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

Multiple Choice 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?
(a) In the Virginia colony.
(b) In the American South.
(c) In South Carolina.
(d) In England.

2. On page 16, Wilkerson says that people adjust to the "idiosyncrasies" of an old house. What is she saying that they adjust to?
(a) Its negative qualities.
(b) Its layout and design.
(c) Its positive qualities.
(d) Its peculiar or unique features.

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

4. As Wilkerson explains on page 9, under what circumstances can mental health professionals make a diagnosis public?
(a) When the person is not a paying client.
(b) When the person presents a danger to themselves or other people.
(c) When the person is a celebrity or other national media figure.
(d) When the person is deceased.

5. In the opening analogy of the book, what is the melting permafrost being compared to?
(a) The 2016 election.
(b) Denial of climate change.
(c) A "silent" earthquake.
(d) Racism.

6. What is the best definition of "endogamy" as used in "The Third Pillar: Endogamy and the Control of Marriage and Mating"?
(a) The practice of marrying outside one's own group.
(b) The fear of people from outside of one's own group.
(c) The practice of marrying within one's own group.
(d) Active interest in and welcoming of new people into one's group.

7. According to Wilkerson, what serves as a signal of rank within the American caste system?
(a) Religion.
(b) Race.
(c) Education.
(d) Wealth.

8. In "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the Hammond quotes?
(a) It bolsters Wilkerson's ethos, making the reader more receptive to her claims about India.
(b) This is a defining historical moment that explicitly supports the chapter's central claim.
(c) It demonstrates that religious belief is incompatible with endorsement of a caste system.
(d) This illustrates the depth of hatred that White Southerners had for the lowest caste.

9. 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 idea that the house has a story to tell is an example of what literary technique?
(a) Apostrophe.
(b) Personification.
(c) Litotes.
(d) Metonymy.

10. In the opening anecdote of the book, what escapes from the melting permafrost?
(a) Anthrax.
(b) SARS-CoV-2.
(c) Mercury.
(d) Nuclear waste.

11. In the beginning of "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what physical characteristic is the basis for Wilkerson's imaginary caste system?
(a) Eye color.
(b) Sex.
(c) Shoe size.
(d) Height.

12. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what reason does Wilkerson give for most people's participation in the American caste system?
(a) It allows them to discriminate without having to admit that they are racists.
(b) It preserves their place in the hierarchy.
(c) It is human nature to want to dominate others.
(d) It is too psychologically painful to admit that one's own position is unearned.

13. In what year did Alabama repeal its law against interracial marriage?
(a) 2000.
(b) 1866.
(c) 1967.
(d) 1920.

14. 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) "Why on earth would you want to go back there?"
(b) "There was a time when I could have made you stay."
(c) "We should never have had you in our home."
(d) "Colored folks around here have better manners."

15. 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"?
(a) Its connotations evoke the idea of a swamp or mire.
(b) It has a lighter and more comic "sound" than the synonyms Wilkerson might have chosen.
(c) It has meanings that can be applied to both literal structures and to abstract structures.
(d) Its sibilance is part of an alliterative pattern.

Short Answer 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?

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

3. How many American states had laws officially prohibiting marriage between Blacks and whites?

4. In the 1863 Draft Riots, what immigrant group perpetrated violence against Blacks?

5. In "The Vitals of History," what does Wilkerson compare an honest and rigorous study of history to?

(see the answer keys)

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