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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whom does the author describe as "the God I never had"?

2. What bothers the author about artists like Michael Jackson?

3. According to the author, when Lincoln spoke of the "government of the people," to whom was he addressing?

4. What is "The Mecca" that the author describes to his son?

5. What does the author describe as the "enemy of art, courageous thinking and honest writing"?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What is the symbolism behind the author's son's name?

4. How important were books to the author as he was growing up?

5. How does the author define the word "black"?

6. What is meant by "Tolstoy is the Tolstoy of the Zulus?"

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

8. What revelation does the author have about the European perception of Africans during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

9. According to the author, how has the lack of fathers and father-figures affected black children?

10. How did fear shape the author's childhood?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author speaks of the complexity of human society. Describe the contrast between the reality of his Baltimore neighborhood with that of the American suburbia he viewed on TV as a child. How might this contrast have affected his personal philosophy?

Essay Topic 2

Amidst multiple examples of police brutality, the author mentions an effort on behalf of some police departments to improve relations with black Americans by diversifying their staff, utilizing body and patrol car cameras and offering sensitivity training. In the same paragraph, he points out that there remains a significant distance between the police and those they are appointed to protect. Does diversity, sensitivity training and the use of cameras allow the citizens of America to build trust or dissociate themselves from the police force? Is is possible to overcome this dissociation of racism between authority and citizenship. If so, how?

Essay Topic 3

The author spends a great deal of time describing his Mecca, Howard University, as an escape from the fear that once plagued his life as a child on the streets of Baltimore. Keeping in mind that Howard is a private university that not every student can afford, what other Meccas might exist in America that could parallel the author's experience? Are there other places or experiences that could provide a similar bond of safety and community for the black student? If so, what? Is the author's Mecca a physical place or a state of mind? Explain your answer citing examples from the author's work.

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