Black Brother, Black Brother

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. What novels have you read that include a character of color as the protagonist? What do you recall about characters and conflict in these works?

Teaching Suggestion: Jewell Parker Rhodes’s novels have consistently focused on a young person of color as the protagonist. She has worked to fill a gap in children’s literature which has not historically highlighted people of color across genres. Asking students this question can help them to think about and discuss imbalance in literary representation—for example, how white characters have dominated traditional markets and why.

• The Carnegie Library has put together a list of young adult books starring Black and Indigenous individuals.
• This Book Riot article has compiled a list of middle grade novels by Black writers.

2. What might it mean if students of color are disproportionately punished in schools?

Teaching Suggestion: This is a difficult topic, and it could be useful to first help younger students to understand what “disproportionately” means. Introducing this idea now will help provide useful context for the novel. It might be beneficial to guide discussion from what students know about rules and guidelines in their own setting to a wider grasp of disciplinary measures in all types of schools, ways in which schools differ by location and type, and how sometimes prejudices play an unfortunate role in disciplinary decision-making.

• The American Psychological Association details in this post how disproportionate rates of punishment affect students’ performance in schools.
• Vox offers a short article that includes charts from the Government Accountability Office that provides a visual of their findings about the harsh disciplinary actions levied against Black students.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

What is your favorite sport, hobby, or activity? What do you like about it? Discuss how this activity makes you feel.

Teaching Suggestion: Fencing is crucial to Donte’s development throughout this novel. Encourage students to think about the role that sports or another activity that they enjoy plays in their lives. What do they learn about themselves by participating?

Differentiation Suggestion: For English language learners and students who are gaining organizational skills in writing, they might instead draw an image of themselves playing their favorite sport with a few bullet points explaining why they like it.