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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 Six: The Measure of Humanity," what does Wilkerson say we are doing when we "see" race?
(a) Taking in only a small number of the features that actually differentiate races.
(b) Perpetuating a system of oppression.
(c) Participating in a self-reinforcing cycle that causes us to "see" what we expect to see.
(d) Noting arbitrary physical signs that we have been taught to read as "race."

2. In "Chapter Twenty-Four: Cortisol, Telomeres, and the Lethality of Caste," what are the "telomeres" Wilkerson talks about?
(a) The cell sites that respond to chemicals like cortisol.
(b) A part of the DNA strand that shortens with aging.
(c) Stress hormones.
(d) Diseases related to stress.

3. In "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," what does Wilkerson say Blacks found when they migrated North during the Great Migration?
(a) They were finally able to own property and begin creating family wealth.
(b) The same sets of laws they were trying to escape in the South started to be enacted in the North.
(c) Although occupations were not closed to them by law, they were closed in practice.
(d) They were welcomed into trade unions, because larger union numbers benefited all workers.

4. In "Chapter Thirteen: The Insecure Alpha and the Purpose of an Underdog," what is Wilkerson arguing about the role of the "omega" wolf, at the bottom of the pack hierarchy?
(a) It performs a valuable and necessary role.
(b) That it does not actually exist in natural wolf groupings.
(c) That humans should treat people at the bottom of the human "pack" with more kindness and respect.
(d) That since humans are not canines, it is not relevant to human societies.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Chapter Fifteen: The Urgent Necessity of a Bottom Rung," what does Wilkerson say is the "greatest threat to a caste system" (224)?

2. 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?

3. In "Chapter Twenty: The Inevitable Narcissism of Caste," what does Wilkerson say is the cause of phenomena like an Iranian immigrant feeling moved to point out the existence of a blond-haired child somewhere in the family?

4. In "Pillar Number Six: Dehumanization and Stigma," what is the best definition of the word "stigma"?

5. In "Through the Fog of Delhi to the Parallels in India and America," what is one of the main differences that Wilkerson notes between caste in America and caste in India?

(see the answer key)

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