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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the community do for Claudette?

2. How old was Claudette when she learned about what happens when blacks act out against whites?

3. Who is Geraldine Nesbitt?

4. What did some of the white men on the buses carry?

5. Who was Mary Louise Smith?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happened to Claudette in the black community following her incident and how did some feel about it?

2. Why did Claudette decide to rebel and why wouldn't the white woman sit down?

3. Where was Claudette taken by the officers and what did she do?

4. How did Claudette's appeal end up?

5. How did Claudette change under Nesbitt's mentoring and what did she read that made her what to help the black people?

6. How did Claudette feel on the way home, what did her family fear and what did their Reverend say about the incident?

7. Who was Geraldine Nesbitt, how was she educated and what was her influence on Claudette?

8. What did Claudette find out about her intelligence in school, why wasn't she popular and what did she think about the way blacks perceived themselves?

9. Where and when did Claudette grow up and what law affected her life and why?

10. When was Brown v. Board of Education decided, who decided it and what did it do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Mayor and city commissioners of Montgomery testified that segregation laws were required for city order. But Judge Rives replied that one cannot command one person to give up their Constitutional rights so that others won't commit a crime.

1. Give the reasons you think the segregation laws were required for city order. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. What do you think Judge Rives meant by his statement about Constitutional rights? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Discuss the irony of the fact that although the white segregationist say that segregation is needed for city order it is those same segregationist who cause the disorder with their prejudice. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Claudette had been hidden away and forgotten, if for no other reason than that she had become pregnant out of wedlock and was therefore not only a disgrace to the black community but no longer even close to a suitable face for the movement.

1. Do you think a person is even more of a heroine or hero when she/he does not receive any recognition for an act of bravery? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Do you think the fact that Claudette became pregnant out of wedlock in any way negates the courage of her actions? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Do you think an unwed mother would be seen differently in the present than in Claudette's younger years? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

The summer of 1952, Delphine came down with polio, and it also hit a number of other black boys and girls. Her parents didn't allow her to see Delphine in her condition. Claudette did not see her until she was dead. Claudette then started to question everything about God because she didn't understand why God would take Delphine away.

1. Do you think questioning beliefs about God is a normal reaction for a teenager whose sister has died? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss the irony of the fact of segregation and prejudice when it was a black woman, Henrietta Lacks, whose cells provided the basis for the polio vaccine. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. How do you think Delphine's death helped motivate Claudette to become an activist? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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