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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) Great Britain.
(b) Spain.
(c) France.
(d) Portugal.

2. What substance does Sarny treat the flowers with in Chapter 2?
(a) Turpentine.
(b) Chemical pesticide.
(c) Tobacco juice.
(d) Bubblegum.

3. What refers to the laws in each U.S. state which defined the status of slaves and the rights of masters?
(a) Penance practices.
(b) Masterly rules.
(c) Abolition laws.
(d) Slave codes.

4. What does John call out for from the slaves in the sleeping quarters on his first night at the plantation in Chapter 3?
(a) Water.
(b) Tobacco.
(c) Extra food.
(d) Whiskey.

5. Where has Sarny observed people reading prior to meeting John?
(a) At church.
(b) At the slave market.
(c) In town.
(d) In the white house.

6. What is the name of Mrs. Waller's sister?
(a) Alaine.
(b) Alice.
(c) Mary.
(d) Margaret.

7. What term refers to efforts toward procuring economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchised group?
(a) Abolition.
(b) Emancipation.
(c) Suffragism.
(d) Eclecticism.

8. In what year did the United States Congress pass a Slave Trade Act which prohibited the building or outfitting of ships in the U.S. for use in the slave trade?
(a) 1739.
(b) 1826.
(c) 1865.
(d) 1794.

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

10. What word from Chapter 3 refers to a person who manages slaves on a plantation?
(a) Dunce.
(b) Vestibule.
(c) Maestro.
(d) Overseer.

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

12. What word used in Chapter 3 refers to the process of preparing corn for eating?
(a) Shucking.
(b) Relegating.
(c) Spindling.
(d) Parboiling.

13. How does Sarny describe Mrs. Waller's sister in Chapter 2?
(a) Soft spoken and meek.
(b) Dried up and mean.
(c) Proud and beautiful.
(d) Gentle and kind.

14. How would you describe the treatment of the slaves on Waller's plantation?
(a) The slaves are treated like animals.
(b) The slaves are treated compassionately.
(c) The slaves are treated like treasured valuables.
(d) The slaves are treated like kings.

15. Why does mammy say Sarny's birth mother was sold in Chapter 1?
(a) She was a good house maid.
(b) She was a good cotton-picker.
(c) She was a good breeder.
(d) She was a good midwife.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. In whose memory is Nightjohn dedicated by the author in the opening pages?

4. How does Mammy notate the ages of the slave children that she raises?

5. By current estimates, approximately how many Africans were shipped across the Atlantic during the slave trade?

(see the answer keys)

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