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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the reason for the months that slave traders chose to have slave coffles?
(a) The weather made it easier to hold auctions.
(b) It was the time that plantation work was the lightest and new slaves could adjust.
(c) It was the time plantation work was the heaviest so slave owners needed new hardworking slaves.
(d) It was the time that slave owners preferred to work.

2. In Chapter 2, who was free man who was captured and put into slavery?
(a) Charles Ball.
(b) Solomon Northup.
(c) Lorenzo Ivy.
(d) Ben Simpson.

3. Who said the following: "They whipped my father 'cause he looked at a slave they killed and cried."
(a) Frank Cooper.
(b) Ella Wilson.
(c) Mingo White.
(d) Roberta Manson.

4. When the slaves went down for bed, what did they fear?
(a) Dying in their sleep.
(b) Insomnia.
(c) Oversleeping.
(d) The lack of warmth.

5. Which was the highest slave-breeding state?
(a) Maryland.
(b) Virginia.
(c) Mississippi.
(d) Georgia.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the name of the white man who taught his black son to call him "Papa" instead of "Master?"

2. A buck position consisted of all of the following except....

3. Who said, "Judge Miller! Don't you bid for me, 'cause if you do, I would not live on your plantation. I will take a knife and cut my own throat from ear to ear before I would be owned by you."?

4. What was the typical work hours for a slave who worked in the field?

5. From where did the first American-built slave ship sail from?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss the reasons why Indians and whites did not work out for the colonists for manual labor purposes.

2. Why were many of the former slaves that the Federal Writer's Project interviewed bitter?

3. Which story in Chapter 1 is an example of slaves being forced to do something that was not directly related to their normal work and what was the story?

4. Why did slave owners attempt to be nice towards children on the auction block before purchasing them? And did this attempt usually work?

5. Describe what the slave coffle was.

6. How does Ball describe his first encounter with white people in the Prologue?

7. Describe what it means to be thrown "in a buck."

8. What was Julius Lester's purpose for writing "To Be a Slave" and did he accomplish it?

9. Describe a typical day for a slave working on a plantation.

10. Discuss the ideas of freedom and death to the slaves.

(see the answer keys)

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