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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. 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?
(a) Blacks in America are not permanently confined to the lowest caste.
(b) There is no attempt being made in modern India to improve the situation of the lowest caste.
(c) The American system is for the most part a binary one.
(d) The lowest caste in India was never enslaved.

3. In "Pillar Number Six: Dehumanization and Stigma," Wilkerson explains that enslaved people were not allowed to cry as their families were separated. What is this meant to serve as an example of?
(a) Stigma.
(b) Mockery.
(c) Minstrelsy.
(d) Dehumanization.

4. What is the name of Gunnar Myrdal's 1944 study of race in America?
(a) America's Race Problem.
(b) Caste in America.
(c) The American Web of Class and Race.
(d) An American Dilemma.

5. According to "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," what percentage of Blacks worked in white-collar professions during the Great Depression?
(a) 20.
(b) 10.
(c) 15.
(d) 5.

6. What departure from legal precedent was made in the Virginia Assembly's decision that the children of enslaved women should also be considered slaves?
(a) Prior to this, the status of both parents was factored into a child's status.
(b) Prior to this, status was legally passed from father to child.
(c) Prior to this, slavery was not considered to be inherited.
(d) Prior to this, slavery was not considered a permanent condition.

7. In "Through the Fog of Delhi to the Parallels in India and America," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the detail of the fog that Wilkerson sees when her plane lands?
(a) Wilkerson personifies the fog in an analogy that demonstrates how tradition "clouds" an understanding of present realities.
(b) It symbolizes the difficulty of seeing the Indian social system clearly.
(c) It foreshadows the difficulties Wilkerson will have in gaining cooperation during her visit.
(d) Wilkerson is metaphorically challenging the reader to reason past a "fog" of propaganda.

8. In "Chapter Five: 'The Container We Have Built for You,'" why does Harold Hale's daughter get called into her principal's office?
(a) For using walkie-talkies with her friends.
(b) For asking to be moved to a more advanced class.
(c) For telling a teacher to call her by her last name.
(d) For holding hands with a White boy.

9. According to Wilkerson, what constituency does the Republican Party represent?
(a) People whose first concern is the sovereignty of the United States.
(b) Progressives and nativists.
(c) Those who want to protect an older social order that benefits whites.
(d) Humanitarians and the marginalized.

10. When legislation was finally adopted to limit the workday of enslaved persons, how long did their workday become?
(a) 12 hours.
(b) 14-15 hours.
(c) 18 hours.
(d) 9-10 hours.

11. In "Defining Purity and the Constancy of the Bottom Rung," what does Wilkerson note is referred to as "the most segregated hour in America" (128)?
(a) School lunch time.
(b) Dinnertime.
(c) Recess at public schools.
(d) Sunday mornings.

12. In "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," how does Wilkerson say North Carolina prevented Blacks from achieving economic independence?
(a) By taxing inheritances in Black families at close to 100%.
(b) By making it illegal for Blacks to purchase property.
(c) By making it illegal for them to sell or trade goods.
(d) By passing a law that said Blacks could only be paid in goods, not money.

13. 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?
(a) Racial absolutism.
(b) Privileges that increase with increasing "degree of Whiteness."
(c) The size of the highest caste.
(d) The degree of segregation.

14. In the 1863 Draft Riots, what immigrant group perpetrated violence against Blacks?
(a) Germans.
(b) Chinese.
(c) Irish.
(d) Italians.

15. According to "The Trials of the Middle Castes: The Race to Get Under the White Tent," what caused the Supreme Court to rule that "White" means "Caucasian"?
(a) An Indian immigrant argued that he should be considered for citizenship.
(b) A Japanese immigrant tried to make the case that he should be considered "White."
(c) An Irish immigrant was arrested for shopping in a store signed "No Irish."
(d) A Cuban immigrant sued for the right to own property in Florida.

Short Answer Questions

1. On page 11, what does Wilkerson indicate the term "evangelical voters" is code for?

2. On page 6, Wilkerson calls a financial crisis "cataclysmic." What kind of crisis was it?

3. On page 12, Wilkerson says that some contagions can only be managed with "vigilance." How is she proposing they should be managed?

4. Where does the word "caste" come from?

5. In the page 15 sentence "An old house is its own kind of devotional, a dowager aunt with a story to be coaxed out of her," the reference to a dowager aunt is an example of what literary technique?

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