The Sign of the Four Lesson Plan

In The Sign of the Four, descriptions of indigenous people are so racist that some students may have difficulty even reading them. Discuss the racist elements of the text.

The text features incredibly dehumanizing descriptions of non-white people and of indigenous South American people in particular: referring to “savagery,” comparing people to animals, treating them as less human than a “civilized” (i.e. white) person, and characterizing them as violent and amoral. This aspect of the text must not be brushed off or glossed over, not even as a product of its time: students need the opportunity to process and reckon with the racism of The Sign of the Four. Be mindful of...