Pre-Reading Activities

First Listening
Please listen to a short passage carefully and prepare to answer some questions.
    As a young girl in a Negro town, Zora had no white neighbors and to her white people were only different in that they traveled through her hometown but didn’t live there. However when she arrived at Jacksonville she suffered a change. She was no longer Zora of Eatonville, but became the granddaughter of slaves. When she looked in a mirror she was now looking at a little black girl. This, however, has had no ill effect on her. To her slavery was something in the past. The Civil War had made her a full American citizen and had given her the opportunity to push ahead and succeed in life. She felt she had nothing to lose and everything to gain. (Words: 123)
 
 Second Listening
Listen to the tape again. Then answer the following questions with your own experiences.
1. How did Zora view white and Negro people when she lived in her hometown?
2. What effect did being viewed as a Negro have on Zora and how did she see her own future?
3. What have you heard about the black in the States?