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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Baldwin, what has led to unforeseen paradoxical distress?
(a) Our passion for categorization.
(b) Our passion for change.
(c) Our passion for clarity.
(d) Our passion for knowledge.

2. What type of accommodations were promised to the Melodeers prior to leaving for Atlanta?
(a) Dormitory style accommodations.
(b) Four to a room.
(c) One to a room.
(d) Two to a room.

3. What is the setting of the opening of Native Son?
(a) A Harlem apartment.
(b) A YMCA in Atlanta, GA.
(c) The projects of the Bronx, NY.
(d) A Chicago tenement.

4. How is the Negro in America referred to in the chapter entitled Many Thousands Gone?
(a) A series of shadows.
(b) A gloomy mist.
(c) A mass of darkness.
(d) A series of mishaps.

5. What is not one of the two legends of the "white Gentile" as described by Baldwin?
(a) He has divided the Jews and Negroes.
(b) He treats the Negro like a slave.
(c) He has divided Negro men and women.
(d) He has taught the Negro to be inferior.

6. Which of the following is not a characteristic given to history by Baldwin?
(a) Remote Violence.
(b) Slum.
(c) Negative images in the media.
(d) Injustices.

7. How is the story of the Negro described in the chapter entitled Many Thousands Gone?
(a) The story of African Americans.
(b) The story of Native Americans.
(c) The story of the original American settlers.
(d) The story of Americans.

8. Who played the lead male role in the film Carmen Jones?
(a) Sidney Poitier.
(b) Sammy Davis, Jr.
(c) Joe Adams.
(d) Harry Belafonte.

9. Which of the following artists was mentioned in the Harlem Ghetto chapter as having a column in the People's Voice?
(a) Harry Belafonte.
(b) Dorothy Dandridge.
(c) Joe Adams.
(d) Lena Horne.

10. Why does Baldwin criticize the book Native Son?
(a) The book negates the role of the black woman in society.
(b) The book dehumanizes Negro women and makes the Negro man superior to the Negro woman.
(c) The book negates the whole race and converts the Negro man's pride into anger.
(d) The book describes the life of a Negro man as if he was a White man.

11. What novel does Baldwin criticize as a more modern piece of shallow propaganda from the Negro experience?
(a) Carmen Jones.
(b) Uncle Tom's Cabin.
(c) Black No More.
(d) Native Son.

12. According to Baldwin, what color are the robes of the saved?
(a) White.
(b) Black.
(c) Green.
(d) Red.

13. What does Baldwin suggest the presupposition of the two novels Kingsblood Royal and If He Hollers Let Him Go are in the chapter entitled Many Thousands Gone?
(a) Black is a terrible color with which to be born into the world.
(b) Blacks need to make themselves less offensive.
(c) Black men are inferior to white men.
(d) The Negro is a man without a homeland.

14. In what era did James Baldwin write Notes of a Native Son?
(a) Colonial.
(b) Slavery era.
(c) Civil rights era.
(d) Pre-civil rights era.

15. What genre of film is the movie Carmen Jones?
(a) Comedy.
(b) Opera.
(c) Horror.
(d) Drama .

Short Answer Questions

1. What two big name magazines, popular in the African American community in the 1940s, are mentioned in the chapter entitled The Harlem Ghetto?

2. Where did the Melodeers room while in Atlanta?

3. How are the oppressed and oppressor described in the book, Notes of a Native Son?

4. According to Baldwin, who are the three most important characters in Uncle Tom's Cabin?

5. Who played the lead role of Carmen in the film Carmen Jones?

(see the answer keys)

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