Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay. 

Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the book over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Choose one of the exploited or marginalized people that Budhos and Aronson discuss as an individual and explain how, despite circumstances, this person still managed to have an impact on history.

• Who is the person, and what impact did they have on history? (topic sentence)
• What details from this person’s life do the authors offer to show how the person was exploited or marginalized?
• What details from this person’s life and from history do the authors offer to show that this person had an impact on history?
• Finally, discuss in your concluding sentence or sentences how this story demonstrates that History is Personal.

2. Compare and contrast the lives of enslaved people on sugar plantations with the lives of indentured servants on sugar plantations.

• What is similar, and what is different, about the lives that these two kinds of laborers had? (topic sentence)
• What evidence in the text shows how their lives were different?
• What evidence in the text shows how their lives were similar?
• Finally, explain in your concluding sentence or sentences how comparing and contrasting the lives of these two types of laborers demonstrates The Complexity of History.