View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part II, Reckoning: "Black and Blue"; "The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning"; "Know Your Rights!"; "Composite Pops".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The biography of Phillis Wheatley published in 1834 called Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, a Native African and a Slave, was written by a woman who claimed to be a what of Phillis Wheatley's former mistress?
(a) "A kissing cousin" (65).
(b) "A distant relative" (65).
(c) "An incidental family member" (65).
(d) "A collateral descendant" (65).

2. In what state did Kiese Laymon's grandmother live and work?
(a) Georgia.
(b) Alabama.
(c) Louisiana.
(d) Mississippi.

3. The author of "White Rage" states that the case of Connick vs. Thompson ruled that it was what "for a city prosecutor's staff to hide evidence that exonerated a black man who was rotting on death row for 14 years" (87)?
(a) Illegal.
(b) Unconstitutional.
(c) Justified.
(d) Legal.

4. When the author and her friend laugh at the immediate thought of getting one's child out of the country upon his birth, what is NOT named as one of the sources of their laughter?
(a) An absurd stuckness.
(b) Mirth.
(c) Fear.
(d) Vulnerability.

5. When Kiese Laymon invites his grandmother up to Oxford where he lives at the time, why does she refuse to come?
(a) Because her health is too poor for such a long trip.
(b) Because there is a music festival happening in her hometown.
(c) Because she does not like to infringe upon Kiese's privacy.
(d) Because Kiese is the only black person she knows in Oxford.

Short Answer Questions

1. What major event happened upon Phillis Wheatley's return to America from London?

2. What is the term used for a person's ability to be regarded as belonging to a different race, culture, or group different from their own?

3. How often do historians say lynchings of African-Americans occurred in the early decades of the twentieth century?

4. To begin the essay "The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning," Claudia Rankine relates a story about a friend of hers who had just given birth to a baby boy and whose first thought upon his birth was how she could get him out of the country. This thought occurred to her even before she had performed what two actions?

5. For what ultimate purpose does the author of "'The Dear Pledges of Our Love'": A Defense of Phillis Wheatley's Husband" start her search for primary sources regarding Phillis Wheatley's life?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 451 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample