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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What European country was the first to engage in the New World slave trade?
(a) Spain.
(b) Great Britain.
(c) France.
(d) Portugal.

2. Where does Sarny demonstrate the "letters" that she discovered on the feed sack for John in Chapter 3?
(a) She scratches it into the tree.
(b) She writes it with a pen and paper.
(c) She scratches it into the dirt floor.
(d) She etches it into the wooden door.

3. How old is Sarny in Chapter 1?
(a) 8.
(b) 15.
(c) 10.
(d) 12.

4. By current estimates, approximately how many Africans were shipped across the Atlantic during the slave trade?
(a) 5 million.
(b) 12 million.
(c) 20 million.
(d) 7 million.

5. What material does Mammy make John's pants from in Chapter 3?
(a) Cotton.
(b) Denim.
(c) Canvas.
(d) Suede.

6. Sarny states at the end of Chapter 2 that she knows the "people in the white house aren't richer" than whom?
(a) My father.
(b) Mammy.
(c) The President.
(d) God.

7. When Sarny overhears the mistress of the plantation in Chapter 2, the mistress is complaining that her husband spends too much money buying slaves. What is she concerned that she will not have enough money to purchase due to her husband's overspending?
(a) A new house.
(b) Livestock.
(c) Dresses.
(d) Farm supplies.

8. Mammy says in Chapter 1 that Sarny's mother sold for the value of how many field hands?
(a) 2.
(b) 4.
(c) 3.
(d) 6.

9. What were the "funny lines" that Sarny recalls seeing on the side of a feed sack in Chapter 3?
(a) 100 lbs.
(b) GRAIN.
(c) FEED.
(d) $20.

10. "Partus sequitur ventrem" was a legal doctrine adopted widely into the laws of slavery in the American colonies. What did this law dictate?
(a) That escaped slaves must be returned to their master.
(b) That the child of a slave was a slave.
(c) That slaves were forbidden from reading and writing.
(d) That slaves be forbidden from attending church.

11. What historical figure "owned, raised, and subsequently used" the slave that the novel is dedicated to by the author?
(a) Theodore Roosevelt.
(b) Benjamin Franklin.
(c) Robert E. Lee.
(d) Thomas Jefferson.

12. In Chapter 1, Sarny says that some believed she brought Nightjohn to the plantation by what manner?
(a) Acting intelligent.
(b) Train.
(c) Begging the master.
(d) Witchery.

13. When did the U.S. Congress outlaw the importation of slaves?
(a) July 7, 1800.
(b) April 12, 1799.
(c) March 26, 1865.
(d) January 1, 1808.

14. What is Mrs. Waller's first name?
(a) Delie.
(b) Margaret.
(c) Alice.
(d) Alaine.

15. What has caused some of the leaves to fall off of the flowers that Sarny is tending in the flower garden in Chapter 2?
(a) Little green bugs.
(b) Under-watering.
(c) Chemical pesticides.
(d) Over-watering.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Sarny describe Mammy putting her head into in order to pray in Chapter 2?

2. What does Sarny compare the color of John's skin with in Chapter 3?

3. What does John offer to trade with the slaves in the sleeping quarters on his first night in Chapter 3?

4. What does John cover in his first "lesson" with Sarny in Chapter 3?

5. What does John call out for from the slaves in the sleeping quarters on his first night at the plantation in Chapter 3?

(see the answer keys)

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