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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 5: Interlude--Black Matter(s), including the essays “Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature” through “Hard, True, and Lasting”.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Morrison's reading of fiction about Africa written by non-African writers reminded her of what part of her childhood?
(a) Her own immigration to America from Ghana.
(b) The first time she was called a racial epithet.
(c) When the church collection plate was passed to raise money for Africa.
(d) When she struggled to understand a movie set in Asia.

2. In her "Sarah Lawrence Commencement Address," Morrison says that she is willing to talk about typical graduation topics like the future, responsibility, and goodness, but not what?
(a) Humility.
(b) Ambition.
(c) Happiness.
(d) Success.

3. In "Black Matter(s)," what does Morrison say she means by "American Africanism"?
(a) A Black literary movement that centers Africanness.
(b) The historic systemic oppression of Black Americans.
(c) A claim for expansion of the literary canon to incorporate Black writers.
(d) A white-American construct that defines "American" against a fabrication of Blackness.

4. In "A Race in Mind," Morrison asks for more thoughtful work from what group?
(a) Art critics.
(b) Government.
(c) The press.
(d) Authors.

5. In "Hard, True, and Lasting," Morrison says that she identifies the things she loves and values by doing what?
(a) Contrasting them with the alien world around her.
(b) Imagining them in danger.
(c) Reading scholarly work.
(d) Focusing on their civilizing qualities.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Morrison's "Black Matter(s)," Gothic Romance is evidence of what feeling in the new nation?

2. What does Morrison praise the National Endowment for the Arts for in "The Individual Artist"?

3. According to Morrison's "Black Matter(s)," the slave population became the focus of what fundamental feeling of the colonists?

4. In "Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.," what does Morrison say she wonders about MLK?

5. In "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," Morrison comments that race was once used to exclude Blacks, but now that they want their race represented, they are told it does not exist. What function does this detail perform?

(see the answer key)

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