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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Pillar Number Six: Dehumanization and Stigma," what is the best definition of the word "stigma"?
(a) A cultural system of disguised aggressions.
(b) A set of negative beliefs attached to a particular characteristic, action, object, etc.
(c) The practice of separating or segregating something believed to be polluted.
(d) A marking believed to indicate evil, corruption, etc.

2. At what famous Alabama bridge did the police violently attack peaceful protesters on their way to Montgomery?
(a) The Benson Bridge.
(b) The Seven Mile Bridge.
(c) The New River Gorge Bridge.
(d) The Edmund Pettus Bridge.

3. On page 68 of "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what does Wilkerson say is "one of the most contentious and misunderstood" words in American culture?
(a) Race.
(b) Caste.
(c) Discrimination.
(d) Racism.

4. According to "Pillar Number Four: Purity versus Pollution," what did the United States use to "curate" its population (123)?
(a) Jim Crow laws.
(b) Immigration policy.
(c) Laws defining status based on degree of African blood.
(d) Anti-miscegenation laws.

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

6. 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) Although occupations were not closed to them by law, they were closed in practice.
(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) The same sets of laws they were trying to escape in the South started to be enacted in the North.

7. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," where does Wilkerson say the term "Caucasian" came from?
(a) A long-discredited theory about human origins in Western Russia.
(b) An eighteenth century novel about a fictional people who migrated from Central Europe to Western Europe.
(c) A German professor who thought a skull from the Caucasus Mountains was especially attractive.
(d) A Sanskrit word that originally referred not to race but to caste.

8. In "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," how does Wilkerson say the state of South Carolina tried to keep Blacks out of all jobs other than domestic service and farming?
(a) By assessing them an exorbitant fee for a license to do other work.
(b) Through terror and social pressure.
(c) By making it illegal for Blacks to work outside of farming and domestic service.
(d) By refusing them access to schooling.

9. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what does Wilkerson say human-genome testing has revealed about race?
(a) It does not exist.
(b) There is tremendous variation within each of the five races.
(c) There are up to 36 divisions that could be called "races."
(d) It is entirely dependent on geography.

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

11. In "An American Untouchable," how does the high school principal in India refer to Martin Luther King'?
(a) As an "American Gandhi."
(b) As a "Negro."
(c) As a great leader.
(d) As an "untouchable."

12. According to Wilkerson, who is at the top of the "ladder of humanity" created by colonists in North America?
(a) English Protestants.
(b) White men.
(c) Northern Europeans.
(d) Christians.

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

14. In "Pillar Number Eight: Inherent Superiority versus Inherent Inferiority," what is Wilkerson's central claim?
(a) That even ordinary events like getting onto a bus reflect the premise that Blacks are inferior.
(b) That Black Americans have had to learn an elaborate performance of inferiority.
(c) That American Blacks have historically been treated like animals.
(d) That the caste system depends on all members of the lowest caste being treated as inferior to all members of the highest caste.

15. In "The Vitals of History," what does Wilkerson compare an honest and rigorous study of history to?
(a) A mechanic using a diagnostic computer.
(b) A doctor taking a patient history.
(c) An archaeologist uncovering artifacts.
(d) A child learning a new language.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the Hammond quotes?

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

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

4. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," where does Wilkerson say that the idea of race began?

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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