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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 4: "Part Four: The Tentacles of Caste".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. At what famous Alabama bridge did the police violently attack peaceful protesters on their way to Montgomery?
(a) The Benson Bridge.
(b) The New River Gorge Bridge.
(c) The Seven Mile Bridge.
(d) The Edmund Pettus Bridge.

2. According to Wilkerson in "The Second Pillar: Heritability," what happened to Forest Whitaker at a Manhattan Deli?
(a) He was assaulted by a police officer.
(b) A customer assumed that he was a busboy.
(c) An employee referred to him using a racial epithet.
(d) He was accused of shoplifting.

3. In "Pillar Number Six: Dehumanization and Stigma," what is the best definition of the word "stigma"?
(a) A cultural system of disguised aggressions.
(b) A marking believed to indicate evil, corruption, etc.
(c) The practice of separating or segregating something believed to be polluted.
(d) A set of negative beliefs attached to a particular characteristic, action, object, etc.

4. In "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the Hammond quotes?
(a) This is a defining historical moment that explicitly supports the chapter's central claim.
(b) It demonstrates that religious belief is incompatible with endorsement of a caste system.
(c) This illustrates the depth of hatred that White Southerners had for the lowest caste.
(d) It bolsters Wilkerson's ethos, making the reader more receptive to her claims about India.

5. In "Chapter Twelve: A Scapegoat to Bear the Sins of the World," what does Wilkerson say Austin police initially said about the bomb-related death of Stephan House?
(a) That it was probably the work of a serial bomber.
(b) That it was likely a hate crime.
(c) It might be drug-related, or House might have accidentally blown himself up.
(d) That House was the probable suspect in a string of bombings.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the best definition of "heritability" as used in "The Second Pillar: Heritability"?

2. In "Chapter Eleven: Dominant Group Status Threat and the Precarity of the Highest Rung," what does Wilkerson reveal about the New Deal and the Federal Housing Administration?

3. In "The Vitals of History," what does Wilkerson compare an honest and rigorous study of history to?

4. In "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," how does Wilkerson say North Carolina prevented Blacks from achieving economic independence?

5. What technique does Wilkerson use for the first time in the beginning of "An Old House and an Infrared Light"?

(see the answer key)

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