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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. 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) Marbury v. Madison.
(b) Dred Scott v. Sandford.
(c) Loving v. Virginia.
(d) Plessy v. Ferguson.

2. In "Chapter Fifteen: The Urgent Necessity of a Bottom Rung," how did the incident at People's Grocery begin?
(a) When a Black man did not show enough deference to a white bus driver.
(b) When a Black soldier arrived in uniform.
(c) With an argument between two children.
(d) When a Black man tried to vote.

3. In "Chapter Sixteen: Last Place Anxiety: Packed in a Flooding Basement," what kind of stratification within America's lowest caste does Wilkerson note?
(a) Stratification based on wealth.
(b) Stratification based on educational achievement.
(c) Stratification based on skin tone.
(d) Stratification based on gender.

4. 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) The same sets of laws they were trying to escape in the South started to be enacted in the North.
(b) They were welcomed into trade unions, because larger union numbers benefited all workers.
(c) They were finally able to own property and begin creating family wealth.
(d) Although occupations were not closed to them by law, they were closed in practice.

5. According to Wilkerson in "The Second Pillar: Heritability," what distinguishes "caste" from "class"?
(a) Class is not a status marker.
(b) Class cannot be inherited.
(c) Caste is not related to economics.
(d) Caste is permanent and inescapable.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "A Long-Running Play and the Emergence of Caste in America," where does Wilkerson say that the American caste system was born?

2. 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?

3. According to "Pillar Number Four: Purity versus Pollution," what did the United States use to "curate" its population (123)?

4. 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?

5. 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?

(see the answer key)

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