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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. What name did Kiese Laymon call his grandmother?

3. When Kiese Laymon was busy analyzing the Outkast song "Wailin'," what was he supposed to be doing instead?

4. 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?

5. At what type of factory did Kiese Laymon's grandmother work for 30 years?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what ways did Kiese Laymon feel validated and inspired by the words of Andre 3000 at the Source Awards of 1995?

2. What does Kevin Young write is one of the best things about being black?

3. What is People's Justice and what is the organization's goal?

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

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

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

7. 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?

8. How does Kevin Young, the author of the essay "Blacker Than Thou" support his point that similarities and solidarity among black people are more about culture than about physical appearances?

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

10. What does Garnette Cadogan mean when he writes that "the way home became home" (130) during his childhood in Jamaica?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the use of Aristotle's appeals within a particular essay and how the author employs the three appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos in order to put forth a solid argument.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze how the author of "Blacker Than Thou" uses humor as a way to gain entry into the serious subject of cultural appropriation both historical and current.

Essay Topic 3

Conduct an analysis of the rhetorical devices used by the author of "The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning" in order to assert her claim that shared grief is the key to unifying the United States in its pursuit of racial equality.

(see the answer keys)

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