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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part 1, The Seer and the Seen, Section 3.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is minstrel show black face?
(a) White performers painting their faces black and acting in a pseudo-Negro nonsensical way.
(b) Dark themed short skits and plays in vaudeville.
(c) Southern music and dance.
(d) Black actors acting in minstrel shows that are comic and touching.

2. Where does Ellison grow up?
(a) Oklahoma City.
(b) New York City.
(c) Dallas.
(d) New Orleans.

3. Other white cultures have black face type entertainment, but what is different about American black face?
(a) The American history of slavery makes it a "ritual of exorcism."
(b) American black face is performed by Negro actors only.
(c) American black face is always light and fun.
(d) The American history of inclusive entertainment makes it acceptable.

4. What folk tradition does Ellison believe the black face figure grows out of?
(a) America.
(b) Africa.
(c) West Indies.
(d) Europe.

5. According to Ellison what does the term "the grays" mean?
(a) American melting pot.
(b) Slang word for feeling bored.
(c) Negro term for nightfall.
(d) Negro term for white people.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Ellison start writing?

2. What does Ellison believe writing is?

3. In the essay "Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke" what does Ellison say black face allows white America to do?

4. Why does Oklahoma hold some freedom and equality for Negroes at the time Ellison lived there?

5. Who is Stanley Edgar Hyman?

(see the answer key)

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