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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. Whose death reminded the author that his world and his son's were one and the same?
(a) Michael Jackson.
(b) The author's grandmother.
(c) Michael Brown.
(d) The author's father.

2. Who is Linda Heywood?
(a) An American poet.
(b) A musician the author met at The Mecca.
(c) A Howard professor specialized in Central Africa.
(d) A protester from the Lawn.

3. Coats explains that the young men who walk the streets of Baltimore loud and rude do so because:
(a) It is their way of being friendly.
(b) They are uneducated and don't know any better.
(c) They are uncultured and wild.
(d) It gives them a sense of security and power.

4. Who is the Tolstoy of the Zulus, according to Coats?
(a) Wiley.
(b) Medici.
(c) Tolstoy.
(d) Nzinga.

5. What acclaimed history book did Chancellor William write?
(a) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
(b) By Any Means Necessary.
(c) Notes of a Native Son.
(d) Destruction of Black Civilization.

Short Answer Questions

1. For whom was the author's son named?

2. What does the author describe as the "enemy of art, courageous thinking and honest writing"?

3. What is "The Dream" that Coats refers to?

4. According to the author, who controls the streets of Baltimore?

5. What view does the author have of the afterlife?

Short Essay Questions

1. What assumptions does the author make about PG County (Prince George's County) police officers and why?

2. According to the author, what is the purpose of the public school system?

3. What role did religion play in the author's childhood?

4. What influence did Malcom X have on the author as a young man?

5. According to the author, how have American police departments been given the right to destroy black bodies without the fear of recrimination?

6. For what reasons did the author's father punish him and why?

7. How does research and study affect the author as a young man?

8. What conflicting thoughts does the author have about the civil rights movement of the 1960s?

9. What revelation does the author have about the European perception of Africans during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

10. What is the symbolism behind the author's son's name?

(see the answer keys)

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