Thank You, Ma'am

by Langston Hughes
Name: _______________________________________

Group: _____

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Langston Hughes
A bit of context…

Instructions: As you watch the following videos, take notes on the author, Harlem and the
Harlem Renaissance.

About the Author:

Harlem:

Harlem Renaissance:

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Pre-Reading Questions

1. What is integrity? (provide a definition)

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2. List people in society that pose integrity and those who do not.
Integrity No integrity

3. Are some people born with more integrity than others? Explain.
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4. School can often challenge our integrity, like when you help a friend
with their schoolwork by giving questions/answers to an exam or
sharing answers to homework with others. Is it ever the right thing to
do? Explain.
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5. Do you adhere to the following quote: “Once a liar/cheater, always a

liar/cheater”? Explain.
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 Thank You, Ma'am
She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails. It had a
long strap, and she carried it slung across her shoulder. It was about eleven o’clock at night, and
she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse. The strap broke
with the single tug the boy gave it from behind. But the boy’s weight and the weight of the purse
combined caused him to lose his balance so, instead of taking off full blast as he had hoped, the
boy fell on his back on the sidewalk, and his legs flew up. the large woman simply turned around
and kicked him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter. Then she reached down, picked the boy up by
his shirt front, and shook him until his teeth rattled.
After that the woman said, “Pick up my pocketbook, boy, and give it here.” She still held him. But
she bent down enough to permit him to stoop and pick up her purse. Then she said, “Now ain’t you
ashamed of yourself?”
Firmly gripped by his shirt front, the boy said, “Yes’m.”
The woman said, “What did you want to do it for?”
The boy said, “I didn’t aim to.”
She said, “You a lie!”
By that time two or three people passed, stopped, turned to look, and some stood watching.
“If I turn you loose, will you run?” asked the woman.
“Yes’m,” said the boy.
“Then I won’t turn you loose,” said the woman. She did not release him.
“I’m very sorry, lady, I’m sorry,” whispered the boy.
“Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain’t you got
nobody home to tell you to wash your face?”
“No’m,” said the boy.
“Then it will get washed this evening,” said the large woman starting up the street, dragging the
frightened boy behind her.
He looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, frail and willow-wild, in tennis shoes and blue jeans.
The woman said, “You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong. Least I can do
right now is to wash your face. Are you hungry?”
“No’m,” said the being dragged boy. “I just want you to turn me loose.”
“Was I bothering you when I turned that corner?” asked the woman.

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“No’m.”
“But you put yourself in contact with me,” said the woman. “If you think that that contact is not
going to last awhile, you got another thought coming. When I get through with you, sir, you are
going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.”
Sweat popped out on the boy’s face and he began to struggle. Mrs. Jones stopped, jerked him
around in front of her, put a half-nelson about his neck, and continued to drag him up the street.
When she got to her door, she dragged the boy inside, down a hall, and into a large kitchenette
furnished room at the rear of the house. She switched on the light and left the door open. The boy
could hear other roomers laughing and talking in the large house. Some of their doors were open,
too, so he knew he and the woman were not alone. The woman still had him by the neck in the
middle of her room.
She said, “What is your name?”
“Roger,” answered the boy.
“Then, Roger, you go to that sink and wash your face,” said the woman, whereupon she turned
him loose—at last. Roger looked at the door—looked at the woman—looked at the door—and
went to the sink.
Let the water run until it gets warm,” she said. “Here’s a clean towel.”
“You gonna take me to jail?” asked the boy, bending over the sink.
“Not with that face, I would not take you nowhere,” said the woman. “Here I am trying to get
home to cook me a bite to eat and you snatch my pocketbook! Maybe, you ain’t been to your
supper either, late as it be. Have you?”
“There’s nobody home at my house,” said the boy.
“Then we’ll eat,” said the woman, “I believe you’re hungry—or been hungry—to try to snatch my
pocketbook.”
“I wanted a pair of blue suede shoes,” said the boy.
“Well, you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes,” said Mrs. Luella Bates
Washington Jones. “You could of asked me.”
“M’am?”
The water dripping from his face, the boy looked at her. There was a long pause. A very long
pause. After he had dried his face and not knowing what else to do dried it again, the boy turned
around, wondering what next. The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He
could run, run, run, run, run!
The woman was sitting on the daybed. After a while she said, “I were young once and I wanted
things I could not get.”

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 There was another long pause. The boy’s mouth opened. Then he frowned, but not knowing he
frowned.
The woman said, “Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but, didn’t you? You thought I was
going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasn’t going to say that.” Pause.
Silence. “I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son—neither tell God, if he didn’t
already know. So, you set down while I fix us something to eat. You might run that comb through
your hair so you will look presentable.”
In another corner of the room behind a screen was a gas plate and an icebox. Mrs. Jones got up
and went behind the screen. The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run now,
nor did she watch her purse which she left behind her on the daybed. But the boy took care to sit
on the far side of the room where he thought she could easily see him out of the corner of her eye,
if she wanted to. He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted
now.
“Do you need somebody to go to the store,” asked the boy, “maybe to get some milk or
something?”
“Don’t believe I do,” said the woman, “unless you just want sweet milk yourself. I was going to
make cocoa out of this canned milk I got here.”
“That will be fine,” said the boy.
She heated some lima beans and ham she had in the icebox, made the cocoa, and set the table. The
woman did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his folks, or anything else that would
embarrass him. Instead, as they ate, she told him about her job in a hotel beauty-shop that stayed
open late, what the work was like, and how all kinds of women came in and out, blondes, red-
heads, and Spanish. Then she cut him a half of her ten-cent cake.
“Eat some more, son,” she said.
When they were finished eating, she got up and said, “Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy
yourself some blue suede shoes. And next time, do not make the mistake of latching onto my
pocketbook nor nobody else’s—because shoes come by devilish like that will burn your feet. I got
to get my rest now. But I wish you would behave yourself, son, from here on in.”
She led him down the hall to the front door and opened it. “Good night! Behave yourself, boy!”
she said, looking out into the street.
The boy wanted to say something else other than “Thank you, m’am” to Mrs. Luella Bates
Washington Jones, but he couldn’t do so as he turned at the barren stoop and looked back at the
large woman in the door. He barely managed to say “Thank you” before she shut the door. And, he
never saw her again.

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 Direct vs Indirect Characterization
For each of the characters, identify an adjective to describe them. Place the adjective in the
appropriate category and provide an example from the text as support.

Roger
Direct : Indirect :

Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones

Direct : Indirect :

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 TedTalk: How Judges Can Show Respect by Judge Victoria Pratt
Before listening to the video, answer the following question:

What is society’s perception of a judge? Do you share this perception? Explain.

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As you listen to Judge Pratt, answer the following question. Also, feel free to add any other
information that is mentioned that you find pertinent concerning her revolution of change in the
courtroom.

What were the judge’s motivations to implement change in her courtroom?

How do the courts negatively impact those who are facing criminal charges?

According to the research, how can the court system be viewed favorably?

What are the main principals of procedural justice? In what way do they impact those who are in her
courtroom?

What are the advantages when the courtroom changes?

Additional Notes:

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 This American Life (Parents are People, episode 814)
Listen to the podcast from 7min18 until 34min53. Take notes on the people and the event that
took place. Be sure to add any other information that is mentioned that you find pertinent or
significant.

Use the following guiding questions to help orient your notetaking:

1. Describe Madison (age, goals, type of person).

2. Where is the story taking place?

3. What did Madison do?

4. What was the mistake made by Madison, according to the principal?

5. How did the principal’s decision impact and affect Madison? Was empathy and
understanding used?

6. What factors might have influenced the principal’s decision to give the consequence?

7. What lessons can be drawn regarding the role of authority figures in schools?

Additional information:

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 Socratic Seminar
A Socratic Seminar is a method to try to understand information by creating a dialectic class
in regard to a specific text. In a Socratic Seminar, participants seek deeper understanding of
complex ideas in the text through rigorously thoughtful dialogue.
In order to prepare for your discussion, here are the following 5 questions that will be
addressed:
• Can people improve the integrity of others through their own actions?

• How is dignity addressed in the story, the TedTalk and podcast? What is the overall

lesson taught?

• What are your thoughts on the following quote, “It takes a village to raise a child”? How

does this relate to the story, TedTalk and podcast?

• Judge Pratt emphasizes the importance of 2nd chances and the role of the justice system.

How do these relate to the characters in the story and in the podcast by Madison’s

experience?

• Discuss the impact of understanding and empathy in Judge Pratt’s talk. How do these

affect societal issues depicted in the story and the podcast?

You may use the next page to help prepare for your discussion.

Create one of your own questions that you wish to address in the Socratic seminar:

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Notes For the Socratic Seminar

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Notes During Socratic Seminar

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