Harriet Tubman Test: Comprehension and Application

led enslaved people to freedom.

sang forbidden spirituals.

fought for the Fugitive Slave Act.

frightened slaves with her stories.

The runaways stayed with her, even while she slept.

She planned escapes that began on Sundays.

She led runaways though she knew she could be hanged.

The runaways were constantly tired, hungry, and cold.

Tubman often made mistakes about where they could stay.

the runaways had to be more careful to avoid capture.

people who helped runaway slaves were also in danger.

slave owners had many friends living in the North.

He thought he could lead the way better than she.

He threatened to return to the plantation.

He wrote notes about the route they were taking.

He complained about having to sleep outdoors.

Cities and towns in Canada had agreed to provide jobs for all of the runaways that Tubman brought.

The cooler weather in Canada was helpful for runaways who became sick during the long journey.

The Fugitive Slave Law required that runaways be returned to the South if found in the North.

People in the North were no longer willing to provide food, shelter, or jobs for the runaways.

by the subject themself.

by someone other than the subject.

in first-person

in second-person

a poem about an amazing athlete

a biography or biographical essay

an autobiography

an encyclopedia entry about football

"It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen."

"Some of the trees in that forest are more than 500 years old."

"As a college freshman, Martin joined the Drama Club."

"When the fire was extinguished, we began to search for our belongings."

Sometimes she thought she had become nothing but a voice speaking in the darkness cajoling, urging, threatening.

He hesitated a moment and then he joined the others. They started walking again.

She lifted the gun, aimed it at the despairing slave and said, "Go on with us or die."

By slow stages they reached Philadelphia, where William Still hastily recorded their names, and the plantations whence they had some.

In spite of the severe cold, the hard work, she came to love St. Catharines, and the other towns and cities in Canada where black men lived.

Late in December, 1851, Harriet arrived in St. Catharines. It had taken almost a month to complete this journey.

This time she told them about the long agony of the Middle Passage, about the black horror of the holds, about the chains and the whips.

She spent the summer there, cooking in a hotel. That fall she returned, as usual, to Dorchester County to help more slaves to freedom.

Harriet had found it hard to leave the warmth and friendliness, too. But she urged them on.

But they had been tired too long, hungry too long, afraid too long, footsore too long.

They spent the night in the warm kitchen. They really slept, all that night and until dusk the next day.

While she talked, she kept watching them. They did not believe her. She could tell by their expressions.

When she knocked on the door of a farmhouse, a place where she and her parties of runaways had always been welcome, always been given shelter and plenty to eat, there was no answer.

They stumbled along behind her, half-dead for sleep, and she urged them on, though she was as tired and as discouraged as they were.

Sometimes one or the other would vaguely remember having heard a whippoorwill call somewhere in the woods, close by, late at night.

But there were so many of them this time. She knew moments of doubt when she was half-afraid, and kept looking back over her shoulder, imagining that she heard the sound of pursuit.

the Great Emancipator.

Spartacus.

Moses.

Miss Tubman.

Slaves had more free time on Saturday.

Owners could not act until Monday.

Saturdays were considered lucky.

Owners slept late on weekends.

the slaves traveled on freight boxcars.

the railroad tracks ran underground.

the slaves dressed as train passengers.

homes on the route were like stations.

to inspire them

to ease their boredom

to shame them into going north

to teach them some history

The runaway might conclude that slavery is preferable to freedom.

The runaway might be killed.

The runaway might report details of Tubman's methods for escape.

The runaway might discourage other slaves from attempting escape.

One runaway wanted to return to slavery.

The weather in Canada was cold.

Runaways waited for Tubman to awake.

Strangers offered shelter.

The information was not important.

She did not want to add to their fears.

She had one of her fits of sleep.

She wanted to surprise them on arrival.

They sang "Go Down, Moses" to her.

They waited patiently while she slept.

They told Thomas Garrett.

They let her return for their friends.

He was a public official in Canada.

He was a former plantation owner.

He gave fugitives shoes and shelter.

He accompanied Tubman on her trips.

about a week

three months

about a month

a year

Freedom means keeping one job.

Freedom is more than material gains.

Freedom cannot be defined.

Freedom means earning a salary.

She became used to the cold weather.

She liked the freedoms for African Americans there.

She wanted to help former slaves there.

She had many friends there.

The fugitives' trip north was difficult.

Harriet Tubman was justified in threatening to take a slave's life.

The escaping slaves were not able to carry much with them as they traveled north.

Information about escaping slaves had to be kept secret until slavery was abolished.

a passage in Douglass's autobiography

a newspaper account from that era

a letter from Tubman to Douglass

a plaque in front of Douglass's house