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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. 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) Making their concerns a low priority.
(c) Failing to think through the consequences of their "wish list."
(d) Failing to follow through on promises made to them.

2. 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) Wardens in a prison.
(b) Zookeepers reacting with fear to escaped "animals."
(c) Whites deputized to police escaped slaves.
(d) Adults supervising a race of "children."

3. 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.

4. In "Chapter Twenty-Six: Turning Point and the Resurgence of Caste," Wilkerson uses the term "kitchen table appeals" (327). What kinds of appeals are these?
(a) Appeals to everyday people's concerns with money, education, and health care.
(b) Appeals to women's concerns with reproductive freedom, physical safety, and equal rights.
(c) Appeals to caste-related concerns like immigration, voting rights, and affirmative action.
(d) Appeals to food-related issues like food safety, agricultural policy, and food scarcity.

5. 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 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson.
(c) The 2015 Charleston church massacre.
(d) The light sentence given to the white officer who shot a man who was just watching TV in his own apartment.

Short Answer Questions

1. On page 287 of "Chapter Twenty-Two: The Stockholm Syndrome and the Survival of the Subordinate Class," what does Roxanne Gay say causes whites to "embrace narratives about forgiveness"?

2. In "Chapter Fourteen: The Intrusion of Caste in Everyday Life," what does Wilkerson use Tamir Rice's story to illustrate?

3. In "Chapter Sixteen: Last Place Anxiety: Packed in a Flooding Basement," what kind of stratification within America's lowest caste does Wilkerson note?

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

5. 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?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Satchel Paige, and what does his life story illustrate about race in America?

2. In "Chapter Twenty-Five: A Change in the Script," why does Wilkerson say that Barack Obama's parentage helped in his election bid?

3. In"Chapter Twenty: The Inevitable Narcissism of Caste," to what does Wilkerson compare the American habit of asking where people's families are from, and why?

4. When an Indian academic asks Wilkerson, in "Central Miscasting," what her position is in the American caste system, what does she tell him, and why?

5. In "Chapter Twenty-Four: Cortisol, Telomeres, and the Lethality of Caste," what evidence is there that Blacks in America are under stress from the society around them?

6. According to Wilkerson, in "Chapter Twenty-Five: A Change in the Script," what impact has the census prediction for 2042 had on Whites in America?

7. Explain what Erich Fromm says about group narcissism, as described by Wilkerson in "Chapter Twenty: The Inevitable Narcissism of Caste."

8. "Chapter Seventeen: On the Early Front Lines of Caste" tells the story of Allison Davis's early career. Who was he, and what important work did he contribute to scholarship about race in America?

9. In "Chapter Sixteen: Last Place Anxiety: Packed in a Flooding Basement," what idea does Wilkerson use the story of Freddie Gray to illustrate?

10. In "Chapter Fifteen: The Urgent Necessity of a Bottom Rung," what historical discussion of the French treatment of Black American soldiers does Wilkerson relate?

(see the answer keys)

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