Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What reason might Harriet have for refusing to reveal details of Benjamin’s self-emancipation?

A) It could expose those who help self-emancipated people.

B) She is unaware of the details surrounding his emancipation.

C) She did not want others to learn to self-emancipate.

D) The information could endanger Benjamin.

2. Which word best describes how Benjamin is portrayed in the book?

A) Docile

B) Spirited

C) Deferential

D) Explosive

3. How is Martha able to survive and become emancipated?

A) She is able to purchase her freedom.

B) She becomes friends with her female enslaver.

C) She cultivates relationships in the community.

D) She depends on her grandchildren to free her.

4. Which of the following is a way in which enslavers attempt to trick the enslaved into fearing the North?

A) They report on the high rate of poverty among self-emancipated people in the North.

B) They produce letters from emancipated people.

C) They permit the enslaved to visit self-emancipated people.

D) They make false claims of suffering for self-emancipated people in the North.

5. What can the reader infer about the free and enslaved Black people who trade information with enslavers?

A) They fear the consequences of failing to report what they know.

B) They have been hired by the enslavers to spy on the enslaved.

C) They want to curry favor and privileges from white enslavers.

D) They feel it is their moral duty to report to enslavers.

6. Which best demonstrates the way that enslavement complicated the role of motherhood?

A) Enslaved people did not have a choice in the parentage of their children.

B) People who were enslaved had little control over the future of their offspring.

C) Enslaved people did not have the opportunity to cultivate family relationships.

D) Enslaved mothers were separated from their newborns immediately.

7. How do Mr. Sands’s prejudices make him oblivious to the needs and desires of Harriet?

A) He believes enslaved people should have inferior roles in society.

B) He has a savior complex that compels him to rescue Benny and Ellen.

C) He dismisses Martha’s concerns about her grandchildren, believing they are free.

D) He does not understand the need for education among enslaved people.

8. Why is Benny irritated when people called him a “negro?”

A) Benny has lighter skin and feels he is not like darker-skinned people.

B) He does not feel bound by the racial divide in the United States.

C) He thinks labels are detrimental to society.

D) Benny is not old enough to understand the differences between people.

9. What statement best represents Harriet’s views on passing?

A) Harriet would pass if she were able to, but her skin color is too dark.

B) Harriet is light-skinned, but proud to be Black so chooses not to pass.

C) Harriet feels she might be able to pass as white but feels it would be risky.

D) Harriet does not begrudge people who take advantage of passing.

10. What is the impact of Jacobs’s direct address on her audience?

A) It is a call to action against the evils of racism and slavery.

B) It is a way for Jacobs to clarify important details in the text.

C) It helps Jacobs to make a stronger appeal to the federal government.

D) It is designed to make the reader feel superior to enslavers.

11. How does Jacobs exhibit characteristics of the mental shackles of enslavement following her newfound freedom in the North?

A) She jumps up at the sound of fire bells.

B) She becomes a nurse for a white family.

C) She is surprised when she sees relative equality in England.

D) She sees portraits of Black people for the first time.

12. Which term means a form of racism that was present in the North?

A) Abolitionism

B) “Mulatto”

C) Jonkonnu

D) Segregation

13. What is unique about the way the former Mrs. Bruce treats Harriet?

A) She shows kindness and respect.

B) She treats her as an equal.

C) She pays her for the work she does.

D) She offers a home for Ellen.

14. Which best summarizes how life in England compares to the conditions in America?

A) Harriet experiences more racism in England than in America.

B) The English clergy works hard to prevent class tensions from boiling over.

C) The poor in England suffers as poorly as those in America.

D) The English do not express racism as Americans do.

15. Why is it ironic the server on the steamboat refused to give Harriet tea?

A) He has a darker skin tone than Harriet.

B) He is Black.

C) He is a server, like Harriet.

D) He violated his religious beliefs.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What is Mrs. Flint’s character in the memoir? What is she motivated by?

2. Harriet is disappointed when she learns her daughter has not been properly educated in Brooklyn. Why might education be important to Harriet?