Chapter 4: Crooks and the life of the African American

Click on the link below to help you to answer the following questions:

http://www.factmonster.com/spot/bhmtimeline.html

1.        The first African slaves arrived in Virginia.  In what year?

2.        A bit of Maths here – say the novel is set in 1930.  How long had there been slaves in America by this point?

3.        In what year was the importation of slaves from Africa banned in the USA?

4.        What is the name of the 1852 anti-slavery novel and who wrote it?

5.        Which president issued the ‘Emancipation proclamation’ – saying that all slaves were free?

6.        Would the character of Crooks have been born into slavery?  (Think about when it was banned.)

7.        In what year were black Americans actually recognized as citizens?

8.        What important right did black Americans get in 1870?

9.        In your own words, describe what happened in 1931 that may have influenced John Steinbeck when he wrote Of Mice and Men.