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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. Of the girls in Harlem going through adolescence, the author says in "Down at the Cross," "They understood that they must act as God's" what?
(a) "Decoys."
(b) "Angels."
(c) "Love."
(d) "Watchmen."

2. The author states in "Down at the Cross" that the "principles governing the rites and customs of the churches in which I grew up did not differ from the principles governing the rites and customs of other chuches, white. The principles were Blindness, Lonelines, and" what?
(a) "Faith."
(b) "Terror."
(c) "Sorrow."
(d) "Love."

3. The author writes in "Down at the Cross," "From my own point of view, the fact of the Third Reich alone makes obsolete forever any question of" what?
(a) "White superiority."
(b) "Love."
(c) "Christian superiority."
(d) "Black superiority."

4. What kind of athletic career does the author describe pursuing but not succeeding at in "Down at the Cross"?
(a) Prize-fighting.
(b) Basketball.
(c) Baseball.
(d) Football.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Down at the Cross," the author describes the adolescent changes that the girls undergo, saying that they no longer tease the boys but do what to them instead?

2. 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?

3. 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?

4. 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?

5. After the confrontation at the bar, the author says that one of his companions, a Korean War veteran, said that the bar had been the white man's fight too. How did the white man respond?

Short Essay Questions

1. How would you describe the central subject and structure of the first part of "Down at the Cross"?

2. What parallels does the author draw between Christianity and Islam in "Down at the Cross"?

3. How does the author describe the racial perspectives in the Nation of Islam's belief system?

4. How does the author describe the setting of Elijah Muhammad's home in "Down at the Cross"?

5. What elements of foreshadowing can be seen in the first part of "Down at the Cross"?

6. What is the source of the author's anger and resentment toward his father?

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

8. What is the subject of the hymn that opens "Down at the Cross"? How does this quote tie in with the essay's themes?

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

10. How does the author perceive the expression of pain and suffering of blacks through Christianity?

(see the answer keys)

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