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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. Where is Howard University located?

2. What sense does the author describe experiencing as he watched television as a child?

3. Whom does the author describe as his "wedding ring"?

4. How old was Tamir Rice when he was shot?

5. Coats explains that the young men who walk the streets of Baltimore loud and rude do so because:

Short Essay Questions

1. What assumptions does the author make about PG County (Prince George's County) police officers and why?

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

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

4. What is the author's interpretation of "The Dream"?

5. According to the author, what is the purpose of the public school system?

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

7. For what reasons did the author's father punish him and why?

8. Why did the author's son experience such extreme grief when Michael Brown's killer was set free?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the author compare his experiences with public education to the expectations that society has for black people? What does it mean when he says that “the schools were not concerned with curiosity,” but with “compliance” ? What statement might the author be making about racial injustice in the American school system?

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

Fear is a recurring theme in the author's memoir. What role does fear play in the lives of black Americans? How has fear preserved the author's body? Has fear repressed the author? What are some of the positive and negative effects of the fear he has experienced throughout his life?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,237 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample