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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 advantage do the farmers to rent for fixed money enjoy, according to DuBois?

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

3. What is the chief form of relations between blacks and whites in the South, according to DuBois?

4. How does DuBois characterize the music blacks make at a revival?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What factors does DuBois say have led to crime among blacks?

3. 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?

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

5. What was the Port Royal experiment?

6. How does DuBois describe the one-room cabin most blacks live in, in Dougherty county?

7. What did the Fisk Jubilee Singers accomplish?

8. How does this chapter differ from the previous chapters?

9. How are the physical dwellings of blacks and whites related, in DuBois' account?

10. What is the role of music in the coming of John?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

How have conditions for blacks changed in America since DuBois wrote The Souls of Black Folk? If you were DuBois, and you were focusing on the same themes DuBois focused on with The Souls of Black Folk, what would you report today?

Essay Topic 3

Write an evaluative review of The Souls of Black Folk. What is this book’s place in culture? What are its uses? What are its limitations?

(see the answer keys)

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