Night John chapter 1
1In whose memory is Nightjohn dedicated by the author in the opening pages?


2.
What historical figure "owned, raised, and subsequently used" the slave that the novel is dedicated to


by the author?


3.
What does the author assert about the events in the story at the opening of the novel?


4.
In Chapter 1, Sarny says that some believed she brought Nightjohn to the plantation by what manner?


5.
What is Mr. Waller's first name?


6.
What does Sarny remark about her birth in Chapter 1?


7.
What does Sarny say her last name is in Chapter 1?


8.
How old was Sarny when her birth mother was sold?


9.
Why does mammy say Sarny's birth mother was sold in Chapter 1?


10.
Mammy says in Chapter 1 that Sarny's mother sold for the value of how many field hands?


11.
What is the name of the slave that raises Sarny?


12.
How does Mammy notate the ages of the slave children that she raises?


13.
How old is Sarny in Chapter 1?


14.
What euphemism does Sarny use to describe menstruation in Chapter 1?


15.
What kind of work does Sarny say she is not yet old enough to do on the plantation in Chapter 1?


16.
Where are the flower beds described that Sarny tends from time to time in Chapter 1?


17.
From what device do Sarny and the other slaves eat their meals at the plantation?


18.
Where does Sarny say she was when she first heard about Nightjohn in Chapter 1?


19.
What does Sarny enjoy doing every evening after the slaves eat?


20.
In what century was the Atlantic slave established?


21.
What European country was the first to engage in the New World slave trade?


22.
By current estimates, approximately how many Africans were shipped across the Atlantic during the


slave trade?


23.
"Partus sequitur ventrem" was a legal doctrine adopted widely into the laws of slavery in the


American colonies. What did this law dictate?


24.
In what year did the United States Congress pass a Slave Trade Act which prohibited the building or


outfitting of ships in the U.S. for use in the slave trade?


25.
When did the U.S. Congress outlaw the importation of slaves?