The Book of Negroes

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

Multiple Choice

1. What kind of plantation does Appleby run?

A) Cotton

B) Indigo

C) Sugar cane

D) Textiles

2. What war began because of tensions between British Loyalists and rebels in America during the 1770s?

A) The Ten Years’ War

B) The Civil War

C) The Revolutionary War

D) The War on Terrorism

3. How does Mrs. Lindo die?

A) She is murdered.

B) She has smallpox.

C) She has tuberculosis.

D) She dies in childbirth.

4. Which of the following is the best example of the theme The Importance of Names and Naming? 

A) Aminata naming her son after her father

B) Aminata’s Islamic beliefs

C) Chakura’s pet name for Aminata

D) Olaudah Equiano’s narrative

5. What did the historical Book of Negroes record? 

A) The names of Black people permitted to leave New York for Novia Scotia

B) The names of Black people arrested as rebels to the Patriots’ cause

D) The names of Black people who chose to emigrate to Africa

D) The names of Black people permitted to travel to England

6. How does Aminata find out about the death of her son? 

A) She hears it through the fishnet

B) Georgia tells her

C) Chekura tells her

D) She hears it at a prayer meeting

7. How does the following excerpt express the theme of The Importance of Names and Naming?:

The abolitionists may well call me their equal, but their lips do not yet say my name and their ears do not yet hear my story. Not the way I want to tell it. But I have long loved the written word, and come to see in it the power of the sleeping lion. This is my name. This is who I am. (Book 2, Chapter 5, Page 101)

A) It emphasizes how important being an equal is to Aminata.

B) It gives power to Aminata’s African name and the validity of her telling her own story.

C) It marks a turning point in Aminata’s understanding of the Atlantic trade.

D) It shows the equality between abolitionists and former enslaved people.

8. Which of the following is an example of languages and fluency as a motif in the novel?

A) The secret usage of the Gullah language on Appleby’s plantation

B) Aminata’s readiness to speak “like white folks” with Lindo

C) The meaning behind Chekura’s name

D) Aminata’s appearance in front of the British parliament

9. Why does Chekura ask Aminata to repeat his name on the ship?

A) He wanted her to relay a message when she made it to America.

B) He was attempting to start a riot.

C) He wanted someone to know his name.

D) He was in love with Aminata and wanted her love in return.

10. What is the importance of the fishnet in the novel?

A) It’s an important tool used in everyday enslaved labor.

B) It’s the name of the book that records the names of escaped enslaved people.

C) It’s a network of communication between enslaved people in the Coastal South.

D) It’s the unofficial name of a document ensuring free passage to Novia Scotia.

11. What does Lindo mean when he says, “I am not a white man. I am a Jew, and that is very different. You and I are both outsiders” to Aminata? (Chapter 9)

A) He believes their faiths are similar

B) He believes he’s biracial

C) He believes he is also a servant

D) He believes the plights of Jews and enslaved people to be equal 

12. What is an indentured servant?

A) A day laborer on a plantation

B) A person indebted in servitude to pay off a debt

C) Another name for a freed person

D) A derogatory term for an abolitionist

13. What is Peruvian bark the best treatment for?

A) Gunshot wounds

B) Influenza

C) Snakebites 

D) Fever

14. What is ironic about Armstrong’s saying, “I hadn’t intended for you to see that” to Aminata after she looks out to the pens? (Chapter 19)

A) He wanted to deny slavery’s existence in front of his guest.

B) He wanted to prove the trading of enslaved people wasn’t as barbaric as Aminata claimed.

C) He intended to end his part in the trade prior to Aminata’s visit.

D) He intended to capture Aminata and sell her back into slavery.

15. Why did both the courts and press focus on the branding of enslaved people during Aminata’s testimony?

A) The branding of enslaved people was illegal at that time.

B) News outlets equated it with decorative scars.

C) Branding of enslaved people proved the true horrors that accompanied the trade system.

D) News outlets believed it was a shocking headline.

Long Answer

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

1. What is the role of organized religion in the novel? How do various peoples and communities pray, and how does the text depict and comment upon their belief systems and their behavior?

2. What does Solomon Lindo hope to do by telling Aminata he’s Jewish? 

3. Why is Aminata determined to get back to her native home, Bayo?