You Don't Own Me Quiz | World History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Considered perhaps the greatest Spanish writer, he was forced to be a slave when captured while serving in the Spanish navy. Who was this 'captive'?

Answer: Miguel de Cervantes

Cervantes was captured by Ottoman pirates in 1575 and held for five years in Algiers until his family ransomed him. The experience gave him much material for his future writings, particularly the Captive's tale in "Don Quixote".

2. Which man, born a slave in Maryland escaped and became a leading speaker and author for abolition?

Answer: Frederick Douglass

Douglass wrote and spoke mostly against slavery but also in favor of women's rights, temperance and a free education. Many people had a difficult time believing that such eloquence could come from a former slave.

3. Which African American slave sued for the freedom of himself and his family only to be told that he could not file a suit because Africans were not considered citizens of the United States?

Answer: Dred Scott

Scott was born in 1799 in Virginia and was sold several times, eventually ending up in Missouri. After attempting to purchase his and his family's freedom and being refused he filed suit, saying that having resided in free states and territories they should be granted freedom.

It eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court where Scott's claim was denied because Scott's freedom would "improperly deprive Scott's owner of his legal property". The verdict only inflamed tensions between North and South and possibly hastened the start of the U.S. Civil War.

4. This person was captured by pirates when he was about 16 and watched over animals for six years before escaping. He later became the patron saint of a country - and was pretty good at snake chasing, too. Who was he?

Answer: St. Patrick

The dates of Patrick's birth and death aren't known for sure but he became a Christian missionary in the second half of the fifth century, after returning to his family following his enslavement. He converted the Irish from a polytheistic Celtic religion to Christianity.

The stories of his chasing snakes into the sea are considered apocryphal. March 17th is observed as the possible date of his death. It has become a day of note in Ireland and around the world.

5. An African who lived as a slave in America for several years was influential in helping passage of Britain's "Slave Trade Act 1807". What was this man's name, who wanted to be equal?

Answer: Olaudah Equiano

Equiano was of the Ibo people of present-day Benin. He was kidnapped at age 11 and brought to America. After being sold several times he was bought by Robert King, a Quaker merchant in Philadelphia, who set him to work in his business. King told Equiano he could purchase his freedom for the �40 (about �6000 today) King paid for him. Equiano did so in 1767 and decided to move to England.

In 1789 he wrote his memoirs "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African".

It was very popular and aided in gathering support of the Slave Trade Act 1807, which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire.

6. Moses was a man who came to be revered as a prophet by several religions and a leader of his people, who were enslaved at the time of his birth. To whom were they enslaved?

Answer: Egyptians

At a time when the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians and the pharaoh had ordered all male Israelite babies killed, Moses' mother put him in a basket on the edge of the Nile river. The pharaoh's daughter found him and took him into the royal family, where he grew up.

After killing an Egyptian Moses fled but was told by an angel to return and free the Israelites in Egypt. This he did by getting divine assistance in delivering ten plagues to Egypt and then parting the Red Sea as the Israelites escaped the country.

He was said to later have been given the Ten Commandments by God on Mount Sinai.

7. A general and engineer in the Russian army began life as an African who was kidnapped and enslaved. Who was this man, whom Peter the Great came to like and respect?

Answer: Abram Petrovich Gannibal

Gannibal was born in 1696 in present-day Cameroon. He was kidnapped in 1703 and taken to the Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople. A year later he was ransomed and taken to Russia and presented to Peter the Great who took an immediate liking to him and called him his godson. Gannibal (also known as Hannibal) eventually became a general in the Russian army and a noted engineer.

He was the great-grandfather of Russian author and poet Alexander Pushkin.

8. Who was the American slave who started a rebellion that so scared slave owners that even more repressive legislation was enacted in the South?

Answer: Nat Turner

Nat Turner was born on the Virginia plantation of Benjamin Turner in 1800. The owner gave Nathanial (Nat) considerable liberties and allowed him to learn how to read and write. Nat became a leader of the slaves on Turner's plantation and became a preacher.

He said he could hear voices and in 1831 incited other slaves to riot, killing about 60 white people. When caught, he and sixteen others were put to death. Several Southern states passed repressive legislation regarding slaves and free blacks that weren't resolved until the American Civil War.

9. Jean-Jacques Dessalines joined a slave rebellion in his country and eventually became its leader. Which country did he live in?

Answer: Haiti

Dessalines was born on a plantation in north Haiti in 1758. Around 1788 he was bought by a free black man whom he worked for until joining a slave uprising in 1791, which became the Haitian Revolution. He fought with the French army against British and Spanish forces.

In 1804, Haiti won its independence. Dessalines became governor-general and then named himself Emperor Jacques I. He was assassinated in 1806.

10. One slave became so well-known he even had movies and a television series produced about him. Who was this famous gladiator?

Answer: Spartacus

Spartacus was a Thracian who was likely captured by Roman legions and put into slavery. In 73 BC, he and 70 other slaves escaped from gladiatorial school and recruited other slaves to their group. The revolt led to what was called the Third Servile War. It took the Roman army two years to finally conquer Spartacus and his men.

Source: Author CmdrK

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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You Don't Own Me Trivia Quiz

Slavery has been around almost as long as mankind. Some slaves refused to accept their bondage and rebelled or escaped. Here is a quiz about some who left their marks on history.

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