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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the Introduction, what two methods did Gray say were used by the slaves to attempt to find safety?
(a) Concealment or returning home.
(b) Begging for mercy or hiding on another plantation.
(c) Poling down the river or hiding on a boat.
(d) Running away or swimming.

2. What word did Cobb ask Nat to spell?
(a) Cat.
(b) Dog.
(c) Cobb.
(d) Nat.

3. What is an insurrection?
(a) An uprising.
(b) A fight.
(c) A peace march.
(d) An agreement.

4. Which Biblical prophet did Nat feel "spoke" to him most clearly about the rebellion?
(a) Noah.
(b) Moses.
(c) Abraham.
(d) Ezekiel.

5. What does Gray tell Nat about the Bible, when he cannot bring one to Nat?
(a) It is better left alone.
(b) It is a waste of time.
(c) It is evil.
(d) It is not ment for Nat.

Short Answer Questions

1. What Psalm does Nat tell Miss Margaret is his favorite?

2. What is the name of the town Nat can see from his jail cell window?

3. Cobb uses a word to describe the children of slaves. What is that word?

4. Hank claimed to be able to tell good white people from bad by:

5. What moniker did Gray assign to Nat Turner?

Short Essay Questions

1. Gray says that all the other insurgents who were examined tried to exculpate themselves. What does that mean? And why Nat didn't do it?

2. Gray tries to calm the fears of the people in Southampton County with his statement that's included in the Introduction. Yet he says "if Nat's statements can be relied upon." Why would he include a statement like this when he's trying to calm people?

3. While in jail, Nat describes Kitchen and thinks of him in one way, yet speaks to him in a completely different manner. Describe the differences and what this tells readers about Nat.

4. In the Introduction, Gray talks about an "annexed certificate of the County Court of Southampton" to prove the authenticity of Nat's "confession." Yet no one from the court, besides Gray, heard Nat's statements. Why might Gray have included the certificate?

5. By the middle of Part 1, readers have met four white people: Gray, Kitchen, Miss Maria Pope, and Jeremiah Cobb. None of them are described positively. Why might that be? Since the book is supposedly written from Nat's point of view, why might he only describe white people (to this point in the book) in negative terms?

6. When Gray addresses the court, he blames "pure Negro cowardice" as a partial reason for the rebellion's failure, but then later in that same paragraph, Gray describes devoted slaves fighting "as bravely as any man" against Nat and his band. Why is he saying these things? Is he trying to confuse the justices?

7. What do readers know about Gray from the Introduction? What is implied, or what can be inferred from what Gray says? From this information, what kind of person might Gray be?

8. In the introduction, Gray refers to the insurrection as a "conspiracy." Do you agree with that term? Why or why not?

9. At the end of the introduction, it states that the confession was read to Nat, and when asked if he had anything further to say, he said no. The rebellion was a complicated affair that involved planning. Why do you think Nat declined to say anything further?

10. In Part 1, Gray reads back Nat's account of the killings, and Nat yells at him to stop. Why did Nat say that? Did he feel remorse? Nat says, "We done what had to be done!" Was he was talking about his "visions" and what they told him, or what Nat, personally, felt needed to be done?

(see the answer keys)

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