We Troubled the Waters Book

We Troubled the Waters by Ntozake Shange is a book written in poetry that presents various heart wrenching stories that allows the reader to experience the life of those trapped in slavery, experiencing "colored" and "white," and fighting for justice during the Civil Rights Movement. This book is best suited for students in grades 4-5 due to the seriousness of the content throughout the book. This book goes through the lives of those attending schools, working unfair jobs, as well as scavenging for food. The real-life illustrations incorporated throughout this book provides the story with much meaning and emotions.

I consider We Troubled the Waters by Ntozake Shange to provide a meaningful learning opportunity for students by teaching about what individuals experienced during the Civil Rights Movement including segregation as well as slavery. This book is presents content that is full of meaning, making it "deep." This may be difficult for promoting discussion, but I feel that it is important to let students be included in this discussion and add their thoughts/feelings regarding the topic. This book would also be great to incorporate into a Social Studies lesson plan in teaching about the Civil Rights Movement or segregation/slavery.

We Troubled the Waters by Ntozake Shange was a WOW book for me due to the fact that the poems allowed me to have exposure of what the individuals in the poems felt and experienced in their life. I have learned about the Civil Rights Movement as well as segregation and slavery in school, but I feel that this book provided me with a greater understanding of this time period. My heart breaks for the individuals that had to experience this inequality and my wish is to never have any individual experience that again.