In this activity students will participate in a Gallery Walk to explore and foreshadow some of the themes, context, and new perspectives in Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad.  It is recommended for a lesson before they begin reading or early in their reading of the novel.  The publisher, Random House, provides an overview of the book here. 

Copy the quotes below, or others, onto large poster paper.

As students participate in the Gallery Walk, ask them to make notes on the poster paper. 

Suggestion for notes: Students might make connections to current events,historical events, note their thoughts of feelings about the content of the quote, or their ideas about Colson Whitehead’s perspective or approach. 

Debrief the Gallery Walk. 

Use these or other prompts for discussion:

• Is there a quote that resonates with you personally? Why?
• What quote offers the most connection to the nation’s past? Why? What connection(s) do you see?
• What quote provides the most insight into the nation’s present? Why? What connections do you see?
• Is there a quote that you agree with? Disagree with? Why?

The following quotes have been curated from Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad (New York: Doubleday), 2016. Page numbers from the first edition, ISBN 97803855423649

“To escape the boundary of the plantation was to escape the fundamental principles of your existence: impossible.”(page 8)

“Stolen bodies working stolen land. It was an engine that did not stop, its hungry boiler fed with blood.” (page 117)

“The other patrollers [i.e. people paid to track and capture run-aways on behalf of enslavers] were boys and men of bad character; the work attracted a type. In another country they would have been criminals, but this was America.”(pages 75-76)

“Slavery is a sin when whites were put to the yoke, but not the African. All men are created equal, unless we decide you are not a man.” (page 182)

“And America, too, is a delusion, the grandest one of all. The white race believes—believes with all its heart—that it is their right to take the land. To kill Indians. Make war. Enslave their brothers. This nation shouldn’t exist, if there is any justice in the world, for its foundations are murder, theft, and cruelty. Yet here we are.” (page 285) 

“Here’s one delusion: that we can escape slavery. We can’t. Its scars will never fade.” (page 285)

“One midnight she decided, up in the sweltering loft, I am going to survive–and the next midnight she was in the swamp, tracking after the moon in stolen shoes.” (page 292)