Deck 5: Civil Rights

Question 1

In 2013 the Supreme Court strengthened the Voting Rights Act by upholding its key components as part of a legal challenge.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

While the standard test for the legality of unequal treatment of racial minorities and women is strict scrutiny, the test for other groups, such as homosexuals, is intermediate scrutiny.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Which of the following is a question of civil rights rather than of civil liberties?

A) the right to attend a political rally
B) access to an abortion
C) newspaper articles publishing government information
D) accessibility to a business for a person in a wheelchair
E) the right to freely choose one's religious beliefs

Answer 3

D

Question 4

White women obtained the right to vote before African Americans did because white women were able to pressure their husbands and fathers for the vote without fear of retribution.

Question 5

The belief that women were not strong enough to compete in the business world was called "protectionism."

Question 6

The proposed Equal Rights Amendment states that equal protection cannot be denied on the basis of sex.

Question 7

The first African-American congressional members from the South appeared long after the civil rights movement achieved its major victories during the 1960s.

Question 8

The recent effort of the Supreme Court to impose "color-blind jurisprudence" has made it more difficult to demonstrate discrimination, putting a greater burden of proof on plaintiffs.

Question 9

The 1965 Voting Rights Act, which did away with literacy tests and other voter registration tests, successfully narrowed the gap between white and African-American registration rates in the South.

Question 10

Because of laws passed during the past 50 years, there are almost no differences between the objective conditions of racial minorities and whites.

Question 11

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed in the 1950s to help register voters in the South.

Question 12

The so-called Civil War Amendments banned the most important practices associated with slavery and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

Question 13

Civil rights are:

A) rights defendants have in civil trials.
B) guarantees of equal protection under the law.
C) prohibitions on government action against individuals.
D) another name for civil liberties.
E) guarantees of equality of outcomes.

Question 14

Joe Arpaio is most closely identified with the struggle over affirmative action.

Question 15

In which document is the idea of equality mentioned?

A) Declaration of Independence
B) Articles of Confederation
C) American Constitution
D) Bill of Rights
E) English Constitution

Question 16

While ________ involve limits on government action, ________ involve protection from discrimination by either government or individuals.

A) civil rights; civil liberties
B) civil rights; affirmative action policies
C) affirmative action policies; civil liberties
D) civil liberties; civil rights
E) civil liberties; due process rights

Question 17

The number of states that recognize same-sex marriage has been increasing steadily since the early 2000s.

Question 18

African Americans are more likely than white Americans to be convicted for the same crimes, and they tend to serve longer sentences as well.

Question 19

Affirmative action has been strengthened over time as the Supreme Court has consistently found it to be constitutional.

Question 20

Which group gained the right to vote in 1924, just after women?

A) African Americans
B) Native Americans
C) Chinese Americans
D) Japanese Americans
E) Latinos

Question 21

Which amendment abolished slavery?

A) Thirteenth Amendment
B) Fifteenth Amendment
C) Nineteenth Amendment
D) Twenty-first Amendment
E) First Amendment

Question 22

Which Supreme Court case validated the type of discrimination established by Jim Crow laws?

A) Brown v. Board of Education
B) Plessy v. Ferguson
C) Dred Scott v. Sandford
D) Miranda v. Arizona
E) University of California Regents v. Bakke

Question 23

The grandfather clause allowed:

A) southern whites to bypass literacy and other obstacles to voting.
B) African Americans in the South to hold public office.
C) the development of Jim Crow laws in the North.
D) the banning of segregation in the South.
E) higher rates of voter registration among African Americans in the South.

Question 24

Which of the following events caused the southern states to secede from the Union and create the Confederacy?

A) the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency
B) passage of the Fugitive Slave Act
C) Missouri Compromise
D) admission of California to the United States
E) the decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford

Question 25

The rationale justifying policies that prevented women from holding political office, filing lawsuits, and similar activities was known as:

A) Jim Crow.
B) segregation.
C) affirmative action.
D) protectionism.
E) separate but equal.

Question 26

Racial profiling of Latinos in what state, as part of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's policing of illegal immigration, was described by an expert as "the most egregious" he had ever seen?

A) Texas
B) California
C) Arizona
D) Florida
E) New York

Question 27

Despite having long-standing roots in the United States, Latinos have only recently become a political force. This is because:

A) They are a politically diverse group of voters.
B) There are not enough Latino voters to compel politicians to pay attention to this group.
C) Conflict between African-American and Latino politicians has led to internal rifts.
D) Neither party tries to mobilize Latino voters.
E) Latinos have only recently received the vote.

Question 28

At the end of Reconstruction, which of the following was NOT used to disenfranchise African-Americans voters in the South?

A) age requirements
B) poll taxes
C) the white primary
D) literacy tests
E) the grandfather clause

Question 29

What were the Jim Crow laws in the South?

A) rules that led to segregation of the races
B) informal restrictions on African-American voters enforced by intimidation
C) prohibitions against African-American participation in Democratic Party primaries
D) allowances for whites based on their family heritage that allowed them to avoid voting restrictions that kept African Americans disenfranchised
E) laws that virtually eliminated the existence of the Republican Party in the South

Question 30

Which president ordered the integration of the U.S. armed services?

A) Franklin Roosevelt
B) Harry Truman
C) Dwight Eisenhower
D) John F. Kennedy
E) Lyndon Johnson

Question 31

Which doctrine justified segregation in the facilities used by African Americans and whites in the South?

A) due process
B) equality of opportunity
C) equality of outcome
D) Jim Crow
E) separate but equal

Question 32

When the Supreme Court upheld a law that automatically exempted women from jury duty because "despite the enlightened emancipation of women . . . [they are still] regarded as the center of home and family life," it was demonstrating which rationale?

A) Jim Crow
B) segregation
C) affirmative action
D) protectionism
E) separate but equal

Question 33

The Missouri Compromise:

A) required escaped slaves to be returned to their owners.
B) allowed each state to determine for itself whether to allow slavery.
C) banned the importation of new slaves into America.
D) ensured an overall balance between the number of free states and slave states.
E) banned slavery in all states except Missouri.

Question 34

What did the Fourteenth Amendment do?

A) outlawed slavery
B) said states could not deny freed slaves equal protection of the laws
C) gave former slaves the right to vote in federal elections
D) gave women the right to vote in federal elections
E) gave both former slaves and women the right to vote

Question 35

What guaranteed women the right to vote across the United States?

A) Voting Rights Act of 1965
B) Nineteenth Amendment
C) Fifteenth Amendment
D) Equal Rights Amendment
E) Civil Rights Act of 1964

Question 36

The Trail of Tears involved the forcible relocation of which group?

A) African Americans
B) Latinos
C) Asian Americans
D) women
E) Native Americans

Question 37

Which Supreme Court case ruled that slaves were property and therefore had no legal rights?

A) Plessy v. Ferguson
B) University of California Regents v. Bakke
C) Dred Scott v. Sandford
D) Brown v. Board of Education
E) Alexander v. Sandoval

Question 38

Which amendment gave African-American men the right to vote?

A) Thirteenth Amendment
B) Fifteenth Amendment
C) Nineteenth Amendment
D) Twenty-first Amendment
E) First Amendment

Question 39

Which of the following groups has been the central focus of the civil rights movement in American history?

A) African Americans
B) Latinos
C) women
D) Native Americans
E) Asian Americans

Question 40

Which of the following is true about slavery prior to the Civil War?

A) Slaves were a very small portion of the population in the South.
B) Slavery had faded as an important source of the southern economy.
C) Slaves made up almost half of the population in the South.
D) Slavery had spread to the North, having been legalized there in the 1840s.
E) Only slaves brought to the country before 1800 could be legally freed.

Question 41

Why did the NAACP decide to challenge segregation in law schools before challenging it more broadly?

A) The gap in quality between all-white and all-black law schools was greater than any other segregated part of society.
B) The Supreme Court had ruled segregated law schools illegal in the 1890s.
C) No law schools admitted blacks in the 1930s.
D) The president had asked them to begin with this policy area.
E) The NAACP believed Supreme Court justices would be most familiar with law schools.

Question 42

African Americans are ______whites to be convicted of the same crime, and African Americans are ______ than whites to serve longer sentences once convicted.

A) more likely than; less likely
B) less likely than; more likely
C) as likely as; more likely
D) more likely than; more likely
E) less likely than; less likely

Question 43

The Stonewall Inn is most closely associated with which group's fight for civil rights recognitions?

A) African Americans
B) Latinos
C) Native Americans
D) Asian Americans
E) gays and lesbians

Question 44

Who wrote the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" in 1963?

A) Martin Luther King, Jr.
B) John F. Kennedy
C) Lyndon B. Johnson
D) Malcolm X
E) Thurgood Marshall

Question 45

How did the Freedom Riders advance the cause of civil rights?

A) They forced the Supreme Court to reconsider its "separate but equal" ruling.
B) They drew attention to the resistance to desegregation in the South.
C) They led to passage of a new civil rights amendment.
D) They led to passage of the Voting Rights Act.
E) They led states to take action to end discrimination.

Question 46

How has support for same-sex marriage changed in the last two decades?

A) It has increased substantially.
B) It has decreased substantially.
C) It has not changed much in either direction.
D) It increased until 2000 and decreased since.
E) It decreased until 2000 and then increased.

Question 47

The poverty rate is roughly three times as great for ________ families as for ________ families.

A) African-American; Latino
B) white; Latino
C) white; African-American
D) African-American; white
E) Asian-American; white

Question 48

Martin Luther King, Jr., argued that civil disobedience should follow specific steps. Which of the following is NOT one of his steps?

A) negotiate with white leaders
B) self-purification
C) violence against authority figures in self-defense
D) collection of facts to determine whether injustices exist
E) direct action to create an environment for change

Question 49

What's important about Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"?

A) It outlined the principles of civil disobedience.
B) It led to a large boycott of segregation in public transportation.
C) It laid the foundation for color-blind principles.
D) It was the last thing he wrote before his assassination.
E) It forced Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act.

Question 50

Before the 1950s, schools in many parts of the country were segregated because it was mandated by law. What kind of segregation is this?

A) de jure
B) de minimis
C) de facto
D) unimpeachable
E) de rigueur

Question 51

The majority of hate crimes target which factor?

A) nationality
B) religion
C) race
D) gender
E) sexual orientation

Question 52

Which of these events initially signified a shift in tactics employed by the civil rights movement?

A) "Letter from the Birmingham Jail"
B) "I Have a Dream" speech
C) Freedom Riders
D) sit-in at Woolworth's lunch counter
E) Civil Rights Act of 1964

Question 53

Who began his career as a lawyer for the NAACP and later became the first African-American Supreme Court justice?

A) Martin Luther King, Jr.
B) Thurgood Marshall
C) Booker T. Washington
D) Clarence Thomas
E) Malcolm X

Question 54

Why was there debate by civil rights supporters over whether to directly challenge the "separate but equal" standard?

A) It was unclear whether the Supreme Court was ready to take that step.
B) They were having a lot of success with the more piecemeal approach.
C) There were few cases that made the legal principle clear.
D) Some of them believed more strongly in black separatism.
E) They believed they could have more success at the state level.

Question 55

The Seneca Falls convention in 1848 was an important early moment in the history of which group's push for civil rights?

A) African Americans
B) Asian Americans
C) women
D) Native Americans
E) Latinos

Question 56

What does it mean to have a color-blind society?

A) People will not notice race.
B) We will pass laws to correct previous instances of discrimination.
C) No federal law or agency will classify people on the basis of race or ethnicity.
D) People will take notice of race, but race will not affect their beliefs or behaviors.
E) Racial minorities will become the majority in the United States.

Question 57

Before the 1960s, what was the principal tactic used by members of the civil rights movement to press their cause?

A) nonviolent protest
B) sit-ins
C) legal action
D) voting
E) violent protests

Question 58

Which of the following is NOT a reason that minorities vote at lower rates than whites?

A) Average income is lower among minorities.
B) Average years of schooling is lower among minorities.
C) Policies make it harder for some minorities to vote.
D) Politics has less of an effect on the lives of minorities.
E) Voter intimidation is more often targeted at minorities

Question 59

Which of these groups was the first to push for desegregation?

A) National Organization for Women
B) Nation of Islam
C) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
D) Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
E) World Trade Organization

Question 60

By the 1970s, many schools remained segregated not because of laws, but because housing patterns had led to school districts being predominantly of one race. What kind of segregation is this?

A) de jure
B) de minimis
C) de facto
D) unimpeachable
E) de rigueur

Question 61

The reasonable basis test holds that:

A) discrimination is permitted if an argument could be made for such behavior that was not racial.
B) discrimination is allowed when an important government objective is served.
C) discrimination is only allowed when there is a compelling state interest at stake.
D) no discrimination should be allowed.
E) age-based discrimination is always acceptable.

Question 62

In Shaw v. Reno, the Court ruled that congressional districts drawn principally on the basis of race are unconstitutional, thus promoting the idea of:

A) de jure segregation.
B) color-blind jurisprudence.
C) strict scrutiny.
D) affirmative action.
E) the disparate impact standard.

Question 63

What did the 1964 Civil Rights Act achieve?

A) It barred discrimination specifically in the housing industry.
B) It banned segregation in public places.
C) It put federal election monitors in place in the South to ensure the voting rights of African Americans.
D) It outlawed slavery.
E) It gave women the right to vote.

Question 64

What is "white flight"?

A) when whites move from the cities and suburbs into rural areas because of crime
B) when whites move into the South, in response to the movement of African Americans to the North
C) the movement of African Americans to the North to avoid violent whites in the South
D) when whites move from cities to suburbs because of school integration
E) when whites move from rural areas into the suburbs because of lack of infrastructure

Question 65

Which president used the National Guard to enforce Brown v. Board of Education?

A) Franklin Roosevelt
B) Harry Truman
C) Dwight Eisenhower
D) Richard Nixon
E) John F. Kennedy

Question 66

Which belief unifies the majority of today's civil rights advocates?

A) Our nation must move beyond race.
B) The goal of integration should not be supported.
C) The progress made is all that can be achieved.
D) The civil rights movement must continue to fight for equality of opportunity.
E) The current political environment is not positive for pushing forward with an expanded civil rights agenda.

Question 67

According to the Supreme Court ruling in 1971, employment tests not related to job performance are a violation of:

A) the commerce clause.
B) the supremacy clause.
C) the necessary and proper clause.
D) the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
E) the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Question 68

What happened when the Supreme Court approved school busing to advance school integration?

A) white flight from the cities to the suburbs
B) more de facto segregation
C) The civil rights movement began organizing mass protests instead of taking legal action.
D) Congress stepped in to pass laws guaranteeing civil rights to African Americans.
E) States passed stricter laws banning segregation.

Question 69

The intermediate scrutiny test holds that:

A) discrimination is permitted if a reasonable argument could be made for such behavior.
B) discrimination is allowed when an important government objective is served.
C) discrimination is only allowed when an intermediary is carrying it out.
D) no discrimination should be allowed.
E) gender-based discrimination is never allowed.

Question 70

What is the substantive due process doctrine?

A) the standard for discriminating against homosexuals
B) the justification underlying the reasonable basis test
C) the Supreme Court's power to overturn laws that infringe on individual liberties
D) procedural rights guaranteed within the criminal justice system
E) states' rights to challenge rulings by the Supreme Court

Question 71

Which of the following describes the disparate impact standard of discrimination?

A) whether a company intends to implement a policy to treat racial minorities worse than whites
B) whether company policies actually create equality of outcome
C) whether an employment policy has negative consequences for racial minorities
D) whether a company pays racial minorities as much as women
E) whether a company intends to implement a policy to discriminate against women

Question 72

Which of the following is a case in which discrimination was permitted under the strict scrutiny test?

A) prohibition of access to public services for illegal immigrants
B) Japanese-American internment
C) law school quotas for African Americans
D) unequal pay for women
E) law school quotas for women

Question 73

What is "de jure segregation"?

A) policies at the state level that the federal government has no right to question
B) discrimination based in actual conditions experienced by people
C) offering racial minorities chances to catch up to other groups
D) the right to live wherever you want, even if it means that people end up segregated
E) legal discrimination based in the law

Question 74

What is "de facto segregation"?

A) legal discrimination based in the law
B) discrimination based in actual conditions experienced by people
C) offering racial minorities chances to catch up to other groups
D) the right to live wherever you want, even if it means that people end up segregated
E) policies at the state level that the federal government has no right to question

Question 75

In 2013, the Supreme Court issued a major ruling on same-sex marriage. What was the ruling?

A) The ruling said that same-sex marriage was not a topic for the courts to settle.
B) The ruling overturned a congressional law allowing same-sex marriage.
C) The ruling upheld a federal ban on same-sex marriage.
D) The ruling overturned the Defense of Marriage Act.
E) The ruling put the issue of same-sex marriage on an upcoming federal ballot.

Question 76

According to the Supreme Court, Congress has the right to eliminate segregation in public accommodations because of:

A) the contract clause.
B) the due process clause.
C) the commerce clause.
D) the equal protection clause.
E) the supremacy clause.

Question 77

What does the Supreme Court's string of decisions on civil rights demonstrate about the balance of power among our national policy-making institutions?

A) The Court is increasingly interested in deferring to Congress.
B) The Court is increasingly willing to put state power before federal power.
C) The Court is increasingly interested in playing an active role in civil rights.
D) The Court is increasingly combative with the president in this area only.
E) The Court is increasingly interested in deferring to both Congress and the president.

Question 78

The strict scrutiny test holds that:

A) discrimination is permitted if a reasonable argument could be made for such behavior.
B) discrimination is allowed when an intermediary is carrying it out.
C) discrimination is only allowed when there is a compelling state interest at stake.
D) no discrimination should be allowed.
E) states should be allowed to pass laws in the best interests of their citizens.

Question 79

In what decade did the Supreme Court finally begin rejecting protectionism as a reason for treating women differently from men?

A) 1990s
B) 1970s
C) 1950s
D) 1930s
E) 1910s

Question 80

Who in government took the lead in extending gay rights in the early 2000s?

A) Supreme Court
B) the president
C) Congress
D) state and local government
E) bureaucracy