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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. Whose economic system resembles the economic system of the Black Belt?

2. Where does the image of the Golden Fleece come from?

3. What is John humming while he waits for the police?

4. What role does DuBois say the church plays in black culture?

5. What was the first change in the Africans’ lives, according to DuBois?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the black farmer’s relationship with the white merchant, according to DuBois?

2. What is the reason for this tragic anecdote, as the penultimate chapter, coming on the heels of the previous, more triumphant chapter, as it does?

3. What does DuBois say is at the heart of the sorrow songs?

4. What does DuBois say is the tragedy of people like Alexander Crummell?

5. How has the price of cotton affected the Black Belt?

6. How did Alexander Crummell overcome the temptation of Hate?

7. How has the loss of the plantation life resulted in the isolation of black and white cultures?

8. What took John so long to go home?

9. What vision does DuBois have, of a future for American blacks?

10. How does DuBois characterize the Frenzy the Southern Negro revival meeting?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is missing from this book? What should have been covered or presented that was not? What is the effect of this absence? Describe an element that ought to have been covered, and explain why it would have made the book stronger.

Essay Topic 2

What is the argument DuBois has with Booker T. Washington’s program for Negroes in America? Using examples from the text, describe DuBois’ priorities, and how Booker T. Washington’s plan differs from his. Would DuBois’ plan be likely to be more successful, on the whole?

Essay Topic 3

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

(see the answer keys)

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