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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Pillar Number Seven: Terror as Enforcement, Cruelty as a Means of Control," what common misunderstanding of the slave system in America does Wilkerson dispute?

2. To whom is Wilkerson referring on page 4 when she describes someone as "a no-nonsense national figure overqualified by some estimates"?

3. What is the name of Gunnar Myrdal's 1944 study of race in America?

4. How many American states had laws officially prohibiting marriage between Blacks and whites?

5. Which of the following is the traditional Indian word for "caste"?

Short Essay Questions

1. According to Wilkerson in "An Old House and an Infrared Light," how are caste systems justified, and what is their real purpose?

2. In "Pillar Number Six: Dehumanization and Stigma," what similarities does Wilkerson see between the treatment of Blacks in the time of slavery and Jews entering Nazi camps?

3. Explain the analogy that Wilkerson makes in "The Vitals of History."

4. 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?

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

6. How does Wilkerson use the colonial census as support for her argument about caste in colonial America?

7. According to "A Long-Running Play and the Emergence of Caste in America," what was the original justification for lifetime enslavement, and how did that justification need to change as circumstances changed?

8. In "An America Untouchable," what is the purpose of the many examples of historical writings?

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

10. Summarize the analogy Wilkerson makes between the thawing of the Siberian permafrost and the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Read the essay "Identity Politics: Friend or Foe?" by Alicia Garza (available online). Write an essay that explains the complex ways in which the phenomena Garza discusses relate to Wilkerson's ideas about caste in America. Be sure to use textual evidence from both pieces to support your ideas, and if you use outside sources, cite them in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you analyze Wilkerson's use of expert testimony in Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Your essay should be organized around a thesis that makes a claim about the rhetorical purpose and effectiveness of this expert testimony. Support your claims with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Choose a work of fiction or poetry by an American Afrofuturist author to read. (Yes, Black Panther comics count.) Write an essay in which you explain the relationship of ideas in Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents to the ideas conveyed by the work of fiction or poetry.

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