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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. To whom is Wilkerson referring on page 4 when she describes someone as "a no-nonsense national figure overqualified by some estimates"?
(a) Donald Trump.
(b) Hillary Clinton.
(c) Barack Obama.
(d) Bernie Sanders.

2. According to Wilkerson, what constituency does the Republican Party represent?
(a) Humanitarians and the marginalized.
(b) People whose first concern is the sovereignty of the United States.
(c) Those who want to protect an older social order that benefits whites.
(d) Progressives and nativists.

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)?
(a) Slavery.
(b) The Trump presidency.
(c) The Jim Crow era.
(d) The Colonial treatment of Blacks.

4. In "Defining Purity and the Constancy of the Bottom Rung," what does Wilkerson note is referred to as "the most segregated hour in America" (128)?
(a) Sunday mornings.
(b) Recess at public schools.
(c) School lunch time.
(d) Dinnertime.

5. To what part of history does Wilkerson explicitly link the Electoral College?
(a) The Jim Crow South.
(b) Colonization.
(c) Slavery.
(d) Reconstruction.

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. As Wilkerson explains on page 9, under what circumstances can mental health professionals make a diagnosis public?

3. In Wilkerson's anecdote about the house inspector, how does he "see past the plaster" (17)?

4. What is the best definition of "heritability" as used in "The Second Pillar: Heritability"?

5. In the 1863 Draft Riots, what immigrant group perpetrated violence against Blacks?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. 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?

4. 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."

5. In "Pillar Number Two: Heritability," what difference does Wilkerson note between the way caste is inherited in India versus the way it was historically inherited in the U.S.?

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

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

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

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

10. Explain the titular analogy in "An Old House and an Infrared Light."

(see the answer keys)

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