Read the following passage.
A. Mary Ann Shadd was born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1823. Her father, Abraham Shadd, was a prominent Black abolitionist. When she was ten, the family moved to West Chester, where she was educated at a Quaker boarding school. At 16 she organized a school for young Black people in Wilmington, and from 1839 to 1850 she taught at Black schools in several American cities. After the United States passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, many Black refugees fled north to Canada. Shadd moved to Windsor, Canada West, in 1851 and became a leader and spokesperson for these refugees.
B. In Windsor she opened a racially integrated school that taught children of both African and European descent, with support from the American Missionary Association. In 1852 she published A Plea for Emigration, a pamphlet encouraging Black Americans to move to Canada. She urged Black settlers to become part of Canadian society rather than live in separate settlements, and she objected to the Refugee Home Society's begging for funds. This put her in conflict with Henry Bibb, who was linked to the society and asked in his newspaper, the Voice of the Fugitive, why she had not made her funding known. In January 1853 the association withdrew its support for her school.
C. In March 1853, with help from the abolitionist Samuel Ringgold Ward, Shadd published the first issue of the Provincial Freeman. Ward only lent his name to attract interest and subscriptions. Shadd had no official title, but she was the driving force behind it, and she became the first woman of African descent in North America to publish a newspaper. Publication then stopped for a year while she gave lectures in the United States and Canada to raise money. From 1854 it appeared regularly in Toronto, and in 1855 it moved to Chatham. By 1859 the financial burden had grown too heavy, and it closed.
D. In 1856 Shadd married Thomas Cary, a Black businessman, and they had a son and a daughter. After the paper closed, she stayed on in Chatham, Ontario, where a plaque now honours her, and went back to teaching. Her husband died in 1860, and in late 1863, during the Civil War, she went back to the United States to work as an army recruiter. She later settled in Washington, D.C., where she taught and campaigned for women's right to vote. In 1883 she earned a law degree from Howard University, becoming one of the first African American women to do so.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: E
Why this is correct: Paragraph C tells us where the Provincial Freeman was published, in Toronto and then Chatham, and that Ward's name helped attract subscriptions. It never says where most of the buyers lived, so this is not given.
Passage Reference: Ward only lent his name to attract interest and subscriptions.
Tips: Where a paper is printed is not the same as where its buyers live. Look for any line about readers.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is about her family, her schooling and her move to Windsor. The newspaper has not started yet.
- B: Paragraph B mentions Henry Bibb's newspaper, not the Freeman, and gives no information about any readers.
- C: Paragraph C names the cities where the Freeman was printed and mentions subscriptions, but it does not say where its readers lived.
- D: Paragraph D covers her marriage, her army work and her law degree, with nothing about the paper's buyers.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: In 1856 Shadd married Thomas Cary, a Black businessman, and they had a son and a daughter.
Why this is correct: Paragraph D says she married Thomas Cary, a Black businessman, in 1856 and that he died in 1860. It says nothing about him working on the newspaper, so the statement is not in the passage.
Tips: Two men help or appear near the newspaper story. Check whether the husband is ever connected to it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A names her father, Abraham Shadd, but her husband does not appear in it.
- B: The second paragraph describes her disagreement with Henry Bibb, who ran a rival paper, not a husband helping with hers.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it names Samuel Ringgold Ward as the man who helped start the paper. Her husband is never mentioned there.
- D: Paragraph D tells us who her husband was and when he died. But it gives him no role at the newspaper.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: In Windsor she opened a racially integrated school that taught children of both African and European descent, with support from the American Missionary Association.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B says that in Windsor she opened a racially integrated school that taught children of both African and European descent. Integrated means pupils of different races learned together, which matches the statement.
Tips: Schools appear in three paragraphs. Match the town, Windsor, and the idea of mixed pupils.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph mentions a school she organized in Wilmington. But that one was for young Black people, and it was in the United States.
- C: Paragraph C is about starting and running the Provincial Freeman. It does not mention a school.
- D: Notice that paragraph D says she returned to teaching in Chatham, but it does not describe who her pupils were.
- E: The second paragraph calls the Windsor school racially integrated, with pupils of African and European descent. So the idea is in the passage.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Shadd had no official title, but she was the driving force behind it, and she became the first woman of African descent in North America to publish a newspaper.
Why this is correct: Paragraph C says Samuel Ringgold Ward only lent his name to attract interest. It then says Shadd had no official title but was the driving force behind it. Together, these two sentences match the statement.
Tips: Find where a man lends only his name. Then read on to see who really did the work.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Look at paragraph A: it says she became a leader of the refugees, but there is no newspaper in it yet.
- B: Notice that paragraph B mentions a newspaper run by Henry Bibb, who used it to criticize her, not a paper she ran.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it covers her later life in Chatham and Washington and does not discuss who ran the paper.
- E: In paragraph C, the writer gives this over two sentences: Ward lent his name, and Shadd was the driving force.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: At 16 she organized a school for young Black people in Wilmington, and from 1839 to 1850 she taught at Black schools in several American cities.
Why this is correct: Paragraph A says that from 1839 to 1850 she taught at Black schools in several American cities. It also says she moved to Windsor in 1851. That is about eleven years of teaching before the move.
Tips: Count the years from 1839 to 1850, and check that the teaching took place before the move in 1851.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Notice that paragraph B describes teaching in Windsor, after she arrived in Canada, not the years before.
- C: The third paragraph mentions lectures she gave in the United States, but lecturing to raise money is not school teaching.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it says she went back to teaching in Chatham after 1860, which is later, in Canada.
- E: Notice that paragraph A contains this: it gives the years 1839 to 1850 of teaching in American cities.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: In 1883 she earned a law degree from Howard University, becoming one of the first African American women to do so.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph D says she went back to the United States in late 1863 and later settled in Washington. The last sentence of the paragraph then says that in 1883 she earned a law degree from Howard University.
Tips: Follow her moves between the two countries. Once she is back in her home country, check what she achieves in her studies.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: A new American law, the Fugitive Slave Act, is mentioned in paragraph A. The paragraph says nothing about her studying law.
- B: Notice that paragraph B covers her Windsor school and her pamphlet. There is no university degree in it.
- C: The third paragraph is about the Provincial Freeman from 1853 to 1859 and does not mention any law studies.
- E: The degree is stated in Paragraph D, which names Howard University and the year 1883.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: After the United States passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, many Black refugees fled north to Canada.
Why this is correct: Here the text in paragraph A helps. After the United States passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, many Black refugees fled north to Canada. The Act is the change in law, and the refugees are the people escaping slavery.
Tips: The second paragraph also talks about moving to Canada. Look for the paragraph that names a law as the cause.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph mentions a pamphlet encouraging Black Americans to move to Canada. But it does not mention a law as the cause.
- C: Her newspaper and its moves between cities fill paragraph C. No American law is discussed.
- D: Notice that paragraph D describes her own return to the United States in 1863, which is the opposite direction.
- E: The first paragraph tells us this: it links the Fugitive Slave Act to the refugees' escape north.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: She urged Black settlers to become part of Canadian society rather than live in separate settlements, and she objected to the Refugee Home Society's begging for funds.
Why this is correct: In paragraph B, she urged Black settlers to become part of Canadian society rather than live in separate settlements. So she did not support separate communities for them.
Tips: Look for her opinion about Black settlers. Decide whether she wanted them to join others or keep apart.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, she becomes a spokesperson for the refugees. But the paragraph does not give her view on where they should live.
- C: Notice that paragraph C covers the Freeman's history. Her opinion about settlements is not explained there.
- D: In paragraph D the focus turns to her later life: her family, her teaching, her war work and her law degree. The paragraph says nothing about her views on where Black settlers should live.
- E: Her opinion is given in Paragraph B, which says she wanted settlers to join Canadian society instead.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: After the paper closed, she stayed on in Chatham, Ontario, where a plaque now honours her, and went back to teaching.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D. After the paper closed, she stayed on in Chatham, Ontario, where a plaque now honours her. The plaque is the marker, and the paragraph names both the town and the province.
Tips: Follow the places she lived. Check which town still marks her memory in the present day.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph names Windsor as the town she moved to, but it describes no marker or honour.
- B: Her Windsor school and her conflict with Bibb are what paragraph B covers. Nothing honours her there.
- C: Notice that paragraph C says her paper moved to Chatham in 1855, but it does not mention a plaque.
- E: The plaque in Chatham is named in paragraph D, in the same sentence that tells us she went back to teaching there.
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