King, Laurie, ed. (1995). Hear My Voice: A Multicultural Anthology of Literature from the United States. Menlo Park: Addison-Wesley. 172pp.

Grade Range: 10-12

Genre: short stories and poetry

Summary & Critique

Hear My Voice is a vibrant collection of poems, essays, and short stories written by American authors of diverse ethnicities. The anthology is a wonderful addition to any secondary teacher's classroom library. The material is conveniently divided into six broad units including Borders, Love, Family and Generations, Society, Conflict, Struggle, and Change, Personal Identity, and Celebrations. Virtually every issue that young people encounter is addressed in this anthology. Furthermore, the collection demonstrates the pervasiveness of themes across cultures, and allows readers to empathize with individuals from diverse backgrounds. The unit entitled Borders deals with the perks and perils ethnic"others" face when assimilating to mainstream American culture. Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel's short story,"Who Said We all Have to Talk Alike" traces the journey of a small-town Ozark woman, Neffie Pike, who moves to California from her native village in the mountains of Arkansas. Neffie's experiences mirror the experiences many Americans face in response to their differences. "Finding a Wife," by Gary Soto, is one of the works included in the anthology's Love section. Soto challenges social mores concerning mixed race relationships in "Finding a Wife," and he also demonstrates the universality of the theme of love. Family and Generations boasts Alice Walker's"In Search of Our Mother's Gardens" among other important selections. In this autobiographical piece, Walker demonstrates the need human beings have to identify with the history of their people and their heritage. These three stories are only a glimpse of the treasures to be found in this anthology.

Hear My Voice contains material appropriate for students in high school, as well as college students, varying between selections. The biggest plug for this anthology is its expression of unity within diversity. The collection contends that each person is unique, but certain ties bind all people.

Themes/Topics

Families

Friends and Enemies

Generations

Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

Challenges and Triumphs

The Individual vs. Society

Love, Sex, and Romance

Editor Information

Laurie King is a California native. In addition to editing Hear My Voice, she has also written several mystery novels.

For more information on Laurie King:

http://www.laurierking.com/ King's official Web site, offering book reviews, a bibliography, and an autobiography.

Media Connections

Movies

Sling Blade (1996) The vernacular of this film is a perfect example of the dialect used in McDaniel's short story. Furthermore, it provides insight to the simple, Arkansas, folk wisdom characteristic of McDaniel's text.

Cowboy Ugly (2001) This movie is a classic rags to riches love story. Violet moves from Jersey to New York to become a famous singer/songwriter, and finds the man of her dreams in the process. The specific link between the film and the story is the chance meeting of lovers. Soto's message in "Finding a Wife" is that she could have been anyone, but it was her. Cowboy Ugly presents a similar scenario.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) A bi-racial couple plans to marry, much to the dismay and disapproval of the bride-to-be's parents.

Becoming American: The Chinese Experience (2003) A three-part PBS special hosted by Bill Moyers about Chinese immigration to America.

Chicano! History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement (1996) A documentary covering the Mexican-American community's fight for equal rights in America.

El Norte (1983) The story of a brother and sister pair who leave their Guatemalan village to make a new life in Los Angeles.

The Joy Luck Club (1993) Explores the lives of four Chinese women and their relationships with their four Chinese-American daughters.

Music

"Lady Sings the Blues." Performed by Billie Holiday. From Lady Sings the Blues, Polygram Records, 1954. This song is about the sorrows of women of color.

Online Resources

http://www.teachingforchange.org Site provides information about multicultural education as social activism including links for lesson plans and resources, as well as current headlines.

http://www.clpgh.org/locations/humanities/reading/booklists/latino.html Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's online listing of Latino literature including, fiction, poetry, and anthologies.

http://www.colorado.edu/ftep/diversity/div02.html A helpful site about fostering diversity in the classroom.

http://www.ellisisland.org Chronicles several immigrant experiences of families from different countries. Also gives factual and statistical information on America's immigration history.

http://www.hallkidsreligions.com/social_science/228.shtml Site's home contains links to books and information about the religions of the world, but also has great links to reviews of books with themes from a girl's memories of her Mexican-American childhood. There are also links to many other books with themes like customs, traditions, friendship, religion, manners, family life, and more.

Related Texts

Rosenberg, Liz, ed. (1996). The Invisible Ladder: An Anthology of Contemporary American Poems for Young Readers. New York: Holt. 208 pp. Various American authors provided poems for this collection compiled for a young adult audience.

Gillan, Maria M. and Jennifer Gillan, eds. (1994). Growing Up Ethnic in America: Contemporary Prose About Learning to be American. New York: Penguin/Putnam. 374pp. A variety of short stories about children from various cultures growing up in America.

Steinbeck, John. (1939). The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Viking. 619 pp. A family moves from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression.

Gary. (1998). Petty Crimes. New York: Harcourt Brace, 157 pp. The collection of short stories addresses themes such as poverty, gang violence, and crime of Hispanic youths in Central Valley.

Hurston, Zora Neale. (1998). Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper Collins, 219 pp. This is a magnificent novel about an African-American woman's journey to find herself. Alice Walker considers Hurston one of her metaphorical mothers. Hurston's novel illustrates Walker's description of the spirituality of black women.

Teaching Ideas

(1) "Heroes in the Family and Community" In this activity, students are asked to come up with a person from their family or community who is heroic to them. Then they make a trading card with a picture of the person (if available) and symbols that represent and describe the person. Then they share their cards with the class. This activity is a great companion exercise for Walker's piece,"In Search of our Mother's Gardens."

[Summarized/adapted from "Trading in on Family and Community Heroes" by Rose Reissman in Classroom Notes Plus. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. October 1997. pp. 6-7.]

(2) "Literary Academy Awards" In groups, students review the literature they have read throughout the year and decide upon nominees for each of the designated categories, such as best male character, best poem, etc. Then students vote on their favorites. In groups, students create a power point presentation for one of the categories including all nominees, the winner, and a short description of why the winner was chosen. On the day of the presentation, students dress up in black and white.

[Summarized/adapted from "A ‘Novel'Academy Awards Ceremony" by Beverly Martin in Classroom Notes Plus. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. April 2000. p. 12.]

(Review written by Cherie Sonnier and edited by Jennifer E. Moore)