1. Was it common for a slave plantation to have a slave like Ben managing its business? What were slaves usually expected to do?

2. Ben is whipped across his chest in one scene. What punishments were visited on slaves in order to "break" them?

3. The short story "Ben" is based on an account in William C. Nell's Colored Patriots of the American Revolution. How does Nell's account differ from Lester's story? What has Lester added or subtracted?

4. According to Lester, most slaves did not live on plantations. How many plantations were there in Kentucky?

What percentage of Kentucky's slave population lived on plantations? How important were they to the economy of Kentucky before the Civil War?

5, What jobs did the "outside" slaves perform on a big plantation like that in "Ben"?

6. What northern businesses profited from the slave economy in the...