The Grass is Singing Lesson Plan

Discuss the divisions within the community. Into what groups was the community divided, and why? How did this division affect the Turners?

Mary's murder took place before the time of the great tobacco barons, thus there was not a big class divide in the area. There was, however, a strong racial divide: there were the white British, the Afrikaners, and the black natives. The British felt themselves to be above the Afrikaners and generally ignored them. When one referred to a "poor white," it was typically understood to be about the Afrikaners rather than the British. This topic was a subject of debate, though: what actually constituted a "poor white"? Most figured that...