Quiz for Thinking Like a Historian:
Poverty and Food

Question

1. As a reformer, Lewis Hine probably staged this photograph of an Italian family in order to appeal to which of the following audiences?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is d. Hine likely staged this photograph of the family sitting around the table during dinner to emphasize the characteristics they shared with native-born American middle-class families, who might be moved to sympathize with the plight of poor immigrants in cities like New York.
Incorrect. The answer is d. Hine likely staged this photograph of the family sitting around the table during dinner to emphasize the characteristics they shared with native-born American middle-class families, who might be moved to sympathize with the plight of poor immigrants in cities like New York.

Question

2. Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (source 2) offered middle-class Americans which of the following ways to address the problem of poverty?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. Alcott’s novel described the March family’s decision to share their plentiful breakfast with the large poor family nearby and emphasized the pleasures associated with giving.
Incorrect. The answer is b. Alcott’s novel described the March family’s decision to share their plentiful breakfast with the large poor family nearby and emphasized the pleasures associated with giving.

Question

3. What do sources 3 and 5 suggest about what middle-class reformers believed was at the root of the problem of inadequate nutrition among the working class in the United States?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. Sources 3 and 5 recognized that the working class had less money with which to buy food, but the cookbook and report suggest that reformers also believed that workers could do better if they understood more about how to spend their money on nutritious food. Abel’s cookbook urged workers to eat more protein, and Campbell illustrated a working woman’s belief that tea and bread were more satisfactory than beans.
Incorrect. The answer is b. Sources 3 and 5 recognized that the working class had less money with which to buy food, but the cookbook and report suggest that reformers also believed that workers could do better if they understood more about how to spend their money on nutritious food. Abel’s cookbook urged workers to eat more protein, and Campbell illustrated a working woman’s belief that tea and bread were more satisfactory than beans.

Question

4. Abel and Campbell both directed their reform efforts at working-class women, the individuals responsible for purchasing and preparing food for their families. What would these working-class women themselves have suggested they needed in order to more effectively nourish their families?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is a. The women themselves understood that poverty was at the root of their inability to nourish themselves and their families.
Incorrect. The answer is a. The women themselves understood that poverty was at the root of their inability to nourish themselves and their families.