This activity allows students to think about the author Yaa Gyasi: the choices she made in writing Homegoing, her view of history, and how the novel connects to her own life experiences. The activity is recommended after students have begun reading the novel but somewhere in the first third or half.
Note that for this activity your students need awareness of the growing streams of African emigration to the US, including those from Ghana, Nigeria, and other West African nations. For background and data, see One-In-Ten Black People Living in the U.S. Are Immigrants, Pew Research Center report (2022) or Sub-Saharan African Immigrants in the United States, Migration Policy Institute (2025).
Ask students to watch one of these author interviews with Yaa Gyasi:
As they watch, have them jot down clues to answer one or both of these questions:
- hat inspired Yaa Gyasi to write her historical novel?
- What inspired Gyasi to write a novel with this specific structure (i.e., alternating chapters that follow descendents in Ghana and the U.S.)?
After the screening, gather students’ responses.
Then, using the discussion strategy of your choice, push for deeper understanding with these questions:
- The novel is titled “Homegoing.” What personal experiences shaped Yaa Gyasi’s own views of “being home” or searching for home? Why do you imagine she chose this title for the novel?
- In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Gyasi notes, “Nothing you do in history… disappears. It has an effect on every other generation that comes after yours.” What is your own reaction to this quote? How do you see this view of history being carried out in the novel?
- What insight did Gyasi gain as she stood in Cape Coast Castle? How did this experience help her to envision the novel she would write? Have you ever learned something from standing in a physical space that you would not have learned any other way? Please share.