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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. What does the author imagine white parents might tell their children?

2. Why does the author believe Prince Jones was willing to die?

3. What emotion did the author experience when sitting in the public garden in Paris?

4. What did the city of Manhattan try to build over a slave burial site?

5. What does the author recall always having, even when times were hard?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the author's fear of his son seeing him arrested greater than his fear of being arrested?

2. How did the author's trip to Paris affect his view of what it means to live in a black body?

3. According to Coats, how have the American legal system and the banking industry conspired together to create the illusion known as "The Dream"?

4. What revelation does the author have about police officers and authority figures after the September 11 attacks?

5. According to the author, how does the fear of losing one's life promote violence?

6. What lesson does the mother of the boy on page 112 (Lucia McBath) try to impart to the author's son?

7. How does the author compare the flight of Abraham Brian to the fear of the modern black man?

8. How is the author disappointed by the lack of education during his Civil War battlefield tour?

9. What role has fear played in Samori's (the author's son) life?

10. Why did the thought of encountering the Prince George's County patrol officer frighten the author?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The essential question the author poses in this open letter to his son is "How do I live free in this black body?" Does Coates answer this question, and if so, how? What type of freedom is the author describing?

Essay Topic 2

As Coates drives away from Dr. Jones' elegant home, he passes though a ghetto. What does this ghetto symbolize to the author? What similarities does he draw between black Americans of all socioeconomic classes? What conclusions can you draw about Coates' view of "The American Dream"?

Essay Topic 3

Compare how the events of September 11, 2001 affected the author with how a majority of Americans reacted to the tragedy at the time. Did the attacks eventually unify or divide the nation? Did the author feel a part of that movement? Why or why not? In your opinion, does his opinion represent that of a majority of black Americans?

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This section contains 1,275 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample