Study Questions for Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
1. When referring to an author, we use the full name (first and last) at first. Later, we refer
to the author by last name only. However, in this text, the author is also a character. In
this case, when we are discussing her as the author, we follow the rules for authors.
When discussing her as a character, we call her “_______________________” or
“_____________________________.”
2. When and where was she born?
3. Which relatives of hers were slaves? Quote the lines on page 1 that reveal this.
4. Jacqueline was “born in Ohio but / the stories of South Carolina already run like rivers
through [her] veins” (2). What does this mean, in your own words?
5. The chapter entitled “second daughter’s second day on earth” uses many historical
allusions. Explain the significance of each of the following events/people/locations in
history and identify the pages on which each is mentioned.
 March on Washington
 President John F. Kennedy
 Malcolm X
 Harlem
 Rosa Parks
 James Baldwin
 Ruby Bridges
6. Who are Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings?
7. Where is Nelsonville? What is it like? Which side of Jackie’s family lives there?
8. Using information from pages 10-12, add details to your copy of the Jackie’s family tree.
9. What does it mean that her paternal great-great-grandfather was “born free in Ohio”?
10. When is Jackie told to think of this aforementioned relative, William Woodson (14)?
11. Where did Jackie’s father attend college? How did he pay for it?
12. When does Uncle Odell die? How? Where? Whose brother was he?
13. In which state is the city of Greenville? Which two family members are from there?
14. How does this bring those two family members together? Where do they share this
connection (in other words, in what city do they sit at the table and reminisce about
Greenville)?
15. When do Jackie’s parents fight? Why?
16. Why does Jackie’s father hate the South? What does he say a Woodson is “never gonna”
do (29)?
17. In which city do Jackie, her siblings, and her mom have to move to the back of the bus?
18. Jackie mentions near the beginning that Rosa Parks made her historic refusal to move to
the back of the bus seven years before Jackie is born. Why, then, my Jackie and her
family move to the back of the bus? Does this surprise you?
19. Why is it noteworthy that the cousins swim somewhere they are not usually allowed
(33-34)?
20. Where is Jackie’s mom’s home? How does Woodson reveal this? Why do they return to
Columbus, Ohio?
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Study Questions for Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
21. How old were Jackie and her siblings when their parents separated? (40)
22. Besides “The Grandchildren,” what four things are Jackie and her siblings called? (45)
23. Where does their mom’s sister Caroline (Kay) live? Who else is considering going there?
(46)
24. What does Jackie’s southern grandfather believe in? Why? (48)
25. What do Jackie and her siblings call their grandfather? Why? (51)
26. What do the white men at the printing press call Jackie’s grandfather? What are they
supposed to call him? Why? What bothers the white men about Gunnar’s position? (53)
27. Which part of Greenville does Jackie’s family live in? (54) Who doesn’t live there?
28. What is the “daywork for colored women”? In other words, where do they go, and what
do they do? (55-56)
29. Why do the children get Epsom salts? What do they do with them? (55-57)
30. Does their grandmother want them to work the way she does when they are older? Why
or why not? (55-57)
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Study Questions for Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
31. How does the South treat Jacqueline’s older brother, Hope? (64)
32. Here, Woodson discusses her “almost friends.” What’s wrong with the boy up the
street? What happened to Cora’s and her sisters’ mother? (66-67)
33. How does Jacqueline’s mom react the first time Hope says “ain’t”? (68)
34. What is the “war going on in South Carolina”? (74)
35. What does Miss Bell do for the marchers? (80)
36. Name one of the books the girls read while getting their hair done (83).
37. How is the fabric store different from other places with white people? (90)
38. “And the ___________________ is what I’ll remember. / Even once we move to New
York” (95).
39. What happens to Jacqueline’s mom’s former high school? Who do you think did this?
(110-111)
40. What religion do Jacqueline and her siblings become because of their grandmother?
(112)
41. What does Cora think is the devil? How does Jacqueline’s grandma comfort her? (114-5)
42. How does Jacqueline learn the days of the week? Which days do they have free from
church activities? (119-120)
43. What do Jacqueline and Dell long for in terms of their ribbons? (121)
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Study Questions for Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
44. How does Daddy view God? (122-124)
45. What is Jacqueline “too sleepy” to tell her mother about Greenville? (137) What is her
baby brother’s name? (138)
Part III: Followed the Sky’s Mirrored Constellation to Freedom
46. Why do they leave their first apartment on Bristol Street? (144)
47. Who lives in the building with Jacqueline’s family when they move to Herzl Street? (145)
48. What is a “johnny pump,” and why do the kids enjoy them? (147)
49. What happened to Aunt Kay? How close in age were Aunt Kay and Jacqueline’s mom?
(151)
50. What kind of notebook does Jacqueline get? What is her full name? (155-156)
51. How does Jacqueline feel about starting first grade? Name her school and teacher and
describe the school (158-159).
52. Why do the kids have to go to the Kingdom Hall? Where does their mom go while they
attend church and why? (160-161)
53. The Jehovah’s Witnesses aren’t allowed to salute the flag. Why? Also, how do Jackie and
Alina differ from Gina? (162-163)
54. What else can’t Jehovah’s Witnesses do? (164)
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Study Questions for Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
55. Of Dell and Jackie, which is considered “gifted” and which struggles more with school?
(169-172)
56. How do Jackie and her siblings react to the news that their paternal grandfather
(Grandpa Hope) has died? (182)
57. What happens to Roman, the baby, when he eats paint? (184-189)
58. What is Hope interested in? (186-187)
59. At Mrs. Hughes’s Nursery and Day School, how do the other children treat Hope, Dell,
and Jackie? Give at least one example of their behavior. How do the kids react? (193-4)
60. How does Jackie feel about the woman who can’t afford the copy of The Watchtower?
What is her grandmother’s reaction? (197-198)
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