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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. In "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," how does Wilkerson say the state of South Carolina tried to keep Blacks out of all jobs other than domestic service and farming?
(a) By assessing them an exorbitant fee for a license to do other work.
(b) Through terror and social pressure.
(c) By refusing them access to schooling.
(d) By making it illegal for Blacks to work outside of farming and domestic service.

2. According to Wilkerson, what constituency does the Republican Party represent?
(a) Progressives and nativists.
(b) Humanitarians and the marginalized.
(c) People whose first concern is the sovereignty of the United States.
(d) Those who want to protect an older social order that benefits whites.

3. In "Through the Fog of Delhi to the Parallels in India and America," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the detail of the fog that Wilkerson sees when her plane lands?
(a) It foreshadows the difficulties Wilkerson will have in gaining cooperation during her visit.
(b) It symbolizes the difficulty of seeing the Indian social system clearly.
(c) Wilkerson is metaphorically challenging the reader to reason past a "fog" of propaganda.
(d) Wilkerson personifies the fog in an analogy that demonstrates how tradition "clouds" an understanding of present realities.

4. In "Pillar Number One: Divine Will and the Laws of Nature," what is Wilkerson's central claim?
(a) Caste in America and India is or was upheld by religious beliefs.
(b) Caste in America and in Nazi Germany contradicts fundamental precepts of Christianity.
(c) Caste systems require obvious misinterpretations of religious texts.
(d) Caste systems are the result of divine will.

5. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what reason does Wilkerson give for most people's participation in the American caste system?
(a) It is human nature to want to dominate others.
(b) It preserves their place in the hierarchy.
(c) It is too psychologically painful to admit that one's own position is unearned.
(d) It allows them to discriminate without having to admit that they are racists.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Chapter Five: 'The Container We Have Built for You,'" what unusual name does Harold Hale give his daughter?

2. According to Wilkerson, what serves as a signal of rank within the American caste system?

3. What departure from legal precedent was made in the Virginia Assembly's decision that the children of enslaved women should also be considered slaves?

4. In "Through the Fog of Delhi to the Parallels in India and America," what is one of the main differences that Wilkerson notes between caste in America and caste in India?

5. In "Chapter Five: 'The Container We Have Built for You,'" why does Harold Hale's daughter get called into her principal's office?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "'The Container We Have Built for You,'" how does "Miss" end up with her unusual first name?

2. To what cause does Wilkerson ascribe the election of Donald Trump?

3. In "The Hierarchy of Trace Amounts: Griffes, Marabons, and Sangmelees," what are the words "Griffes, Marabons, and Sangmelees," and what point do they illustrate?

4. Explain the analogy that Wilkerson makes in "The Vitals of History."

5. For what reason does Wilkerson say that race is a social concept, not a biological one?

6. Summarize the analogy Wilkerson makes between the thawing of the Siberian permafrost and the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

7. What explanation does Wilkerson give of the origins of caste in Hindu scriptures in "Pillar Number One: Divine Will and the Laws of Nature"?

8. How does Wilkerson use the colonial census as support for her argument about caste in colonial America?

9. What explanation does Wilkerson give of the justification for slavery in Christian scriptures in "Pillar Number One: Divine Will and the Laws of Nature"?

10. What is the rhetorical purpose of including the anecdote about Willie James Howard in "Pillar Number Three: Endogamy and the Control of Marriage and Mating"?

(see the answer keys)

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