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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Chapter Twenty-Three: Shock Troops on the Borders of Hierarchy," what solution does the flight attendant offer Wilkerson when other first class passengers seem to be making antagonistic comments about her race?
(a) Wilkerson can stand in the flight attendants' area in the front of the plane.
(b) They can move Wilkerson into coach.
(c) They can ask the pilot to land the plane and have the passengers ejected.
(d) They can move the other passengers into coach.

2. In "Chapter Twenty-Two: The Stockholm Syndrome and the Survival of the Subordinate Class," what does Wilkerson reveal about Indian castes in America?
(a) Dalits are often falsely accused of crimes in America, just as they are in India.
(b) Their need to flee the caste system is why so many Indian immigrants to America are Dalits.
(c) Caste continues to affect people even after they immigrate.
(d) The caste system has little or no power in the lives of Indians in America.

3. In "Chapter Nineteen: The Euphoria of Hate," what film footage does Wilkerson describe?
(a) The trial of the police officers who killed Freddie Gray.
(b) The liberation of Auschwitz.
(c) The last public lynching in Georgia.
(d) Hitler's return to Germany after the conquest of Paris.

4. On page 283 of "Chapter Twenty-Two: The Stockholm Syndrome and the Survival of the Subordinate Class," what does Wilkerson quote anthropologist Edmund Leach as saying about the lowest caste in India?
(a) "The first moral duty is resignation and acceptance."
(b) "It is a feeling of danger."
(c) "Knowledge without wisdom is adequate for the powerful."
(d) "People embrace narratives about forgiveness."

5. In "Chapter Eleven: Dominant Group Status Threat and the Precarity of the Highest Rung," what is one factor Wilkerson points to as an explanation for "dominant group status threat" in modern America?
(a) A decline in civil behavior in public spaces.
(b) Misinformation and propaganda spread via the Internet.
(c) Rapidly rising income among Black Americans.
(d) Increased numbers of non-white immigrants.

6. In "Chapter Eleven: Dominant Group Status Threat and the Precarity of the Highest Rung," Wilkerson discusses biases that occur without thought. What is this kind of bias called?
(a) Unconscious bias.
(b) Subconscious bias.
(c) Automatic bias.
(d) Autonomic bias.

7. What does Tushar, from the London conference in "Chapter Ten: Central Miscasting," say caused him to question the caste system?
(a) The disparity in privilege he witnessed in India.
(b) His own status as a Dalit.
(c) His Hindu faith.
(d) The treatment his father received by members of the highest caste.

8. In "Chapter Twenty-Two: The Stockholm Syndrome and the Survival of the Subordinate Class," what does the Black bailiff do when the white killer of a Black man begins crying about her conviction?
(a) Tells her that it will be okay and calls her "honey."
(b) Shoves her as she is being escorted from the court.
(c) Comforts her by stroking her hair.
(d) Tells her to shut up and stop crying.

9. In "Chapter Twenty-Six: Turning Point and the Resurgence of Caste," what mistake does Wilkerson believe Democrats make with regard to their most loyal voters?
(a) Making their concerns the central focus.
(b) Failing to think through the consequences of their "wish list."
(c) Failing to follow through on promises made to them.
(d) Making their concerns a low priority.

10. In "Chapter Twenty-Four: Cortisol, Telomeres, and the Lethality of Caste," how many years does Wilkerson say separate the average life expectancy of White college graduates from that of Black college graduates?
(a) 8.
(b) 2.
(c) 4.
(d) 10.

11. In "Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Symbols of Caste," whose statue causes the controversy in Charlottesville, Virginia?
(a) J.E.B. Stuart.
(b) Jefferson Davis.
(c) Stonewall Jackson.
(d) Robert E. Lee.

12. What prejudice does Tushar, from the London conference in "Chapter Ten: Central Miscasting," say exists inside Indian castes?
(a) Prejudice based on education.
(b) Prejudice based on wealth.
(c) Prejudice based on skin color.
(d) Prejudice based on career achievements.

13. In "Chapter Twenty-Five: A Change in the Script," what Lyndon Johnson prediction about Southern voters does Wilkerson relate?
(a) They would be led by a White evangelical voting bloc.
(b) They would stop voting for Democrats after Democrats supported Civil Rights legislation.
(c) They would become the most loyal base of the Democratic party.
(d) They would elect politicians who promised to suppress the Black vote.

14. In "Chapter Twenty-Three: Shock Troops on the Borders of Hierarchy," Wilkerson explains a complicated "solution" to a problem presented by free Black passengers on steamboats of the nineeenth century. What was this problem?
(a) Where they would be allowed to sleep.
(b) Where they would bathe and use the bathroom.
(c) How and when to feed them.
(d) At what times they would be allowed on deck.

15. In "Chapter Twenty-Four: Cortisol, Telomeres, and the Lethality of Caste," what are the "telomeres" Wilkerson talks about?
(a) A part of the DNA strand that shortens with aging.
(b) Diseases related to stress.
(c) Stress hormones.
(d) The cell sites that respond to chemicals like cortisol.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Chapter Ten: Central Miscasting," how many other people of African descent are at the London conference besides Wilkerson?

2. In the conference described in "Chapter Ten: Central Miscasting," what difficulty does Wilkerson face?

3. In "Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Price We Pay for a Caste System," what does Wilkerson blame for the relatively low quality of life in the United States?

4. What conclusion about people does Wilkerson come to in In "Chapter Nineteen: The Euphoria of Hate"?

5. In "Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Price We Pay for a Caste System," what is the anecdote about physicist Lean Lederman intended to illustrate?

(see the answer keys)

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