This list is not all of the literature we read in ninth and tenth grade, but it is the literature we did that focused on treatment of minorities or women or were by minority or women authors.

9^th Grade

In eighth and  ninth grade, our history covered mainly Southeastern Native American History/Native American history and American history (so keep in mind this book list was spread over two years for history if it seems like a lot to you!)

Poetry:

• Langston Hughes
• Phillis Wheatley  (as part of American History)
• “A Brave and Startling Truth” by Maya Angelou

Drama as part of our Comedy and Tragedy block as suggested by Christopherus Homeschool Resources, Inc in their former main lesson unit book “Comedy And Tragedy” which I don’t think is available anymore.

• The Damask Drum – Japanese Noh Drama
• A Raisin in the Sun – Lorraine Hansberry

Novels for American History:   

• Sing Down the Moon – Scott O’Dell (8th)
• Sacajawea – Bruchac  (8th)
• Freedom Train -Sterling;  (8th)
• (The Last of the Mohicans was another big read for this block;  it does deal a lot with Cooper’s ideas about Native Americans and the French and Indian War in the Northeastern United States)
• Black Like Me – Liddell-Benge

Nonfiction for American History

• Let It Shine:  Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters –  Andrea Davis Pinkney (8th)
• Indian Chiefs -Russell Freedman
• Malcolm X – Linde (picture book; I used it for my own presentation about Malcolm X)
• (general books about Martin Luther King Jr, John Lewis)

Literature: 

• Rain Is Not My Indian Name –  Cynthia Leitich Smith
• Their Eyes Were Watching God – Hurston
• The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian -Alexie Sherman (Accused of sexual assault; I didn;t know that then and don’t know if I would assign that now – better ones out there)
• The Good Earth = Buck (Buck was white, I think there are better books out there)
• Red Scarf Girl – Jiang
• (interestingly, we also did two science fiction selections as well!)

10^th Grade:

A block of Ancient Epics  is traditional in Waldorf Schools and developmentally tied to this grade, but we also did  a block of post-Harlem Renaissance African-American literature tracing vernacular  tradition in music traditions to poetry to a variety of written literature.

Poetry: 

• “Fundamentalism” – Naomi Shihab Nye
• “Still I Rise” -Maya Angelou
• “We Real Cool” – Gwendolyn Brooks
• “Eventide” – Gwendolyn Brooks
• “Georgia Dusk” – Jean Toomer
• “Dream Deferred” -Langston Hughes
• “Haiku” – Sonia Sanchez
• Music Lyrics as Poetry: “Get It Together” by India Arie and “The Evil That Men Do” by Queen Latifah; “The Rose That Grew From Concrete” by Tupac Shakur
• “Ego Tripping” -Nikki Giovanni
• “American Hero” – Essex Hemphill
• “To Some Supposed Brothers” -Essex Hemphill

Literature:   

• “Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation” – Toni Morrison (essay)
• “The Sky Is Grey” -Ernest Gaines (short story)
• “The Burden of Race” – Arthur Ashe (nonfiction excerpt)
• “The Bean Trees” – Kingsolver
• “The Joy Luck Club”  –  Amy Tan

Nonfiction, tied into American Government

• “Just Mercy” – Bryan Stephenson

Assigned Reading between 10th and 11th Grades:

• “Beloved” – Toni Morrison
• “Invisible Man”  –  Ralph Ellison (probably will end up doing together as first book in fall)
• “Dear Martin” – Nic Stone
• “All American Boys” – Jason Reynolds
• “Piecing Me Together” – Watson

Would love to hear some of your early high school multicultural selections!

Blessings,
Carrie