African-American Literature MCQs

Option A: Weasel.

Option B: Bear.

Option C: The farmer.

Option D: The young boy.

Correct Answer: Weasel. ✔

Option A: The poem is the first-known writing of an African American.

Option B: The poem is better than the poems of the more famous Phillis Wheatley.

Option C: The poem is the first of many poems by Terry.

Option D: The poetry focuses on slave life in the 18th century.

Correct Answer: The poem is the first-known writing of an African American. ✔

Option A: Her relationship with a patron.

Option B: Her mother.

Option C: Her best friend.

Option D: Her job as a waitress.

Correct Answer: Her relationship with a patron. ✔

Option A: Amoral (neither good nor evil)

Option B: Christian

Option C: Evil

Option D: None of these

Correct Answer: Amoral (neither good nor evil) ✔

Option A: She is one-quarter Black.

Option B: She is one-eighth Black.

Option C: She is White.

Option D: She cannot be a slave.

Correct Answer: She is one-quarter Black. ✔

Option A: Protest poetry

Option B: Romantic poetry

Option C: Lyric poetry

Option D: Jazz poetry

Correct Answer: Jazz poetry ✔

Option A: That female slaves were escaping more frequently than men.

Option B: How slavery was worse for men.

Option C: How females were affected by slavery.

Option D: That female slaves were more valuable than male slaves.

Correct Answer: How females were affected by slavery. ✔

Option A: Cakewalk tunes.

Option B: Gospel.

Option C: Jazz.

Option D: Blues.

Correct Answer: Gospel. ✔

Option A: The mistress of the house was afraid her husband would be attracted to Clotel.

Option B: To keep the lice away.

Option C: So that the other slaves would get along with her.

Option D: So she could sell it.

Correct Answer: The mistress of the house was afraid her husband would be attracted to Clotel. ✔

Option A: William Gates

Option B: Henry David Thoreau

Option C: Booker T. Washington

Option D: Alain Locke

Correct Answer: Henry David Thoreau ✔

Option A: Women’s rights.

Option B: Negro rights.

Option C: The right to keep one’s children.

Option D: A and B.

Correct Answer: A and B. ✔

Option A: W.E.B. DuBois

Option B: Amiri Baraka

Option C: Booker T. Washington

Option D: Frederick Douglass

Correct Answer: Frederick Douglass ✔

Option A: So the author could get paid.

Option B: In order for people to believe the events in the narratives.

Option C: So that slave owners could refute the events in the narratives.

Option D: So that the author could be assured he wouldn’t be recaptured.

Correct Answer: In order for people to believe the events in the narratives. ✔

Option A: William Wells Brown

Option B: Richard Wright

Option C: Charles Chesnutt

Option D: Booker T. Washington

Correct Answer: Charles Chesnutt ✔

Option A: Stowe’s novel is sentimental.

Option B: Stowe describes the treatment of slaves.

Option C: Stowe describes the escape of slaves.

Option D: Uncle Tom’s Cabin was used by abolitionists.

Correct Answer: Stowe’s novel is sentimental. ✔

Option A: Narration of a deserved punishment.

Option B: Depictions of a beautiful rural environment.

Option C: Descriptions of the kinds of food and clothing slaves were given.

Option D: The author’s father is often a white man.

Correct Answer: The author’s father is often a white man. ✔

Option A: To impress the horrors of slavery on listeners

Option B: To ease their pain

Option C: To pray for deliverance

Option D: To show that they were content in their work

Correct Answer: To show that they were content in their work ✔

Option A: Giving words double meaning that appear differently to white and black readers.

Option B: Fixing words with very specific meanings.

Option C: Making sure that what is written makes sense.

Option D: Lying to mislead the reader.

Correct Answer: Giving words double meaning that appear differently to white and black readers. ✔

Option A: To speak to the spiritual and cultural needs of African Americans.

Option B: To raise awareness of violence in African American youth.

Option C: To support the Back to Africa Movement.

Option D: To raise money for Sickle Cell Anemia research.

Correct Answer: To speak to the spiritual and cultural needs of African Americans. ✔

Option A: Jean Toomer.

Option B: Richard Wright.

Option C: Ralph Ellison.

Option D: James Baldwin.

Correct Answer: Richard Wright. ✔

Option A: Urge African Americans to fight their oppressors.

Option B: Encourage societies strive for equality for all.

Option C: Extol the virtues of living in the free North.

Option D: Argue that slavery was not so bad for everyone.

Correct Answer: Encourage societies strive for equality for all. ✔

Option A: Collectivism versus the authority of the individual.

Option B: The wearing away of traditional class structures.

Option C: The impact of WWI and the 1918 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.

Option D: The disassociated, anomic self.

Correct Answer: The impact of WWI and the 1918 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. ✔

Option A: Slaves are capable of becoming good Christians.

Option B: Slaves should rebel against the Christian religion.

Option C: Slaves are the children of Cain.

Option D: Christians should free their slaves.

Correct Answer: Slaves are capable of becoming good Christians. ✔

Option A: To go to a party.

Option B: To go pay old man Stevenson.

Option C: To end their lives.

Option D: To go to church.

Correct Answer: To end their lives. ✔

Option A: The extermination of Native Americans.

Option B: That there is a Black America and a White America.

Option C: Black on black violence.

Option D: The fact that America still has a frontier mentality.

Correct Answer: The fact that America still has a frontier mentality. ✔

Option A: Lucy Terry

Option B: William Wells Brown

Option C: Harriet Wilson

Option D: Harriet Jacobs

Correct Answer: Harriet Jacobs ✔

Option A: Harriet Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

Option B: Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig.

Option C: William Wells Brown’s Clotel.

Option D: Toni Morrison’s Beloved.

Correct Answer: Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig. ✔

Option A: William Wells Brown

Option B: Lydia Maria Child

Option C: Harriet Jacobs

Option D: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Correct Answer: Lydia Maria Child ✔

Option A: Based on a New England captivity narrative.

Option B: An anonymous narrative.

Option C: Fiction written by Lydia Maria Child.

Option D: Written by Jacob’s son.

Correct Answer: Fiction written by Lydia Maria Child. ✔

Option A: The “Talented Tenth.”

Option B: All African Americans.

Option C: African American women.

Option D: Only White Americans.

Correct Answer: A. The “Talented Tenth.” ✔

Option A: Under the floorboards.

Option B: With a friend.

Option C: In the stables.

Option D: In a remote cabin.

Correct Answer: With a friend. ✔

Option A: Is the time period that followed the Civil War.

Option B: Describes the rebuilding after World War I.

Option C: Refers to the Civil Rights movement.

Option D: Took place only in the North.

Correct Answer: Is the time period that followed the Civil War. ✔

Option A: To obtain justice for black people.

Option B: To get better accommodations on the train, better seats in the theatre.

Option C: To escape from slavery.

Option D: None of the above.

Correct Answer: To get better accommodations on the train, better seats in the theatre. ✔

Option A: He had known many “Biggers” in his life.

Option B: He was trying to overcome his fears of powerful men.

Option C: He was proud of all the African American men he had seen stand up to Whites.

Option D: He wanted to show African American males how not to live.

Correct Answer: A. He had known many “Biggers” in his life. ✔

Option A: Jean Toomer

Option B: Charles Chesnutt

Option C: Booker T. Washington

Option D: Frederick Douglass

Correct Answer: Booker T. Washington ✔

Option A: Their belief in necessary violence.

Option B: Their belief that women should have equal rights.

Option C: Their appeals to Christians.

Option D: Their belief that African Americans should govern themselves.

Correct Answer: Their appeals to Christians. ✔

Option A: That they learn from her mistakes.

Option B: That they have richer lives than hers.

Option C: That they have all they ever wished for themselves.

Option D: That they experience all the pain and embarrassment of being a woman.

Correct Answer: That they experience all the pain and embarrassment of being a woman. ✔

Option A: A Christian.

Option B: A radical.

Option C: An accomodationist.

Option D: A coward.

Correct Answer: An accomodationist. ✔

Option A: A period of time when African Americans moved North in large numbers.

Option B: When African Americans settled Liberia.

Option C: When slaves traveled the Underground Railroad.

Option D: When African Americans migrated to the South from the North.

Correct Answer: A period of time when African Americans moved North in large numbers. ✔

Option A: Strengthened the African American’s place in the world of literature

Option B: Perpetuated stereotypes

Option C: Allowed African American authors to sell their works more widely to white audiences

Option D: Showed that African Americans couldn’t speak properly.

Correct Answer: Showed that African Americans couldn’t speak properly. ✔

Option A: The 1960s protest movements

Option B: The attempts of African slaves to communicate with each other

Option C: Slave owners teaching slaves Elizabethan English

Option D: Slaves’ attempts to keep their conversations secret

Correct Answer: The attempts of African slaves to communicate with each other ✔

Option A: Her own memories of slavery.

Option B: Stories her grandmother told her.

Option C: The television series Roots.

Option D: Slave narratives.

Correct Answer: Slave narratives. ✔

Option A: Captivity narratives.

Option B: Abolitionist newspaper accounts.

Option C: Folktales.

Option D: African mythology.

Correct Answer: Captivity narratives. ✔

Option A: Trickster

Option B: Victim

Option C: Representation of the slave master

Option D: “Uncle Tom” character who feels slavery is best for the African American

Correct Answer: Trickster ✔

Option A: A waterfall.

Option B: Electricity.

Option C: A war.

Option D: A factory.

Correct Answer: Electricity. ✔

Option A: She is proud of her heritage.

Option B: She doesn’t want Maggie to have it.

Option C: She wants to display it for her friends to see.

Option D: She loves the beauty of it.

Correct Answer: She wants to display it for her friends to see. ✔

Option A: African mythology.

Option B: African American folktale.

Option C: Greek mythology.

Option D: Contemporary female artists.

Correct Answer: African mythology. ✔

Option A: The Bible.

Option B: Greek history.

Option C: Slave narratives.

Option D: Abolitionist newspapers.

Correct Answer: The Bible. ✔

Option A: Rabid dogs.

Option B: Her husband.

Option C: Snakes.

Option D: Bertha.

Correct Answer: Snakes. ✔

Option A: They showed that a hero would deliver them from slavery.

Option B: They gave hope that God would deliver them from slavery.

Option C: They helped them do their work faster.

Option D: They were based on African songs.

Correct Answer: They gave hope that God would deliver them from slavery. ✔

Option A: Sharecropping.

Option B: Slavery.

Option C: Segregation.

Option D: Prostitution.

Correct Answer: Sharecropping. ✔

Option A: The races should not intermarry.

Option B: Christians the only ones not to blame for the existence of slavery.

Option C: Blacks have the duty to resist slavery.

Option D: Blacks should return to Africa.

Correct Answer: Blacks have the duty to resist slavery. ✔

Option A: Slaveholders objected to losing leisure time.

Option B: Slaves outnumbered non-slaves and might rebel.

Option C: Slaveholders felt economic security rested on the system of slavery.

Option D: B and C.

Correct Answer: B and C. ✔

Option A: The name of a restaurant the pool players cannot enter.

Option B: A metaphor for colossal lies they have been buried with.

Option C: A metaphor for the pool players who are trying to dig out of their neighborhood.

Option D: The name of a pool hall.

Correct Answer: The name of a pool hall. ✔

Option A: The poem’s form of rhymed tetrameter couplets.

Option B: The poem shows her future work as a advocate of civil rights.

Option C: The poem is filled with Christian symbolism.

Option D: The fact that the poem is the most accurate account of the 1742 Indian-White engagement in Deerfield, Massachusetts.

Correct Answer: The fact that the poem is the most accurate account of the 1742 Indian-White engagement in Deerfield, Massachusetts. ✔

Option A: A child dying of SIDS.

Option B: The stillborn death of a child.

Option C: Abortion.

Option D: A murdered child.

Correct Answer: Abortion. ✔

Option A: Breaking the law.

Option B: Using violence when necessary.

Option C: Waiting for times to get better.

Option D: Disobeying unjust laws.

Correct Answer: Disobeying unjust laws. ✔

Option A: To describe the horrors of life on the Post-bellum plantation.

Option B: To explain his religious views.

Option C: To amuse the narrator’s sickly wife.

Option D: So they won’t interrupt his income from the neglected grape harvest.

Correct Answer: So they won’t interrupt his income from the neglected grape harvest. ✔

Option A: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Option B: Joel Chandler Harris

Option C: Richard Wright

Option D: Charles Chesnutt

Correct Answer: Charles Chesnutt ✔

Option A: It was the first African American novel.

Option B: It was the first African American newspaper.

Option C: It was published by Frederick Douglass.

Option D: It argued for a separate African American community in America.

Correct Answer: It was the first African American newspaper. ✔

Option A: Toasting is oral

Option B: Toasting is a male event

Option C: Toasting glorifies women

Option D: Toasting provides cultural identification

Correct Answer: Toasting glorifies women ✔

Option A: Getting an education.

Option B: Fighting.

Option C: Making friends with the guards.

Option D: Contacting famous authors.

Correct Answer: Getting an education. ✔

Option A: A Modernist poet

Option B: A performance poet

Option C: A classical poet

Option D: A traditional poet

Correct Answer: A performance poet ✔

Option A: Its character’s movement from slavery to freedom.

Option B: Its emphasis on Christian ideals.

Option C: The novel’s sensationalist scenes of violence.

Option D: Its didactic (teaching) tone of voice.

Correct Answer: Its character’s movement from slavery to freedom. ✔

Option A: The poem’s rhythmic lines.

Option B: The references to jazz songs and musicians.

Option C: The poem can be set to music.

Option D: There is repetition.

Correct Answer: The poem’s rhythmic lines. ✔

Option A: The scene invokes audience sympathy.

Option B: The heroine has to balance autonomy with self-denial.

Option C: The heroine conquers her passions.

Option D: A and B

Correct Answer: A and B ✔

Option A: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Option B: Richard Wright

Option C: Frederick Douglass

Option D: Phillis Wheatley

Correct Answer: Harriet Beecher Stowe ✔

Option A: Alice Walker

Option B: Etheridge Knight

Option C: Martin Luther King, Jr.

Option D: Langston Hughes

Correct Answer: Langston Hughes ✔

Option A: African American art should exclude women.

Option B: African American images should inspire African Americans.

Option C: African American art should subvert the art of Europeans and White Americans.

Option D: African American literature should replicate educated White language.

Correct Answer: African American images should inspire African Americans. ✔

Option A: Mystery.

Option B: Science Fiction.

Option C: Horror.

Option D: Tragedy.

Correct Answer: Science Fiction. ✔

Option A: The narrator’s attempt to stay hidden.

Option B: The narrator’s desire to be safe.

Option C: The narrator’s invisibility to society.

Option D: The narrator’s attempt to stay out of prison.

Correct Answer: The narrator’s invisibility to society. ✔

Option A: To keep the slave offspring of White slave owners from inheriting.

Option B: To allow mixed-race children to get scholarships meant for African Americans.

Option C: To make sure mothers of mixed-race children got custody.

Option D: To keep White slave owner parents of mixed-race offspring from having to pay for their children.

Correct Answer: To keep the slave offspring of White slave owners from inheriting. ✔

Option A: It was home to the Harlem Renaissance.

Option B: Most of its inhabitants worked for White people.

Option C: It was primarily African American.

Option D: It was destroyed after the Civil War.

Correct Answer: It was primarily African American. ✔

Option A: Characters are not as important as plot.

Option B: Presentation is objective.

Option C: Ordinary language is used.

Option D: Events are plausible.

Correct Answer: Characters are not as important as plot. ✔

Option A: To help the other inmates escape.

Option B: To win money by fighting.

Option C: To do what the other inmates were afraid to do.

Option D: To keep the Blacks and Whites separated.

Correct Answer: To do what the other inmates were afraid to do. ✔

Option A: The ability of an African American to live as a White person.

Option B: To do well on one’s schoolwork.

Option C: To leave one’s past behind.

Option D: To gain approval from one’s community.

Correct Answer: The ability of an African American to live as a White person. ✔

Option A: Betrayal by the educational system.

Option B: Betrayal by her sister.

Option C: Betrayal by her community.

Option D: Betrayal by a family member.

Correct Answer: Betrayal by her sister. ✔

Option A: Its fractured, collage effect.

Option B: Its insistence on plot.

Option C: Its focus on landscape.

Option D: Its focus on modern city life.

Correct Answer: Its fractured, collage effect. ✔

Option A: She almost died in childbirth with her first child.

Option B: She doesn’t want to lose her figure.

Option C: Her husband has threatened to leave her.

Option D: She is afraid it may have dark skin.

Correct Answer: She is afraid it may have dark skin. ✔

Option A: Supplying them with narcotic eggs.

Option B: Letting them choose their own mates.

Option C: Freeing the males after they are hosts.

Option D: Paying them very well.

Correct Answer: Supplying them with narcotic eggs. ✔

Option A: Having a bathroom with warm water.

Option B: Following one’s dreams.

Option C: Getting food on the table.

Option D: Finding a mate.

Correct Answer: Having a bathroom with warm water. ✔

Option A: Negro spirituals being sung in the cotton fields.

Option B: The call and response of an African American church congregation.

Option C: African American toasting on a city street corner.

Option D: Blues being played in a Harlem bar.

Correct Answer: Blues being played in a Harlem bar. ✔

Option A: She tries to pass as White.

Option B: She washes clothes for White women.

Option C: She lets a man help her out.

Option D: She marries a Black man.

Correct Answer: She marries a Black man. ✔

Option A: Redefining black people in terms of a presence, not an absence.

Option B: Working against the existing racist stereotypes.

Option C: A struggle ongoing since 1619.

Option D: All of the above

Correct Answer: All of the above ✔

Option A: Discussion of race relations in the North and South.

Option B: Condemnation of the plantation myth.

Option C: Examination of the psychological damage of slavery.

Option D: Insistence on desegregation.

Correct Answer: Examination of the psychological damage of slavery. ✔

Option A: Explain how African Americans could not learn standard English

Option B: Make his written inaccessible to white audiences

Option C: To encourage feelings of pride in African American readers

Option D: Challenge American stereotypes about race

Correct Answer: Challenge American stereotypes about race ✔

Option A: Whites should pay reparations to former slaves.

Option B: African Americans should acculturate to mainstream White culture.

Option C: White institutions should reform to meet African American needs.

Option D: African Americans will have to help themselves by becoming educated.

Correct Answer: African Americans will have to help themselves by becoming educated. ✔

Option A: Rejecting all White assistance.

Option B: Allowing Whites to help African

Option C: Calling for violent uprisings.

Option D: Separating Blacks by income level

Correct Answer: B. Allowing Whites to help African
Americans to reach their potential. ✔

Option A: The persona that the characters show the world.

Option B: The carved masks of African gods.

Option C: Characters from the Bible.

Option D: Who the narrator wishes to be.

Correct Answer: The persona that the characters show the world. ✔

Option A: Get an education.

Option B: Get a job.

Option C: To be clean.

Option D: To be a teacher

Correct Answer: Get an education. ✔

Option A: Resistance to the overseers.

Option B: Learning to be midwives.

Option C: Resistance against dehumanization.

Option D: Lower suicide rates.

Correct Answer: Resistance against dehumanization. ✔

Option A: The importance of men to the African American family.

Option B: The negative consequences of feminism on the African American family.

Option C: The importance of African religious influence in America.

Option D: The importance of African American craftsmanship.

Correct Answer: The negative consequences of feminism on the African American family. ✔

Option A: William Wells Brown

Option B: Nella Larsen.

Option C: Charles Chesnutt

Option D: James Weldon Johnson

Correct Answer: Nella Larsen. ✔

Option A: Most slave children lived in two family homes.

Option B: Slave owners did not allow their slaves to live as married couples.

Option C: Slaves were given limited civil rights.

Option D: Most slaves were not Christian.

Correct Answer: Most slave children lived in two family homes. ✔

Option A: The theme of man against nature.

Option B: The theme of man against man.

Option C: The theme of heredity.

Option D: Nature as an invisible force.

Correct Answer: The theme of man against man. ✔

Option A: Led to novels of passing.

Option B: Existed only in fiction by White authors.

Option C: Developed in the 20th century.

Option D: Existed only in fiction by female authors.

Correct Answer: Led to novels of passing. ✔

Option A: Because in was cheaper to live in Africa.

Option B: Because he did not feel African Americans would ever achieve equality in America.

Option C: He was asked by African countries to bring African Americans to Africa.

Option D: He had to leave the country.

Correct Answer: Because he did not feel African Americans would ever achieve equality in America. ✔

Option A: Highly original.

Option B: Typical of Colonial poetry.

Option C: Progressive and challenging.

Option D: Abolitionist in subject.

Correct Answer: Typical of Colonial poetry. ✔

Option A: 1804

Option B: 1865

Option C: 1848

Option D: 1807

Correct Answer: 1865 ✔

Option A: Bringing African culture to the United States.

Option B: Leaving the African peoples alone.

Option C: Writers who took African themes for their work.

Option D: Completing an oppressed people’s quest for freedom, liberty and democracy.

Correct Answer: Completing an oppressed people’s quest for freedom, liberty and democracy. ✔