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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. According to the author, there is no difference between his son and which murdered 17-year-old?
(a) Prince Jones.
(b) Trayvon Martin.
(c) Malcom X.
(d) Jordan Davis.

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

4. What is PG County?
(a) Price Goldwin County, MA.
(b) A poet from Long Island.
(c) Prince George's County, MD.
(d) Princeton-Gordon County, Washington, DC.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the author learn from television as a young boy?

2. How did the author's father react when another boy stole something from the author?

3. According to the author, America believes itself to be:

4. How does the author describe Malcolm X?

5. According to the author, how does racism affect the body?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the author use poetry to express his thoughts?

2. What does the author mean when he says the school system and the streets are "two arms of the same beast"?

3. Why did the author's mother encourage him to write?

4. According to the author, why is America blind to it's racially defined shortcomings?

5. Why didn't the author console his son when Samori grieved over the release of Michael Brown's killer?

6. What does the author mean when he asks: "How do I live free in this black body?"

7. How does the author compare his childhood to that of his son?

8. What role did violence play in the author's childhood?

9. What conflicting thoughts does the author have about the civil rights movement of the 1960s?

10. What influence did Malcom X have on the author as a young man?

(see the answer keys)

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