Black Beauty

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What purposes have horses served in human societies? What kinds of tasks have they performed?

Teaching Suggestion: As students brainstorm different functions horses have performed, prompt them to reflect on whether horses are still heavily involved in carrying out those tasks. If not, what have horses been replaced with? Encourage students to research when these transitions occurred. Students might also like to research a particular role for horses (for example, pit ponies in the coal industry) or a case study of a specific famous horse (Seabiscuit, Bucephalus, Secretariat, etc.).

• 7 Uses of Horses Throughout History & Their Domestication discusses how the role of horses in human civilization has evolved over history.  
• This Horse Breeds of the World packet from the International Museum of the Horse includes information about different breeds, key vocabulary, and a crossword and writing prompt. 

2. Black Beauty is set in Victorian England. What types of changes were occurring in English society at this time, and what challenges did people face?

Teaching Suggestion: Consider asking students to identify the different locations mentioned in the novel on a map (Bath, London, etc.