The Book of Negroes

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. Islam (Chapter 1)

2. Her father, Mamadu (Chapter 1)

3. Bayo (Chapter 1)

4. She’s a midwife; she “catches babies” (Chapter 2)

5. They are killed by enslavers (Chapter 3)

6. Her menstrual cycle (Chapter 3)

Short Answer

1. Enslavers make captives chain captives, they make them march naked, and they are beaten. (Chapter 3)

2. The stories can inform readers about the Bayo peoples’ religion, the rich history of African royalty and ingenuity, and the significance of the river that runs along the Bayo village. (Chapter 2)

Chaptes 4-9

Reading Check

1. An honored village storyteller/historian (Chapter 4)

2. Mary (Chapter 4)

3. 100 (Chapter 6)

4. She can’t forget how Fanta murdered two children, including Fanta’s own baby, during the revolt. (Chapter 4)

5. Georgia cannot pronounce Aminata, so she changes the name. (Chapter 7)

Short Answer

1. She senses he has ulterior and perhaps sexual motives. She is proven right when later on in the chapter, she overhears him raping another enslaved girl. (Chapter 4)

2. Aminata refers to Sir Stanley Hastings, who is only interested in the cause for his own gain, in this way. He only seeks to abolish the trading of enslaved people, not slavery itself. (Chapter 5)

Chapters 10-16

Reading Check

1. A Finger (Chapter 10)

2. “Rule Britannia” (Chapter 11)

3. Hilly island (Chapter 12)

4. How to read (Chapter 14)

5. A Black preacher who befriends Aminata in Shelbourne (Chapter 14)

Short Answer

1. She learns Mr. Lindo helped arrange the sale of her son, Mamadu. (Chapter 10)

2. There are emancipated Black people who live there. (Chapter 12)

3. The proclamation declared the freedom of all enslaved people held by the Patriots if they made their way across British lines. (Chapter 12)

4. She was named after the month in which she was born. (Chapter 15)

5. It’s burned down by racists who want emancipated Black people to live in Birchtown. (Chapter 15)

Chapters 17-21

Reading Check

1. Lion Mountain (Chapter 17)

2. Her slave branding (Chapter 21)

3. Olaudah Equiano (Chapter 18)

4. The second-in-command of all English forts (Chapter 18)

5. Fighting for the end of the trading of enslaved people (Chapter 20)

Short Answer

1. Bance Island is known to be an active trading port. (Chapter 17)

2. She risks a chance to be recaptured and sold back into slavery from the nearby Bance Island. (Chapter 19)

3. She overhears them discussing selling her to traders as soon as possible. (Chapter 20)