Shange, Ntozake: 1948-2017

Betsey Brown, 1985 - Thematic Parallels: Race

Race is a social construct — a way humans have categorized people based on physical traits, mainly skin color, hair texture, and facial features. Race is not a biological fact — it’s a social idea created by humans.
Shange, Ntozake: Betsey Brown, 1985
The novel explores themes of race, identity, adolescence, and integration in mid-20th century America.
The following books are thematically simliar. They lend themselves well to being read in groups, compared with one another, or used to teach a similar topic over an extended period with a class:
- Angelou, Maya: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 1969, ~290pp
  This autobiography deals with the experiences of a Black girl growing up in the segregated American South, confronting racism and personal identity.
  - Both works explore how buried histories and family secrets resurface, influencing the lives of people generations later. Secrets function as moral and emotional anchors—revealing them leads to pain, but also catharsis and renewal.
- Lessing, Doris: The Grass Is Singing, 1950, ~240pp
  This novel examines racial tensions and colonialism in Africa.
  - Both novels focus on how love and loss define what it means to be human. Secrets function as both destructive and redemptive forces in both works.
- Paton, Alan: Cry, the Beloved Country, 1948, ~250pp
  The main topic is the social and racial injustice in South Africa during the era leading up to apartheid.
  - Both works depict how fear can distort truth and destroy trust within tight-knit societies. They show that concealment corrodes morality and that truth, when finally revealed, has devastating personal costs.
- Walker, Alice: The Color Purple, 1982, ~300pp
  This novel addresses African American women’s lives, their struggles, and racial and gender identity.
  - Both works use secrecy as a central force that drives tension. The need to conceal the truth is both a means of protection and a source of internal conflict. They conclude with the possibility of redemption or growth through understanding and acceptance rather than repression.
List of general discussion questions on Race (pdf)
List of essay prompts on Race (pdf)