READING CHECK || The Abolitionists: "Martin Robison Delany"

TRUE or FALSE? || "Martin Robison Delany was born into slavery on May 6, 1812 in Charles Town, Virginia."

• TRUE
• FALSE

Why did Delany's family move to Pennsylvania from Virginia when he was a child?

• His mother was determined to educate their children but she was reported to the sheriff for teaching them to read and write.
• His dad was a slave and was sold to a plantation owner in Pennsylvania. Even though his wife and kids were free, the moved with their father Samuel.
• His dad Samuel bought his freedom and moved his family because of the job opportunities available in factories in the north.
• Since his dad was a slave, his mother moved the family to be closer to grandparents in Pennsylvania.

What was the name of Federick Douglass's newspaper?

• The Mystery
• The Abolitionist
• The North Star
• The Underground Railroad

How did the Emancipation Proclamation affect Delany?

• It caused him to retire from his career as an Army officer.
• It caused him to return to his writing and to his medical practice.
• It gave him hope that freed slaves would help establish a new country.
• It gave him hope that African-Americans would not have to emigrate.

Which of the following statements about Martin Robison Delany is true?

• He became the first African-American to graduate from Harvard Medical College.
• He became the highest-ranking African-American officer in the US Army.
• He became the first African-American lieutenant governor of South Carolina.
• He established a new nation for former African-American slaves in Nigeria.

Why did Delany repeatedly suggest that African-Americans should start their own nation?

• He feared that African-Americans would never be truly considered equals in the United States.
• He was angry with the way African-American troops had been treated in the United States.
• He was frustrated by the nation's responses to the books he frequently published.
• He felt that his beliefs would never align with other abolitionists like Frederick Douglass.

Even though African-Americans gained the right to vote, it was quickly suppressed in Southern states. How did Delany respond?

• He started writing newspaper articles that encouraged African-Americans to exercise their right to vote. He felt that if blacks showed up to vote, they could gain control of Congress and state Legislatures.
• He started to get involved in politics, hoping to help politicians get elected who supported civil rights for African-Americans.
• He decided to run for lieutenant governor of South Carolina.
• He resumed his interest in African-American emigration to Liberia.

What idea is BEST supported by the paragraph above?

• Delany's books became very successful and earned him vast fortunes.
• Delany felt that African-Americans should be knowledgeable and proud of their heritage.
• Delany's books encouraged many African-Americans to emigrate to Egypt.
• Delany considered writing to be more important than medicine or the Army.

Which of these careers did Martin Robison Delany NOT pursue during his lifetime?

• store clerk
• writer
• doctor
• journalist
• military leader

Why did the author choose to conclude the article with a quote by Frederick Douglass?

• to contrast Delany's passion for advocating for African-Americans with his feelings about his other work.
• to elaborate on the relationship between Douglass and Delany after the end of their partnership.
• to emphasize Delany's legacy and personality as well as the respect that other abolitionists felt for him.
• to counter Delany's intense personality with the more light-hearted words of his contemporary.