Before the Byline
Langston Hughes was born in 1901 in this Missouri city.
What is Joplin, Missouri?
Known as the “Father of Black History,” this scholar employed Langston Hughes as his assistant—until Hughes quit because the job interfered with his writing.
Who is Carter G. Woodson?
The famous line, “I know why the caged bird sings” comes from this Paul Laurence Dunbar poem.
What is Sympathy?
Published in 1926 while Langston Hughes was in college, this was his first book of poetry.
What is The Weary Blues?
Instead of receiving a traditional entrance exam at Hampton, Booker T. Washington was tested by being told to perform this household duty.
What is sweeping and cleaning a room?
Before he became a nationally recognized poet, this writer was encouraged to read and develop his imagination by his mother, Matilda.
Who is Paul Laurence Dunbar?
This free Black woman sewed Frederick Douglass’s sailor disguise, helped him obtain travel papers, and assisted his 1838 escape from enslavement.
Who is Anna Murray Douglass?
In this early Langston Hughes poem, Susanna Jones is compared to an ancient queen when she wears a particular color.
What is “When Sue Wears Red”?
Paul Laurence Dunbar was 16 when this first published poem appeared in the Dayton Herald.
What is “Our Martyred Soldiers”?
Langston Hughes’s family included this abolitionist, diplomat, educator, and politician who became the first Black congressman from Virginia.
Who is John Mercer Langston?
At approximately seven or eight years old, this future poet arrived in Boston aboard a slave ship whose name was later forced upon them.
Who is Phillis Wheatley?
Around 1762, this daughter of John and Susanna Wheatley began teaching Phillis to read and write English.
Who is Mary Wheatley?
Written in 1768, this Phillis Wheatley poem has a title describing her forced journey from one continent to another.
What is “On Being Brought from Africa to America”?
Booker T. Washington published this autobiography in 1901.
What is Up from Slavery?
At the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Paul Laurence Dunbar worked as a commissioner for the pavilion representing this Caribbean nation.
What is Haiti?
Frederick Douglass’s mother, Harriet Bailey, sometimes walked approximately this many miles at night to visit him after working in the fields.
What is 12 miles?
This former Union Army officer founded Hampton Institute, mentored Booker T. Washington, and recommended him to lead the new school at Tuskegee.
Who is General Samuel Chapman Armstrong?
Booker T. Washington’s philosophy stated that education should develop these three parts of a person: knowledge, practical skill, and moral character.
What are the head, the hand, and the heart?
Published in 1845 by the Anti-Slavery Office, this autobiography identified its author as an American slave and emphasized that it was “written by himself.”
What is Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave?
Phillis Wheatley’s 1773 book included this statement, signed by 18 prominent Boston men, certifying that they believed she had written the poems herself.
What is To the Publick?
At age 16, this future educator traveled roughly 500 miles toward Hampton Institute, slept beneath a sidewalk in Richmond, and unloaded pig iron to earn food money.
Who is Booker T. Washington?
This influential literary critic wrote the introduction to Lyrics of Lowly Life, helping bring Paul Laurence Dunbar national recognition.
Who is William Dean Howells?
This writer described his two-hour fight against Edward Covey as “the turning-point” in his life as an enslaved man.
Who is Frederick Douglass?
Published in London by A. Bell in 1773, this 39-poem collection identified its author as “Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley.”
What is Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral?
Before Frederick Douglass returned to confront Edward Covey, Sandy Jenkins gave him this object to carry on his right side as protection against being whipped.
What is a root?