Self-study
P1
The Federal Theater Project (FTP) was established in the late 1930s by the United States government. ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ████████ ████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████ █ ██████ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ █ ███████ ███████ ███
Intro to Topic ·
Federal Theater Project
Government funded theater program. Short lived but big.
Main Topic ·
Negro Units, an important legacy of the FTP
Units dedicated to producing African American plays for African American audiences.
Main Point ·
Unit came close to founding a national black theatre
P2
███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███
Background ·
Harlem Renaissance
Premise ·
Debate on what kinds of plays the Negro Units should produce
E.g., folk drama with rural culture; urban and contemporary drama; adapt white playwrights' plays.
Premise ·
The larger debates that reflect a diversity of views
Blend into mainstream culture or be different? Aim for black or white audience? Try to instruct or entertain?
Example ·
The Swing Mikado
P3
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Main Point ·
FTP allowed the Negro Units to create art that reflected the diversity of African American culture
Passage Style
Single position
Spotlight
1.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
The actors, directors, ██████████ ███ ███████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ █████████ █████ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ███████████ █████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ████
The main point isn’t that historians rank the Negro Units performers among the “most talented and influential” of their time. The main point is about the overall contribution of the Negro Units to theater. Also, there’s no indication that historians think the performers were among the “most talented and influential.”
b
Of all the ████████ ███████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ███████ ███ ███ ███ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████
The author never indicates that the Federal Theater Project has had the “most lasting effect” on African American arts compared to other federal programs.
c
The Federal Theater █████████ █████ █████ ███ ███ █████ ██████████ ███ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ █████ █████ ████████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ██████████
This best captures the main point, which is that the Negro Units were
d
Although the Federal ███████ █████████ █████ █████ ████████ █ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ████████ ███████████ ██ ████ ███████
The author never indicates that the Negro Units are “best” known for their folk dramas.
e
By supporting the ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ █████████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████████ █ ████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ █████████ ███████
The main point isn’t about the U.S. government’s role in aiding theater during the Great Depression. The main point is about the Negro Units and their impact. So even if you think (E) is supported by the passage, it doesn’t capture the main point.