Followup & Resources: Passing by Nella Larsen

[tiffani-tang]

The following notes and resources are from a previously-held, exclusive Professional Learning Community session. All names and recordings have been removed for privacy reasons. To view the PLC's full length works guide, click here.

Thank you for attending last night's meeting! If you couldn't make it or would like to review the session, you can view the slide deck here.

Additional Media

• PBS Finding Your Roots - Skip Gates and Rebecca Hall research Rebecca's genealogy
• CBS Sunday Morning - background on Passing, interview with Rebecca/Ruth Negga/Tessa Thomspon, what is passing and its effects
• Netflix's But Have You Read the Book? - Feature on how the book was adapted to a movie
• Rebecca Hall, Brief But Spectacular (PBS) - Rebecca talks about her own journey to understand her mixed race heritage.
  A Conversation on Passing - Contemporary author Brit Bennett (The Vanishing Half) talks about the novel for the New York Times Classic Book Club

Connections in Literature

• The Great Gatsby
• The Awakening
• Othello, use within an "Otherness" unit
• Possibly compare with poems such as Heritage, Half Mexican, or Mexican American Disambiguation

Connections with Students

• Students don't need to have African heritage. The idea of passing can be applied to other races or any minority group.
• Students might relate to Passing in terms of imposter syndrome
• Discussion of mixed race identity, how to represent/honor both cultural heritages

Suggestions on where to use Passing in the classroom

• Independent Reading Unit
• Meaning and Importance of Food and Rituals Unit
• Otherness Unit

Fun comment from the meeting: "I am just finishing Frankenstein and I keep thinking wouldn't the creature jump at the chance to 'pass' as something acceptable in society."