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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. What was one hazing experience Hughes related in his discussion of college?
(a) Head dunking.
(b) Paddling.
(c) Book carrying.
(d) Naked partying.

4. Why did Hughes want to return to college?
(a) To become part of Washington black society.
(b) To get a better background for writing.
(c) To earn more money.
(d) To get a better job at the Library of Congress.

5. How did Hughes learn to wait tables and serve drinks?
(a) Bricktop Ada Smith taught him in her downtime.
(b) No one; he already knew how to do this.
(c) Bruce taught him after the fight at the bar.
(d) Luigi and Romeo taught him at the Grand Duc.

6. What nightclub was making a lot of money while the Grand Duc was not?
(a) Chez Helene.
(b) Chez Florence.
(c) Le Maggots.
(d) Le Figaro.

7. What did Hughes say was a "big sea full of fish?"
(a) Love.
(b) Writing.
(c) Literature.
(d) Socializing.

8. Who wrote the play "The Mule Bone?"
(a) Rowena Jelliffe.
(b) Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes.
(c) Langston Hughes.
(d) Zora Hurston.

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

10. What magazine awarded Hughes his first poetry prize?
(a) The National Library.
(b) The National Urban League.
(c) The National Educators Association.
(d) The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

11. What was the name of Hughes's first play?
(a) "Mulatto."
(b) "Not Without Laighter."
(c) "The Weary Negro."
(d) "The Walking Stick."

12. How did Hughes meet the woman who was to become his patron?
(a) The Sprinarns referred him to her.
(b) He met her at the Lincoln University library.
(c) He met her at the Metropolitian Opera House.
(d) He was introduced to her by a friend in New York.

13. How was Bricktop Ada known among her followers?
(a) She was talented and sexy.
(b) She was angry and at times violent.
(c) She was aloof and sullen.
(d) She was "regular," a good girl.

14. Who was singing "everybody loves my baby, but my baby don't love no one but me" at the NAACP fundraiser Hughes attended?
(a) Josephine Baker.
(b) Alberta Hunter.
(c) Bessie Smith.
(d) Bricktop Annie.

15. What famous author wrote the book "cane?"
(a) Julia Peterkin.
(b) Margery Latimer.
(c) Jean Toomer.
(d) James Weldon Johnson.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did an elderly graduate of Lincoln who had read Hughes's survey say to Hughes at his graduation?

2. Who brought the disciples of Gurdjieff to Harlem?

3. Where did Hughes stay when he was in New Orleans on his trip in 1927?

4. Why did Hughes decide to move from his apartment to an attic room up the hill?

5. Where did Hughes attend college at the height of the Negro Renaissance?

(see the answer keys)

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