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American Literature / Unit 16   AML 1507 short lesson, about 20 seconds

*Notes of a Native Son*

Captions available

The idea

The nineteen fifty-five collection takes its occasion from his stepfather's death in nineteen forty-three, buried on Baldwin's nineteenth birthday, which was also the day his youngest brother was born and the day of the Harlem riot. The book made his reputation as an essayist.

In practice

A funeral, a birth, and a riot.

Where people slip

Two sources print the title with "on."

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

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