PT110.S4.P4.Q25 > Analytics

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While historians once propagated the myth that Africans who were brought to the New World as slaves contributed little of value but their labor, a recent study by Amelia Wallace Vernon helps to dispel this notion by showing that Africans introduced rice and the methods of cultivating it into what is now the United States in the early eighteenth century. ███

Conventional View / New View · African slaves in US contributed only their labor / No, they also introduced rice cultivation

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Evidence for New View · Document with instructions to bring slaves with knowledge of rice cultivation to the New World

Document dates the instructions to 1718, decades before the arrival of the French Acadians who were previously thought to have introduced rice cultivation to the New World.

Question / Phenomenon · Why did African Americans grow rice?

After all, the economy was dedicated to maximizing cotton production.

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Two Answers · One during slavery and one after slavery

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Answer 1 / Explanation · Plantation owners also ate rice; growing rice was a relief for slaves

Plantation owners wanted to eat rice so demanded it to be grown. Growing rice was a form of relief for the slaves because they could work without supervision.

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Question / Phenomenon · Why, after slavery ended, did African Americans grow rice?

At that point, African Americans preferred to eat corn and their landlords only wanted cotton as payment.

Answer 2 / Explanation · Growing rice wasn't the point. It was to transform the land.

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Explanation · They transformed the land to make it their own

They did grow rice but that wasn't the point. They wanted to transform the land because they viewed the land as an extension of themselves and so wanted to take care of it and really make it theirs.

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Hypothesis · Rice cultivation may also have been a political act

Transforming the land to grow rice where previously the land was used to grown cotton is a symbolic and political act to assert their freedom and ownership over the land.

Passage Style

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

Single position

25.

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Describe organization

Structure

In P1, the author presents Vernon’s finding that African Americans cultivated rice in the United States. P2 presents Vernon’s hypothesis for what motivated rice cultivation during slavery. P3 shows why rice cultivation by African Americans is difficult to explain after slavery. Finally, P4 presents Vernon’s hypothesis for what motivated rice cultivation after slavery.

A historical phenomenon ██ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ████████ █████ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████

We don’t get any competing theories to explain why African Americans cultivated rice. We only get Vernon’s hypotheses.

A historical discovery ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ ███ ███ █████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ███████████

The passage ends by providing potential answers (Vernon’s answers for why African Americans cultivated rice). The passage doesn’t merely identify questions left unanswered.

13%

A historical fact ██ ██████████ █ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ██████

This is the best answer. A historical fact is presented (African Americans cultivated rice), a question is raised (why did they cultivate rice), and two answers are given (Vernon’s answer for the period during slavery and her answer for the period after slavery).

60%

A historical question ██ ███████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ███ ██████

The passage doesn’t end by discussing two reasons for difficulty in answering why African Americans cultivated rice. Rather, the passage ends by discussing Vernon’s answers to the question.

A historical question ██ ███████ █ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████ ███ █████████ ███ █ ██████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ███ █████ ███ ██████████

The passage doesn’t end by discussing “a number of issues surrounding the study.” Rather, it ends by presenting Vernon’s answers to why African Americans cultivated rice.

18%

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