wayground logo

Free Printable Worksheets

NEW

Font size

S
M
L
XL
Worksheets

African American History I midterm review

Total questions: 40

Worksheet time: 21mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

Which of the following was the most common among runaway slaves?

a)

Mothers with their young children

b)

teenage girls

c)

Young males

d)

whole families running off together

2.

A hidden message could be found in slave spirituals when referencing "The Promised Land", what was this promised land?

a)

The North

b)

Heaven

c)

Africa

d)

death

3.

Which best represents President Lincoln's attitudes towards slavery

a)

did not like it but would end or continue if it kept union together

b)

he was an abolitionist

c)

he owned slaves

d)

He ran his campaign on the promise to end slavery

4.

The 13th amendment states that slavery is unlawful...Except?

a)

In states within the Southern borders

b)

when considered part of an internship or apprenticeship

c)

as a form of punishment

d)

when parents need children to work

5.

Which of the following is true?

a)

Most white Southerners owned only one or two slaves

b)

Most white Southerners lived on plantations and owned many slaves

c)

Most white Southerners did not own any slaves

d)

Most white Southerners worked alongside slaves during their indentured servitude

6.

Which of the following leaders argued that African Americans could only be truly free if they returned to Africa?

a)

W.E.B. Dubois

b)

Marcus Garvey

c)

Frederick Douglass

d)

Booker T. Washington

7.

Which of the following best represents views held by Booker T Washington?

a)

Blacks must get a liberal arts education

b)

The top ten percent of the race can and should pull up the others

c)

Started the United Negro Improvement Association

d)

Believed African Americans should accept segregation...for a time.

8.

Whose murder caused organizers to form BLM or Black Lives Matter?

a)

George Floyd

b)

Breona Taylor

c)

Chris Gardner

d)

Trayvon Martin

9.

Which of the following is the best statement to describe the Great Migration in American History?

a)

a joyous time when African Americans picked up roots and traveled to the North in search of a better life

b)

A time when African Americans were fleeing racial hostility& violence of the South in the hopes of a brighter future

c)

A time when whites and blacks left the South for economic opportunities

d)

A time when African Americans left the South to be part of what become known as The Harlem Renaissance

10.

What was the underling issue that led to the Tulsa Massacre?

a)

A fight over oil rights between the White community and the Black community

b)

The alleged rape of a white girl

c)

Anger & resentment whites felt because segregation did not prevent Blacks from success & prosperity

d)

The Federal Government organized the attack prior to the massacre

11.

Members of the 54th Massachusetts infantry would informed that what would happen to them, as soldiers, if they were taken by the Confederacy?

a)

They would be re-enslaved

b)

They would be executed

c)

They would be returned to the North

d)

They would be sent to the Caribbean to serve as slaves

12.

What famous abolitionist convinced President Lincoln to a call for Black Union soldiers?

a)

Henry Turner

b)

Claude McKay

c)

Phyllis Wheatley

d)

Frederick Douglass

13.

What former NFL player lost his football career because he took a knee during the National Anthem to protest police brutality against African Americans?

a)

Charles Woodson

b)

James Lofton

c)

Ray Rice

d)

Colin Kaepernick

14.

The voyage slave ships made from Africa to America is known as?

a)

the Middle Passage

b)

The Triangular Trade

c)

The Atlantic Sea crossing

d)

The Crossing

15.

Africans who threw themselves overboard while on slave ships believed that their soul would go where?

a)

to heaven

b)

Mecca

c)

Return to Africa

d)

remain in the ocean

16.

This term refers to the time when slave masters and overseers tried to destroy the spirit of Africans forced into slavery

a)

interrogation

b)

introduction

c)

seasoning

d)

apprenticeship

17.

which of the following is a true statement regarding slave rebellions and resistance?

a)

slaves were always rebelling and resisting their condition in some way

b)

rebellion and resistance was rare

c)

most rebellions occurred in the deep South

d)

Slave owners never feared rebellion from the Slave Community

18.

How did slavery affect poor, southern whites?

a)

It did not

b)

It provided jobs for them

c)

it hurt them economically, why hire a poor white guy when a planter to have a slave?

d)

They often were forced to move to the North to find jobs in factories

19.

Though marriage among slaves was not recognized by the law, why did slaveholders encourage slave families?

a)

If you had people you loved on the plantation it made it more difficult to run away from them

b)

The fear of your family being sold off to other plantations as a punishment for your running away

c)

It would be too difficult to run away bringing your entire family

d)

All of these are true

20.

Why was it illegal for slaves to have or play the drums?

a)

Slaveholders hated the noise of drums

b)

Africans could use drums to send messages

c)

They feared drum music would cause slaves to be too excitable

d)

Another attempt to deprive them of their African heritage

21.

In 1619 the first Africans arrived in America, what was their legal condition?

a)

They were slaves

b)

They were free persons

c)

They were seen as indentured servants, work for a period and then become free

d)

they immediately left, returning to Africa

22.

What events caused wealthy whites in America to change Africans condition from indentured servants to slaves?

a)

Bacon's rebellion- wealthy knew it would be dangerous if poor whites and poor blacks united

b)

The whiskey rebellion-the need to collect taxes from both poor whites and poor blacks

c)

There never was an event, the condition of slavery was put on Africans when they first arrived

d)

Nat Turner's rebellion

23.

What tribe in Africa were known as "White Africans" because they were a mixture of Arabic peoples and African peoples?

a)

The Woolof

b)

Cape Verdians

c)

The Fulani

d)

The Ewu

24.

Which best explains why Africans would have participated in the Slave trade?

a)

to spare their own families/tribes from being enslaved

b)

to make money

c)

To honor their king

d)

They didn't know that they were being sold into slavery

25.

Why did the Mandinka teach young men that you can never kill your enemy?

a)

Because it would violate the laws of Allah

b)

You must respect human life

c)

someone will always take revenge on the death, leading to a cycle of killing

d)

both option two and three are correct

26.

African American culture has a familial tradition of considering those outside of your family to be actual family. How did slavery start this tradition?

a)

families were broken up, could be sold away, slaves had to make their own families

b)

It was a tradition going back to West Africa

c)

Slaves saw themselves as one big family with bondage as their common tie

27.

Type of slave auction where the buyer pays for a ticket and enters a barn and is free to choose the slave he wants was known as?

a)

On the block

b)

grab and go

c)

advanced purchase

d)

leverage auctions

28.

Most White Southerners never owned slaves

Slavery prevented White Southerners from often finding work to support their families.

Why were poor, white Southerners willing to fight and die in a war to keep a system that hurt them?

a)

As long as there were black slaves, there was a group of people beneath them on the social hierarchy

b)

They feared they would be competing for jobs with the former slaves if the institution ended

c)

Wealthy whites, getting rich off of slavery convinced poor whites of their racist, ignorant beliefs

d)

all of these explain why poor whites fought and died in the Civil War

29.

name the women warriors who protected the Fon Kingdom in Western Africa, their image was replicated in the film Black Panther

a)

The Mandingo warriors

b)

The Dahomey

c)

The Quidah

d)

Cape Verdians

30.

First organization where White Americans and Black Americans came together to fight for civil liberties for African Americans

a)

The NAACP

b)

the Niagara Movement

c)

The Underground Railroad (abolitionists)

d)

The Urban league

31.

Who are considered to be the modern day Griots?

a)

Jazz musicians

b)

rappers

c)

civil rights leaders

d)

African American politicans

32.

After the fugitive slave act of 1850 was passed, where was the only truly safe place for runaway slaves?

a)

Vermont

b)

Oklahoma

c)

Canada

d)

Mexico

33.

how did life change for slaves when the master died?

a)

They were often sold away from families and friends to other plantations

b)

The overseer often took control of the running of the plantation

c)

They were unaffected by the death of the master

d)

The workload lessened

34.

Nat Turner led one of the largest slave rebellions in the South killing 54 slaveholders and their children before captured. Turner believed he was told by _____ to start this rebellion?

a)

abolitionists

b)

his slave master

c)

God

d)

field slaves

35.

Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometti began what Civil Rights organization which led to a 'movement'?

a)

The Black Panthers

b)

Black Lives Matter

c)

Congress on Racial Equality

d)

Student non-violent coordinating committee

36.

Police officers who kill unarmed African Americans often don't face charges due to what is known as "Qualified Immunity". What does this term mean?

a)

A law that shields government officials from being held personally responsible for constitutional violations

b)

A law that protects all Union members from prosecution

c)

a law that prevents other officers from testifying against the accused officer

d)

a law that allows officers present at the crime to be charged as accomplices

37.

What were the themes of the Harlem Renaissance?

a)

Life in the South

b)

Trying to live life as an African American in a racist nation

c)

Urban life in the North

d)

Stories and tales from Africa

e)

All of these were common themes in the writings that came out of the Harlem Renaissance

38.

Which of the following recreated slavery after the 13th Amendment?

a)

Jim Crow laws

b)

Convict-Lease System

c)

Black Codes

d)

Slave codes

39.

Which of the following leaders began the Niagara movement which eventually led to the organization we know as the National Association for Colored People?

a)

Booker T. Washington

b)

Henry McNeal Turner

c)

W.E.B. Dubois

d)

Marcus Garvey

40.

What year did the U.S. see the largest number of African American registered voters than any other in history?

a)

2020

b)

1879

c)

1975

d)

2008