Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad

1. What is mainly the significance of the following passage (paragraph 4)?

At the same time, someone had taught her where to look for the North Star, the star that stayed constant, not rising in the east and setting in the west as the other stars appeared to do; and told her that anyone walking toward the North could use that star as a guide.

• A. The passage shows Harriet’s interest in astronomy.

• B. The passage suggests how an enslaved person like Harriet might escape to freedom.

• C. The passage explains the false myths about the North Star.

• D. The passage proves Ben is college-educated.

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2. Which of the following choices best explains why someone taught Harriet about the North Star?

• A. They want to teach Harriet that it can be used to find the way North.

• B. They want Harriet to know the North Star is always changing.

• C. They want Harriet to become an astronomer.

• D. They want to teach Harriet that the North Star always shines in the West.

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3. Which of the following choices best explains why Harriet hears the song sung so quiet that it is “almost whispered” (paragraph 14)?

Old Rit taught Harriet the words of that song that the slaves were forbidden to sing, because of the man named Denmark Vesey, who had urged the other slaves to revolt by telling them about Moses and the children of Israel. Sometimes, in the quarter, Harriet heard snatches of it, sung under the breath, almost whispered: “Go down, Moses... .” But she learned the words so well that she never forgot them.

• A. The song was a spiritual tune that felt most powerful in low tones.

• B. The song was a secret that enslaved people were not eager to share with one another.

• C. Enslaved people were only supposed to sing religious songs on Sundays.

• D. Enslaved people knew they could get in trouble if they were caught singing the song.

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4. What does the following passage mainly reveal (paragraph 18)?

The children under eight had neither shoes, stockings, jacket nor trousers. They were issued two tow-linen shirts a year—short, one-piece garments made of a coarse material like burlap, reaching to the knees. These shirts were worn night and day. They were changed once a week. When they were worn out, the children went naked until the next allowance day.

• A. The children on the plantation were given better care than the adults.

• B. Harriet was quite upset at how limited her access to clothing was.

• C. The special issue days were the only time children received clothing.

• D. The children wore any extra clothes that the adults were not using.

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5. Which of these inferences is best supported by the text?

• A. Ben used his knowledge about nature to inform Harriet about the world beyond the plantation and inspire her to seek freedom.

• B. Ben learned everything he could about the outdoors because he wanted to start his own farm.

• C. Harriet does not trust Edward Brodas’s relationship with her father.

• D. Ben was able to know so much about the world since he was free when he was growing up.

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6.Which passage from the text most strongly supports the correct answer to the previous question?

• A. “Everyone on the plantation admired this skill of Ben's. Even the master, Edward Brodas.”

• B. “There was something free and wild in Harriet because of Ben.”

• C. “He said the Big Buckwater River, which lay off to the southeast of the plantation, was just a little stream compared to the Choptank, and the Choptank was less than nothing compared to the Bay.”

• D. “Old Rit taught Harriet the words of that song that the slaves were forbidden to sing, because of the man named Denmark Vesey, who had urged the other slaves to revolt by telling them about Moses and the children of Israel.”

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7. What is most strongly a central idea of the excerpt?

• A. Many of the most valuable lessons Harriet learned came from her parents.

• B. Harriet did not trust either of her parents.

• C. Other than talking to their immediate families, enslaved people on the plantation tended to keep to themselves.

• D. When the enslaved were together, they had nothing to worry about.

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8. Which sentence from the text most strongly supports the correct answer to the previous question?

• A. “The slaves cooked in the quarter and washed their clothes and sang and told stories.”

• B. “At the same time, someone had taught her where to look for the North Star, the star that stayed constant, not rising in the east and setting in the west as the other stars appeared to do; and told her that anyone walking toward the North could use that star as a guide.”

• C. “She saw the grown folks freeze into stillness, not moving, scarcely breathing, while they listened.”

• D. “He was always talking about the woods, the berries that grew there, the strange haunting cries of some of the birds, the loud sound their wings made when they were disturbed and flew up suddenly”

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