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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. Coats quotes that sixty percent of all young black men who drop out of high school will:

2. How does the author describe Malcolm X?

3. What did the author's mother urge him to do when he was in trouble at school?

4. According to the author, what do many of his black contemporaries have in common?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Malcom X was one of the greatest, if the not the greatest, literary influence in the author's life. Malcom X was assassinated in February of 1965. How might this knowledge have shaped the influence Malcom X had over the author, who was born ten years after Malcom's death? Using your own knowledge of world history, what aspects of Malcolm X's beliefs might have shaped the author's depiction of the racist role of America?

Essay Topic 2

While at Howard University, the author was influenced by such poets such as Robert Hayden and Ethelbert Miller. Their lyrical influence is still evident even in his memoir. How does the author's style of writing and choice of words reflect a poetic influence? Be specific in the examples you give. What are the potential benefits of using poetic language in a non-fiction work such as "Between the World and Me"? What are the potential drawbacks of using figurative, rather than literal language?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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