A Young People's History of the United States

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key ideas are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Introduction-Part 1, Chapter 5

Reading Check

1. In the Introduction, Zinn writes that his point of view is critical of 3 primary cultural afflictions. What are those 3 things?

2. Zinn emphasizes the death and destruction that colonialism wrought against Indigenous communities. What is the name of at least one specific community named by Zinn in Chapter 1?

3. The international slave trade involved advanced African societies taking captives from adjacent, less powerful groups and marching them to Africa’s west coast, where they would be shipped across the Atlantic to North America. What fraction of captives forced to make this march died en route?

4. Zinn cites Bacon’s Rebellion as an example of what sort of conflict, which led to the American Revolution?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Zinn explains in the Introduction why it is important to adapt A People’s History of the United States for young readers. What is his reason?

Paired Resource

“Howard Zinn on How US History Is Taught”

• In this 3-minute video, Howard Zinn explains, in his own words, his educational ethos on how history should be taught in schools.