Critical analysis or interpretation: it is absolutely essential that the historical person that you create has a critical voice and is interpreting the world in which they lived or commenting on; in this way, students will impose and project their critical thinking capacity onto the character; this is the most important component; without this aspect, the letter or diary would read merely as a story or history.

1. Creativity: although the major content of the letter or diary should be based on evidence presented in class about the black plight, students MUST demonstrate creativity; use your creative license to construct a fictional character (name, age, gender), family dynamic (mom, dad, child, single, married, widowed), the purpose for writing and the circumstances behind the construction of the document (how they came to write, how they learned to read and write, was it a school project, are they writing their family history because the last person who lived through slavery is perishing, are they writing from the first person—meaning did they personally endure the racial subjugation grappled with in the document; or did their kinfolk pass along their history, and thus it is a second-hand account). Creativity also extends to the major periods or conditions that students choose to discuss in the assignment.
2. Discussion of particular societies, politics, economics, or human conditions based on information extracted from lectures, films, or HW reading. The letter or diary MUST center around at least two separate periods or Conditions (for example, slave factory on coast and the period on slave boat; this is only a suggestion; you are more than welcome to choose other periods or conditions; students may want to do life on the slave plantation and circumstances during the Civil War in America; or, life in Africa during slave trade and Colonial Period);
3. Critical analysis or interpretation: it is absolutely essential that the historical person that you create has a critical voice and is interpreting the world in which they lived or commenting on; in this way, students will impose and project their critical thinking capacity onto the character; this is the most important component; without this aspect, the letter or diary would read merely as a story or history. Things to think about: how is the character grappling with their life or condition, or that of their forefathers? In other words, how are they making sense of the black struggle? Other suggestions include critiques with respect to their human condition or circumstances, interpretation of society and political circumstances, identifying inconsistencies, comparing and contrasting historical stimuli, or providing analysis on people, culture, and racial subjugation. The critical interpretation part doesn’t have to include all the above; it’s only an example; pick your lane!