This activity helps students build the background knowledge they need to comprehend many of the Ghana chapters from Gyasi’s novel. This history is likely to be most unfamiliar to your students as it is rarely featured in social studies curriculum in the US. Students will also explore the way that Gyasi dramatizes the history, bringing it alive in her fiction, and consider why it was significant to her. 

Note: This activity will work best when students are reading or have read these sections of the novel: “James” (pp. 88-110); “Abena” (pp. 133-153); and especially “Akuah” (pp. 177-198); from Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing (New York: Alfred A. Knopf), 2016. First edition hardcover ISBN: 9781101947135

In this activity, as in a Jigsaw structure, each small group of students is responsible for one piece of the history; when these pieces are assembled in a class share-out, the bigger picture takes shape.  

Assign small groups to the following five topics:

  • First Anglo-Asante War
  • Second Anglo-Asante War
  • Third Anglo-Asante War
  • Fourth Anglo-Asante War
  • War of the Golden Stool

Have each group research their assigned topic using one or more of these sources:

If needed, remind students to use section headings, topic sentences and other guideposts to situate themselves in the most relevant section of the sources. 

Based on what they learn, direct each group to create a collaborative poster capturing key information about their assigned conflict. They should do so in a quick and visually-engaging way that will inform their classmates. 

Ask them to include some or all of these points of learning: 

  • the actors in the conflict; its dates and duration; the sources of tension; how it was fought; a surprising detail; the “winner” of this war (if there was one); its short-term vs. long-term consequences. 

(Note: as an alternative, you might have students create an instant one-act play or a cartoon strip to capture and convey the key information about their topic.)

Manage the time so that students will have the opportunity to present their findings to the rest of the class in the manner you prefer (a poster walk, mini-presentations, etc.).

Last, have students step back to look at the “big picture” that these puzzle pieces create. Lead a discussion using some of these prompts:

  • Was it easy or hard for the British to create stable colonies in West Africa? Point to evidence from at least two posters/groups.
  • Why were there so many wars between the British and Asante people? What do these conflicts say about the values and motivations of the Asante, their power, their level of organization?
  • What did you learn about the values or motivations of the British? How did their strategies of war reflect their views of African people and leaders?  
  • Why do you think that incorporating this history was important to Gyasi in writing her novel? What do her chapters emphasize, or bring to the forefront? If you were writing a historical fiction piece based on the Asante wars, what themes or characters would you bring to the forefront, and why?
  • In what ways do the violent conflicts between the British and Asante inform, complicate, or influence the individual choices made by characters such as James, Quey, Akuah and others as they live through the perils of colonialism?   

Discuss the key question: Based on this example, what are the benefits and limits of using historical fiction to understand the past?

Jigsaw for Historical Context: The British-Asante (Ashanti) Wars (Gyasi/Homegoing)