Uprising

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Drawing the Women’s Escape into Their Dreams”

After reading Uprising, students reflect on the three main characters’ struggle to escape their circumstances and pursue their dreams. Students then create a visual representation of the text’s symbolic use of fire escapes to represent the characters’ escape into their individual dreams of the future.

When Bella, Yetta, and Jane talk together on the fire escape, they imagine how their lives might someday change. The fire escape is more than just a literal place to go to try to escape a fire—it’s also a symbol of their desire to escape their dreary circumstances and find a better life. During the Triangle Fire, unfortunately, not all of the women are able to use a fire escape to save themselves; not all of the women live to find a better future. Imagine, however, that during the fire, there are three fire doors leading to three magical fire escapes. Each fire escape leads directly to the future that one of the women dreams of. Draw each woman opening the door to her own fire escape and depict the future she is about to step into.