Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Apartheid policy exacerbated economic inequality and was designed to keep Black South Africans in a perpetual state of poverty and servitude to the minority white population.

• What economic aspects of the anti-apartheid struggle does Mandela identify? (topic sentence)
• Provide at least 3 examples of apartheid policy and how they each contributed to the poverty and servitude of the Black population.
• In your concluding paragraph, explain how the economic impact of apartheid contributed to Mass Mobilization and/or Shifts in Strategy in the form of the noncooperation campaign.

2. The Nationalist government responded to nonviolent protests with excessive violence and force and created an atmosphere of violence in South Africa.

• How did the government response to nonviolent tactics lead to the organization of Umkonto we Sizwe? (topic sentence)
• Discuss at least 3 instances of government action that illustrate their violent response to nonviolent protests.