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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. According to Wilkerson, how are jobs assigned under the Indian caste system?
(a) They are inherited from the mother's family.
(b) The upper castes distribute them.
(c) They are inherited with caste.
(d) They are assigned based on merit.

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

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

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

6. On page 6, Wilkerson refers to white "preeminence." What quality is she referring to?
(a) Devotion to tradition or already existing institutions.
(b) Unjustified rage.
(c) Having the highest rank or position.
(d) Using language and mannerisms that indicate superiority.

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

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

9. In "Pillar Number One: Divine Will and the Laws of Nature," what is Wilkerson's central claim?
(a) Caste in America and in Nazi Germany contradicts fundamental precepts of Christianity.
(b) Caste in America and India is or was upheld by religious beliefs.
(c) Caste systems are the result of divine will.
(d) Caste systems require obvious misinterpretations of religious texts.

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

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

12. According to Wilkerson in "The Second Pillar: Heritability," what happened to Forest Whitaker at a Manhattan Deli?
(a) A customer assumed that he was a busboy.
(b) An employee referred to him using a racial epithet.
(c) He was assaulted by a police officer.
(d) He was accused of shoplifting.

13. In Wilkerson's anecdote about the house inspector, how does he "see past the plaster" (17)?
(a) By using an infrared camera.
(b) By using an x-ray machine.
(c) By using his professional experience.
(d) By reading the blueprints.

14. In "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," what is the rhetorical purpose of including information about Hammond's nieces?
(a) It supports Wilkerson's point about the hypocrisy of the upper caste.
(b) It clarifies the relationship of the Hammond quotes to Wilkerson's claims.
(c) It demonstrates the subordinate role of women in America.
(d) It impeaches Hammond's character.

15. In "Pillar Number Seven: Terror as Enforcement, Cruelty as a Means of Control," what common misunderstanding of the slave system in America does Wilkerson dispute?
(a) That brutality against slaves was the result of whites' fear of slave rebellion.
(b) That many slaveholders were cruel just because they could be.
(c) That many slaves entered into consensual relationships with slaveholders.
(d) That slaves were too "valuable" to be mistreated.

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. According to Wilkerson, what constituency does the Republican Party represent?

3. In "A Long-Running Play and the Emergence of Caste in America," what does Wilkerson say Americans want to dismiss as a "sad, dark chapter" of American history (43)?

4. In "Chapter Five: 'The Container We Have Built for You,'" what unusual name does Harold Hale give his daughter?

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

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