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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 2: "Part Two: The Arbitrary Construction of Human Divisions".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the beginning of "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what physical characteristic is the basis for Wilkerson's imaginary caste system?
(a) Height.
(b) Eye color.
(c) Sex.
(d) Shoe size.

2. Which leading Black intellectual corresponded with Bhimrao Ambedkar about race in America?
(a) W.E.B. Du Bois.
(b) Thurgood Marshall.
(c) William Monroe Trotter.
(d) Booker T. Washington.

3. In "A Long-Running Play and the Emergence of Caste in America," what does the Nigerian playwright tell Wilkerson about Blacks in Africa?
(a) They are afraid to come to the U.S.
(b) They also have a history of slavery.
(c) They do not exist.
(d) They are also prejudiced against Black Americans.

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

5. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what does Wilkerson say human-genome testing has revealed about race?
(a) There is tremendous variation within each of the five races.
(b) It does not exist.
(c) There are up to 36 divisions that could be called "races."
(d) It is entirely dependent on geography.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Through the Fog of Delhi to the Parallels in India and America," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the detail of the fog that Wilkerson sees when her plane lands?

2. To whom is Wilkerson referring on page 4 when she describes someone as "a no-nonsense national figure overqualified by some estimates"?

3. When 20 Black people arrived in the New World on a Dutch ship in 1619, what were they classified as?

4. In "A Long-Running Play and the Emergence of Caste in America," what does Wilkerson say Americans want to dismiss as a "sad, dark chapter" of American history (43)?

5. On page 16, Wilkerson says that people adjust to the "idiosyncrasies" of an old house. What is she saying that they adjust to?

(see the answer key)

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