MIDTERM EXAM ESSAY QUESTIONS

Your Mid-term Exam will take place on Friday, February 23, 2018, during our normal class time.  It will consist of two parts: quote identifications and essay questions.

PART I: Essay Question

You will need to prepare an essay exam prep card using the following specifications:

• The card may be no bigger than 5" x 8".
• Your name must appear in the upper right corner of the card (with a horizontal orientation so that the longest side is at top).
• A clear space at the top left corner should be left blank for stapling.
• You may record quotes on the card, but each quote on the card needs to appear in the essay. Listing other quotes in an attempt to have the answers to the ID section is unacceptable. Quotes are expected in the essay since you can prepare ahead of time.
• You may not write out the essay on the card, but you may outline the key points.
• Failure to follow these directions will result in the card not being allowed during the exam.
• I will inspect the card before the exam starts. You may wish to show up early to get my approval.

Essay Options for Final Exam

Material in the introduction to the anthology or the introductory material before individual stories and essays should not be used as quotes in your essays.

1.  One of the repeated issues in early African American literature is the role of education in shaping the lives of individuals and racial groups.  Using at least three texts, discuss how literacy and education was seen as a path to agency.  Your response may focus on black perspectives, white perspectives, or both.

2.  Christian values figure prominently in early African American literature.  Using at least three texts, explore how Christianity can be seen as either a means of pacifying an oppressed people, a way of challenging the behavior of whites, or both.

3.  By treating people as property instead of individuals, the institution of slavery threatened the basic values associated with the concept of family.  Using   at least three texts, discuss the negative effects of slavery on family stability.

4.  The majority of the texts in this course were written with the knowledge that the primary audience would be white. Using three texts, consider how black authors consciously manipulated the expectations of white readers to challenge (subtlety or aggressively) the ideology behind slavery.