Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

CHAPTER 1

Reading Check

1. What is unusual about the weather on the day Judge is born?

2. What is the name of Martha Washington’s child who dies near the time Judge is born?

3. What is Judge’s mother’s name?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is Dunbar’s purpose in describing details like the weather on the day Judge is born, her middle name, and her father’s race?

2. What point is Dunbar making when she describes conditions for enslaved people at Mount Vernon?

3. Why is the death of one of Martha’s children unsettling for the enslaved people at Mount Vernon?

4. What hypocrisy in Martha’s treatment of Judge’s mother makes a lifelong impression on Judge?

Paired Resource

“The Massive, Overlooked Role of Female Slave Owners”

• This article from History details the often-minimized role that white women played in upholding the institution of slavery.
• This resource relates to the themes of Freedom and the Myth of the “Noble Slaveowner,” The Need to Reexamine History, and The Vulnerability of Black Female Bodies.