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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How is history and the progress of the Negro described in the chapter entitled Many Thousands Gone?
(a) Anti-Social.
(b) Sufficient.
(c) Non-existent.
(d) Social.

2. According to Baldwin, what characteristic does Dorothy Dandridge have that Pearl Bailey lacks?
(a) Charisma.
(b) Aggression.
(c) Shyness.
(d) Sexiness.

3. What does Baldwin say is the hatred symbol of Harlem?
(a) The Jew.
(b) The Black man.
(c) The Negro.
(d) The Mulatto.

4. Who played the villainous second male lead in Carmen Jones?
(a) Harry Belafonte.
(b) Sidney Poitier.
(c) Joe Adams.
(d) Sammy Davis, Jr.

5. Who is the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin?
(a) Richard Wright.
(b) Harriet Beecher Stowe.
(c) George S. Schuyler.
(d) James Baldwin.

6. What novel does Baldwin compare Uncle Tom's Cabin to?
(a) Black Boy.
(b) Little Women.
(c) Othello.
(d) Native Son.

7. What was the political affiliation of the Amsterdam Star-News?
(a) Democrat.
(b) Republican.
(c) Progressive.
(d) Independent.

8. According to Baldwin, at what point does the making of an American begin?
(a) At the point where the individual reaches Ellis Island in New York.
(b) At the point that the person enters the country and adopts the venture of the adopted land.
(c) At the point where the individual rejects all other ties and history to other nations and adopts the venture of the adopted land.
(d) At the point where the individual rejects all other ties and history to other nations and receives their U.S. citizenship from the government.

9. According to Baldwin, what color are the robes of the saved?
(a) Black.
(b) White.
(c) Red.
(d) Green.

10. What does Baldwin suggest the presupposition of the two novels Kingsblood Royal and If He Hollers Let Him Go are in the chapter entitled Many Thousands Gone?
(a) Black is a terrible color with which to be born into the world.
(b) The Negro is a man without a homeland.
(c) Blacks need to make themselves less offensive.
(d) Black men are inferior to white men.

11. What is the theme of Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son?
(a) Self-worth.
(b) Racial prejudice.
(c) Self-righteousness.
(d) Apartheid.

12. Since Negroes have been in this country, Baldwin writes that their one devastating gain was:
(a) Emancipation.
(b) Colonization.
(c) Slavery.
(d) Abolition.

13. Where can the true raison d'être of the Negro press be found?
(a) Lifestyle sections of the Black magazines.
(b) The front pages of the Negro newspapers.
(c) Ebony magazine.
(d) Letters to the editor.

14. How does Baldwin describe the American Ideal?
(a) Everyone should connect to their cultural identity.
(b) Everyone should be as alike as possible.
(c) Everyone should be as different as possible.
(d) Everyone should reconnect to American history.

15. What is the setting of the opening of Native Son?
(a) The projects of the Bronx, NY.
(b) A YMCA in Atlanta, GA.
(c) A Harlem apartment.
(d) A Chicago tenement.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Baldwin, who are the three most important characters in Uncle Tom's Cabin?

2. Why does Baldwin think it is safe for the film Carmen Jones to utilize an all-Negro cast?

3. Who is the author of Native Son?

4. Who was the legal guardian and road manager of the Melodeers during their journey to Atlanta?

5. According to Baldwin, both the Negro and the Jew are characterized as:

(see the answer keys)

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