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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. The author of "'The Dear Pledges of Our Love'": A Defense of Phillis Wheatley's Husband" states that most of the information about Phillis Wheatley comes from a book published how many years after the poet's death?
(a) 50.
(b) 15.
(c) 25.
(d) 75.

3. What does the author of "'The Dear Pledges of Our Love'": A Defense of Phillis Wheatley's Husband" name as her own mother's voice type?
(a) Soprano.
(b) Alto.
(c) Bass.
(d) Tenor.

4. 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)?
(a) Systemic racism.
(b) The Middle Passage.
(c) Jim Crow laws.
(d) The indignities of slavery.

5. How many books of Phillis Wheatley's poetry were published during her lifetime?
(a) 3.
(b) 2.
(c) None.
(d) 1.

6. What is the title of Phillis Wheatley's most often-anthologized poem?
(a) "To My Dear and Loving Husband."
(b) "The Spider and the Fly."
(c) "Upon the Burning of Our House."
(d) "On Being Brought from Africa to America."

7. In what year was Trayvon Martin killed by a police officer?
(a) 2011.
(b) 2014.
(c) 2012.
(d) 2013.

8. To what area of the United States does the author of "Lonely in America" say that her "cultural memory of slavery" is relegated?
(a) The South.
(b) The West.
(c) The North.
(d) The East.

9. In the essay "Where Do We Go from Here?", continual progress for African-Americans is claimed to be a what?
(a) A moral certainty.
(b) A birthright.
(c) A myth.
(d) A reason for hope.

10. What emotion does Jesmyn Ward say is directed toward her by the majority of Americans and has become her dark twin?
(a) Hatred.
(b) Contempt.
(c) Pity.
(d) Disdain.

11. How many years apart does the author of "The Weight" say his grandfather's age and James Baldwin's age had been?
(a) 7.
(b) 3.
(c) 4.
(d) 12.

12. 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) Benjamin Cardin.
(b) Thomas Carper.
(c) Trent Lott.
(d) Strom Thurmond.

13. What is the name of the era in which African-Americans made leaps in advancement just after the end of slavery?
(a) Reconstruction.
(b) Revitalization.
(c) Restoration.
(d) Renaissance.

14. In what city does the author of "The Weight" meet his friend in order to visit the house in which James Baldwin died?
(a) Lisbon.
(b) Berlin.
(c) Paris.
(d) Nice.

15. From what city did Phillis Wheatley's husband hail?
(a) Hartford.
(b) Boston.
(c) Philadelphia.
(d) Providence.

Short Answer Questions

1. Once the author of "The Weight" stopped reading James Baldwin's works in order to separate his own work from that of James Baldwin's, what is NOT one author he mentions reading voraciously?

2. Which family member's house in New Orleans had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and was subsequently visited by the author of "Lonely in America"?

3. The author of "White Rage" states that while before the Great Recession, white Americans had four times more wealth than black Americans, by 2010 the gap had increased to how many times?

4. What finding in the results of Jesmyn Ward's genetic testing results shocked her?

5. In what year did Phillis Wheatley sail to London for a six week period in order to promote her poetry?

(see the answer keys)

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