Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The Measure of a Man:
1. Talk about Poitier's role in changing American's film treatment of African Americans—from passive servants and bunglers to doctors, dectives and teachers. How effective, if at all, do you think Hollywood has been in lowering racial barriers in the larger American society? Can film create a change in attitudes...or do they simply reflect a change already taking place?
2. At some point, Poiter acknowledges that hope is irrational yet necessary for survival, a statement that seems a contradiction in terms. What does he mean?
3. Talk about the struggles of Poitier's parents? To what degree, if any, did his parents' resilience shape Poitier's life?
4. Attitudes changed in the late '60's, by which time Poitier was villified as Hollywood's Uncle Tom. What was meant by that criticism? What drove it, how fair or unfair was it, and how has Poitier reacted to it—then and now?
5. Do you sense an underlying anger in Poitier's memoir? Does it affect how you view Poitier or American society?
6. Talk about Poitier's statement that fear of failure can be even more destructive than failure itself. What does he mean?
7. How does Poitier's personal history reflect America's history? For starters, consider the conditions African-American actors faced when Poitier took to the stage in the 1940's and 1950's.
8. Overall, has this book changed, or reconfirmed, your ideas of Sidney Poitier and/or race in America?
9. Who are some of the other African-American figures who stood on the shoulders of Poitier and who, in turn, offered their shoulders for others to stand on—in other words, what other black individuals made a difference in changing racial attitudes?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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