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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. Why did Hughes never go to the Cotton Club in Harlem?

2. Where did Hughes meet Vachel Lindsay?

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

4. What did Hughes do with the twenty dollars he received from Crisis for his story?

5. What was the name of Hughes's first play?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

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

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

5. What other meeting did Dr. Locke arrange for Hughes before leaving town?

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

7. 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?

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

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

10. Who was Bruce? Why did he become upset at work? What happened when the boss fired him? How did this affect Hughes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There were two singers at the Grand Duc while Hughes worked there: Florence Embry Jones and Bricktop Ada Smith. Both were excellent jazz singers and two very different women. Compare the two singers, what they offered the Grand Duc, and how they affected Hughes while he worked there.

Essay Topic 2

Hughes met a child, Edward, while in an African port. Hughes said his meetings with Edward inspired his best short story "African Morning." What was Edward's story? Why did Hughes find Edward's situation especially painful? Why did his encounter with Edward inspire a story?

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?

(see the answer keys)

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