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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part II, Reckoning: "Queries of Unrest"; "Blacker Than Thou"; "Da Art of Storytellin' (a Prequel)".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What landmark could the author of "The Weight" see outside of the interns' office window?
(a) The Manhattan Bridge.
(b) The Brooklyn Bridge.
(c) Times Square.
(d) The Golden Gate Bridge.

2. What two qualities of his grandmother's does Kiese Laymon say he did not understand or feel inspired by until he heard his first OutKast album?
(a) Her smile and soul.
(b) Her light and heat.
(c) Her funk and business sense.
(d) Her stank and freshness.

3. When Kiese Laymon was busy analyzing the Outkast song "Wailin'," what was he supposed to be doing instead?
(a) Applying to graduate schools.
(b) Baking a rhubarb pie for his grandmother.
(c) Applying for jobs.
(d) Writing a paper about "The Cask of Amontillado."

4. What name did Kiese Laymon call his grandmother?
(a) Granny.
(b) Gran.
(c) Mama.
(d) Grandmama.

5. What is the name of the U.S. Senator who is famous for opposing the Civil Rights Act of 1957 "so strenuously that he conducted the longest lone filibuster ever" for over 24 straight hours?
(a) Trent Lott.
(b) Strom Thurmond.
(c) Benjamin Cardin.
(d) Thomas Carper.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what decade did the the use of blackface begin?

2. The author of "Where Do We Go from Here?" states that "we must know deep in our bones and in our hearts that if the ancestors survived" what, "we can survive anything" (62)?

3. A 2013 report by researchers at Brandeis University calculated that what fraction "of the collective wealth of African-American families was stripped away" (86) during the Great Recession?

4. Who else in Jesmyn Ward's family gets genetic testing done at the same time she does?

5. What two reptiles are the source of the danger during the final scene of Kima Jones's prose poem "Homegoing, A.D."?

(see the answer key)

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