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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Whom does the author describe as having stated that "the cry of 'violence' was not raised... when the Israelis fought to regain Israel, and, indeed, is raised only when black men indicate that they will fight for their rights"?
(a) Malcolm X.
(b) Wallace Fard Muhammad.
(c) Elijah Muhammad.
(d) Louis Farrakhan.

2. When did Elijah Muhammad tell the author that the white man's time had been up, but that it had been the will of Allah that the black man be redeemed by his white masters?
(a) 1919.
(b) 1913.
(c) 1932.
(d) 1925.

3. When dd Elijah Muhammad die?
(a) 1969.
(b) 1975.
(c) 1965.
(d) 1980.

4. What does the author describe as the subject of the Nation of Islam speeches he observed on the streets in "Down at the Cross"?
(a) Power.
(b) Humility.
(c) Love.
(d) Acceptance.

5. Where was the author going when he crossed Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and the policeman made a racial slur toward him in "Down at the Cross"?
(a) To a Broadway performance.
(b) To the Institute.
(c) To the 42nd Street Library.
(d) To his high school.

6. How old was the author when two police officers amused themselves with frisking him, according to the story in "Down at the Cross"?
(a) 10.
(b) 16.
(c) 19.
(d) 12.

7. Who founded the Nation of Islam?
(a) Assata Shakur.
(b) Wallace D. Ford.
(c) James Whitney.
(d) Malcolm X.

8. The author states in "Down at the Cross," "I certainly could not discover any principled reason for not becoming a criminal, and it is not my poor, God-fearing parents who are to be indicted for the lack but" what?
(a) "My intelligence."
(b) "The oppression of my people."
(c) "My faith."
(d) "This society."

9. As the author describes growing up in Harlem in "Down at the Cross," he says, "In the same way that the girls were destined to gain as much weight as their mothers, the boys, it was clear, would" what?
(a) "Rise no higher than their fathers."
(b) "Fall even further from grace."
(c) "Become even lower than their fathers."
(d) "Leave home and never return."

10. The author asserts in "Down at the Cross," "The real reason that nonviolence is considered to be a virtue in Negroes--I am not speaking now of its racial value, another matter altogether--is that white men do not want" what?
(a) "To actually pay heed to the voices of others."
(b) "To listen to history."
(c) "Their lives, their self-image, or their property threatened."
(d) "To look themselves in the mirror and to know who they truly are."

11. The author states in "Down at the Cross," "White people hold the power, which means that they are" what?
(a) "Free."
(b) "Selfish."
(c) "Inferior to blacks."
(d) "Superior to blacks."

12. Who is quoted as having said "It is better to marry than to burn" in "Down at the Cross"?
(a) St. Andrew.
(b) St. Peter.
(c) St. Paul.
(d) St. George.

13. What does the author describe school revealing itself to be to the black community passing through adolescence in "Down at the Cross"?
(a) "A segue into more fruitful endeavors."
(b) "A path to enlightenment."
(c) "A child's game that one could not win."
(d) "A pursuit toward excellence."

14. How does the author describe his feelings about "a separate black economy in America"?
(a) "A cautionary warning."
(b) "A true possibility if there were enough cooperation."
(c) "Willfull, and even mischievous nonsense."
(d) "An ideal to attain."

15. What word from "Down at the Cross" means something continuing without pause or interruption?
(a) Explicit.
(b) Incessant.
(c) Petulant.
(d) Exuberant.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the word "bulwark" mean in "Down at the Cross"?

2. The author claims in "Down at the Cross" that two things caused him to begin listening to the Muslim speakers. What was the second thing?

3. The authors writes in "Down at the Cross," "Yes, it does indeed mean something - something unspeakable - to be born, in a white country, and Anglo-Teutonic, antisexual country, black. You very soon, without knowing it, give up all hope of" what?

4. The author claims that we owe the ministry of Elijah Muhammad to the fact that he witnessed what when he was five or six years old?

5. What word from "Down at the Cross" means impossible to stop or prevent?

(see the answer keys)

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