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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 3: "Part Three: The Eight Pillars of Caste".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When 20 Black people arrived in the New World on a Dutch ship in 1619, what were they classified as?
(a) Indentured servants.
(b) Slaves.
(c) Merchandise.
(d) Colonists.

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

3. In "Pillar Number Eight: Inherent Superiority versus Inherent Inferiority," what is the Louise Beavers anecdote meant to illustrate?
(a) That Mary Pickford was concerned about being upstaged by a Black actress.
(b) That White filmmakers feared the audience reaction to an attractive Black woman.
(c) That Black Americans have been made to assume the markers of inferiority like an actor playing a role.
(d) That it is impossible to judge intelligence and character based on skin color.

4. To what Supreme Court case does Wilkerson allude in her "Pillar Number Four: Purity versus Pollution" story about the shoemaker who sued for the right to ride in the white car of the train?
(a) Loving v. Virginia.
(b) Plessy v. Ferguson.
(c) Marbury v. Madison.
(d) Dred Scott v. Sandford.

5. What is the best definition of "endogamy" as used in "The Third Pillar: Endogamy and the Control of Marriage and Mating"?
(a) The fear of people from outside of one's own group.
(b) The practice of marrying within one's own group.
(c) Active interest in and welcoming of new people into one's group.
(d) The practice of marrying outside one's own group.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Wilkerson, what serves as a signal of rank within the American caste system?

2. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," Wilkerson says that actions that reinforce the caste system are "autonomic." What is the best meaning of this word in this context?

3. In what year did Alabama repeal its law against interracial marriage?

4. What is the name of Gunnar Myrdal's 1944 study of race in America?

5. Which of the following is the traditional Indian word for "caste"?

(see the answer key)

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