Separate Pasts: Growing Up White In The Segregated South

Describe McLaurin’s narrative voice in Separate Pasts. Why do you think McLaurin chose to present the story in this way? How does this stylistic choice influence the reader’s view of the events being described?

How would you characterize McLaurin’s relationship to African American people in Wade? What is his role in their lives, and what is their role in his life? How does the memoir describe his changing views on this relationship?

McLaurin grows up in a segregated society. How does he unlearn the racist beliefs that he was raised with?