View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. About how many years did American slavery last?
(a) 50 years.
(b) 350 years.
(c) 150 years.
(d) 250 years.

2. In "Chapter Five: 'The Container We Have Built for You,'" what does Harold Hale do when people knock down his mailbox?
(a) Complains to the police.
(b) Forms a neighborhood watch committee.
(c) Resets it, in concrete.
(d) Moves to a safer neighborhood.

3. How many American states had laws officially prohibiting marriage between Blacks and whites?
(a) 26.
(b) 41.
(c) 12.
(d) 50.

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

5. In "Chapter Five: 'The Container We Have Built for You,'" what unusual name does Harold Hale give his daughter?
(a) Lady.
(b) Miss.
(c) Daughter.
(d) White.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. When legislation was finally adopted to limit the workday of enslaved persons, how long did their workday become?

3. According to "Pillar Number Four: Purity versus Pollution," what makes the United States's racial hierarchy different from those in the rest of the Americas?

4. In "Pillar Number One: Divine Will and the Laws of Nature," what is Wilkerson's central claim?

5. What social trend does Wilkerson link to the 2016 election?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. In "'The Container We Have Built for You,'" how does "Miss" end up with her unusual first name?

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

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

7. What is the rhetorical purpose of Wilkerson telling the story about the man who refuses to believe that she works for the New York Times?

8. In "Pillar Number Eight: Inherent Superiority versus Inherent Inferiority," what does Wilkerson say underlies each of the first seven "pillars" she has already described?

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

10. Explain the relationship between Hammond's "Mudsill" speech and the economic uses of caste that Wilkerson describes in "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill."

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,117 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample