African American Literature

they have pushed to open up African territory for settlement by African Americans See page 986 and Garvey's description of the attitudes of Mississippi state senator MacCallum and U.S. senator Joseph France of Maryland. Readers might note that Garvey's evidence seems limited and not terribly persuasive, but his move to find some kind of political justification for his argument is suggestive.

According to Garvey, how have American statesmen changed in terms of their attitude toward the "African question"?

Service and loyalty to the race See page 988: "Africa shall develop an aristocracy of its own, but it shall be based upon service and loyalty to race." Imagining a utopian future, Garvey speaks to the possibility of a natural aristocracy emerging from personal qualities rather than inherited markers of class or status.

According to Garvey, on what will the new "African aristocracy" be based?

The dealer is not separate from the crowd but is part of it. See page 1454: When Lincoln explains the three-card monte hustle to Booth, he tells him that the "Dealer always sizes up thuh crowd. Everybody out there is part of the crowd. His crew is part of the crowd, he himself is part of the crowd. Dealer always sizes up thuh crowd." The crucial fact here is that the dealer—like the rest of the crowd—is part of a performance. Like any performance, this one has a script, and the dealer has a role to play in like everyone else.

According to Lincoln, what is the relationship between the three-card monte dealer and the crowd of people that he tries to con?

It represents a light in what is otherwise a dark and troubling world. See pages 434: "For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness." Here, the blues offer something sustaining for both the narrator and for Sonny. For Sonny, especially, music becomes a way of speaking and a method for coping with the world.

According to the narrator, what is the value of the blues?

The death of the narrator's daughter e pages 417: "And I didn't write Sonny or send him anything for a long time. When I finally did, it was just after my little girl died, and he wrote me back a letter which made me feel like a bastard." The timing of the narrator's letter suggests that he wants to reconnect with his brother to fill a void left by his daughter's passing. At the very least, we can probably conclude that his decision to write at this time indicates the narrator's desire to bring his family together.

After Sonny is sent to prison, the narrator waits a long while to write him. He does finally write his brother a letter after what event?

None, since he believes that race leaders preach class and race superiority See page 988: ". . . it would be advisable for such Negroes to take their hands and minds off the now popular idea of colonizing Africa in the interest of the Negro race, because their being identified with this new program will not in any way help us because of the existing feeling among Negroes everywhere not to tolerate the infliction of race or class superiority upon them, as is the desire of the self-appointed and self-created race leadership that we have been having for the last fifty years." Garvey's rebuke of "race leaders" confirms his desire for a unified organization and a new Africa free from the intra-ethnic divisions that he saw in the United States.

As he imagines a new future for Africa and African Americans, what role does Garvey imagine for American "race leaders" like W. E. B. Du Bois?

He no longer holds any ill will toward slaveholders and only worries about the future. See page 555: "I have long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race." Washington's repeated insistence that he felt no "bitterness" toward whites was one reason he was able to work so well with the white leaders in his home state of Alabama and throughout the South.

As he recalls his childhood, how does Washington claim to feel about white slaveholders?

No See page 1042: "I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and colored. I am merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries. My country, right or wrong." Though she vacillates between feeling "raced" (when she listens to jazz, for example) and without race ("I am me"), Hurston seems to embrace the possibility of being just like other Americans.

Does she feel less "American" because of her race?

Lincoln identifies with their father and Booth identifies with their mother. Whereas Lincoln gets his inheritance from their father, Booth gets his from their mother. Later, each brother mentions that he has been privy to a particular parent's infidelities. These identifications overlap with the roles that the brothers play: Booth stays home (for the most part) and Lincoln goes to work every morning.

Each character in the play seems to identify with a particular parent when they talk about their childhood. Which of the following statements reflects the characters' allegiances?

the entire race works together to realize the goals of the UNIA rather than pursuing other strategies for racial uplift See page 987: "The work of the Universal Negro Improvement Association is not a visionary one but very practical, and . . . it is not so far fetched, but can be realized in a short while if the entire race will only co-operate and work toward the desired end." Garvey's circular logic here notwithstanding, he is clearly focused on unity as crucial. In a time when many organizations were battling for money and attention, he wanted to see African Americans unite behind the UNIA.

Garvey suggests that the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) will be able to succeed if _________.

He gave the adjoining room an extremely thorough cleaning. See page 568: "She went into the room and inspected the floor and closets; then she took her handkerchief and rubbed it on the woodwork about the walls, and over the table and benches. When she was unable to find one bit of dirt on the floor, or a particle of dust on any of the furniture, she quietly remarked, 'I guess you will do to enter this institution.' I was one of the happiest souls on earth. The sweeping of that room was my college examination, and never did any youth pass an examination for entrance to Harvard and Yale that gave him more genuine satisfaction." Washington's anecdote is important for a couple of reasons. First, it shows him as an attentive and hardworking young man willing to complete any task in order to get what he wants. Second, it hints at the deep concern with cleanliness and external appearances that is evident throughout Up from Slavery. Looking the part is a vital piece of Washington's program for himself and his students.

How did Washington convince the headmistress of the Hampton Institute to admit him?

they spread the news through gossip between plantations. See page 552: "From the time that Garrison, Lovejoy, and others began to agitate for freedom, the slaves throughout the South kept in close touch with the progress of the movement. Though I was a mere child during the preparation for the Civil War and during the war itself, I now recall the many late-at-night whispered discussions that I heard my mother and the other slaves on the plantation indulge in. These discussions showed that they understood the situation, and that they kept themselves informed of events by what was termed the 'grape-vine' telegraph." The network of gossip here prefigures the more formal networks that Washington will use and master as an influential educator and spokesman in the 1890s and beyond. His ability to master those formal networks is one hallmark of his rise "up from slavery."

How did slaves on the plantation keep up with the news of the progress of the Union Army during the Civil War?

The spiritual heritage of the United States See page 753: ". . . It still remains as the singular spiritual heritage of the nation and the greatest gift of the Negro people." Du Bois's belief in the power and the significance of what he would call "the Sorrow Songs" provides a hopeful conclusion to The Souls of Black Folk. He argues that the songs carry a deep meaning that "is always clear: that sometime, somewhere, men will judge men by their souls and not their skins

How does Du Bois describe the "Negro folk song," the music of which introduces each of the chapters in The Souls of Black Folk?

As the price she paid for civilization See page 1041: "Slavery is the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me." Throughout her essay, Hurston eagerly looks forward without looking back in anger. This dismissal of slavery is but another example of that authorial habit.

How does Hurston describe slavery?

nonchalant—it doesn't bother her at all See page 1041: "There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor looking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it." Hurston differed from many of her Harlem Renaissance contemporaries both in her depiction of racial difference and her responses to racial discrimination.

How does Hurston feel about being colored?

He makes money and becomes more confident and virile. See page 1457: "You didnt go back, Link, you got back, you got it back, you got yr shit back in the thuh saddle, man, you got back in business. Walking in Lucky's and you seen how they was looking at you?" Lincoln's return to the streets as a dealer seems to remind Booth that he will always be the "underdog," which precipitates the denouement of the play.

How does Lincoln change when he returns to the streets as a three-card monte dealer?

Earthy, sexual, violent Most of the stories in the first section feature a death of some kind, and in most cases that death is related to the sexual conduct (or misconduct) of the characters. Moreover, natural imagery (fields, crops, trees, earth) dominates both the poetry and prose in the section.

How does Toomer characterized the South in the first section of Cane?

He believes that it is an unrealistic goal and dismisses the idea. See pages 423: "'Well, you may think it's funny now, baby, but it's not going to be so funny when you have to make your living at it, let me tell you that.'" The narrator's initial unwillingness to accept Sonny's dream or to take it seriously is one of the things that strains their relationship.

How does the narrator respond to Sonny's desire to become a musician?

He buys Sonny a glass of Scotch. See pages 435: "There was a lot of applause and some of it was real. In the dark, the girl came by and I asked her to take drinks to the bandstand. There was a long pause, while they talked up there in the indigo light and after awhile I saw the girl put a Scotch and milk on top of the piano for Sonny. He didn't seem to notice it, but just before they started playing again, he sipped from it and looked toward me, and nodded." The narrator's acknowledgement of Sonny's talent and acceptance of Sonny's choice confirms that he has developed a different kind of relationship with his brother.

How does the narrator respond to Sonny's playing at the end of the story?

It blends metallic/mechanical imagery with sexual imagery. The interplay between the bodies of men and women and the various inorganic materials of the modern city (concrete, glass, metal, wire) reminds readers of the problems that crop up throughout the second section of Cane, problems that are very different from those featured in the first section.

How does the poem "Her Lips Are Copper Wire" connect to the other texts in the second section of Cane?

proud and confident See page 1308, lines 8-17: "Tomorrow, / I'll be at the table / When company comes. / Nobody'll dare / Say to me, 'Eat in the kitchen,' / Then. / / Besides, / They'll see how beautiful I am / And be ashamed." Hughes's poetry rarely sounds notes of lamentation and dejection, nor does he highlight the possibility of forceful, aggressive action, as does Claude McKay. Hughes's speakers tend to be proud, wise (if uneducated), and entirely certain of their own right to speak.

Hughes's tone in "I, Too" could best be described as _____.

All humans carry the same miscellany inside them, no matter what color their exterior. see page 1042: "On the ground before you is the jumble it held—so much like the jumble in the bags, could they be emptied, that all might be dumped in a single heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly. A bit of colored glass more or less would not matter." In this metaphor, race seems no more than skin deep, for the brown bag "contains" the same jumble as every other colored bag. Though this metaphor seems to deny that there is anything essentially "colored," it also denies that there is anything especially "white," which suggests a deeply egalitarian world view.

Hurston ends her essay with a metaphorical description of herself as a "brown bag of miscellany" alongside other bags that are "white, red, and yellow." Which of the following statements best explains her metaphor?

A fairy tale See page 340: The author uses the trappings of a fairytale, (the "maid," the "ballad," the "dark villain," etc.) to produce the sensation of irony as the protagonist of the poem grapples with her complicity in the crime of the murder of Emmett Till.

In "A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi Mother burns bacon," Brooks references elements of which kind of narrative to produce irony?

the long history of black culture See page 1304, line 2: "I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins." Linking his speaker to the long history of Africa and of Africans in America is one way that Hughes conveys his pride in his identity.

In "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," the speaker emphasizes _____.

John suppresses his emotions and refuses to engage with a woman he might love. Throughout the story, John is drawn to Dorris but he constantly pulls back and refuses to give himself as she gives herself to him through a dance. In his dream, John imagines himself in a room where "the flesh and blood of Dorris are its walls," but he only "reaches for a manuscript of his, and reads." This intellectual preoccupation in the face of pure sensuality is typical of John in "Theater."

In "Theater," why does Paul never connect with Dorris?

a college instructor See page 1320, lines 37-41: "As I learn from you, / I guess you learn from me— / although you're older—and white— / and somewhat more free. / / This is my page for English B." The confrontation between teacher and student is also a confrontation between black and white, and the little protest embedded in the poem signals a rejection (or at least a questioning) of white academic authority (see also Hughes's "Letter to the Academy").

In "Theme for English B," the speaker directly addresses _____.

It helps him transform pain and trouble into something beautiful. See page 1317, lines 41-44: "But softly / As the tune comes from his throat / Trouble / Mellows to a golden note." Music is a way of transforming trouble here, though it should not be understood as a panacea, either, for music also ". . . slips / Its hypodermic needle / To his soul," suggesting a darker side to the life and work of a musician (see for example, Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues," which highlights both the trouble undergirding musical creation and the personal and group transformations that might be wrought through that creation).

In "Trumpet Player," what does music do for the subject of the poem?

A group of young black men See page 337: The epigraph, as well as the activities in this short poem, seem to suggest a kind of young male identity that climaxes with the understanding of risk in urban life for young men. "We / Die soon" captures both the self-conscious awareness of Brooks' group of protagonists and the poet's own interjection of a social reality.

In "We Real Cool," who are "The Pool Players" most likely to be?

A prostitute See page 327: "But I say it's fine. Honest, I do. / And I'd like to be a bad woman, too, / And wear the brave stockings of night-black lace / And strut down the streets with paint of my face." Brook's narrator exalts the figure of the prostitute in spite of her mother's warnings, marking not only the effect of her surrounding environments but also the childhood naïveté with which she understands the complex social strictures that surround her.

In "a song in the front yard," what figure of her neighborhood does the narrator want to emulate?

Blacks will eventually reach full equality in the South, but only if southern whites give civil rights to them over time. See page 578: "My own belief is . . . that the time will come when the Negro in the South will be accorded all the political rights which his ability, character, and material possessions entitle him to. I think, though, that the opportunity to freely exercise such political rights will not come in any large degree through outside or artificial forcing, but will be accorded to the Negro by the Southern white people themselves, and that they will protect him in the exercise of those rights." Washington's position, which can be described as both gradualist and accommodating, was one that drew fire from many black leaders because it granted too much power to white southerners in shaping the political and economic destiny of African Americans.

In Washington's opinion, which he gives to the reader near the end of Up from Slavery, what is the political future of his race?

the American Negro wishes for the chance to be both black and American. See page 689. "In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face." The desire for merger—which is really a desire for full and equal citizenship without amalgamation—is unrealized at the end of Souls, though Du Bois does offer some ideas on how it might be realized.

In calling for the American Negro to "attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self," Du Bois rules out all of the following goals except:

Apply hard work and friendly feeling to relationships with southern whites. See page 573: "To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, I would say: 'Cast down your buckets where you are'—cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded. Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic service, and in the professions." Significantly, Washington offers the same advice to whites in the South, insisting that they can "cast down their buckets" into the black population and thereby engage a cheap, loyal, and skilled labor force to drive southern industries and businesses.

In his address to the Atlanta Exposition, Washington tells an anecdote of a ship that has run out of fresh water and unknowingly drifted into the Amazon delta; they hail another ship for help to replenish their water supply and are told to "cast down their buckets" for fresh water. Washington uses this story as an analogy to advise African Americans to cast down their own buckets. Which of the following best matches his advice?

poetry his passion. He could repeat whole pages of the great English poets; and if his pronunciation was sometimes faulty, his eye, his voice, his gestures, would respond to the changing sentiment with the precision that revealed a poetic soul and disarmed criticism." Ryder's gentility is beyond question in this story, though his taste in poetry accords with his appreciation of whiteness throughout the story. See, for example, "Stiller than chisoll'd marble, standing there; / A daughter of the gods, divinely tall, / And most divinely fair. . . . O sweet pale Margaret, / O rare pale Margaret."

Mr. Ryder frequently quotes _____.

nobbish and favor lighter-skinned African Americans for membership See page 602: "By accident, combined perhaps with some natural affinity, the society consisted of individuals who were, generally speaking, more white than black. Some envious outsider made the suggestion that no one was eligible for membership who was not white enough to show blue veins." Though the Blue Veins protest that "character and culture" were the keys to membership, the color prejudice in the society is undeniable.

The story implies that the Blue Veins are ______.

Poverty and luxury See page 331: While religion is certainly a motif in the poem, the contrast between the luxury of the clothing and dress and, on the other hand, the wear and hunger of the body makes the complicated relationship of wealth and display the most prominent aspect of the poem.

What are the themes that create contrast in this passage from "The Sundays of Satin-Legs Smith"? He sees and does not see the broken windows Hiding their shame with newsprint; little girl with ribbons decking wornness, little boy Wearing the trousers with the decentest patch, to honor Sunday; women on their way from "service," temperate holiness arranged Ably on asking faces; men estranged From music and from wonder and from joy But far familiar with the guiding awe of foodlessness.

The "color-line See page 682: "The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." As Du Bois noted with some prescience, the color line would define American politics and social relations throughout the 1900s. His attempt to confront and explore many aspects of that problem in The Souls of Black Folk is one of the principal aims of the text.

What does Du Bois call "the problem of the twentieth century"

She wants him to become her lover and father her child. See page 1155: After Barlo becomes the "starting point of the only living patterns that her mind was to know," Esther thinks about him as both a sexual and a religious figure; she especially appreciates his blackness and his ability to live outside of her own life's narrow boundaries. Though she offers herself to him (perhaps with the hopes that a union with him will transform her life), he refuses her.

What does Esther want from King Barlo in "Esther"?

A woman Paul dances with at the Foxy Cats Club See page 364: Maud Martha sees Paul dancing with Maella, who is "someone red-haired and curved, and white as a white. . . . He held her and conversed with her as though he had known her for a long, long time." The narrator's comment on her skin tone and red hair helps to illustrate Maud Martha's own feelings of inferiority because of her appearance and her husband's failure to give her appropriate attention

Who is the character of Maella in Maud Martha?

They are all victims of the white man's social system. See page 573: "Many times since, I have thought about it, and what it really meant. In one sense, we were huddled in there, bonded together in seeking security and warmth and comfort from each other, and we didn't know it. All of us—who might have probed space, or cured cancer, or built industries—were, instead, black victims of the white man's American social system." Malcolm X laces his autobiography with a social critique that continually renews its relevance as the narrative continues. He contextualizes each anecdote with its political and social significance

What does Malcolm X describe as the factor that united all the various men in Small's bar?

Learning to read See page 559: "From the time that I can remember having any thoughts about anything, I recall that I had an intense longing to learn to read. I determined, when quite a small child, that, if I accomplished nothing else in life, I would in some way get enough education to enable me to read common books and newspapers." In this, Washington allies himself with a long line of African American autobiographers who depict the (successful) quest for literacy as a fundamental piece of their growth and development.

What had Washington been determined to accomplish for as long as he could remember?

He was killed by a white man driving a car. See pages 422: The narrator's mother explains: "Your Daddy never did really get right again. Till the day he died he weren't sure but that every white man he saw was the man that killed his brother." The narrator's father would always be tormented by his inability to protect his brother in a moment of need; the narrator's mother uses this story to remind the narrator to look after his brother no matter what.

What had happened to their father's brother?

His writing ability see page 573: "I did write to Elijah Muhammad. He lived in Chicago at that time, at 6116 Michigan Avenue. At least twenty-five times I must have written that first one-page letter to him, over and over. I was trying to make it both legible and understandable. I practically couldn't read my handwriting myself; it shames even to remember it. My spelling and my grammar were as bad, if not worse. Anyway, as well as I could express it, I said I had been told about him by my brothers and sisters, and I apologized for my poor letter." Malcolm X builds on the a common theme in African American memoirs: discovering reading and writing as a way out of bondage. His humility in describing his letter also helps to prepare the reader for Malcolm's subsequent rapid progress as a writer

What is one of the things Malcolm X begins to feel self-conscious about as he begins to study the words of Elijah Muhammad?

The violence and hatred were from normal citizens and not extraordinary villains—making clear the possibility of this kind of conflict anywhere See page 338: The author is shocked at the normalcy of the town, considering the violent behavior s/he describes in the voices that follow. The author resists the idea of considering Little Rock as an exception, and instead forces the reader to consider the universal aspects of the racial conflicts in Little Rock

What is the author implying in these lines from "The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock"? I scratch my head, massage the hate-I-had. I blink across my prim and pencilled pad. The saga I was sent for is not down. Because there is a puzzle in this town. The biggest News I do not dare Telegraph to the Editor's chair: "They are like people everywhere."

The speaker identifies with a skilled piano player. See page 1307, lines 6-14: "By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light / He did a lazy sway . . . / He did a lazy sway . . . / To the tune o' those Weary Blues. / With his ebony hands on each ivory key / He made that poor piano moan with melody. / O Blues! / Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool / He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool. / O Blues!" The connection between the blues artist and the speaker of the poem (which deepens as the poem goes on ) suggests the relevance of blues lyrics and what might be called a blues spirit to the lives of African Americans.

What is the occasion for "The Weary Blues"?

Alliteration and synecdoche See page 335: Brooks uses synecdoche, a literary device where the part represents the whole, when she represents the ladies as "the fiftyish fingers." The alliteration occurs in multiple places, including: "Fit, fiftyish," "Fat fruit," and again with "fiftyish fingers felt."

What literary devices is Brooks using in this passage from "the lovers of the poor"? Sleek, tender-clad, fit, fiftyish, a-glow, All Sweetly abortive, hinting at fat fruit, Judge it high time that fiftyish fingers felt Beneath the lovelier planes of enterprise.

american jazz and blues Many of Hughes's poems utilize a blues form or reproduce the lyrics of imagined songs; others take up music (jazz and blues) as a subject. See, for example, "Homesick Blues," "Song for Billie Holliday," "The Weary Blues," "Po' Boy Blues," and "Jazz Band in a Parisian Café."

What musical traditions seem to have most influenced the cadence and rhythm of Hughes's poems collected in the Norton Anthology?

Though he knows who she is, he does not embrace his former wife immediately and instead probes her with questions. See page 607: After he is approached by Liza Jane, Mr. Ryder responds, "I don't know of any man in town who goes by that name . . . nor have I heard of any one making such inquiries. But if you will leave me your address, I will give the matter some attention, and if I find out anything I will let you know." Ryder's unwillingness to embrace his wife right away suggests that he is considering the social implications of acknowledging the "wife of his youth."

What phrase best describes Mr. Ryder's attitude toward Liza Jane when he first meets her?

Double consciousness See page 689: After the passage quoted above, Du Bois goes on to explain: "One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost." Double consciousness would remain a key concept for Du Bois and for many African American thinkers over the course of the twentieth century.

What phrase does Du Bois give to "this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity"?

They should be treated as equals in a partnership to build up Africa. See page 987: "It will not be to go to Africa for the purpose of exercising an over-lordship over the native, but it shall be the purpose of the Universal Negro Improvement Association to have established in Africa that brotherly co-operation which will make the interests of the African native and the American and West Indian Negro one and the same." Garvey's focus on racial unity and "brotherly co-operation" set him apart from many other leaders who saw African Americans' relationship to Africa in far different (and usually more paternalistic) terms.

What sentence best describes Garvey's attitude toward the Africans living in Africa?

As they look toward the future, African Americans should not distance themselves from other African Americans who are less educated or less advantaged Acknowledging his aging wife rather than marrying the comely, light-skinned Mrs. Dixon indicates that Mr. Ryder may have revised some of his longstanding opinions about race and social mobility. At the same time, his attitude toward Liza Jane and the way he chooses to introduce her leaves some question about his true feelings for the woman; so, even though he does finally acknowledge her, he may still feel that she represents (at least to him) a "backward step" for the race.

What social message might be suggested by Mr. Ryder's eventual acknowledgement of the wife of his youth?

When she listens to jazz See page 1042: "'Good music they have here,' he remarks, drumming the table with his fingertips. Music. The great blobs of purple and red emotion have not touched him. He has only heard what I felt. He is far away and I see him but dimly across the ocean and the continent that have fallen between us. He is so pale with his whiteness then and I am so colored." Even as she claims that there is no difference between black and white, Hurston here seems to revel in a kind of essentialism, since she can "get" jazz whereas her imagined white listener cannot.

When does she feel it's an advantage to be colored?

immediately spend it on whatever he can See page 1457: "Bought drinks for everybody. Bought drinks for Lucky. Bought drinks for Lucky's damn dog. . . ." As he does with his inheritance, Lincoln takes his windfall and spends it right away. Whereas Lincoln is always spending, Booth is forever saving. He steals clothes, jewelry, and food, but he never spends money

Whenever Lincoln gets money what does he want to do with it?

She refuses to submit to the demands of the bill collectors who beset her. Hughes's "Madam" poems give us some insight into lower-class urban life and its struggles. "Madam" speaks assertively and will not pay the men who make demands of her. In terms of both gender and (possibly) ethnicity, "Madam" seems at a disadvantage, but her descriptions of her own economic situation indicate that she is willing and able to struggle against those disadvantages.

Which of the following best described the speaker of Hughes's "Madam and the Rent Man"?

He believes that Washington's agenda—to postpone demands for equal voting and civic rights and concentrate instead on industrial training—is ultimately counterproductive and demeaning. ee page 699: "Is it possible, and probable, that nine millions of men can make effective progress in economic lines if they are deprived of political rights, made a servile caste, and allowed only the most meager chance for developing their exceptional men? If history and reason give any distinct answer to these questions, it is an emphatic No." This is the crux of the Washington/Du Bois disagreement. Though the men worked together on a number of issues over the years, they would remain in separate camps on the matter of black education.

Which of the following best describes Du Bois's disagreement with Washington's "Atlanta Compromise" in The Souls of Black Folk?

Religious conversions All of the short stories in the second section of Cane are set in Washington, D.C., or Chicago, and most feature male or female protagonists who are frustrated by their inability to communicate their feelings to a member of the opposite sex. In each of those stories, too, at least one of the characters is a light-skinned individual wrestling with intra-group social dynamics.

Which of the following do not appear throughout the second section of Cane?

Kabnis seems unable to locate meaning in faith or in the work he has come to Georgia to do. See page 1218: Though Cane closes with a sunrise, Kabnis seems unable to root himself in the soil (and the culture) that might save him. Dismissive of Carrie Kate and Father John, he refuses to acknowledge an ancestor or a religious teacher, and his long night comes to an end without any apparent resolution.

Which of the following statements best describes Ralph Kabnis at the end of "Kabnis"?

He is sick to his stomach and paralyzed with fear. See pages 414: "A great block of ice got settled in my belly and kept melting there slowly all day long, while I taught my classes algebra. It was a special kind of ice. It kept melting, sending trickles of ice water all up and down my veins, but it never got less. Sometimes it hardened and seemed to expand until I felt my guts were going to come spilling out or that I was going to choke or scream." The narrator's description of the ice in his stomach indicates that he is frozen with fear over what his brother has done and what Sonny has become.

Which of the following statements best describes the narrator's reaction to Sonny's arrest?

He wants the most talented black youths to pursue university education. See page 723: "By refusing the give the Talented Tenth the key to knowledge, can any sane man imagine that they will lightly lay aside their yearning and contentedly become hewers of wood and drawers of water?" Du Bois's idea of the "Talented Tenth" remained influential throughout the first decades of the twentieth century. It represents the most talented 10 percent of the African American community, and Du Bois believed that this segment of the community should be highly educated in order to occupy important positions in politics, medicine, education, and the arts.

Which statement best characterizes Du Bois's attitude toward black education in the United States?

He wanted aspiring individuals to study and emulate great men rather than studying books. See page 569: "Instead of studying books so constantly, how I wish that our schools and colleges might learn to study men and things!" Washington's wish accords with the program at Tuskegee Institute (of which he was the founder and where he served as principal for many years), which provided "normal" or industrial education focused on trades and ready employment.

Which statement best describes Washington's views regarding African American education?

Marcus Garvey, the Back-to-Africa movement See page 567: "My father, the Reverend Earl Little, was a Baptist minister, dedicated organizer for Marcus Aurelius Garvey's U.N.I.A. (Universal Negro Improvement Association). With the help of such disciples as my father, Garvey, from his headquarters in New York City's Harlem, was raising the banner of black-race purity and exhorting the Negro masses to return to their ancestral African homeland—a cause which had made Garvey the most controversial black man on earth." Ultimately, Earl Little's preaching and convictions would lead to his violent murder at the hands of the KKK. This legacy of preaching for one's beliefs would carry on with Malcom X's own life, as would the ominous threat of violence.

Whom did Malcolm Little's father support in his preaching, and what was that figure's cause?

Her unborn or aborted children See page 326: "Though why should I whine, / Whine that the crime was other than mine? — / Since anyhow you are dead. / Or rather, instead, / You were never made. / But that too, I am afraid, / Is faulty: oh, what shall I say, how is the truth to be said? / You were born, you had body, you died. / It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried

Whom is the speaker addressing in "the mother" when she says "Believe me, I loved you all"?

Their father thought it would be a funny joke to give them those names. See page 1434: "It was his idea of a joke." This line reminds viewers of the absurdity at the heart of Parks's drama, and it also hints at the significance of family influence in shaping the future of the characters in the play. Given the way the play ends, we might also say that this line underscores the consequences attending even the most innocent joke.

Why are the two brothers in the play named Lincoln and Booth?

He struggles to reconcile his love for her with the fact that she is black and he is white. Throughout the first section of Cane, sexual relationships are tinged with violence and destruction. Rarely is love uncomplicated, and often the complicating factor is race. In "Blood Burning Moon," Bob Stone loves Louisa but cannot get over the fact that his family owned slaves in previous generations when white-black sexual relations were characterized by power (that is, forcible rape) rather than tenderness and mutual regard.

Why does Bob Stone struggle with his attraction to Louisa in "Blood Burning Moon"?

He uses slang to communicate an affectation he maintained at the time. See page 569: Malcolm X is capturing a snapshot of urban slang to provide contrast with his current style of writing. He emphasizes the difference by following this opening paragraph of chapter four with this explanation: "That paragraph is deliberate, of course." He then continues to outline the other "adornments" used by the men he "respected as 'hip' in those days." This becomes one of the many identities that Malcolm X takes on and later sheds as he evolves from "Detroit Red" to Malcolm X the activist

Why does Malcolm X include the following paragraph? Shorty would take me to groovy, frantic scenes in different chicks' and cats' pads, where with the lights and juke down mellow, everybody blew gage and juiced back and jumped. I met chicks who were fine as May wine, and cats who were hip to all happenings.

To impress a woman to whom he is planning to propose marriage

Why does Mr. Ryder host a ball for the Blue Veins at his house?

Lincoln is the financial provider and the more skilled of the two brothers. See page 1427: "His moves and accompanying patter are, for the most part, studied and awkward." From the beginning, it is clear that Booth's lack of ability with "the cards" separates him from his older brother. No matter how much he practices or how much he studies, he cannot match Lincoln

Why is Booth called the underdog, whereas Lincoln is the topdog?

He leads the society by maintaining its standards and traditions. See page 603: "Though he had not been among the founders of this society, but had come in some years later, his genius for social leadership was such that he had speedily become its recognized adviser and head, the custodian of its standards, and the preserver of its traditions. He shaped its social policy, was active in providing for its entertainment, and when the interest fell off, as it sometimes did, he fanned the embers until they burst again into a cheerful flame."

Why is Mr. Ryder's known as the "dean" of the Blue Vein society?

Prejudice against blacks due to their skin color See page 692: ". . . The very soul of the toiling, sweating black man is darkened by the shadow of a vast despair. Men call the shadow prejudice, and learnedly explain it as a natural defense of culture against barbarism, learning against ignorance, purity against crime, the 'higher' against the 'lower' races. To which the Negro cries Amen! and swears that to so much of this strange prejudice as is founded on just homage to civilization, culture, righteousness, and progress, he humbly bows and meekly does obeisance." Du Bois was anxious to see a hierarchy of talent inaugurated in the United States, and he was happy to see groups of people stratified along those lines. But, as he points out here, such a hierarchy was not possible as long as people were so often categorized according to race and race alone.

which of the following does Du Bois identify as the greatest obstacle facing blacks after the Civil War?