Name: ________________________
Ballad of Birmingham, page 374
Vance – Practice Quiz
Multiple Choice
_____ 1. What is the historical context of the poem?
A. the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s
B. the Kent State University shootings of 1970
C. the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963
D. the deployment of U.S. troops to Vietnam in 1965
_____ 2. In the poem, what request does the little girl make to her mother?
A. to go outside to play
B. to attend a church rehearsal for an upcoming play
C. to participate in a Freedom March
D. to go to her friend’s house
_____ 3. What fear prevents the mother from granting her daughter’s request?
A. The mother doesn’t approve of her daughter’s friend.
B. The mother fears for her daughter’s safety in the violent streets.
C. The mother doesn’t want her daughter to be overly involved in
extracurricular activities, such as church rehearsals for the upcoming
play.
D. The mother worries that her daughter is avoiding her homework
responsibilities by spending time with her friends.
_____ 4. What reason does the little girl give as to why she wants to participate in
that event?
A. She wants to support freedom rights for all American citizens.
B. She feels that attending the event is more important than attending
school that day.
C. She is responsible for bringing several banners to the event.
D. She wants to protest the event.
_____ 5. Where does the mother grant permission for her daughter to go?
A. to school
C. to the library
B. to the downtown shops
D. to church
_____ 6. What brings a smile to the mother’s face?
A. She is pleased that her daughter dressed up for the event that her
daughter is attending.
B. She is happy that her daughter listened to her advice.
C. She feels reassured that her daughter is in a sacred place away from
harm.
D. She fondly remembers the church play that she was in when she was
her daughter’s age.
_____ 7. What does the mother do when she hears the explosion?
A. She calls the police to report the incident.
B. She races through the downtown streets looking for her daughter.
C. She hides in the basement to avoid the chaos outside.
D. She clings to her neighbors and listens to the sirens of the
ambulances as they speed to the scene of the explosion.
_____ 8. What does the mother find that belongs to her daughter?
A. her daughter’s white shoe
C. her daughter’s white gloves
B. her daughter’s purse
D. her daughter’s necklace
Short Answer
9–10. What two characteristics of the poem are typical of a ballad?
11–12. What is the setting (time and place) of the poem?
13. What conclusion can you draw as to what happened to the little girl?
14. What is the irony of situation in the poem?
15. What actual event is the basis of the poem?