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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. Where was Hughes robbed of his money and his passport?

2. Who was A'Lelia Walker?

3. What poem of Hughes won first prize in Witter Bynner's Intercollegiate Undergraduate Poetry Contest in 1926?

4. How was Hughes initiated into his fraternity?

5. When Hughes entered Lincoln, what was the racial make-up of the Board of Trustees?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was "Not Without Laughter"? Why was it important in Hughes's life?

2. Who was Annette, and why was she fired from the Grand Duc? What happened on her last night at the club?

3. Why did Hughes go to Washington D.C. after landing in New York?

4. 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?

5. What was the "Messenger"? Who ran it? Why was the editor and the "Messenger" important to Hughes?

6. Who was Hughes's distinguished visitor? Why was the visit an important one?

7. How did Hughes's patron feel about black in America? How did this manifest itself in her relationship with Hughes?

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

9. 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?

10. What did Florence do after the brawl at the Grand Duc? How did this affect the club and what did the owner finally do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Hughes met many people in New York society when Harlem was in its heyday. Who was Carl Van Vechten? How did Hughes know him? What was unique about the man and his parties? What career-damaging thing happened to both men nearly simultaneously?

Essay Topic 2

While living in Paris, Hughes met many unique people with whom he shared wonderful experiences. Who were some of those people and those experiences? What about them made them unique enough to Hughes to remember them in his autobiography? Why were they important in his life as a writer, a poet, and a person?

Essay Topic 3

Hughes described in detail a brawl in the Grand Duc involving a woman named Annette. There was a distinct theme and message Hughes was making in his retelling of the story. Discuss the brawl, what it was about, and what it stood for in Hughes's life. Why do you think Hughes did not jump into the brawl to fight?

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