Part 1
How does the opening scene affect you as a reader? What purpose does it serve?
What do we learn about the black family, both immediate and extended, during slavery in this book, beginning with the opening scene with Hetta and running through Vyry’s life? What do we learn about white families, both rich and poor, in this book both before and after the Civil War?
Examine the role of religion in Jubilee, including folk traditions like the “death chant” in the opening chapter and the Rising Glory Baptist Church. How is religion politicized for slaves and freedpeople?
Explore issues of class in this book. How is class constructed in Jubilee? How do the characters learn what it means to be from a certain socio-economic status?
Who has power in this book and how is it used?
Why doesn't Vyry flee the Dutton plantation when she has the chance?
Part 2
How does the Civil War shift the balance of power in race relations in the South?
What does John Morris Dutton reveal when he reflects that “if the northern radicals only knew and understood his nigra slaves the way he did, they would not carry on such foolishness about containing slavery and not letting it spread to the territories”?
Explore the confidence that southerners felt going into the War.
How do slaves assert their claims to freedom as the War wears on? What do we learn about slavery, slaves, and slave owners?
Using specific examples, explain how families—both white and black—comprise a central part of this story.
Was there ever “honor” in the Dutton house? Explore.
Continue your analysis of the role of religion in the second part of Jubilee.
Why doesn't Vyry immediately leave with Innis Brown when she has the chance?
Part 3
Explore issues of class in this book, especially in Part 3. How is class constructed in Jubilee? How do the characters, both white and black, learn what it means to be from a certain socio-economic status?
Talk about the rise of sharecropping and what it means for Vyry and her family. How does it play into the construction of class in this book?
What is the importance of family for freedpeople in Jubilee, and how do they act on that importance?
Explore the white backlash that Vyry and other freedpeople encounter. What is it rooted in? Should Vyry, other freedpeople, and even the reader be surprised by it? Why or why not?
Continue your discussion of faith as it is expressed in Jubilee.
What are the tangible and intangible things that Vyry, her family, and other freedpeople value? Why do they value those things, and how do they reflect the experience of freedpeople during slavery?
Discuss Vyry’s desire to see her children educated.
Discuss Innis’ frustration with Vyry and the return of Randall Ware.
Why is Vyry finally accepted into the white community? Explore particularly her background as a house slave and her ability to “pass” as white.
Why doesn't Vyry leave with Randall Ware when she has the chance?