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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who was A'Lelia Walker?
(a) The wife of an important politician.
(b) A singer in a Harlem nightclub.
(c) A patron of the arts who hired Hughes to write for her.
(d) A society woman who gave frequent and grand parties.

2. Why did Hughes return to New Orleans and leave his job on the ship running to and from Havana?
(a) School was starting and he wanted to spend the rest of his time in New Orleans,
(b) He ran out of money and needed to earn some for school.
(c) He became tired of the Chinese men on board the ship.
(d) He grew bored with the route of the ship.

3. To whom did Hughes give copies of his poetry after he won the poetry prize?
(a) James Dickenson.
(b) George Emerson.
(c) Carl Van Vechten.
(d) Alfred Locke.

4. When and why was Hughes invited to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee?
(a) To give a speech at commencement in 1926.
(b) To read his poems in 1929.
(c) To give an address in 1928.
(d) To read his poems at commencement in 1927.

5. How long did Hughes live in Washington D.C.?
(a) One year.
(b) Five years.
(c) Two years.
(d) Three years.

6. What new hotel opened in New York, did not allow Negroes to work or to stay as guests, that inspired Hughes to write a poem about it?
(a) The Waldorf-Astoria.
(b) The Ritz Hotel.
(c) The St. Regis Hotel.
(d) The Dorchester Hotel.

7. What was the title of Hughes's second book of poems?
(a) "One Way Out."
(b) "Harlem Dancers."
(c) "Negro Pride."
(d) "Fine Clothes to the Jew."

8. At Hughes's college, what was the racial makeup of the faculty?
(a) All white.
(b) All black.
(c) Mixed ethnicities.
(d) Half white and half black.

9. What plantation did Hughes visit in Georgia on his way back east from New Orleans?
(a) The plantation where Jean Toomer lived.
(b) The plantation where Hughes' mother had worked.
(c) The Longfellow Plantation.
(d) The Greenback Plantation.

10. What did Hughes find true about Lincoln University that was also true about American life?
(a) The social class from which a person comes determines his education.
(b) The same color line that separated blacks and whites.
(c) The color of a person's skin does not affect his education.
(d) The same gender issues in hiring and recruiting.

11. What was unusual to Hughes about the Hamilton Club Lodge Ball at Rockland Plaza Casino?
(a) Men dress up as women and the women in the room are spectators.
(b) Women dress as men and men dress as women and prizes are awarded.
(c) Women dress as men and are the asked to dance by the men.
(d) Women invite the men to dance and have dinner with them.

12. In his anecdote about the strawberry greens at dinner, what had the other diners done with the green stems?
(a) No one else had strawberries except Hughes.
(b) Others had eaten the stems with their ice cream.
(c) No one else had teh green stems on their strawberries.
(d) Others had simply left the stems on their plates.

13. What was the name of the poem that won Hughes his first poetry prize?
(a) "The Weary Blues."
(b) "The Blues Woman."
(c) "The Black Walking Stick."
(d) "The Black Man's Blues."

14. What did Hughes hope to prove in his study of Lincoln University?
(a) That having no black men on the faculty was good for the students' education.
(b) That having an all white faculty made students feel secure.
(c) That having an all white faculty was fostering an inferiority complex in black men.
(d) That there were no competent black instructors at the school.

15. Where did Hughes stay when he arrived in Italy?
(a) Denzenzano.
(b) Estavilla.
(c) Place de'Cello.
(d) Manchego.

Short Answer Questions

1. When did Hughes write his first novel?

2. How was Hughes initiated into his fraternity?

3. What was "Shuffle Along?"

4. What were some of the stops Hughes's ship made while on its route to and from Havana?

5. Who were Pail Robeson, Florence Mills, Bessie Smith and Roland Hayes?

(see the answer keys)

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