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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. As a child, what baffled the author about the nonviolent protests of the civil rights moment?
(a) Violence is illegal.
(b) He felt the police should have helped more.
(c) Kids should not see violent television.
(d) He had been raised in a violent society.

2. What field did the author pursue after he left Howard University?
(a) Music.
(b) Archaeology.
(c) Journalism.
(d) Bookselling.

3. What sense does the author describe experiencing as he watched television as a child?
(a) Hope.
(b) Injustice.
(c) Confusion.
(d) Jealousy.

4. What essential question does the author pose in his memoir?
(a) How do I live free in this black body?
(b) When will America be one?
(c) How can all people groups coexist?
(d) Who am I?

5. How old was Tamir Rice when he was shot?
(a) Two.
(b) Six.
(c) 12.
(d) 21.

6. Who said, "Either I can beat him, or the police"?
(a) The author's father.
(b) The author.
(c) The author's mother.
(d) The author's grandmother.

7. Who is the Tolstoy of the Zulus, according to Coats?
(a) Nzinga.
(b) Wiley.
(c) Medici.
(d) Tolstoy.

8. What advantages has the author's son had growing up?
(a) A safer neighborhood, better schools and more freedom.
(b) A black president, social networks, omnipresent media and black culture.
(c) Wealth and private schools.
(d) Less racism, the Internet and a world culture.

9. What hobby did the author pursue while at Howard University?
(a) Poetry.
(b) Bowling.
(c) Music.
(d) Poker.

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

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

12. What is the "one-drop" rule?
(a) One drop of liquor makes an alcoholic.
(b) Having one black parent (or ancestor) makes a person black.
(c) Having one white parent (or ancestor) entitles a person to be white.
(d) One drop of violence ruins a peaceful gathering.

13. To whom is the memoir addressed?
(a) All Americans.
(b) Black Americans.
(c) The author's son.
(d) White Americans.

14. How did the author and his friends illegally obtain alcohol when they were underage?
(a) They would make corn liquor at home in the bathtub.
(b) They would steal it from their parents.
(c) There were men of legal drinking age who would purchase it for them for a fee.
(d) They would steal it from the liquor store.

15. How did the author's parent's respond to his questions about inequality in the world?
(a) They sent him out on the street.
(b) They read passages from the bible.
(c) They referred him to books.
(d) They told him stories of their youth.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the author's parents teach him about religion?

2. Whom did the girl with the long dreads love?

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

4. What is "The Dream" that Coats refers to?

5. How did the author's father discipline him?

(see the answer keys)

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