Abd al-Rahman Ibrahimafrom Now is Your Time!By Walter Dean Myers

Mr. OchoaMountain View Middle SchoolLanguage Arts

Connect to your life

•What do you imagine West Africans left behind when they were forced into slavery?

Background information

•The story takes place long ago when the Songhai Empire ruled West Africa.

•The Songhai ruled for 125 years.•Their wealth came mostly from gold.

What is a biography

•A biography is a individuals life events written by another person using several sources.

Story Objectives

•Understand chronological order•Identify tone•Recognize, clarify, and connect to the

main ideas of the story

Fouta Djallon Guinea

•A small mountainous region in Guinea, which is a small nation in the west coast of Africa

Islam Moslems

•The Moslem merchants who traveled the gold-salt routes of wealthy West African empires and introduces Islam to the world

Pastoral

•Having a way of life raising livestock

Timbuktu

•A city in Africa now know as Mali

Songhai

•An African empire that thrived in the 1400’s and 1500’s

inhabitant

•Someone living in a particular place

dynasty

•A series of rulers who are members of the same family.

chaos

•A state of great disorder

status

•Ones position society; rank

Mandingo

•A member of any of various peoples of West Africa’s

In full rout

•In complete retreat

Do someone else's bidding

•Following someone's orders

Trek

•A slow difficult journey

Natchez

•An early settlement of what is now Mississippi

Bondage

•Slavery

Prosper

•To be successful; thrive

procedure

•Course of action

abolitionist

•Favoring the end of slavery

Premise

•An idea that forms the idea of an argument

Reservation

•A doubt; an exception

Questions

1. If you could say one thing about Ibrahima’s life what would it be?

2. How does Ibrahima come to be sold into slavery?

3. What happens to Ibrahima in the United States?

4. Why doesn’t Ibrahima return to his homeland?