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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. The author of the essay "Black and Blue" imagined himself in childhood as the Jamaican version of what fictional character?
(a) Holden Caulfield.
(b) Oliver Twist.
(c) Robinson Crusoe.
(d) Tom Sawyer.

2. When the author of the essay "Black and Blue" was warned by university officials to avoid walking in certain areas of the city, what threat does he mistakenly think he is being warned about?
(a) Wild animals.
(b) Weather.
(c) Police.
(d) Criminals.

3. When Kevin Young, the author of "Blacker Than Thou" outlines his next book for the reader, under what type of text does he say his new book falls?
(a) Nonfiction.
(b) Poetry.
(c) Memoir.
(d) Satire.

4. What record does The High Bridge hold within New York City?
(a) Most often traversed bridge.
(b) Longest bridge.
(c) Tallest bridge.
(d) Oldest standing bridge.

5. How does the author of "The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning" characterize the attempt by some white people to amend the language of the Black Lives Matter movement to All Lives Matter?
(a) Ethnocentrism personified.
(b) Subliminal racism.
(c) Centralizing whiteness.
(d) Unintentional ignorance.

Short Answer Questions

1. After what meal did Kiese Laymon's grandmother make him take a teaspoon of cod liver oil whenever he stayed with her?

2. What does Emily Raboteau name as her first instinct when she first sees the first Know Your Rights mural in her neighborhood?

3. Though Mitchell Jackson's father lived no more than a bike ride away from his mother's home, for how many formative years of his life was Mitchell's father absent?

4. What was the first OutKast album Kiese Laymon ever heard?

5. What belief does Mitchell Jackson hold that he underscores by calling it his "beating heart" (179)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What two categories does Kevin Young say white thinking or acting out about being black almost always fall into and what example does he give for each category he names?

2. Why does Kevin Young insert "[name withheld]" rather than naming the killer responsible for the murders in Charleston?

3. Name at least three actions that the author of "Composite Pops" attributes to all of the men he describes as Pops, his composite father.

4. Who does Claudia Rankine name as the person who created "a new pathway for how to think about a lynched body" (147) and what does she mean?

5. Why does Garnette Cadogan hold out hope that he will not encounter the same problems while walking in New York City that he had while walking in New Orleans?

6. How is paradox employed within the poem "Queries of Unrest" and to what effect?

7. How does Emily Raboteau say she wishes to distinguish her role as a mother from both types of mothers depicted in the widely-circulated comic entitled "Still Two Americas"?

8. What distinction does Kiese Laymon make between "stank" and "freshness" (118) in his essay "Da Art of Storytellin' (A Prequel)"?

9. What was the object mentioned in the very first lines of OutKast's music first heard by Kiese Laymon and why did the object's mention draw him in?

10. What details does Kiese Laymon use in order to depict his grandmother's identity to the reader?

(see the answer keys)

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