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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. What was the name of Hughes's first novel?

2. How did Hughes describe the cockroaches in New Orleans?

3. What was the name of the ship Hughes found in New Orleans traveling to Havana?

4. How did Dr. Alain Locke find Hughes in Paris?

5. When Hughes entered Lincoln, what was the racial make-up of the Board of Trustees?

Short Essay Questions

1. When an alum of the college met Hughes, how did he react to Hughes's survey concerning having black faculty at Lincoln?

2. Where did Hughes attend college during the 1920s? When was the college founded and by whom? Where is the college located?

3. What was "Not Without Laughter"? Why was it important in Hughes's life?

4. How did Hughes describe the wedding of Countee Cullen? Why was the wedding the talk of Harlem for a time? How was Hughes involved?

5. What event brought Hughes to the South in 1927? How did he react to the South and southern cities?

6. What survey did Hughes conduct at his college during his senior year? Why was this issue important to Hughes?

7. Who did Hughes call the "great Harlem party giver?" How did Hughes describe the parties and the hostess?

8. What were some of the places in Italy Hughes saw aboard the ship headed for New York? What happened to him in Valencia?

9. What poem did Hughes submit to "Opportunity" magazine owned by the National Urban League? What was the poem about? What happened to the poem that changes Hughes's life?

10. What happened to Hughes on his was back to France that changed his travel plans?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Hughes wrote the book "Not Without Laughter" during the summer after his junior year at Lincoln University. What was the book about, and what did it mean to Hughes? What does the phrase "not without laughter" mean and why was it fitting for this novel?

Essay Topic 2

Hughes opened his autobiography with the line "Life is a big sea full of many fish. I let down my nets and pull" and closed it with "Literature is a big sea full of many fish. I let down my nets and pulled. I'm still pulling." Discuss these two statements and how they pertain to Hughes, his autobiography, and his life.

Essay Topic 3

During his time at college, Hughes was introduced to a woman, whose name he did not reveal, who would become his patron and allow him to write without fears of poverty. Discuss this woman and her relationship with Hughes. Describe her and her interest in Hughes and his writing. How did the two of them communicate with each other? How did the relationship finally end?

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