Instructions
Read paragraphs 20–22 of the text and look at the photograph. Then answer the multiple-choice questions that follow.
From “The Vanishing Island” by Anya Groner
Eight Generations of History
20 Jean Marie Naquin and Pauline Verdin married in the early 1800s. After their wedding, though, they needed to hide: Jean Marie was French and Pauline was Native American. At the time in Louisiana, interracial couples faced discrimination and even violence. Jean Marie’s family disowned him because of the marriage. To escape persecution, Jean Marie and Pauline built their home on an “uninhabited” island. The landscape was rich with palmettos, alligators, crawfish, and sea birds.
21 Ironically, it was Jean Marie’s disapproving father, Jean Charles, for whom the Isle de Jean Charles was likely named. He was the one who first showed his son the island, hidden in the coastal wetlands. Jean Charles had first come to the island while he was employed by the notorious privateer and outlaw, Jean Lafitte. At the time, Louisiana’s wetlands were considered “uninhabitable” by the government. They weren’t even mapped by Europeans. For a man like Jean Lafitte, a privateer who transported stolen goods and slaves to illegal markets, the maze of marshes provided a hiding place for his misdeeds.
22 The coastal swamps provided safety for the newly married Jean Marie and Pauline. Not only was the island isolated, the land was also free. “Uninhabitable” land meant unwanted land, so Jean Marie and Pauline simply claimed it as their own. They built their home from mud, moss, and palmetto leaves, a kind of construction known as bousillage. Soon they started a family.
Black and white photo of children in front of a bousillageFor visual interest only. HEADER: Children in front of a bousillage. Credit: The Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe. DESCRIPTION: Black and white photograph of a house on stilts made of mud, wood, moss and palmetto leaves, a construction known as a bousillage. Five children are standing on the porch and 5 more are standing in the foreground behind a wooden fence.
Based on a text feature of the print medium in this excerpt, the reader can identify that the section is about—
Answer choices for the above question
A. the tribe’s experiences on the island.
B. Native American traditions.
C. possible places for relocation.
D. environmental factors that affect the island.
The photograph in this excerpt provides information about—
Answer choices for the above question
A. Jean Lafitte.
B. how the island has changed.
C. how people on the island lived.
D. why the land was “uninhabitable.”
The main advantage to including both types of media is that—
Answer choices for the above question
A. the photograph gives readers information that printed text cannot possibly give.
B. the two types of media work together to provide a clear idea and explanation for the reader’s benefit.
C. it shows that the author did extensive research on the subject and is a reliable source of information.
D. the photograph helps break up the printed words on the page and makes it appear more readable.
The section is about the tribe’s experiences on the island.
The photograph in this excerpt provides information about how people on the island lived.
The main advantage to including both types of media is that the two types of media work together to provide a clear idea and explanation for the reader’s benefit.