Frederick Douglass
Sojourner Truth
Frederick Douglass: Free at Last
Vocabulary
Level U/50
• Use descriptions to determine word meaning: What does the word harsh mean
in this book? Look for clues for the meaning of this word on page 10. (Answer:
hard and unfeeling; Clues/evidence: slave life was harsh; lived in rundown
shacks; only rags to wear; not given enough food to eat)
Find It! Level 1 Comprehension
• Identify facts and details: What details describe the essays Douglass read?
(about freedom, democracy, and abolition, page 11)
• Identify facts and details: What does the Fifteenth Amendment to the
Constitution give black men? (the right to vote, page 15)
realize
unhappy and
discontented
slave owners
worried
revolt
Look Closer! Level 2 Comprehension
• Identify cause and effect: Why did slave owners worry about a slave becoming
educated? Use a cause-and-effect chart for help in answering the question. (he
would realize how discontented and unhappy he was; he would revolt, page 10)
• Identify stated main idea: What sentence best tells the main idea of the fourth
paragraph on page 11? (Working for Covey was nearly intolerable.)
Prove It! Level 3 Comprehension
•Identify unstated main ideas: What is the second paragraph on page 12 mainly
about? (Answer: what Frederick did in Baltimore; Clues/evidence: Frederick
worked at a shipyard; Frederick had the chance to get to know other black
people; he became engaged to a free woman)
•Analyze characters: What clue on page 15 tells you that Douglass did not forget
the plight of slaves? (Clues/evidence: he donated much of the income he
received for his lectures to help fugitive slaves)
Take It Apart! Level 4 Comprehension
• Evaluate author’s purpose: Why did the author probably include the direct quote
in the last paragraph on page 14? (to help readers understand how Frederick
Douglass felt about slavery)
• Evaluate author’s purpose: Why do you think the author included the last
paragraph on page 15? (to provide a strong ending for the biography)
Sojourner Truth: From Slave to Legend
Vocabulary
•Use direct definitions to determine word meaning: What does the word
sojourner mean in this book? Look for clues for the meaning of this word
on page 24. (Answer: someone who travels; Clues/evidence: a sojourner is
someone who travels from place to place)
Find It! Level 1 Comprehension
• Identify facts and details: What details describe Bell’s voice? (low and muted
and pleasing to the ear, page 21)
• Identify facts and details: When did Sojourner die? (in 1883, page 27)
Look Closer! Level 2 Comprehension
•Compare and contrast: How was the end of slavery different in the Northern
states than in the Southern states? (slavery was abolished in the 1830s in the
Northern states; it was abolished at the end of the Civil War in the Southern
states, page 20)
•Identify cause and effect: Why were bookstores afraid to sell Sojourner’s book?
(because of racial tension, page 25)
took her
in
paid
Dumont
for her
Van Wagenens
were good to
her
paid for
baby
Prove It! Level 3 Comprehension
•Analyze characters: What clues on page 22 tell you that the Van Wagenens
were good to Bell? Use an analyze character chart for help in answering the
question. (Clues/evidence: they took her in; they paid John Dumont twenty
dollars for Bell; they paid five for her baby)
•Make inferences: People were interested in what Bell had to say. What clue on
page 24 tells you this? (Clues/evidence: many people came to listen to her
powerful speeches about God)
Take It Apart! Level 4 Comprehension
•Evaluate author’s purpose: Why did the author probably include the information
in the first paragraph on page 22? (to tell readers how the new law worked)
•Analyze text structure and organization: What text structure does the author
use to tell about Sojourner at the end of the biography? (a direct quote)
Readers’ & Writers’ Genre Workshop
©2011 Benchmark Education
Company, LLC. All rights reserved.
This card may be photocopied for
classroom use only.
Based on the Comprehension
Through Deductive Reasoning
Model developed by Margaret Kilgo.