Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. There is a lot of dialogue in the play about the audience and appreciation for Black music. Ma has her following, Bessie has her following, and Levee wants to reach a new audience and build his own following with his dance music.

• To address the theme of Cultural and Social Change, what cultural and social changes were taking place during 1927 that made way for the flowering of Black art? (topic sentence)
• Explain the relationship of each change to the development of the Black music and recording industries.
• In your closing sentences, explain the issue of white and Black audiences for Black art.

2. Among the Black characters, there is much discussion of hierarchy. Levee says he is better than the other band members because of his new shoes and the attention his original music is getting from Sturdyvant.