Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-4

Reading Check

1. What happened to the Butler girls’ mother?

2. What happened to the auctioneer George Weems after the auction?

3. What reason does Pierce give for not leaving his daughter Sarah at home?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Mattie taken aback by Pierce Butler’s decision to take his daughters to the auction?

2. Why does the auctioneer George Weems suggest that Pierce Butler “doesn’t deserve to own slaves”?

3. Why does Frances begin to act so callously the day her father takes her to the auction?

Paired Resource

“To Nurture” from NMAAHC’s searchable museum

• This page uses words and pictures to describe some of the roles African American women played in the lives of their enslavers.
• Which aspects of this museum exhibit are present in the lives of Emma and her mother?

“Fanny Kemble and Pierce Butler” from PBS’s Resource Bank for Africans in America

• A biography of Pierce Butler and Fanny Kemble
• How did Kemble and Butler’s differences first come to light?

“William Dunsinberre on the Weeping Time” from PBS’s Resource Bank for Africans in America