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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. The slave trading was much like today's ____________________.

2. What animals did the master who taught his son to call him "Papa" use to teach his black son and white son about brotherhood?

3. In 1860, less than ______ slave owners owned more than ______ slaves.

4. What was the second group of people that the colonists tried to use for manual labor?

5. What was one principal item for which slaves were traded for?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss what Patsy Michener meant when she said, "Two snakes full of poison. One lying with his head pointed north, the other with his head pointing south."?

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

3. What was the story of Blackshear and what was the significance?

4. Discuss the role of establishing house-servants and what they did.

5. What was the reason that the Federal Writer's Project interviewed so many blacks?

6. Did any slaves actually prefer to exist under slavery?

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

8. According to the author in Chapter 1, how were slaves typically depicted? Was this the reality? If not, what was?

9. Why did the colonists turn to blacks as a means of manual labor?

10. What kept the slaves working in the fields day in and day out?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Slavery was not always present in the United States nor were the blacks the first slaves. Why did slavery begin and how did colonists eventually move to using blacks as slaves? How were the slaves captured and how did the slave trading begin?

Essay Topic 2

Fear is universal. It was a feeling that ruled the slaves and the slave owners used to rule. What is fear? How was fear instilled within the slaves and why did it rule them? What did this fear prevent them from doing and how did it keep them this way? Slave owners themselves also held fears. What were they and how did they attempt to hide it from their slaves? Discuss also how fear and power go hand in hand.

Essay Topic 3

In attempts to further control the slaves, slave owners used various methods of brainwashing and dehumanization. What did they do to try to break the spirits of their slaves? Did it often work? If so, how? If not, then how did blacks put up a resistance to the dehumanization? How did they manage to continue living on the plantations and what tricks did they develop to make their lives just the slightest bit more bearable?

(see the answer keys)

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