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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. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," where does Wilkerson say the term "Caucasian" came from?
(a) A German professor who thought a skull from the Caucasus Mountains was especially attractive.
(b) An eighteenth century novel about a fictional people who migrated from Central Europe to Western Europe.
(c) A long-discredited theory about human origins in Western Russia.
(d) A Sanskrit word that originally referred not to race but to caste.

2. In "The Vitals of History," what does Wilkerson compare an honest and rigorous study of history to?
(a) A mechanic using a diagnostic computer.
(b) An archaeologist uncovering artifacts.
(c) A child learning a new language.
(d) A doctor taking a patient history.

3. In "Pillar Number Seven: Terror as Enforcement, Cruelty as a Means of Control," what common misunderstanding of the slave system in America does Wilkerson dispute?
(a) That brutality against slaves was the result of whites' fear of slave rebellion.
(b) That many slaves entered into consensual relationships with slaveholders.
(c) That slaves were too "valuable" to be mistreated.
(d) That many slaveholders were cruel just because they could be.

4. Besides the caste systems in India and the United States, which other caste system does Wilkerson say that she will focus on?
(a) Apartheid South Africa.
(b) Yuan China.
(c) Nazi Germany.
(d) The Nigerian Osu System.

5. On page 59 of "Chapter Five: 'The Container We Have Built for You,'" when Harold Hale's daughter is about to return to school after a visit with a friend's family, what is the grandmother's response?
(a) "Colored folks around here have better manners."
(b) "Why on earth would you want to go back there?"
(c) "We should never have had you in our home."
(d) "There was a time when I could have made you stay."

Short Answer Questions

1. On page 6, Wilkerson refers to white "preeminence." What quality is she referring to?

2. In "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the Hammond quotes?

3. In Wilkerson's anecdote about the house inspector, how does he "see past the plaster" (17)?

4. In the beginning of "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what physical characteristic is the basis for Wilkerson's imaginary caste system?

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

(see the answer key)

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