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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 5: "Part Five: The Consequences of Caste".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Chapter Fourteen: The Intrusion of Caste in Everyday Life," what does Wilkerson use Tamir Rice's story to illustrate?
(a) Whites often assume that they have authority over unrelated Black children.
(b) Black parents are capable of raising their own children.
(c) White bystanders often assume that they know better than Black parents.
(d) Black parents have good reason for being afraid for their sons.

2. What was decided at the conference depicted in the opening of "The Nazis and the Acceleration of Caste"?
(a) The plan to exterminate German Jews.
(b) The Lebensraum program.
(c) Forced sterilization of Jews.
(d) The Nuremberg Laws.

3. What conclusion about people does Wilkerson come to in In "Chapter Nineteen: The Euphoria of Hate"?
(a) Charismatic leaders are dangerous.
(b) People tend to want to distance themselves from even fairly recent evil acts.
(c) Ordinary people are easily seduced by evil.
(d) Most people have accurate beliefs about themselves and others.

4. In "The Third Pillar: Endogamy and the Control of Marriage and Mating," what does Wilkerson imply was the reason for the prosecution of Hugh Davis?
(a) The Black woman in the relationship was already married.
(b) Davis raped a Black woman.
(c) Davis treated his Black partner as an equal.
(d) Very few white men had previously admitted to relationships with Black women.

5. In "Chapter Twenty-Four: Cortisol, Telomeres, and the Lethality of Caste," what does the Nigerian immigrant discover about living in America?
(a) As an outsider, he can see that the problem in America is caste, not class.
(b) As he becomes more Americanized, he suffers more from the prejudices aimed at Black Americans.
(c) As he becomes more Americanized, he realizes that he identifies more with white Americans than Black Americans.
(d) As an outsider, he can see that the problem in America is class, not race.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the opening anecdote of the book, what escapes from the melting permafrost?

2. According to "Pillar Number Four: Purity versus Pollution," what makes the United States's racial hierarchy different from those in the rest of the Americas?

3. On page 15, Wilkerson says of the old house that "whatever is lurking will fester." What is especially apt about her choice of the word "fester"?

4. According to Wilkerson in In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what do social scientists say combines with racial bias to produce racism?

5. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what does Wilkerson say we are doing when we "see" race?

(see the answer key)

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