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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. How does the Black body see the white body?

2. In the end of Chapter 3, what does Menakem say Blacks have developed over many years?

3. What does Bomani Jones's quote beginning Chapter 6 say?

4. Besides trauma, what do humans sometimes pass from generation to generation?

5. What does an embedded trauma response in the body manifest itself as?

Short Essay Questions

1. What benefit does one healing one's individual trauma have?

2. How does "the white body" often see itself, according to Menakem?

3. What did the English bring with them to America, according to Menakem in Chapter 4?

4. How does Menakem react to the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice?

5. How does Menakem define the Jim Crow era?

6. What does our "lizard brain" mostly account for, according to Menakem?

7. What do scientists think about how stress in a pregnant woman can affect her unborn child?

8. What is one of the many paradoxes of race that Menakem mentions in Chapter 5?

9. What happens regarding the transfer of trauma in Chapter 3, according to Menakem?

10. In Chapter 5, what does Menakem's mother sometimes say about skin color that aggravates him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the effect of the false perception that Black skin, and Black bodies, are somehow less sensitive to pain and injury than white skin and white bodies, according to Menakem? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How does the "soul nerve" affect people's behavior, especially in racially charged or sensitive situations, according to Menakem? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

What does Menakem mean by the phrase "lizard-brain panic," especially as it relates to the sometimes lethal use of force by police, particularly against Black bodies? Write an essay explaining your answers (122).

(see the answer keys)

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