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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Baldwin go to the Swiss village?
(a) To see if there are any Black people in Switzerland.
(b) To practice a new religion.
(c) To study the culture of the people in the village.
(d) To write.

2. What did Baldwin's first jail cell resemble?
(a) A bird's nest.
(b) A chicken coop.
(c) An American prison.
(d) A prison cell.

3. According to Baldwin, where does the family lineage of any black man in America stop?
(a) Emancipation.
(b) Colonization.
(c) The slave trade.
(d) Africa.

4. What emotion of Baldwin's father does he describe as "never to be trusted"?
(a) His father's sadness.
(b) His father's love.
(c) His father's temper.
(d) His father's kindness.

5. What food was always in the reoccurring nightmares that Baldwin had while in Fresnes?
(a) His mother's macaroni and cheese.
(b) His mother's fried chicken.
(c) Sweet potato pie.
(d) Collard greens.

6. How far was the Fresnes prison from Paris?
(a) Fourteen Kilometers.
(b) Twelve Kilometers.
(c) Ten Kilometers.
(d) Sixteen Kilometers.

7. Why does Baldwin escape to Paris?
(a) To live with a French family.
(b) To escape the racial prejudice of Africa.
(c) To study French culture.
(d) To escape the racial prejudice of America.

8. Who is the owner of the night club in the Latin Quarter that specializes in fried chicken and jazz?
(a) Inez Cavanaugh.
(b) Otto Preminger.
(c) Harry Belafonte.
(d) Chester Bomar Himes.

9. What prison was Baldwin sent to because of his last name?
(a) Sorbonne.
(b) Fresnes.
(c) La Mese.
(d) La Santé.

10. What have some of the men in the Swiss village accused Baldwin of doing?
(a) Dating some of the women in the Swiss village.
(b) Being the devil.
(c) Stealing firewood.
(d) Talking badly about their religion.

11. What does Baldwin say must sustain the American Negro in the present?
(a) The American past that is disregarded in Europe.
(b) The African past that is disregarded in Europe.
(c) The European present.
(d) The European future.

12. Where did Baldwin live while in Paris?
(a) A rented apartment.
(b) French motels.
(c) The home of French friends.
(d) French hotels.

13. Where does Baldwin think the older brothers and sisters in the Swiss village go to school?
(a) The town at the bottom of the mountain.
(b) France.
(c) The synagogue.
(d) America.

14. In the chapter entitled A Question of Identity, what does Baldwin describe as a flimsy structure, beneath contempt, designed by and for all the other people?
(a) Society.
(b) Justice.
(c) Citizenship.
(d) America.

15. According to Baldwin, which of the following can the black man call home?
(a) America.
(b) Africa.
(c) Nowhere.
(d) France.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happened on the same day that Baldwin's father died?

2. Which group did Baldwin mention as living together in groups - in the same neighborhoods and student hotels - while in Paris in the 1940s and 50s?

3. What do the Swiss Villagers occasionally do on Sundays?

4. How many schoolhouses are located in the Swiss village?

5. Who were the only white people that visited Baldwin's childhood home?

(see the answer keys)

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