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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. How did Queen Nzinga address the social insult of the Dutch ambassador?

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

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

4. How did the author spend most of his time at The Mecca?

5. How does the author describe the classroom?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. According to the author, how have American police departments been given the right to destroy black bodies without the fear of recrimination?

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

When the killer of Michael Brown was set free, Samori (the author's son) was overwrought with anger and sorrow. The author could not bring himself to console his son, although he did sit with him as Samori grieved. Why did Coates find himself unwilling to console his son? Why were things "not going to be okay"? What lesson was Coates trying to teach his son in that moment?

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)

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