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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) Automatic bias.
(c) Autonomic bias.
(d) Subconscious bias.

2. In "Chapter Twenty-Six: Turning Point and the Resurgence of Caste," Wilkerson says that Clinton might have suffered from the "Bradley Effect." What does this mean?
(a) Because of social stigma around Trump, voters told people they were going to vote for Clinton but actually voted for Trump.
(b) During relatively good economic times voters are more likely to vote for conservative candidates.
(c) Polls tend to under-represent older white voters in agricultural states.
(d) White women did not support Clinton because their primary loyalty was to their caste.

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

4. In "Chapter Twelve: A Scapegoat to Bear the Sins of the World," what does Wilkerson imply is true about the American response to the 2013 Ebola outbreak?
(a) That Americans did not care as long as it was confined to primarily Black communities.
(b) That Americans withheld antiviral treatment from Africans.
(c) That American aid was designed to confine the disease to Africa.
(d) That it only became a priority once Americans became sick.

5. In "Chapter Twenty-Two: The Stockholm Syndrome and the Survival of the Subordinate Class," what is the purpose of including the story about Deandre Somerville's experience with jury duty?
(a) It is meant to show that even inside the supposedly impartial world of jury deliberations Black Americans are treated with prejudice.
(b) It is meant to show that even Black children are harshly penalized by the justice system for minor offenses.
(c) It is meant to show that Black and white Americans are not extended the same measure of "grace" by the justice system.
(d) It is meant to show that juries are still generally mostly white, even in the twenty-first century.

6. In "Chapter Twenty: The Inevitable Narcissism of Caste," what does Wilkerson say is the cause of phenomena like an Iranian immigrant feeling moved to point out the existence of a blond-haired child somewhere in the family?
(a) Immigrants often arrive from countries with systemic racism of their own.
(b) Immigrants know that this is what white people want to hear.
(c) Each caste wants to stress its proximity to the dominant caste.
(d) Each caste is trying to distance itself from the lowest caste.

7. In "Chapter Fourteen: The Intrusion of Caste in Everyday Life," what does Wilkerson compare to the modern phenomenon of whites calling the police on Blacks who are just going about ordinary everyday business?
(a) Adults supervising a race of "children."
(b) Zookeepers reacting with fear to escaped "animals."
(c) Wardens in a prison.
(d) Whites deputized to police escaped slaves.

8. 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) "Knowledge without wisdom is adequate for the powerful."
(c) "People embrace narratives about forgiveness."
(d) "It is a feeling of danger."

9. In "Chapter Fifteen: The Urgent Necessity of a Bottom Rung," how did the incident at People's Grocery begin?
(a) With an argument between two children.
(b) When a Black soldier arrived in uniform.
(c) When a Black man did not show enough deference to a white bus driver.
(d) When a Black man tried to vote.

10. In the opening of "Chapter Twenty-Five: A Change in the Script," what does Wilkerson call "The greatest departure from the script of the American caste system" (311)?
(a) Reconstruction.
(b) The election of Barack Obama.
(c) The Voting Rights Act.
(d) The toppling of the Confederate monuments.

11. On page 287 of "Chapter Twenty-Two: The Stockholm Syndrome and the Survival of the Subordinate Class," what does Wilkerson blame on "the latitude granted these white saviors...[and] the collective desire to solve tribal wounds with superficial gestures of grace from the wounded"?
(a) The failure of society to see the truth of Devonte Hart's situation.
(b) The light sentence given to the white officer who shot a man who was just watching TV in his own apartment.
(c) The 2015 Charleston church massacre.
(d) The shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson.

12. 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) Tells her to shut up and stop crying.
(c) Shoves her as she is being escorted from the court.
(d) Comforts her by stroking her hair.

13. In "Chapter Thirteen: The Insecure Alpha and the Purpose of an Underdog," what does Wilkerson's dog trainer tell her she is behaving like?
(a) A subordinate wolf.
(b) A child.
(c) An "insecure alpha."
(d) A "lone wolf."

14. In "Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Price We Pay for a Caste System," what is the anecdote about physicist Lean Lederman intended to illustrate?
(a) The United States devotes relatively few resources to the well-being of its citizens.
(b) Black Americans are still discriminated against by the health-care system.
(c) White Americans are often unaware of the challenges faced by Black Americans.
(d) Even in modern times it is nearly impossible for Black scientists to achieve recognition for their work.

15. 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) 10.
(b) 2.
(c) 8.
(d) 4.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Chapter Twenty-Six: Turning Point and the Resurgence of Caste," what does Wilkerson tell Gwen Ifill she thinks is behind Trump's popularity?

2. In "Chapter Twenty-Four: Cortisol, Telomeres, and the Lethality of Caste," which of the following groups does Wilkerson say tends to show more of the negative health impacts of prejudice?

3. In "Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Symbols of Caste," Wilkerson mentions two films that "fed the country and the world the Confederate version of the war" (335.) One is Birth of a Nation. What is the other?

4. In "Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Symbols of Caste," what peaceful demonstrator is deliberately run over and killed in Charlottesville, Virginia?

5. In "Chapter Fourteen: The Intrusion of Caste in Everyday Life," why does Wilkerson include the story of Corey Lewis and the children he was supervising?

(see the answer keys)

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