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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who first dug up Claudette's story in 1975?

2. How did Claudette feel about the Civil Rights movement when she was in Birmingham?

3. What did Jo Ann Robinson write?

4. How did Claudette feel when she went on the stand?

5. What did segregationists use to arrest black leaders in Montgomery?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was Claudette afraid after the boycott ended, who did she meet and what kind of help did she need but not receive?

2. What happened during the summer with the bus boycott?

3. Why did Claudette leave school and why did she feel left out of the bus boycott movement?

4. What was happening with the bus line by late January and how did the city leaders respond to that?

5. How did Gray begin his arguments, what did the prosecutor accuse the plaintiffs of and what did they say to his accusations?

6. Why was Claudette considered a bad choice to be the "poster person" for a bus boycott? What did she say about her problem?

7. How long did the judges take with their decision and what was Mayor Gayle's response?

8. Why was Parks considered a good figurehead for the bus boycott?

9. What did Gray do as a second front for the bus boycott?

10. Who were the judges on Claudette's court case?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The summer of 1952, Delphine came down with polio, and it also hit a number of other black boys and girls. Her parents didn't allow her to see Delphine in her condition. Claudette did not see her until she was dead. Claudette then started to question everything about God because she didn't understand why God would take Delphine away.

1. Do you think questioning beliefs about God is a normal reaction for a teenager whose sister has died? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss the irony of the fact of segregation and prejudice when it was a black woman, Henrietta Lacks, whose cells provided the basis for the polio vaccine. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. How do you think Delphine's death helped motivate Claudette to become an activist? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Segregation laws made a lot of difference on the bus because blacks have to sit in the back. Blacks depended on buses to reach their white employers. In Montgomery, if seats were full and a white person came in, a black person had to get up. It did not matter how old, sick or young the black person was or how many blacks sat in a seat.

1. Discuss what you think the reason for segregation was in terms of holding power over others. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss the mechanism of oppression in terms of the emotional and self-esteem benefits the oppressor receives by feeling superior to another person. Include in your discussion how segregation enhanced the effect. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Discuss the reasons segregationist used for implementing and enforcing segregation. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

On the way home from jail, Claudette felt happy and proud. But she was still scared of being hurt. Her family stayed up for fear of lynching. The Reverend was proud of her for standing up for freedom and said she brought the revolution to Montgomery.

1. Do you think Claudette had good reason to feel happy and proud? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Given the social climate in Montgomery when Claudette was arrested, discuss reasons why her family was afraid of repercussions surrounding her arrest. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Discuss why the Reverend said that standing up for herself meant that Claudette was also standing up for freedom. What kind of freedom did he mean? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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