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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the S.S. West Hesseltine?
(a) A freighter headed to Africa.
(b) A private yacht headed to Africa.
(c) A sailboat headed to Africa.
(d) A cruise ship headed to Africa.

2. What does Langston's mother want him to do?
(a) Move to New York.
(b) Get a job in Cleveland.
(c) Go to Mexico.
(d) Stay with her in Chicago.

3. What does Langston do on the train ride to Mexico?
(a) He thinks about his life.
(b) He writes one of his better-known poems, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."
(c) He begins his autobiography.
(d) He writes a letter to his mother.

4. What does his mother do afterward?
(a) She sends him to live with his father.
(b) She begins to cry hysterically.
(c) She whips him and teaches him a lesson about respecting other people's art.
(d) She has him meet with the pastor.

5. Who takes Langston in?
(a) The Reeds.
(b) The Smiths.
(c) The Campbells.
(d) The DeVanes.

6. By whom is Langston greatly influenced?
(a) Sally Pecan.
(b) Mary Hazelnutt.
(c) Helen Chestnutt.
(d) Carrie Walnutt.

7. Does Langston finish college at Columbia?
(a) No, but he attends graduate school there.
(b) No.
(c) No, because he transfers to NYU.
(d) Yes.

8. What does Langston observe while working at a soda fountain?
(a) Many different views on racial issues.
(b) The many people who support the war.
(c) Many different views on the war.
(d) Social interaction.

9. How many parts of the African coast does Hughes see?
(a) Only a few.
(b) None.
(c) One.
(d) Many.

10. Who does Langston tell that his sickness derives from a hatred of his father?
(a) His mother.
(b) The doctor.
(c) Nobody.
(d) His best friend.

11. What would Langston rather read?
(a) Historical fiction.
(b) Fiction.
(c) Non-fiction.
(d) Science fiction.

12. What does Langston do at the end of the summer?
(a) He returns to the United States.
(b) He stays in Mexico.
(c) He visits friends in Paris.
(d) He attends Columbia University.

13. Why do the children do this?
(a) Their families bring them to church every Sunday.
(b) They want to be professional singers.
(c) They want to assist with the service.
(d) They claim to be saved.

14. How much money does Langston earn from The Crisis?
(a) Twenty dollars.
(b) Fifty dollars.
(c) Ten dollars.
(d) One hundred dollars.

15. In what activity is Hughes involved?
(a) The school band.
(b) The school basketball team.
(c) The school Communist organization.
(d) The school paper.

Short Answer Questions

1. Does Langston have any interest in poetry?

2. When does Langston's mother send for him?

3. What does Hughes do with the books?

4. Why is this summer called the 'Red Summer?'

5. When Langston has had enough of the ocean and asked for his pay, where does he travel?

(see the answer keys)

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