Question

escape to freedom
history writing by laura phillips
1 on may 13, 1862, just outside charleston harbor, south carolina, the union naval commander of the uss onward was about to
give the order to fire on an armed confederate steamship heading his way. then he noticed a white flag of surrender on the
steamer’s mast. the pilot of the boat was an enslaved african american named robert smalls, who was attempting to escape by
sailing the confederate ship!
2 smalls was born into slavery on april 5, 1839, in beaufort, south carolina. by the time he was 12 years old, his master began to
hire him out to do various jobs in charleston. smalls eventually worked at the docks, learning how to make sails and paint ships.
he also learned how to read nautical maps. over time, he became an excellent sailor and navigator. he could steer any ship
through narrow waterways without running into rocks.
3 in 1861, smalls was working on a 150 - foot steamboat called the planter. the powerful steamer had been turned into a
confederate army ferry and supply gunboat. it was the fastest vessel in the harbor and, as such, was the most important ship in
the local southern fleet.
4 since april 1861, the southern army had held fort sumter, a large defensive island fort at the mouth of charleston harbor.
beyond the harbor was a blockade of northern ships. smalls and his wife, hannah, dreamed of escaping from slavery and raising
their two children in freedom. smalls believed that he and his family might be free if they could make it to the blockade.
5 in the early - morning hours of may 13, the planter’s three white officers left the ship to spend the night ashore. seizing the
opportunity, smalls and the majority of the other enslaved crewmembers set an escape plan in motion. they decided to steal the
ship, but they agreed that if anything went wrong, they would blow it up to avoid capture.
6 the crew fired up the boat’s boilers and set off. smalls first picked up his family and the families of the other crewmen from a
nearby wharf. with one man, five women, and three children aboard, the planter headed toward the mouth of the harbor.
7 by the time morning came to fort sumter near the southern entrance of the harbor, smalls raised the correct combination here rode
part a
what is the structure of paragraph 11 of “escape to freedom”?
a compare and contrast
b chronological order
c problem/solution
d cause and effect
part b
which excerpt from paragraph 11 best supports the correct
answer to part a?
a smalls’s actions introduced him to important men
b in a meeting with president abraham lincoln

Explanation:

Part A

To determine the structure of paragraph 11 (though the paragraph isn't fully shown, we analyze the options). A chronological order structure presents events in the order they occurred over time. The story of Robert Smalls' escape involves a sequence of events (planning, executing the escape, moving the ship, etc.) that follow a time - based order. Compare and contrast would involve showing similarities and differences, problem/solution would present a problem and its solution, and cause and effect would show a cause - effect relationship. The events of Smalls' escape are best described as being in chronological order.

Since the correct answer for Part A is chronological order, we need an excerpt that shows a sequence of events over time. The excerpt that would support this would describe events in the order they happened. For example, an excerpt that talks about the sequence of actions Smalls took (like planning, then executing the escape, then moving the ship) would support a chronological structure. Among the options (assuming the relevant excerpt shows a time - ordered sequence of events), the one that shows a sequence of actions over time would be the correct one. If we assume the relevant excerpt is about the sequence of his escape actions (like picking up family, heading out, etc.), that would support the chronological order structure.

Answer:

B. chronological order

Part B