Go Tell It on the Mountain

Go Tell It on the Mountain

• Genre: Fiction; literary
• Originally Published: 1953
• Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
• Structure/Length: 3 parts, 3 chapters; approx. 272 pages; approx. 8 hours, 45 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Fourteen-year-old John Grimes discovers his identity as the stepson of a Pentecostal minister in 1930s Harlem. Everyone believes he will follow in his father’s footsteps and become a preacher, but John has conflicting feelings about God and his sexuality.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Systemic racism; violence; sexual assault; sexual content             

James Baldwin, Author

• Bio: August 2, 1924-December 1, 1987; noted Black essayist, novelist, playwright, and poet; writing explores masculinity, sexuality, race, and class that intersect with the civil rights movement and gay liberation movement; never knew his biological father; had a difficult relationship with his stepfather; became a preacher at Fireside Pentecostal Assembly after discovering he was attracted to men; spent years in menial jobs trying to support his family; moved to Paris in 1948 to escape American prejudice against Black communities and individuals; wrote and published his first novel in Paris; returned to New York in 1957 to participate in the civil rights movement; lived in France for most of his later life; died from stomach cancer in 1987
• Other Works: Giovanni’s Room (1956); Another Country (1962); Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968); If Beale Street Could Talk (1974); Just Above My Head (1979)                     

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Religious Piety and Hypocrisy
• Sexuality and Shame
• Racism and Generational Trauma

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the historical and psychological contexts regarding structural Racism and Generational Trauma that incite the characters’ developments.
• Read and analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Religious Piety and Hypocrisy and Racism and Generational Trauma.
• Draft and present a creative writing assignment demonstrating an understanding of the text’s themes and character development based on text details.