African-American Literature Mcqs - Set 5

1)   In Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, “kitchenette building,” what is most important to the building’s inhabitants ?

a. Having a bathroom with warm water.
b. Following one’s dreams.
c. Getting food on the table.
d. Finding a mate.
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Having a bathroom with warm water.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


2)   The narrator of Langston Hughes’s “Weary Blues” is describing__________________?

a. Negro spirituals being sung in the cotton fields.
b. The call and response of an African American church congregation.
c. African American toasting on a city street corner.
d. Blues being played in a Harlem bar.
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Blues being played in a Harlem bar.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


3)   What unforgivable action does Mag Smith take in Chapter One of Our Nig ?

a. She tries to pass as White.
b. She washes clothes for White women.
c. She lets a man help her out.
d. She marries a Black man.
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: She marries a Black man.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


4)    According to Henry Louis Gates, Jr., reconstructing black people into the “New Negro” has been a matter of_______________?

a. Redefining black people in terms of a presence, not an absence.
b. Working against the existing racist stereotypes.
c. A struggle ongoing since 1619.
d. All of the above
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


5)   Neo-Slave narratives are contemporary novels written about slavery. Toni Morrison’s Beloved is about the ghost of a baby the character Sethe murdered to keep her from being recaptured by their master. The opening chapter of the novel represents the neo-slave narrative by its________________?

a. Discussion of race relations in the North and South.
b. Condemnation of the plantation myth.
c. Examination of the psychological damage of slavery.
d. Insistence on desegregation.
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Examination of the psychological damage of slavery.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


6)   Charles W. Chesnutt used vernacular speech to________________?

a. Explain how African Americans could not learn standard English
b. Make his written inaccessible to white audiences
c. To encourage feelings of pride in African American readers
d. Challenge American stereotypes about race
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Challenge American stereotypes about race

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


7)   Booker T. Washington’s message in Up from Slavery is_______________?

a. Whites should pay reparations to former slaves.
b. African Americans should acculturate to mainstream White culture.
c. White institutions should reform to meet African American needs.
d. African Americans will have to help themselves by becoming educated.
Answer  Explanation 

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

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


8)   For Booker T. Washington, racial uplift means_______________?

a. Rejecting all White assistance.
b. Allowing Whites to help African Americans to reach their potential.
c. Calling for violent uprisings.
d. Separating Blacks by income level
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Allowing Whites to help African Americans to reach their potential.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


9)   The mask in Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask,” represents_____________?

a. The persona that the characters show the world.
b. The carved masks of African gods.
c. Characters from the Bible.
d. Who the narrator wishes to be.
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: The persona that the characters show the world.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


10)   In Chapter Three of Booker T. Washington’s Up from Slavery, Washington’s primary goal is to______________?

a. Get an education.
b. Get a job.
c. To be clean.
d. To be a teacher
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Get an education.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


11)   The supportive network of female slaves led to_______________?

a. Resistance to the overseers.
b. Learning to be midwives.
c. Resistance against dehumanization.
d. Lower suicide rates.
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Resistance against dehumanization.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


12)   Alice Walker’s story, “Everyday Use,” includes which “Womanist” concern ?

a. The importance of men to the African American family.
b. The negative consequences of feminism on the African American family.
c. The importance of African religious influence in America.
d. The importance of African American craftsmanship.
Answer  Explanation 

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

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


13)   Who is the author of the novel Passing ?

a. William Wells Brown
b. Nella Larsen.
c. Charles Chesnutt
d. James Weldon Johnson
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Nella Larsen.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


14)   Which of the following statements about slavery is true ?

a. Most slave children lived in two family homes.
b. Slave owners did not allow their slaves to live as married couples.
c. Slaves were given limited civil rights.
d. Most slaves were not Christian.
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Most slave children lived in two family homes.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


15)   The characteristic of Naturalism that is most present in the first chapter of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is_____________?

a. The theme of man against nature.
b. The theme of man against man.
c. The theme of heredity.
d. Nature as an invisible force.
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: The theme of man against man.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


16)   The “tragic mulatto” myth_________________?

a. Led to novels of passing.
b. Existed only in fiction by White authors.
c. Developed in the 20th century.
d. Existed only in fiction by female authors.
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Led to novels of passing.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


17)   Why did Marcus Garvey spearhead the “Back to Africa Movement” ?

a. Because in was cheaper to live in Africa.
b. Because he did not feel African Americans would ever achieve equality in America.
c. He was asked by African countries to bring African Americans to Africa.
d. He had to leave the country.
Answer  Explanation 

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

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


18)   Phillis Wheatley’s poetry is considered_____________?

a. Highly original.
b. Typical of Colonial poetry.
c. Progressive and challenging.
d. Abolitionist in subject.
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Typical of Colonial poetry.

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


19)   Slavery in the United States was officially abolished in ______________?

a. 1804
b. 1865
c. 1848
d. 1807
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: 1865

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!


20)   The back to Africa movement was primarily about______________?

a. Bringing African culture to the United States.
b. Leaving the African peoples alone.
c. Writers who took African themes for their work.
d. Completing an oppressed people’s quest for freedom, liberty and democracy.
Answer  Explanation 

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

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!