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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. What kinds of patterns did some psychologists study in preschool teachers to research racial bias?

2. What trope does Rankine worry she is "sailing closer" to in Part III?

3. What claim of psychologist Kristina Olson's does Rankine cite on children and racial preferences?

4. Who wrote the play Waiting for Godot?

5. What phrase do people who want to excuse men's inappropriate or even abusive behavior towards women often say, according to Rankine?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the white female judge say about her son in Part IV that shocks Rankine?

2. What happens to the young child of a friend of Rankine's when he colors Goldilocks's skin brown in his class?

3. What upsets Rankine the most about the behavior of the other guests at the dinner party in Part III?

4. What cliched phrase that is often used to excuse terrible behavior on the part of boys and men did Rankine recall hearing after the Kavanaugh hearings in Part IV?

5. Where does Rankine say the term "people of color" first came from?

6. What does the white man in the hallway in Part III say to Rankine that she finds flabbergasting?

7. Why does Rankine think it is particularly puzzling that the white female judge in Part IV seems to fear for her son's life as he moves to Brooklyn?

8. How does Rankine eventually come to better understand her friend's actions at the play Fairview?

9. What statement did Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders make about the 2018 midterm elections that Rankine criticizes?

10. Which trope does Rankine feel she is "sailing closer and closer to" in Part III at a dinner party and why does she feel this way (149)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the end of the book, Rankine reveals that she asked a friend to read a draft of the book and the friend told her that the book did not lay out any real "strategy" (334). Do you agree with this critique? Why or why not? Write an essay explaining your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay explaining Rankine's reasoning behind her hesitancy to go to her daughter's parent-teacher conference along with her husband, as she explains it in Part II.

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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