Lift Every Voice and Sing Test

Directions: Choose the best answer. Which of the following most closely identifies the focus of the speaker?

• The speaker is focused on a group of people and their history.
• The speaker is focused solely on himself and a particular event.
• The speaker is focused on his immediate family and a gathering.
• The speaker is focused on a close friend and a shared experience.

Directions: Choose the best answer. In the first stanza, the phrase dark past most likely refers to . Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won.

• a period of time that no longer exists
• a period of time before the printing of stories
• a period of time marked by traumatic suffering
• a period of time with an obvious absence of light

Directions: Choose the best answer. Which of the following best expresses the theme of the entire poem?

• In order to maintain a healthy body and outlook, people should gather to walk and to sing as a way to encourage one another.
• A group of people who have a shared and difficult experience can move forward collectively toward a better future.
• It is necessary to enlist the help of people in power in order to achieve goals in a timely manner.
• Knowing what has occurred in the past can influence a group of people in developing better plans and goals.

Directions: Choose the best answer. Which pair of lines from the poem best supports the answer to Question 3?

• “Lift every voice and sing, / Till earth and heaven ring,”
• “Have not our weary feet / Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?”
• “Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last / Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.”
• “Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand / True to our God, true to our native land.”

Directions: Choose the best answer. Which answer has two lines that make the best rhyme?

• Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
• Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
• Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way; Ring with the harmonies of Liberty,
• Have not our weary feet,Yet with a steady beat

Directions: Which word best fills in the blank? The song is celebrating the ________________________ African Americans have gained since the end of slavery.

• money
• liberty
• education
• poverty

Directions: Pick the best answer. Resound means to

• Make the sound again
• Turn up the sound
• Turn down the sound
• Stop the Sound.

Directions: Choose the best answer. A another word the means the same as trod is

• halted
• stoped
• walked
• paused

Directions: Choose the best answer. The people hope it is a “new day,” or a start toward full .

• Gender equality
• Racial inequality
• Racial equality
• Gender inequality

Which of the following best describes what the poem is about?

• the story of giving up in the face of difficulty

• a lesson in not taking for granted what you have

• the journey of a people who have suffered greatly but persevered

• an explanation of how things can change without people realizing it