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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 which city in Virginia did a white supremacist rally take place in 2017?

2. Who popularized the phrase "white privilege"?

3. What event did Rankine recall having heard about occuring on her college campus the year before she attended as a freshman?

4. Which poet described love partially as "a close reading"?

5. What does Rankine write is "its own form of American optimism" in Part II?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Rankine describe Beyonce's album Lemonade as dealing with?

2. Why does Rankine think it might be best for just her white husband to attend her daughter's parent-teacher conference?

3. What is a major reason Rankine decides to go to marriage counseling with her husband?

4. What does Rankine quote Malcolm X as saying about Black women in America?

5. What painful incident does Rankine recall happening on her college campus the year prior to her attendance there in 1981?

6. In Part II, why does a white friend of Rankine's tell her she has to defend Rankine to her own white friends?

7. How does Rankine feel contemplating the overwhelmingly white parents and teachers at her daughter's school?

8. What image does Rankine include in the book that a British media personality, Danny Baker, tweeted after the birth of the royal family's mixed-race baby in 2019?

9. Who popularized the phrase "white privilege" and when did it begin being used more often?

10. What does a white friend of Rankine's tell her about white people speaking amongst themselves about racism?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay discussing the symbolism and significance behind blond hair in Rankine's lengthy analysis of it, especially regarding women of color's decision to dye their hair blonde.

Essay Topic 2

How does tennis star Naomi Osaka's experiences with the media highlight the ubiquity of racism not just in the United States but in other countries, too? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Rankine writes towards the end of the book, "E plurbis unum might have been the first national mistake" (333). What do you think she means by this? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

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