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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 Fifteen: The Urgent Necessity of a Bottom Rung," what is the story of Burton Holmes and Freddie Stowers meant to illustrate?
(a) Even Black soldiers have not been exempt from racial harassment.
(b) The American system will go to great lengths to suppress or ignore lower-caste success.
(c) The French made white Americans uncomfortable by praising Black soldiers.
(d) The United States government does not extend the same veteran's support and benefits to Black soldiers.

2. In "Chapter Twenty-One: The German Girl with the Dark, Wavy Hair," what point does Wilkerson make about the relationship of the loss of the Jewish population and the chapter's titular story?
(a) The Jewish community had acted as a moderating force; in its absence, Germans began to turn on one another.
(b) Once the Jews were gone, it became clear that the anxiety Germans felt had nothing to do with the Jews.
(c) The collective narcissism of Germans needed a new focus in the absence of the Jewish population.
(d) Once Jews were gone, Germans looked for other scapegoats.

3. In "Chapter Fourteen: The Intrusion of Caste in Everyday Life," what figure of speech does Wilkerson use when she says that modern caste protocols "are like the wind" (212)?
(a) Simile.
(b) Metaphor.
(c) Personification.
(d) Understatement.

4. In "Chapter Twenty-Two: The Stockholm Syndrome and the Survival of the Subordinate Class," Wilkerson relates the story of a white Brooklyn woman who called the police because of an alleged "sexual assault." How old was the Black person she told the police had assaulted her?
(a) 60.
(b) 9.
(c) 70.
(d) 14.

5. In "Chapter Twenty-Three: Shock Troops on the Borders of Hierarchy," what are the Black women on the wine train ejected from the train for?
(a) Endangering themselves and others by drinking excessively.
(b) Delaying the train by boarding too slowly.
(c) Causing a disturbance by laughing and talking.
(d) Insisting that they be served before the other passengers.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. In "Chapter Nineteen: The Euphoria of Hate," what film footage does Wilkerson describe?

3. In "Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Symbols of Caste," what does Wilkerson describe at the site of the bunker where Hitler died?

4. In "Chapter Twenty-Six: Turning Point and the Resurgence of Caste," whom does Wilkerson name as the most loyal voters of the Republican Party?

5. What fact does Wilkerson offer in "Chapter Twenty-Six: Turning Point and the Resurgence of Caste" to refute the common idea that economic insecurity cause people to vote for Trump?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Wilkerson's purpose in telling the story of Devonte Hart in "Chapter Twenty-Two: The Stockholm Syndrome and the Survival of the Subordinate Caste"?

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

3. Summarize the story Wilkerson tells in "Chapter Twenty-One: The German Girl with the Dark, Wavy Hair."

4. In "Chapter Fourteen: The Intrusion of Caste in Everyday Life," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the anecdote about the father and toddler in the restaurant?

5. 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?

6. What is "dominant group status threat" and how does Wilkerson link it to mortality statistics in "Chapter Eleven: Dominant Group Status Threat and the Precarity of the Highest Rung"?

7. In "Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Symbols of Caste," why does Wilkerson devote so much space to a discussion of Robert E. Lee's treatment of people he held as slaves?

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

10. Explain what Wilkerson finds particularly abhorrent about the film clip of Hitler that she describes in "Chapter Nineteen: The Euphoria of Hate."

(see the answer keys)

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