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african american literature MCQs

Practise focused african american literature questions with marked answers for exam preparation and subject revision.

african american literature Mcqs
1. Which of the following statements about slavery is true ?
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A. Most slaves were not Christian.

B. Slave owners did not allow their slaves to live as married couples.

C. Most slave children lived in two family homes.

D. Slaves were given limited civil rights.

2. The importance of Lucy Terrys Bars Fight is______________?
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A. The poetry focuses on slave life in the 18th century.

B. The poem is the first of many poems by Terry.

C. The poem is the first-known writing of an African American.

D. The poem is better than the poems of the more famous Phillis Wheatley.

3. What was special about Zora Neale Hurstons home town of Eatonville, Florida ?
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A. It was destroyed after the Civil War.

B. Most of its inhabitants worked for White people.

C. It was home to the Harlem Renaissance.

D. It was primarily African American.
4. Which author relied on complex characters and dialect to overturn American stereotypes about Southern African Americans ?
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A. Charles Chesnutt

B. Richard Wright

C. Booker T. Washington

D. William Wells Brown

5. In writing Beloved, Toni Morrison drew on what for inspiration ?
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A. Her own memories of slavery.

B. Slave narratives.

C. Stories her grandmother told her.

D. The television series Roots.

6. Spirituals like Go Down Moses were important to African Americans because_______________?
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A. They helped them do their work faster.

B. They were based on African songs.

C. They gave hope that God would deliver them from slavery.

D. They showed that a hero would deliver them from slavery.

7. What unforgivable action does Mag Smith take in Chapter One of Our Nig ?
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A. She washes clothes for White women.

B. She lets a man help her out.

C. She marries a Black man.

D. She tries to pass as White.

8. Why was the drop of blood rule developed ?
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A. To make sure mothers of mixed-race children got custody.

B. To allow mixed-race children to get scholarships meant for African Americans.

C. To keep the slave offspring of White slave owners from inheriting.

D. To keep White slave owner parents of mixed-race offspring from having to pay for their children.

9. Why is the couple in Arna Bontempss A Summer Tragedy getting dressed up ?
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A. To go pay old man Stevenson.

B. To go to church.

C. To go to a party.

D. To end their lives.
10. The genre Octavia Butlers Bloodchild is______________?
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A. Tragedy.

B. Horror.

C. Mystery.

D. Science Fiction.
11. In Paul Laurence Dunbars A Cabin Tale, which character is a trickster figure?
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A. Bear.

B. The young boy.

C. Weasel.

D. The farmer.

12. In Chapter Three of Booker T. Washingtons Up from Slavery, Washingtons primary goal is to______________?
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A. Get a job.

B. To be a teacher

C. Get an education.

D. To be clean.

13. Frederick Douglass argued that slaves sang spirituals for all of the following reasons except______________?
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A. To pray for deliverance

B. To impress the horrors of slavery on listeners

C. To show that they were content in their work

D. To ease their pain

14. In Paul Laurence Dunbars When Malindy Sings, what kind of music is Malindy singing ?
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A. Cakewalk tunes.

B. Blues.

C. Gospel.

D. Jazz.

15. In Chapter XV of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, where did Linda hide ?
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A. In the stables.

B. With a friend.

C. Under the floorboards.

D. In a remote cabin.

16. Who wrote Uncle Toms Cabin, an indictment of slavery ?
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A. Harriet Beecher Stowe

B. Phillis Wheatley

C. Richard Wright

D. Frederick Douglass

17. The characteristic of Naturalism that is most present in the first chapter of Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man is_____________?
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A. The theme of heredity.

B. The theme of man against nature.

C. The theme of man against man.

D. Nature as an invisible force.

18. According to Henry Louis Gates, Jr., reconstructing black people into the New Negro has been a matter of_______________?
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A. Working against the existing racist stereotypes.

B. A struggle ongoing since 1619.

C. Redefining black people in terms of a presence, not an absence.

D. All of the above
19. Sonia Sanchezs right on: white america is protesting________________?
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A. The fact that America still has a frontier mentality.

B. Black on black violence.

C. The extermination of Native Americans.

D. That there is a Black America and a White America.

20. Arna Bontempss A Summer Tragedy attacks the institution of________________?
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A. Sharecropping.

B. Segregation.

C. Slavery.

D. Prostitution.