African American Literature Unit 1 & Unit 2 – Flashcards
Flashcard maker : Cara Robinson
Countee Cullen, Naomi Long Madgett, Julius Lester, Olaudah Equiano, and Derek Walcott have left a legacy through _______________.
Poetry, speeches and more
African proverbs disclose an oral tradition of societal values that were passed on from generation to generation.
TRUE
The legacies of African Americans have been presented in _________________.
Slave narratives, poems, epics, folktales and recordings
In “Heritage,” the speaker uses the phrase “three centuries removed” to refer to _______________________.
The time when his or her ancestors were removed from Africa
By appealing to the senses, imagery creates a non-dramatic and non-realistic world for the reader.
FALSE
The speakers in the “Heritage” question the ___________________.
personal meaning of Africa
A(n) ______ is a long narrative poem written in a keen language and recounts the deeds of a heroic character who embodies the values of a particular society or culture.
epic
What is the intended effect of describing Soumaoro as the “king who wore robes of human skin” in “Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali?”
to emphasize his evil
One strategy to help you get more out of what you read is by asking
TRUE
What is the main idea in the following proverb: “Indecision is like the stepchild; if he doesn’t wash his hands, he is called dirty; if he does, he is wasting water.”?
Indecision usually results in a difficult or no-win situation
What does the lump on the crocodile’s snout symbolize in the following proverb: “Only when you have crossed the river, can you say the crocodile has a lump on his snout”?
A detail one can only know if they have experienced a certain situation
Because Ananse in the African proverb was so angry that his son was right, he threw the pot down. It broke. As a result, wisdom escaped and spread throughout the world, some of it appearing in the proverbs passed down by African societies.
TRUE
An archetypal figure that appears in folklore all over the world is called a __________________.
trickster
Ananse transported the python to Nana Nyamee by convincing Python to let Ananse tie him to a stick which made it easy to carry him.
TRUE
In “Spider’s Bargain with God,” Ananse cleverly manipulates creatures around his home to fulfill his goal of having all stories in the world told __________.
about him
A griot is a storyteller.
TRUE
For how long did Soumaoro’s tribal chief believe they could wait out Sundiata in “Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali”?
A year
One strategy to help you get more out of what you read is by asking questions.
TRUE
Sundiata in “Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali” is the son of the ___________.
buffalo
In “Spider’s Bargain with God,” Ananse cleverly manipulates creatures around his home to fulfill his goal of having all stories in the world told about him.
TRUE
According to Alfred W. Tatum, Africans and African Americans have ___________________.
made very little contributions that have shaped the world
An ancient epic draws you in to the heroic exploits ________________.
that gave rise to an empire
Mainu the Frog and Ananse the Spider are ___________ characters in “Spiders Bargain with God” and “The Son of Kim-ana-u-eze.”
tricksters
Most African folk tales involve _________________________.
animal characters such as spider, tortoise and elephant
A proverb is a short statement that expresses a common truth or experience.
TRUE
Frog seems to think that strength was like a daisy among the many varieties of flowers possible in the garden, only one of many __________.
virtues
A trickster is a mischievous figure in myth or folklore who typically makes up for physical limitation with slyness and rebellious humor.
TRUE
What is the son’s goal in “The Son of Kim-ana-u-eze”
to marry the daughter of the sun and moon
What are the subjects of the griot’s prophetic song in “Omeros?”
Captured people from Africa
Paraphrase the following lines 13-19 on page 58:
“…changed from snakes into currents. When inspected, our eyes showed dried fronds in their brown irises and from our curved spines, the rib-cages radiated.”
When the slave traders inspected us, our eyes were as dull as dead palms fronds. Our rib cages also resembled palm branches. Those who dies were tossed overboard, and their corpses floated back to the beaches of Africa.
At the end of the poem “Omeros” the Ashanti, the Mandingo, the Ibo, and the Guinea are forced to separate.
TRUE
What is the type of writing that ridicules the shortcomings of a person or place in an attempt to bring about change?
Satire
After gathering information in the prewriting process, you then have to write a thesis in the last step of drafting your analysis.
FALSE
What is the conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have ended or settled?
Resolution
When you analyze a writer’s argument, you are looking for opinions that are stated.
FALSE
To what does Benjamin Banneker attribute his success in life?
His Freedom
Benjamin Banneker was a major intellectual of the ________________.
18th Century
In his conclusion, what does Benjamin Banneker say will help Jefferson and others to know what to do?
Putting themselves in the place of enslaved Africans
Benjamin Banneker cites lines from the Declaration of Independence in order to ______________________.
remind Jefferson of his public declaration of hatred of oppression
Benjamin Banneker wants to ignore the issue of slavery and influence others to do the same.
FALSE
In “To his Excellency General Washington,” which of the following is personified as a glorious and warlike goddess?
The American colonies
Phillis Wheatley is one of the earliest American poets and the _______________.
first African American to publish a book of poetry
Personification is giving human traits such as feelings, action, or characteristics to non-living objects such as things, colors, qualities, or thoughts.
TRUE
to regret deeply
lament
of or suitable for war
martial
not objective; prejudiced
biased
showing contempt or disdain
scornful
not Christian, Muslim or Jewish
Pagan
A statement of fact expresses only what truly happened, or what could be proven to have happened.
TRUE
Why does Sojourner Truth feel that slavery is only partially destroyed?
Women have few if any rights.
“It cuts like a knife” would be an example of:
Simile
The girl to be known as Phillis Wheatley was taken __________________________.
captive aboard a slave ship in Africa and sold in Boston
A word that has a similar meaning or nearly the same meaning is considered a(n) ____________.
synonym
An argument is a form of persuasion that appeals to reason rather than emotion.
TRUE
In her poems, Phillis Wheatley feels that ____________________.
the American Revolution is a glorious fight for freedom.
of the Devil
Diabolic
Showing contempt or disdain
Scornful
What is the main idea of the letter that Benjamin Banneker wrote to Thomas Jefferson?
Enslaving people is inconsistent with the ideals of the United States as expressed by founding fathers.
No one really is impressed with Phillis Wheatley as far as Charles Johnson is concerned because she is from .
FALSE
Douglass evokes the harsh and brutal existence of an enslaved African. At the same time, he conveys a message of survival and hope that transcends his narrative’s historical context.
TRUE
Who is coming to carry the speaker home in “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”?
Angels
How long had Douglass been at Covey’s before the incident that he narrated?
Six Months
Harriet Jacobs was born __________________.
Into slavery in North Carolina
In the tradition of Olaudah Equiano and Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs builds a vague portrayal of the society that perpetuated the slave system. The details in her account enable readers to see how whites used their power to dominate and abuse the Africans, who had no rights or protection.
FALSE
What is the most reasonable inference about the end of Harriet Jacob’s excerpt when the slaveholders won’t allow visiting on the plantation?
The slaveholders don’t trust the enslaved population.
Which of these words best describes Harriet Tubman?
Brave
An author’s purpose is the intent he or she has in writing the particular work.
TRUE
Which of these words is not a reference to Harriet Tubman?
Quaker
The prewriting process includes which of the following?
Choosing a topic, stating your opinion, telling your story and elaborating.
One good way to organize your essay is to write ___________,
an outline
One should never use sensory details when writing a personal narrative.
FALSE
Harriet Jacobs wrote “Incidents in the Life of a Salve Girl” to _________________.
arouse the women of the North to realize the condition of two million women in the South still in bondage.
Ann Petry mentions the Fugitive Slave law because ____________________.
it provides legal authority for capturing and punishing people who had escaped from slavery
In a personal narrative, you use the first person pronoun “I” to identify yourself.
TRUE
Phillis’s conflict in “Poetry and Politics” is a(n) ______________.
internal one with worries about herself and her poetry being liked.
A refrain is a word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated for effect several times in a poem. Refrains are often used in ballads and other narrative poems.
TRUE
Narratives include only nonfiction, true stories.
FALSE
Biographers often key in on remarkable aspects of their subjects’ lives.
TRUE
What was a function of the spirituals?
To signal secret meetings or times of escapes.
An idiom is an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically.
TRUE
Synonyms are words that have nearly the same meaning.
TRUE
A statement of opinion expresses a position toward something. It makes a judgment, view, or conclusion.
TRUE
What does Douglass mean when he says that in future “the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me”?
He will never allow himself to be whipped again without fighting back.
In the poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” which word describes the speaker’s soul before coming to America?
Benighted
