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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. From which tribe does Holcomb hail?

2. Which of the following does Whitcomb note is his favorite abolitionist?

3. What is the name of Dante’s mother?

4. Which of the following classes do Ailey and Rebecca have together?

5. Whom of the following kills Dante?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Ailey hesitate to focus on the Pinchard family for her work in Whitcomb’s class?

2. How does Ailey react to the work she does in the archives for Oludara?

3. How does Lydia avoid being placed on her college’s “Dirty Thirty” list?

4. What advice does Oludara offer Ailey about selecting an advisor for her doctoral program?

5. What explanation is given in the novel for the hindered growth of many enslaved women and girls?

6. Why does Aggie purpose to send Nick and his family into hiding?

7. How does Rebecca regard Ailey’s presence in their common graduate program?

8. To what labor is Gideon put after being transported to what would become Georgia?

9. What occasions the death of Samuel’s father?

10. What bias does Ailey note is at work among the interviewers for the Federal Writers’ Project?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

To what extent can the novel be taken as autobiographical? What in the novel and its context of composition suggests as much, and how does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

What function does the back matter serve for the novel? How is that effect achieved?

Essay Topic 3

Who is “the long-haired lady” Ailey remarks upon seeing throughout her life? How does the text indicate as much?

(see the answer keys)

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