Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

• This first-person account of Douglass’s life under slavery and escape is a good complement to what life was like at Sweet Home in Beloved before and after the schoolteacher arrived. Chapters X and XI, in particular, demonstrate Douglass’s desire for freedom and the lengths he had to undergo to self-emancipate.

Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1938

• These Library of Congress documents contain several interviews and narratives of freed slaves written in their own words and are a valuable resource for understanding what slavery was like and what its aftermath meant for the people who experienced it firsthand.

Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires

• This short story collection provides a modern-day look at how trauma and race are a huge part of the Black experience. Each story explores how personal history and identity are intertwined with the perception of Black identity.