James Baldwin's Take on the Effects of Prejudice — Quiz
Question 4 • English Language Arts 11
Read the excerpt from Notes of a Native Son . A few hours after my father’s funeral, while he lay in state in the undertaker’s chapel, a race riot broke out in Harlem. On the morning of the 3rd of August, we drove my father to the graveyard through a wilderness of smashed plate glass. Baldwin places his father’s funeral in the historical context of the Harlem riots to show that racial prejudice in early 20th-century America
Answer
A
was also coming to an end.
B
was interrupting an important family event.
C
was taking place during his lifetime.
D
was also a cause for mourning.
Explanation
Baldwin places his father’s funeral beside the Harlem race riot, linking private grief with the violence caused by racial prejudice. The smashed plate glass on the drive to the graveyard shows that racial injustice brought suffering and loss beyond his family, making it another cause for mourning. The passage does not suggest prejudice was coming to an end.
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