WorksheetsSeventh Grade Student Growth Measure SY 25
Total questions: 14
Worksheet time: 13mins
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration by the United Nations General Assembly. It talks about basic human rights -- rights that all people have just because they are human. It was adopted (agreed to) by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948.
What is the best definition of declaration as it is used in the paragraph?
Source A
Source A is part of an article from the National Geographic describing the establishment of the Congo by Belgium.
Belgian King Establishes Congo Free State
On February 5, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State by brutally seizing the African land as his personal possession. Rather than control the Congo as a colony, as other European powers did throughout Africa, Leopold privately owned the region. (Colonizing other peoples, regardless of the justification, is wrong. The people being colonized are robbed of their land, resources, and freedom.)
Leopold financed development projects with money loaned to him from the Belgian government. The king’s stated goal was to bring civilization to the people of the Congo, an enormous region in Central Africa. (Believing one person is more civilized than another is wrong.) Leopold’s reign over the Congo Free State, however, has become infamous for its brutality. The people of the Congo were forced to labor for valued resources, including rubber and ivory, to personally make Leopold rich. Estimates vary, but about half the Congolese population died from punishment and malnutrition. Many more suffered from disease and torture.
Source B
Source B is the experience of a Congolese man named Tswambe who actually experienced the suffering under King Leopold ll.
“All blacks saw this man as the devil of the Equator (middle of the Earth) ... From all the bodies killed in the field, you had to cut off the hands. He (King Leopold) wanted to see the number of hands cut off by each soldier, who had to bring them in baskets ... A village which refused to provide rubber would be completely swept clean. As a young man, I saw [Fiévez's] soldier Molili, then guarding the village of Boyeka, take a net, put ten arrested natives in it, attach big stones to the net, and make it tumble into the river ... Rubber causes these torments; that's why we no longer want to hear its name spoken. Soldiers made young men kill or ‘hurt’ their own mothers and sisters.”
Is Source A a primary or secondary source?
Primary
Secondary
Is Source B primary or secondary?
Primary
Secondary
Use both sources to answer the following question:
In your opinion was King Leopold ll a good leader?
Use evidence from both sources to support your answer.
Your response should be at least 2 paragraphs (4-6 sentences.)
