Song of Solomon Lesson Plan

Analyze the narrative significance of the Deads' last name.

The Deads' last name is significant for two reasons. First, its origins symbolize the fraught history of names for African Americans—the ways that slavery and racism have caused family histories to be erased and identities to be stolen. The Dead surname is the result of an accident. When the original Macon Dead registered with the Freedman's Bureau, he told them that he was from Macon and his father was dead. The drunk white man transcribing this information put it down in the wrong spaces, legally giving him the name Macon Dead. Second, the name Dead is symbolic of the lack of life in the Dead household. The...