african american literature MCQs – Page 2

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

african american literature Mcqs
51. Who introduced the character of the tragic mulatto ?
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A. William Wells Brown

B. Harriet Beecher Stowe

C. Harriet Jacobs

D. Lydia Maria Child
52. W.E.B. Du Bois accuses Booker T. Washington of being______________?
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A. A Christian.

B. A coward.

C. An accomodationist.

D. A radical.

53. Although different in tone, Soujourner Truths Aint I a Woman and David Walkers Appeal in Four Articles are similar in what way ?
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A. Their belief that women should have equal rights.

B. Their appeals to Christians.

C. Their belief that African Americans should govern themselves.

D. Their belief in necessary violence.

54. Why did Marcus Garvey spearhead the Back to Africa Movement ?
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A. He had to leave the country.

B. Because in was cheaper to live in Africa.

C. Because he did not feel African Americans would ever achieve equality in America.

D. He was asked by African countries to bring African Americans to Africa.

55. In the poem When Malindy Sings, Paul Laurence Dunbar uses irony and caricature to signify on white assumptions about African Americans. What does Henry Louis Gates term signify mean ?
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A. Making sure that what is written makes sense.

B. Lying to mislead the reader.

C. Giving words double meaning that appear differently to white and black readers.

D. Fixing words with very specific meanings.

56. The theme of Phillis Wheatleys On Being Brought from Africa to America is_______________?
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A. Christians should free their slaves.

B. Slaves are the children of Cain.

C. Slaves should rebel against the Christian religion.

D. Slaves are capable of becoming good Christians.
57. Charles W. Chesnutt used vernacular speech to________________?
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A. To encourage feelings of pride in African American readers

B. Make his written inaccessible to white audiences

C. Explain how African Americans could not learn standard English

D. Challenge American stereotypes about race
58. What is the subject of Lucille Cliftons the lost baby poem ?
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A. A child dying of SIDS.

B. The stillborn death of a child.

C. A murdered child.

D. Abortion.
59. What source did David Walker rely on the most for support in Appeal in Four Articles ?
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A. Abolitionist newspapers.

B. The Bible.

C. Greek history.

D. Slave narratives.

60. The tragic mulatto myth_________________?
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A. Existed only in fiction by female authors.

B. Existed only in fiction by White authors.

C. Developed in the 20th century.

D. Led to novels of passing.
61. Sekou Sundiata is considered what kind of poet ?
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A. A traditional poet

B. A classical poet

C. A Modernist poet

D. A performance poet
62. In Gwendolyn Brooks poem, kitchenette building, what is most important to the buildings inhabitants ?
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A. Having a bathroom with warm water.

B. Following ones dreams.

C. Finding a mate.

D. Getting food on the table.

63. Uncle Julius is a character developed by______________?
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A. Richard Wright

B. Charles Chesnutt

C. Joel Chandler Harris

D. Harriet Beecher Stowe

64. Martin Luther King, Jr.s Letter from Birmingham Jail, King advocates_______________?
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A. Waiting for times to get better.

B. Using violence when necessary.

C. Disobeying unjust laws.

D. Breaking the law.

65. In Nella Larsens novel Passing, why is Clare afraid to have another child ?
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A. She is afraid it may have dark skin.

B. Her husband has threatened to leave her.

C. She doesnt want to lose her figure.

D. She almost died in childbirth with her first child.

66. What is the character of Delia most of afraid of in Zora Neale Hurstons Sweat ?
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A. Bertha.

B. Snakes.

C. Her husband.

D. Rabid dogs.

67. What was the Great Migration ?
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A. When African Americans settled Liberia.

B. When slaves traveled the Underground Railroad.

C. A period of time when African Americans moved North in large numbers.

D. When African Americans migrated to the South from the North.

68. The back to Africa movement was primarily about______________?
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A. Leaving the African peoples alone.

B. Bringing African culture to the United States.

C. Completing an oppressed peoples quest for freedom, liberty and democracy.

D. Writers who took African themes for their work.

69. Which of the following authors was not of mixed race heritage ?
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A. Frederick Douglass

B. Jean Toomer

C. Booker T. Washington

D. Charles Chesnutt

70. In Jean Toomers Her Lips Are Copper Wires, a kiss is compared to_______________?
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A. A waterfall.

B. Electricity.

C. A factory.

D. A war.

71. The mask in Paul Laurence Dunbars poem, We Wear the Mask, represents_____________?
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A. The carved masks of African gods.

B. Who the narrator wishes to be.

C. The persona that the characters show the world.

D. Characters from the Bible.

72. The supportive network of female slaves led to_______________?
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A. Resistance against dehumanization.

B. Lower suicide rates.

C. Resistance to the overseers.

D. Learning to be midwives.

73. Until recent years it was thought that Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was____________?
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A. An anonymous narrative.

B. Based on a New England captivity narrative.

C. Fiction written by Lydia Maria Child.

D. Written by Jacobs son.

74. The importance of Freedoms Journal was____________?
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A. It was the first African American newspaper.

B. It argued for a separate African American community in America.

C. It was the first African American novel.

D. It was published by Frederick Douglass.

75. In Nikki Giovannis The American Vision of Lincoln, the poet argues that the Capitol needs a statue of _____________next to the one of Abraham Lincoln?
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A. W.E.B. DuBois

B. Frederick Douglass

C. Booker T. Washington

D. Amiri Baraka

76. The narrator of Langston Hughess Weary Blues is describing__________________?
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A. African American toasting on a city street corner.

B. Blues being played in a Harlem bar.

C. The call and response of an African American church congregation.

D. Negro spirituals being sung in the cotton fields.

77. Why was it important that slave narratives have a title page that claimed either that the narrative was written by the narrator himself (or his words were recorded by someone close to him, preferably white) ?
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A. So that slave owners could refute the events in the narratives.

B. So that the author could be assured he wouldnt be recaptured.

C. So the author could get paid.

D. In order for people to believe the events in the narratives.
78. In 125th Street and Abomey, Audre Lorde references images from ________________?
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A. African mythology.

B. Greek mythology.

C. Contemporary female artists.

D. African American folktale.

79. All of the following are characteristics of the African American tradition of the toast except_____________?
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A. Toasting glorifies women

B. Toasting is oral

C. Toasting provides cultural identification

D. Toasting is a male event

80. The trickster figure is usually_______________?
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A. Christian

B. None of these

C. Amoral (neither good nor evil)

D. Evil

81. In the United States, Reconstruction_______________?
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A. Describes the rebuilding after World War I.

B. Is the time period that followed the Civil War.

C. Took place only in the North.

D. Refers to the Civil Rights movement.

82. Etheridge Knights Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane, what is Hard Rocks function in the prison ?
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A. To do what the other inmates were afraid to do.

B. To keep the Blacks and Whites separated.

C. To help the other inmates escape.

D. To win money by fighting.

83. One of the functions of protest poetry was to________________?
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A. Argue that slavery was not so bad for everyone.

B. Encourage societies strive for equality for all.

C. Urge African Americans to fight their oppressors.

D. Extol the virtues of living in the free North.

84. Harriet Jacobs slave narrative Incidents in the Life differs from Harriet Beecher Stowes abolitionist novel Uncle Toms Cabin in what way ?
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A. Uncle Toms Cabin was used by abolitionists.

B. Stowe describes the treatment of slaves.

C. Stowe describes the escape of slaves.

D. Stowes novel is sentimental.
85. In Chapter XV of William Wells Browns Clotel, Clotel is described as a quadroon. What does this mean ?
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A. She is one-quarter Black.

B. She cannot be a slave.

C. She is White.

D. She is one-eighth Black.

86. In Chapter XV of William Wells Browns Clotel, why was Clotel made to cut her long hair ?
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A. To keep the lice away.

B. So that the other slaves would get along with her.

C. So she could sell it.

D. The mistress of the house was afraid her husband would be attracted to Clotel.
87. Who wrote one of the most famous African American poems that begins with what happens to a dream deferred ?
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A. Alice Walker

B. Langston Hughes

C. Etheridge Knight

D. Martin Luther King, Jr.

88. Slave narratives were shaped by_____________?
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A. Captivity narratives.

B. Folktales.

C. African mythology.

D. Abolitionist newspaper accounts.

89. In Chapter XV of William Wells Browns Clotel, what characteristic of the sentimental novel is evident ?
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A. The scene invokes audience sympathy.

B. The heroine has to balance autonomy with self-denial.

C. The heroine conquers her passions.

D. A and B

E. B and C

90. Phillis Wheatleys poetry is considered_____________?
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A. Highly original.

B. Typical of Colonial poetry.

C. Abolitionist in subject.

D. Progressive and challenging.

91. African American dialects grew out of_______________?
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A. Slaves attempts to keep their conversations secret

B. The attempts of African slaves to communicate with each other

C. The 1960s protest movements

D. Slave owners teaching slaves Elizabethan English

92. Race relations in the North are attacked in_______________?
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A. Toni Morrisons Beloved.

B. Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

C. William Wells Browns Clotel.

D. Harriet Wilsons Our Nig.
93. Although Charles Johnsons Oxherding Tales is based on his Buddhist beliefs, he meant the novel to be a reworking of an American genre, the slave narrative. In what way is the novel, despite its philosophical underpinnings, an exemplar of the slave narrative ?
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A. Its emphasis on Christian ideals.

B. Its didactic (teaching) tone of voice.

C. Its characters movement from slavery to freedom.

D. The novels sensationalist scenes of violence.

94. What does the term passing mean ?
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A. To do well on ones schoolwork.

B. The ability of an African American to live as a White person.

C. To leave ones past behind.

D. To gain approval from ones community.

95. In what way is Jane Toomers Cane an example of Modernism ?
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A. Its focus on landscape.

B. Its focus on modern city life.

C. Its fractured, collage effect.

D. Its insistence on plot.

96. Which is not a characteristic of Realism ?
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A. Characters are not as important as plot.

B. Ordinary language is used.

C. Events are plausible.

D. Presentation is objective.

97. In Charles Chesnutts The Goophered Grape Vine, why does Uncle Julius tell the Northern visitors the story of the spell put on the grapes ?
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A. So they wont interrupt his income from the neglected grape harvest.

B. To explain his religious views.

C. To describe the horrors of life on the Post-bellum plantation.

D. To amuse the narrators sickly wife.

98. Some critics argue that the use of dialect by such authors as Paul Laurence Dunbar and Charles Chesnutt did all of the following except_______________?
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A. Strengthened the African Americans place in the world of literature

B. Perpetuated stereotypes

C. Showed that African Americans couldnt speak properly.

D. Allowed African American authors to sell their works more widely to white audiences

99. According to Larry Neal, the primary goal of the Black Arts Movement is_______________?
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A. To raise awareness of violence in African American youth.

B. To speak to the spiritual and cultural needs of African Americans.

C. To raise money for Sickle Cell Anemia research.

D. To support the Back to Africa Movement.

100. Alice Walkers novels often explore the abuse experienced by African American women. What is the only abuse Celie does not experience The Color Purple ?
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A. Betrayal by her sister.

B. Betrayal by the educational system.

C. Betrayal by a family member.

D. Betrayal by her community.