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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Coats quotes that sixty percent of all young black men who drop out of high school will:
(a) Go to jail.
(b) Join the military.
(c) End up homeless.
(d) Die before the age of 25.

2. What 1986 event helped solidify the author's view that violence is inevitable?
(a) His father was shot.
(b) A teenage boy pulled a gun.
(c) His mother iwa mugged.
(d) He fired his first weapon.

3. Who were the first white people the author knew on a personal level?
(a) Religious zealots.
(b) His editors.
(c) Reporters.
(d) Hippies.

4. What does the author tell his son about responsibility?
(a) Responsibility comes with a price.
(b) He is only responsible for himself.
(c) He is responsible for his body and the bodies of others.
(d) He is responsible for his family.

5. What realization did the author make about death in the sixth grade?
(a) Death does not wait.
(b) Death chases after the living.
(c) Death can occur without warning.
(d) Death is inevitable.

6. Why did the author refrain from comforting his son when Michael Brown's killers were set free?
(a) He feels he pain of grief is an important lesson.
(b) His son locked the bedroom door.
(c) He was too sad to move off the couch,
(d) He was busy calling the news station.

7. According to the author, what is the purpose of defining races of people?
(a) To identify people groups.
(b) To instill a sense of cultural pride.
(c) To form a hierarchy in society.
(d) To define culture.

8. According to the author, the purpose of the public school system is to:
(a) Inspire minds.
(b) Point to the road of success.
(c) Create conformity.
(d) Provide a safe haven.

9. What type of work did the author's father do?
(a) Police officer for Baltimore City.
(b) Custodian for Baltimore public schools.
(c) Freelance writer and journalist.
(d) Research librarian at Howard University.

10. How old is the author's son at the time the memoir is written?
(a) Two.
(b) 15.
(c) Six.
(d) 21.

11. What does the author tell his son about promises?
(a) A promise is worth its weight in gold.
(b) No promise is unbreakable.
(c) A man's word is his bond.
(d) A promise lasts forever.

12. What does the author describe as the "enemy of art, courageous thinking and honest writing"?
(a) Science.
(b) The Dream.
(c) Religion.
(d) Public education.

13. Which name symbolically means "The Struggle"?
(a) Malcom.
(b) Ta-Nehisi.
(c) Luther.
(d) Samori.

14. How are racism and race linked?
(a) They are both unfair.
(b) They are not linked.
(c) People don't like what they don't understand.
(d) Categorizing people groups inevitably causes a power struggle.

15. What did the author's father collect?
(a) Art.
(b) Guns.
(c) Books.
(d) Cigars.

Short Answer Questions

1. What has been the prevalent emotion in the author's life?

2. For whom was the author's son named?

3. What surprised the author about the sixteenth and seventeenth century portraits of Africans?

4. What did the author find unique about Howard University?

5. Whose death reminded the author that his world and his son's were one and the same?

(see the answer keys)

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