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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. In what time period did a particular physiologist develop the pseudoscience of phrenology?

2. Which term was synonymous with miscegenation in the post-Civil War era?

3. In what year did Frederick Douglass publish his first autobiography?

4. In what year did the Civil War begin in the United States?

5. Who directed the film entitled The Birth of a Nation?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the experience Gates had in college that served as the impetus for writing Stony the Road.

2. In Part Two: The Old Negro, Gates explores the way in which the ideology of white supremacy was transmitted using which four distinct discourses?

3. Who was Louis Agassiz?

4. Discuss a time when Gates used of the second person point of view and the effect this use has on the reader.

5. How did Louis Agassiz's views change over time and why is that change significant?

6. How does Gates go about interweaving the two themes of healing and justice?

7. How did the institution of slavery make contact with the western part of North America?

8. For what purpose does Gates draw a parallel between Reconstruction and a particular modern event?

9. What two events led to the shift in Agassiz's worldview?

10. What is the significance of the years 1865 through 1877?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In what way does Gates, Jr. utilize irony within the text? Discuss at least three uses of irony within Stony the Road and explore each instance's connection to larger themes contained within the piece.

Essay Topic 2

In what way does Gates, Jr. go about breaking the text into parts and how do these structural elements help to advance the text’s arguments?

Essay Topic 3

How does Gates, Jr. employ the use or rejection of fallacy within Stony the Road and how does the inclusion of fallacy help Gates, Jr. to prove particular points made within the text?

(see the answer keys)

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