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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. In becoming a successful Young Minister, the author describes his rivalry with whom, in "Down at the Cross"?
(a) His uncle.
(b) His older brother.
(c) His younger brother.
(d) His father.

3. 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?
(a) His father's lynching.
(b) His mother's rape.
(c) His uncle's execution.
(d) His mother's lynching.

4. In describing his dinner at Elijah Muhammad's home, the author states, "I began to see that Elijah's power came from his" what?
(a) "Ability to create a sense of calm."
(b) "Ambition."
(c) "Articulation and sense of logic."
(d) "Single-mindedness."

5. When did the Tunisians rise up against the French, according to the author in "Down at the Cross"?
(a) 1956.
(b) 1962.
(c) 1969.
(d) 1919.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Down at the Cross," what does the author define as "the judges, the juries, the shotguns, the law"?

2. Where does the author describe having dinner at Elijah Muhammad's home in "Down at the Cross"?

3. What word from "Down at the Cross" refers to a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational argument?

4. 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?

5. What does the author describe feeling guilty about having in his pocket when he visited Elijah Muhammad in "Down at the Cross"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What parallels does the author draw between his father and Elijah Muhammad in "Down at the Cross"?

2. What hypocrisies in Christianity and the Nation of Islam does Baldwin point out in "Down at the Cross"?

3. What does the author point out as the failings of Christianity and Islam in "Down at the Cross"?

4. In the second section of "Down at the Cross," the author points out many reasons that American society is not healed in relation to race. How does he propose it might become healed?

5. How would you describe the tone in the second section of "Down at the Cross"? How has the author's perspective changed?

6. What is noteworthy about the quotes that open "Down at the Cross"?

7. Who was Elijah Muhammad? What was his role within the Nation of Islam?

8. What causes the author irritation during his dinner at Elijah Muhammad's home?

9. How does the author compare his involvement in ministry with the thugs on the Avenue in "Down at the Cross"?

10. What "truth" does the author describe finding through this experiences with Christianity?

(see the answer keys)

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