Module 3: "The People Could Fly" by Virginia Hamilton

This folk tale comes from Virginia Hamilton's The People Could Fly, a collection of retellings of Black American folk tales.
15 words 1737 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. capture
    seize as if by hunting, snaring, or trapping
    Then, many of the people were captured for Slavery.
  2. misery
    a state of ill-being due to affliction or misfortune
    The folks were full of misery, then.
  3. scorn
    look down on with disdain
    She trembled to be so hard worked and scorned.
  4. croon
    sing softly
    She had no heart to croon to it.
  5. scrunch
    sit on one's heels
    The woman scrunched low.
  6. holler
    call out loudly
    The babe hollered like any hurt child, and the woman fell to the earth.
  7. pity
    share the suffering of
    The babe cried and cried, "Pity me, oh, pity me," say it sounded like.
  8. snarl
    twist together or entwine into a confusing mass
    He pointed his hand, and the Driver's whip snarled around Sarah's legs.
  9. snag
    catch or cause to catch on something sharp that is sticking out
    Tall trees could not snag her.
  10. seize
    take hold of; grab
    "Seize the old man!" cried the Overseer.
    .
  11. ancient
    belonging to times long past
    And he sighed the ancient words that were a dark promise.
  12. shuffle
    walk by dragging one's feet
    But they didn't shuffle in a circle.
  13. plantation
    an estate where cash crops are grown on a large scale
    Way above the plantation, way over the slavery land. Say they flew away to Free-dom.
  14. seer
    a person with unusual powers of foresight
    He was the seer.
  15. gaze
    a long fixed look
    His gaze fell on the plantation where the slaves who could not fly waited.
Created on Mon Jul 21 16:55:33 EDT 2014 (updated Thu Aug 13 09:27:50 EDT 2020)

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