aids to

accompany their presentations. Organize all of the projects in the room,

to create a museum. Invite parents, as well as other students in the school,

to visit the museum.

possible topics

• The Weeping Time (create a mural; look at the historical documents)

• Economics of slavery

• The Underground Railroad (write a description of the history; create a

3-D map in papier-mâché outlining the underground railroad and using

craft materials for people, houses, boats, etc.)

•“Jumping the broom” wedding celebrations

• High John and Brer Rabbit (the history of the oral tradition

among black Americans)

• The Civil War (prepare a time line and/or a brief overview)

• The Emancipation Proclamation

• Canadian communities of former slaves

• Runaway-slave laws

• Enslaving Virginia (explore the reactions to a modern-day reenactment

in 1999 of a slave auction in Colonial Williamsburg)

readers’ TheaTer

Ask students to choose different characters and read their sections aloud.

Discuss how the students feel assuming these roles.

WriTing exercise

Imagine yourself as a slave. Write a monologue about your experience and

feelings. Feel free to imagine your own surroundings and circumstances.

How do you get through each day? Do you have hope for freedom and a

better life?

role-playing

Argue different points of view based on the personalities of the characters

presented in the novel. Here are some examples:

Master Butler

Why you feel you have no option but to sell your slaves

Mattie

Why you fear Emma’s attending the auction

emma

Your fears about leaving your family and your hopes for

future generations

Fanny Kemble

Why you left your husband, how you feel about slavery, and how you feel

about your husband’s latest actions

jeremiah henry

How you feel about slavery and what part you can play in helping the

slaves escape to the North

Page 4

c O m p R E h E N S i O N c h E c k

D i S c u S S i O N Q u E S T i O N S F O R S m A L L G R O u p S

1. Why do you think it was illegal to teach slaves? What impact did this have

on Emma’s views on education?

2. How do you feel about Sampson’s character? What did you discover

about Sampson’s true feelings toward slavery and about his relationship

to his son?

3. Will says, “Master want to pretend like me and Mattie don’t have

feelings same as him.” Why do you think the slaves were treated as if they

were not capable of the same range of emotions as are whites?

4. How did the attitudes of the older slaves differ from those of the

younger slaves?

5. Blacks and whites in this novel use the word “nigger” to refer to black

people. How does this usage make you feel? What does it mean? Do you

think it is appropriate for people to use that word today?

6. Were you surprised to learn the amount of racism blacks faced in the

North? Write about the situation for blacks in the North based on the

details provided in the novel. Were blacks equal to whites? How did

they support themselves? Why did they have to fear being “caught”

again by a white person?

7. Why did Julius Lester choose to write in the first person? How does this

format affect the way the characters come across?

8. Julius Lester also places interludes throughout the novel. What is an

interlude? How does it affect the way the story is told?

*In addition to these questions, have the students submit topics from their reading

journals for discussion.

1. Describe the relationships between Mattie, Will, and Pierce Butler.

2. Why does Pierce Butler sell his slaves?

3. Why is Mattie worried about Emma’s going to the auction with

the Butler girls?

4. Why does Fanny Kemble leave the plantation?

5. How do Jeffrey and Dorcas get separated? What happens when Jeffrey

finds Dorcas years later?

6. What does Emma say to Sarah when she leaves to go with her

new owner?

7. Describe Sarah’s relationship with her father when he is on his deathbed.

8. Why does Emma refuse to “jump the broom” with Joe in chapter 8?

9. Who is Mr. Henry? How does he help Joe and Emma?

10. How does Sampson feel about slavery? Does Sampson really stand in the

way during the escape?

11. Describe Philadelphia as seen through Emma’s eyes.

12. Why does Fanny warn Emma and Joe when she sees them

in Philadelphia?

13. How do Sarah and Emma keep in touch?

14. To whom is Emma talking in the last chapter?

Page 5

Q. What was the inspiration for this novel?

I know people think writers get “inspired,” but the reality is

sometimes different. The idea for the novel came from Garen Thomas,

my editor at Hyperion. I was unfamiliar with what history calls “The

Weeping Time.” I found the idea intriguing, and did some research to

see what the story possibilities were. The fact that the auction was done

for the benefit of Pierce Butler was further intriguing, as he was married

to Fanny Kemble, a remarkable woman whose name I was familiar

with. I read several biographies of Fanny Kemble, as well as the book

her youngest daughter wrote defending slavery. If there was a moment

of “inspiration” it came when I saw a notice for a photo show in a

magazine. (I am also a photographer.) The photo was a 19th-century

daguerreotype of a 9 to 10-year-old slave girl holding a white girl of

about 2-3 on her lap. I kept that photo on my desk as I wrote the book.

Q. Day of Tears is a mixture of history and fiction. how did you craft

your story around the historical facts?

I’ve written a lot of historical fiction set during slavery. So, the facts of

what life was like during slavery are things I know from past research

and I don’t have to research anew. The key to historical fiction is

making the characters believable and real, and this means integrating

the facts into the narrative so they aren’t even recognizable as facts.

But the other side of historical fiction is ignoring the history to make a

better story. For example, Day of Tears opens on the last day of the slave

auction, and there is the scene in which slaves are taken to the barn

and put into a wagon and taken into town. Historically, all the slaves

were moved to town before the first day of the auction. Dramatically,

however, it was better to have a scene in which the slaves are being

moved.

Q. how did you choose the format for this novel? do you see it as a

future play?

I don’t see this as a play. I don’t like plays. I think I came to the format

because, as I said, I’ve written a lot of historical fiction based on

slavery, and I didn’t want to repeat myself. So, I wondered, how could

I approach this story in a different way? Not sure how the idea of

doing it in dialogue came to me, but when it did, I was intrigued by

the challenge. Could I convey a sense of place and character without

descriptive sections?

A N i N T E R v i E w w i T h J u L i u S L E S T E R

I had a call-in radio show in New York from 1968 to 1975. I loved

radio, because all you had to use was your voice. So, in writing the

novel I think I drew on my years in radio and my consciousness of

how much the voice can convey.

Q. What do you hope readers will take from this novel?

I never know how to answer this question. I have also written adult

fiction, and this is not a question I get asked about my adult books.

There seems to be an assumption that children’s books have a didactic

element. I just hope the readers are moved by the various stories in the

novel.

Q. how did you become interested in writing books for young people?

I write for all ages. I’ve done picture books, YA novels, nonfiction,

poetry, and fiction and nonfiction for adult readers. I wonder sometimes

if the way we categorize books isn’t artificial, more something that is

market-driven than [something that] has any reality in the writing of

the books. I like to tell stories, and there is more opportunity to do that

in books for children, as well as science fiction and fantasy. I simply see

myself as a writer, and adults read my YA books and never know that

[they were] marketed for YA. I just write, and the books find the readers

they’re supposed to have.

Page 6

about the author of this guide

Taunya Nesin received her undergraduate degree in English and American Language and

Literature from Harvard University. She went on to Teacher’s College at Columbia University,

where she earned a master’s degree in Curriculum and Teaching. She has spent four years in the

classroom teaching various levels of elementary school. She is currently freelancing while spending

time with her toddler in Newton, Massachusetts.

I had a call-in radio show in New York from 1968-1975. I loved radio,

because all you had to use was your voice. So, in writing the novel I

think I drew on my years in radio and my consciousness of how much

the voice can convey.

Q. What was your favorite book as a child?

Didn’t have one. I read tons of comic books and murder magazines.

Q. What advice would you give young writers?

Read, read, read, read. To be a writer you have to know what has been

written. You have to understand how writers achieve certain effects. I

don’t care what you read. Like I said, I read comic books. I don’t read

comics anymore, but I love mysteries and detective fiction and fantasy

novels and read a lot of each. The important thing is to read.

F O R F u R T h E R R E A D i N G

Fanny Butler leigh

Ten Years on a Georgia Plantation Since the War

catherine clinton

Fanny Kemble’s Civil Wars

christopher conlon

The Weeping Time: Elegy in Three Voices

w E B S i T E S

Fanny Kemble and pierce Butler

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1569.htm

The Weeping Time

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aua/part4/4p2918.htm

The largest slave auction

America’s Story from America’s Library

http://www.americaslibrary.gov.jb.reform/jb_reform_slaveauc_1.html