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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

4. 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) Its sibilance is part of an alliterative pattern.
(d) It has meanings that can be applied to both literal structures and to abstract structures.

5. In "Chapter Five: 'The Container We Have Built for You,'" why does Harold Hale's daughter get called into her principal's office?
(a) For holding hands with a White boy.
(b) For using walkie-talkies with her friends.
(c) For telling a teacher to call her by her last name.
(d) For asking to be moved to a more advanced class.

Short Answer Questions

1. When 20 Black people arrived in the New World on a Dutch ship in 1619, what were they classified as?

2. Which leading Black intellectual corresponded with Bhimrao Ambedkar about race in America?

3. To whom is Wilkerson referring on page 4 when she describes someone as "a no-nonsense national figure overqualified by some estimates"?

4. About how many years did American slavery last?

5. According to Wilkerson in In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what do social scientists say combines with racial bias to produce racism?

Short Essay Questions

1. According to Wilkerson, how did slavery create the conditions for American stereotypes about Black people?

2. What is the rhetorical purpose of including the anecdote about Willie James Howard in "Pillar Number Three: Endogamy and the Control of Marriage and Mating"?

3. For what reason does Wilkerson say that race is a social concept, not a biological one?

4. In "The Hierarchy of Trace Amounts: Griffes, Marabons, and Sangmelees," what are the words "Griffes, Marabons, and Sangmelees," and what point do they illustrate?

5. According to Wilkerson, what relationship exists between immigration or transportation to America and "becoming" white or Black?

6. What explanation does Wilkerson give of the origins of caste in Hindu scriptures in "Pillar Number One: Divine Will and the Laws of Nature"?

7. Explain the analogy that Wilkerson makes between caste and a play.

8. In "Pillar Number Four: Purity versus Pollution," what claim does Wilkerson make about water, and how does she support her claim?

9. What is the rhetorical purpose of stressing the length of time that slavery existed in America?

10. Explain the analogy that Wilkerson makes in "The Vitals of History."

(see the answer keys)

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