Written by Darwin Mcbeth Walton

Journeys of Courage

On the Underground Railroad

Written by Darwin McBeth Walton

1. Read the passage below.

In 1619 nineteen Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia on a ship. These Africans came to North America as indentured servants. Indentured servants were people who agreed to work without pay for seven years rather than go to jail for debts they couldn’t pay. The captain of the ship had paid the Africans’ debts and had let them travel on his ship. Once the ship reached Jamestown, the captain traded the Africans to planters for food and supplies.

In the sentence, the word indentured means

a. servants were people who agreed to work without pay for seven years rather than go to jail for debts they couldn’t pay

b. ways to get from place to place; roads or paths

c. received money, property, or personal belongs from someone who has died

d. large farms where one crop is grown, and the work is done by workers who live there

2. How did the Underground Railroad get its name?

a. The slaves escaped across the South states by train

b. A man swam for his life across the Ohio River and when he reached the banks of the river, he disappeared. The slave owner chasing him said, “It was as if he disappeared on an underground road.”

c. ways to get from place to place; roads or paths

d. a place to hid food

3. By the late 1700s, the states had divided into what was known as the free states (North) and the slave states (South). What were some of the slave states mentioned in Chapter 2?

a. Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina

b. Kansas, Maine, New York, Ohio, Iowa

c. California, Oregon, Dakota

d. New Mexico, Utah, Nevada

4. What were some of the ways mentioned in the passage about how slaves escaped to freedom?

a. In a Brown Box, Underground Railroad, by boat, by swimming across rivers, disguising themselves as men and traveling with one as the servant

b. disguising themselves as men and traveling with one as the servant, and traveling by boat

c. In a brown box and traveling by train

d. By boats and trains

5. Read the passage below.

The Quakers, also known as the Society of Friends, were the first people to publicly declare that slavery was wrong. Many Quakers became abolitionists.

In the sentence, the word abolitionists means

e. servants were people who agreed to work without pay for seven years rather than go to jail for debts they couldn’t pay

f. people who wanted to end slavery in the United States in the years before the Civil War

g. received money, property, or personal belongs from someone who has died

h. large farms where one crop is grown, and the work is done by workers who live there

6. Who were some of the heroes of the Underground Railroad?

a. Dr. Alexander Ross, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman

b. Tice Davids, Henry “Box” Brown

c. Alex Bell, Albert Edison

d. Dr. Alexander Ross, and Harriet Beecher Stowe

7. How many years did indentured servants have to work before they could be free and earn money?

a. Indentured servants worked for five years

b. Indentured servants worked for ten years

c. Indentured servants worked for seven years

d. Indentured servants worked for 30 years

8. What is the author’s main purpose for writing the passage?

a. Inform the reader about the courage of people and how they found to be free and the use of the Underground railroad

b. Persuade the reader to become a slave and take adventures on the Underground Railroad

c. Describe how slaves were treated and used different methods to escape to free states

d. Entertain the reader about slavery and the Underground Railroad

9. Whose book was possibly responsible for the start of the Civil War between the North and the South?

a. Uncle Tom’s Stowe

b. Uncle Tom’s Cabin

c. Uncle Tom’s House

d. Uncle Tom’s kitchen

10. Slaves were to be free when President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in June of 1863; however slaves were not freed until the Civil War ended. When did the Civil War end?

a. April 9, 1865

b. April 15, 2012

c. November 9, 1865

d. December 7, 1942