View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," where does Wilkerson say that the idea of race began?

2. On page 59 of "Chapter Five: 'The Container We Have Built for You,'" when Harold Hale's daughter is about to return to school after a visit with a friend's family, what is the grandmother's response?

3. What is the name of Gunnar Myrdal's 1944 study of race in America?

4. In "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," what is the rhetorical purpose of including information about Hammond's nieces?

5. According to Wilkerson in "The Second Pillar: Heritability," what happened to Forest Whitaker at a Manhattan Deli?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Pillar Number Eight: Inherent Superiority versus Inherent Inferiority," what does Wilkerson say underlies each of the first seven "pillars" she has already described?

2. Explain the titular analogy in "An Old House and an Infrared Light."

3. According to Wilkerson, how did slavery create the conditions for American stereotypes about Black people?

4. In "Pillar Number Two: Heritability," what difference does Wilkerson note between the way caste is inherited in India versus the way it was historically inherited in the U.S.?

5. In "An America Untouchable," what is the purpose of the many examples of historical writings?

6. Explain the relationship between Hammond's "Mudsill" speech and the economic uses of caste that Wilkerson describes in "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill."

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you compare and contrast Wilkerson's vision of an American caste system with the caste system of India. Offer textual evidence for your claims, and be sure to cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Read the essay "Identity Politics: Friend or Foe?" by Alicia Garza (available online). Write an essay that explains the complex ways in which the phenomena Garza discusses relate to Wilkerson's ideas about caste in America. Be sure to use textual evidence from both pieces to support your ideas, and if you use outside sources, cite them in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim regarding one of the "Pillars" of caste that Wilkerson lays out in "Part Three: The Eight Pillars of Caste." Use textual support for your claim, and be sure to cite all sources in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,097 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample