Frederick Douglass Review

I began to climb the wheel like a squirrel, but I would hardly get the boat started to port before I would see new dangers on that side, and away I would spin to the other, only to find perils accumulating to starboard and be crazy to get to port again. Then came the leadsman's sepulchral cry:

"D-e-e-p four!"

Deep four in a bottomless crossing! The terror of it took my breath away.

Which line from the excerpt best supports the idea that Twain is afraid?

• "...away I would spin to the other..."

• "I began to climb the wheel like a squirrel..."

• "The terror of it took my breath away."

• "Deep four in a bottomless crossing!"

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

Read the excerpt from Nurse and Spy in the Union Army.

At last I expressed a desire to enter the Confederate service. I asked the merchant how I should manage to get through the Yankee lines if I should decide to take such a step. After a long conversation and much planning, we at last decided that I should go through our lines the next night with a person known to the merchant. The person was considered by our troops a thorough Union man since he had taken the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government. But who in reality, was a rebel spy.

That afternoon I was sent out again to sell some goods to the soldiers. While I was gone, I took the favorable opportunity of informing the Provost Marshal of my intended escape the following night together with my brother spy.

Which sentence confirms that the narrator's assumed identity as a Louisville civilian is successful?

• "After a long conversation and much planning, we at last decided that I should go through our lines the next night with a person known to the merchant."

• "At last I expressed a desire to enter the Confederate service."

• "The person was considered by our troops a thorough Union man since he had taken the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government."

• "That afternoon I was sent out again to sell some goods to the soldiers. "

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

Which statement best expresses a viewpoint Mark Twain conveys in "A Cub Pilot"?

• Piloting a steamboat is much like writing a novel.

• Being a steamboat pilot requires a great deal of knowledge, skill, and confidence.

• It is cruel and pointless to play pranks on inexperienced people.

• The Mississippi River is the most beautiful waterway in the world.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RI.8.6

CCSS.RI.8.9

CCSS.RI.7.9

CCSS.RL.9-10.6

Which statement best expresses a viewpoint Ernesto Galarza conveys in Barrio Boy?

• A helpful, encouraging teacher can make a big difference in a young person's life.

• Young people feel emotions more distinctly and powerfully than adults.

• Becoming truly American means forgetting one's cultural background and traditions.

• Teachers are not as important as family members when it comes to learning new things.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RI.8.6

CCSS.RI.8.9

CCSS.RI.7.6

Which statement best expresses a viewpoint Maya Angelou conveys in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings?

• Mrs. Flowers was just like her grandmother.

• Anyone can work their way out of poverty with enough willpower.

• Some of her neighbors in Stamps were cruel.

• Her grandmother's store was a special place.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

Read the excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant.

Which central idea is developed and supported by this passage?

• Justice for enslaved people is impossible.

• An enslaved person is treated no better than an animal.

• Hypocrisy in religion is used to justify slavery.

• Keeping people enslaved makes slaveholders inhuman.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

Read the excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

If the lineal descendants of Ham are alone to be scripturally enslaved, it is certain that slavery at the south must soon become unscriptural; for thousands are ushered into the world, annually, who, like myself, owe their existence to white fathers.

Which central idea is developed and supported by this passage?

• An enslaved person is treated no better than an animal.

• Justice for enslaved people is impossible.

• Hypocrisy in religion is used to justify slavery.

• Keeping people enslaved makes slaveholders inhuman.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI. 9-10.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

Read the excerpt from Captain Canot or Twenty Years of an African Slaver.

They are allowed to converse freely during day while on deck. Corporal punishment is never inflicted save by order of an officer, and, even then, not until the culprit understands exactly why it is done. Once a week, the ship's barber scrapes their chins without assistance from soap; and, on the same day, their nails are closely pared, to insure security from harm in those nightly battles that occur. . . . During afternoons of serene weather, men, women, girls, and boys are allowed to unite in African melodies. . . . These hints will apprise the reader that the greatest care, compatible with safety, is taken of a negro's health and cleanliness on the voyage. In every well-conducted slaver, the captain, officers, and crew, are alert and vigilant to preserve the cargo. It is their personal interest, as well as the interest of humanity to do so.

Which central idea is developed and supported by the passage?

• The slave trade was a difficult industry for slavers to work in.

• The slave trade was very fair and humane toward enslaved captives.

• Enslaved captives caused more trouble for slavers than the reverse.

• Enslaved captives were treated terribly by those who captured them.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

Read the excerpt from Chapter 1 of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

Whether this prophecy is ever fulfilled or not, it is nevertheless plain that a very different-looking class of people are springing up at the south, and are now held in slavery, from those originally brought to this country from Africa; and if their increase do no other good, it will do away the force of the argument, that God cursed Ham, and therefore American slavery is right. If the lineal descendants of Ham are alone to be scripturally enslaved, it is certain that slavery at the south must soon become unscriptural; for thousands are ushered into the world, annually, who, like myself, owe their existence to white fathers, and those fathers most frequently their own masters.

How does the allusion to Ham affect the meaning of the text?

• It emphasizes Douglass's desire to be free.

• It allows Douglass to discredit using the Bible to justify slavery.

• It highlights the similarities between enslaved people and those who enslave them.

• It compares slavery in the modern world to slavery in Biblical times.

Read the excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

During these years in Stamps, I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare. He was my first white love. Although I enjoyed and respected Kipling, Poe, Butler, Thackeray and Henley, I saved my young and loyal passion for Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson and W.E.B. Du Bois' "Litany at Atlanta." But it was Shakespeare who said, "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes." It was a state with which I felt myself most familiar.

How does the allusion to William Shakespeare affect the meaning of the text?

• It shows that Angelou identifies with the feelings expressed in Shakespeare's poem.

• It reveals how much Angelou admires those who are not like herself.

• It foreshadows Angelou's future career as a writer.

• it suggests Angelou's desire to leave her surroundings and go elsewhere.