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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the "Interstate Tattler?"

2. Who did Hughes bump into in New Orleans from his days in Harlem?

3. What was "Fire?"

4. How did Hughes learn to wait tables and serve drinks?

5. What nightclub was making a lot of money while the Grand Duc was not?

Short Essay Questions

1. What poem did Hughes submit to "Opportunity" magazine owned by the National Urban League? What was the poem about? What happened to the poem that changes Hughes's life?

2. Where was the Interracial Conference Hughes attended during his sophomore year located? What story did Hughes tell about this conference?

3. What benefit cabaret was hosted by the NAACP to which Hughes was invited? Who did he meet there? Who was singing at the club when he entered?

4. What was "Shuffle Along" and why was it important in the history of the Black Renaissance in Harlem of the 1920s? Who were some of the important blacks associated with music in the 1920s in Harlem.

5. What poem did Hughes submit in Witter Bynner's Intercollegiate Undergraduate Poetry Contest? How did the poem fare?

6. When an alum of the college met Hughes, how did he react to Hughes's survey concerning having black faculty at Lincoln?

7. What event brought Hughes to the South in 1927? How did he react to the South and southern cities?

8. What happened to Hughes when his patron broke off their relationship?

9. How did Hughes describe the wedding of Countee Cullen? Why was the wedding the talk of Harlem for a time? How was Hughes involved?

10. While he was still in college, how did Hughes meet the woman who was to become his patron? What story did Hughes tell about their first meeting?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the spring of 1927, the Mississippi River overflowed and caused flooding in cities all along its banks in the South. Discuss Hughes's trip South and his reactions to this part of the country particularly to the treatment of blacks in the South as epitomized by the events in Baton Rouge.

Essay Topic 2

Hughes wrote the book "Not Without Laughter" during the summer after his junior year at Lincoln University. What was the book about, and what did it mean to Hughes? What does the phrase "not without laughter" mean and why was it fitting for this novel?

Essay Topic 3

Hughes decided to attend Lincoln University, an all black college, when he received a scholarship. How was his experience at Lincoln different than that of Columbia University? What did Hughes identify as a major problem at Lincoln, and what did he attempt to do about it? Was he successful?

(see the answer keys)

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