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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 Thirteen: The Insecure Alpha and the Purpose of an Underdog," what lesson does Wilkerson want the reader to take away from her description of wolves?
(a) That there are "alpha" humans and they deserve the highest positions in society regardless of race.
(b) That human rankings are based on arbitrary factors just as rankings are among wolves.
(c) That the "alpha" wolf is actually just one of the group's parents and does not necessarily have special leadership qualities.
(d) That it is wrong to create distinctions among people that imply that some people are better than others.

2. In "Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Price We Pay for a Caste System," what does Wilkerson blame for the relatively low quality of life in the United States?
(a) The cost of suppressing Black talent.
(b) Rivalry based in a caste system.
(c) Governmental dysfunction.
(d) A two-tiered educational system.

3. In "Chapter Twenty-Six: Turning Point and the Resurgence of Caste," Wilkerson says that when people vote, they often choose to vote in a way that will do what?
(a) Protect the best interests of their own highest-status trait.
(b) Consider the needs of the many instead of the needs of the few.
(c) Empower a candidate who appeals to their worst instincts.
(d) Show solidarity with those who share their lowest-status trait.

4. 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) Insisting that they be served before the other passengers.
(b) Delaying the train by boarding too slowly.
(c) Causing a disturbance by laughing and talking.
(d) Endangering themselves and others by drinking excessively.

5. In "Chapter Ten: Central Miscasting," how many other people of African descent are at the London conference besides Wilkerson?
(a) Dozens.
(b) The conference is primarily attended by Africans and African Americans.
(c) One.
(d) None.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Chapter Eleven: Dominant Group Status Threat and the Precarity of the Highest Rung," Wilkerson discusses biases that occur without thought. What is this kind of bias called?

2. In "Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Symbols of Caste," about how many Confederate monuments does Wilkerson say exist in the modern United States?

3. 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"?

4. In "Chapter Fifteen: The Urgent Necessity of a Bottom Rung," what is the story of Burton Holmes and Freddie Stowers meant to illustrate?

5. In "Chapter Twenty-Two: The Stockholm Syndrome and the Survival of the Subordinate Class," what does Wilkerson reveal about Indian castes in America?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. "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?

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. In "Chapter Twenty-Five: A Change in the Script," how does Wilkerson say Civil War politics seem to still influence American voting?

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

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

7. What is "variolation," and how did the route of its introduction into Colonial America interfere with its adoption?

8. In "Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Symbols of Caste," why does Wilkerson quote the vice president of the Confederacy's statement about the purpose of the Confederacy?

9. In "Chapter Twelve: A Scapegoat to Bear the Sins of the World," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the anecdote about the murder of Carol DiMaiti?

10. In "Chapter Twenty-Six: Turning Point and the Resurgence of Caste," what does Wilkerson say about understanding the voting of lower-class whites?

(see the answer keys)

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