Deck 28: The Civil Rights Movement

Question 1

The Montgomery Improvement Association __________.

A) was an all-black organization
B) was strongly opposed by the NAACP
C) included several white ministers and lawyers
D) showed the bitter divisions within the Montgomery black community

Answer 1

included several white ministers and lawyers

Question 2

Despite Nixon having a better voting record on civil rights, Kennedy got __________ percent of black votes in the 1960 election.

A) 50
B) 60
C) 70
D) 80

Answer 2

70

Question 3

Jackie Robinson is to African American achievement in Major League Baseball as Charlie Parker is to African American achievement in __________.

A) religion
B) education
C) literature
D) music

Answer 3

music

Question 4

The Voting Rights Act provided for __________.

A) federal supervision of registration in certain states and counties
B) a poll tax to pay for civil rights education
C) the registration of all white southern voters
D) party affiliation registration

Question 5

Who refused a government appointment as undersecretary of state because he did not want to subject his family to humiliating segregation laws in Washington, D.C.?

A) Ralph Abernathy
B) James Farmer
C) Ralph Bunche
D) Martin Luther King Jr.

Question 6

How did the president of the nation's largest black college, Southern University in Baton Rouge, react to the African American sit-ins that were taking place near his college?

A) He suspended the sit-in leaders and forced the entire student body to reapply for admission.
B) He hailed them as young heroes of the Movement that was taking place throughout the South.
C) He helped the student leaders of the Movement assess their experiences and plan future actions.
D) He allowed student sit-in leaders to establish the first chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) on his campus.

Question 7

Truman's most important practical contribution to the civil rights movement was __________.

A) introducing legislation based on the To Secure These Rights report
B) integrating the armed services by executive order
C) challenging the segregation laws in Washington, D.C.
D) appointing the first black cabinet member

Question 8

Nashville college students led by James Lawson wanted not only to end segregation but also to create __________.

A) a separate nation
B) a Christian and Gandhian community
C) black political dominance
D) a personal cult of leadership

Question 9

Mississippi Freedom Summer was successful in __________.

A) registering black voters with minimal violence
B) showing that blacks needed no white support to advance their cause
C) focusing national attention on racism
D) ending voting abuses in Mississippi

Question 10

In regard to civil rights, the most important department of the Kennedy administration was __________.

A) the Interior Department
B) the State Department
C) the Health, Education, and Welfare Department
D) the Justice Department

Question 11

In 1946, the NAACP obtained the Morgan v. Virginia ruling, which declared that segregation was illegal __________.

A) in national housing projects
B) in defense industry jobs
C) in colleges
D) on interstate buses

Question 12

Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, because she refused to __________.

A) pay her fare in the front and reenter the bus from the back
B) ride on a blacks-only bus
C) yield her seat to a white passenger
D) sit in the back of the bus

Question 13

The Greensboro sit-in established what new phase in civil rights tactics?

A) revolutionary
B) patient legal strategy
C) violent resistance
D) student activism

Question 14

Why did Truman issue an executive order barring segregation in the armed forces?

A) to attract African American voters for the 1948 election
B) because he was deeply committed to civil rights
C) to undercut Strom Thurmond's independent candidacy
D) because officers in the military were requesting integration

Question 15

What was Eisenhower's reason for sending federal troops to Little Rock?

A) to endorse desegregation to the public
B) to uphold authority and enforce the law
C) to force a confrontation
D) to prevent violence by closing the school

Question 16

African American SNCC members became disillusioned with the Democratic Party when Johnson __________.

A) refused to sign the Civil Rights Act
B) opposed seating Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party delegates at the 1964 Democratic Convention
C) refused to attend King's Nobel Prize ceremony
D) chose a segregationist vice presidential candidate in 1964

Question 17

The idea of organizing a March on Washington in 1963 was suggested by __________.

A) John Lewis
B) Medgar Evers
C) Martin Luther King Jr.
D) A. Philip Randolph

Question 18

Puerto Ricans faced discrimination because, in addition to the usual resistance to migrants, __________.

A) many of them were also black
B) they entered the United States illegally
C) they spoke only Spanish
D) they failed to form distinct communities

Question 19

What two symbolic "firsts" raised African Americans' expectations for better treatment and recognition in the United States after World War II?

A) Jackie Robinson winning baseball's Rookie of the Year award and Ralph Bunche receiving the Nobel Peace Prize
B) civil rights legislation and voluntary desegregation in Alabama
C) antilynching legislation and a civil rights division in the Justice Department
D) the election of Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and unions accepting blacks

Question 20

The immigration program launched by the Eisenhower administration to curb the flow of undocumented immigrants from Mexico was known as __________.

A) the bracero program
B) LULAC
C) "Operation Wetback"
D) House Concurrent Resolution 108

Question 21

The great migration to East Harlem from 1945 to 1964 was made up of __________.

A) African Americans
B) Puerto Ricans
C) Native Americans
D) Mexicans

Question 22

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that benefitted workers by __________.

A) permitting labor unions to organize strikes against employers who practiced racial discrimination
B) investigating and litigating cases of job discrimination
C) raising wages for non-white laborers
D) allowing female employees to work six instead of eight hours a day

Question 23

As black migration to northern cities increased during the 1940s, African Americans gained significant influence in __________?

A) professional sports programs
B) urban political machines
C) the civil rights movement
D) new federal laws

Question 24

The National Congress of American Indians took a cue from the civil rights movement in __________.

A) mixing peaceful and violent protest
B) using the courts to gain rights
C) assimilating into the mainstream culture
D) calling for revolution

Question 25

As late as the 1940s, roughly __________ percent of eligible black people voted in the South.

A) 10
B) 20
C) 30
D) 40

Question 26

Greensboro, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; and Atlanta, Georgia, were early sites of which particular strategy of the civil rights movement?

A) freedom rides to test the Morgan v. Virginia ruling in interstate buses
B) sit-ins at lunch counters and restaurants to protest discrimination
C) violent occupation of segregated establishments
D) voter registration drives to increase the number of black voters

Question 27

When LBJ became president in 1963, civil rights activists __________.

A) expected immediate and aggressive action to advance their cause
B) viewed him warily, doubtful of his commitment to their cause
C) were outraged that an overt segregationist had become president
D) held a March on Washington to pressure him for action

Question 28

Black jazz musicians created a more complex style of music in the 1940s that was harder for whites to copy, cover over, or sweeten; it was called __________.

A) swing
B) rock 'n' roll
C) cool jazz
D) bebop

Question 29

Martin Luther King Jr. was inspired by which American theologian's Social Christianity?

A) Walter Rauschenbusch
B) Mohandas Gandhi
C) Bayard Rustin
D) Ralph Abernathy

Question 30

The victory in Brown v. Board of Education was limited by a follow-up 1955 ruling __________.

A) accepting the idea of "interposition" as a legal argument
B) allowing states "all deliberate speed" by which to comply with the decision
C) establishing a "civil rights czar" to enforce the Supreme Court's ruling
D) allowing local communities to monitor enforcement

Question 31

In 1955, Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi because he __________.

A) applied for admission to the University of Mississippi
B) violated the code of black submission by speaking informally to a white woman
C) tried to register to vote
D) led a public celebration of the Brown decision

Question 32

The Southern Manifesto was a declaration that southern states __________.

A) would peacefully comply with the Brown decision
B) would desegregate schools "with all deliberate speed"
C) would refuse to comply with desegregation
D) would not support Truman in 1948

Question 33

In response to the recommendations of To Secure These Rights, Truman __________.

A) sent a sweeping civil rights bill to Congress
B) appointed the first black cabinet member
C) publicly endorsed the proposals but took no legislative action
D) ordered the Supreme Court to reconsider Plessy v. Ferguson

Question 34

After Malcolm X made a pilgrimage to Mecca, he __________.

A) turned toward overt political violence
B) abandoned black separatism and founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity
C) renounced his citizenship and moved to Ghana
D) joined King in founding the SCLC

Question 35

Why did the Albany Movement achieve only minimal gains when compared to other protests launched by the Movement in the early 1960s?

A) The NAACP refused to pay for any of this campaign's expenses during this protest.
B) Fewer than 100 of Albany's African American population participated in the marches, sit-ins, and boycotts that were part of this protest.
C) Albany officials avoided negative publicity by not mistreating jailed black activists and keeping white mobs under control.
D) The Albany police refused to arrest any protestors to avoid negative publicity on television.

Question 36

In the late 1940s, the Supreme Court ruled in the Mendez and Delgado cases that __________.

A) language was not a barrier to citizenship
B) the separate but equal doctrine applied to Mexican Americans
C) Mexican Americans could not be excluded from jury lists
D) segregation of Mexican Americans was unconstitutional

Question 37

The Nation of Islam was inspired by the militant nationalism of __________.

A) Marcus Garvey
B) Ralph Abernathy
C) Mahatma Gandhi
D) Bob Moses

Question 38

House Concurrent Resolution 108, the Indian "termination" policy, was intended to __________.

A) return to a policy of assimilation
B) guarantee long-term government support for individual Indians
C) protect tribes from government exploitation
D) end all federal government involvement in the "Indian problem"

Question 39

The 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act finally allowed first-generation __________ to become U.S. citizens?

A) Native Americans
B) Chinese Americans
C) Japanese Americans
D) Puerto Ricans

Question 40

The bracero program brought some __________ Mexicans to the United States during World War II as temporary agricultural and railroad workers.

A) 20,000
B) 300,000
C) 650,000
D) 1.5 million

Question 41

What factors made the civil rights movement for Puerto Ricans unusual compared to other groups?

Question 42

List the three events of the civil rights movement that you think were most crucial. Justify your choices.

Question 43

Which of these was the highest level of formal education achieved by Martin Luther King Jr.?

A) eighth grade
B) high school degree
C) undergraduate degree
D) PhD

Question 44

In the 1940s, southern blacks who insisted on voting, especially those in rural areas, faced __________.

A) pressure to migrate
B) fines and imprisonment
C) community censure
D) physical violence

Question 45

Why did the Freedom Riders meet with such hostility and resistance in the Deep South? What contribution did the Freedom Rides make to the civil rights movement?

Question 46

On August 28, 1963, more than a quarter of a million people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to rally for __________.

A) pride and dignity
B) jobs and freedom
C) votes and voices
D) integration and fair play

Question 47

The Pittsburgh Courier's "Double V" campaign fought for victory over __________.

A) fascism abroad and over segregation at home
B) fascism abroad and over civil rights perpetrators at home
C) Nazism in Germany and atheism in America
D) Nazism in Germany and white supremacy in America

Question 48

Which of these was one of the key principles of the Montgomery bus boycott identified by Martin Luther King Jr.?

A) We must seek out powerful white allies.
B) Black churches have hurt the movement as much as they have helped it.
C) Nonviolence along with Christian love and unity should be the guides for organizing protests.
D) The black community is still divided.

Question 49

In the postwar South, the racial situation had __________ since the late nineteenth century.

A) changed little
B) dramatically improved
C) dramatically worsened
D) gradually deteriorated

Question 50

African American communities grew in northern cities such as Detroit, Chicago, and New York due to __________.

A) the economic opportunities created during the wartime boom
B) the absence of racial discrimination in the North
C) laws there introduced by President Truman to outlaw segregated public facilities
D) the availability of affordable public housing

Question 51

Who was the chief justice of the Supreme Court who presided over Brown v. Board of Education?

A) Earl Warren
B) Thurgood Marshall
C) Emmett Till
D) Ralph Bunche

Question 52

During the Birmingham campaign, civil rights activists faced off against __________.

A) Eugene "Bull" Connor
B) George Wallace
C) Orval Faubus
D) Fred Shuttlesworth

Question 53

Why did the Brown decision not deal immediately with the issue of the implementation of desegregation?

A) To gain a unanimous decision, the chief justice had to compromise.
B) The chief justice held that it was not under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to rule on such matters.
C) It was understood that the states would address this issue on their own.
D) Thurgood Marshall opposed federal intervention, favoring instead independent local action.

Question 54

In what ways did the Mississippi Freedom Summer mobilize a new group of activists for the civil rights movement, and with what results?

Question 55

King and other black leaders believed white Southerners could be divided roughly into three groups, one of which was a __________.

A) tiny group of extreme segregationists whose views were opposed by most other whites
B) tiny minority of educated elites who were the greatest foes to civil rights
C) broad middle group that benefited from segregation but might not be willing to protect it
D) silent majority that opposed segregation but took no steps to overthrow it

Question 56

Which of these was one of the goals of the Birmingham campaign of 1962 and 1963?

A) to gain the support of Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor
B) to fill the city jails with protestors
C) to demonstrate the value of violent protest
D) to pressure the Alabama governor to support the movement

Question 57

How did the government campaigns against illegal aliens in the 1950s change the strategy of groups such as LULAC and the GI Forum?

A) They began to focus more on political campaigns and less on the legislative process.
B) They began to distinguish between the rights of legal and illegal Mexican immigrants.
C) They began to focus on protecting the rights of all Mexican immigrants.
D) They began to focus more on the legislative process and less on grassroots activism.

Question 58

Which of these had the most to gain from Mexican migratory labor?

A) the American auto industry
B) American unions
C) the Mexican government
D) American agribusiness

Question 59

Why was the Brown v. Board of Education decision not immediately effective in ending school segregation?

Question 60

In Brown v. Board of Education, the sociological and psychological evidence presented showed that black children in segregated schools __________.

A) developed a negative self-image
B) scored more poorly on exams than white children
C) showed less desire for learning
D) were more subject to depression than their white peers

Question 61

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 __________.

A) abolished national quotas and replaced them with hemispheric limits
B) excluded preferences based on specialized job skills
C) led to a decrease in the overall Asian American population over the following decade
D) cut off undocumented immigration from Latin America

Question 62

The year-long Albany movement illustrated that __________.

A) mass protest without federal intervention could not end Jim Crow
B) a coalition of like-minded groups could effectively end segregation
C) authorities were reluctant to arrest Martin Luther King Jr.
D) mistreatment of protesters did not engender national sympathy

Question 63

The bracero program __________.

A) brought thousands of Mexicans to the United States as temporary agricultural and industrial workers
B) helped develop Puerto Rican communities in New York City
C) enforced the assimilation of Indian peoples
D) systematically returned confiscated land to Japanese Americans

Question 64

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 __________.

A) prohibited discrimination in most public places
B) ended segregation in the armed forces
C) provided an obstacle to future efforts for affirmative action
D) provided no assistance to communities in their efforts to desegregate schools

Question 65

How did extensive television coverage of the violence of "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Alabama, affect the civil rights struggle?

A) An enraged public demanded federal intervention, prompting Lyndon Johnson to request from Congress passage of a voting rights bill.
B) Younger black militants in SNCC became frustrated with nonviolent protests and switched their allegiance from Martin Luther King Jr. to Malcolm X.
C) A horrified George Wallace, governor of Alabama, sent in the state militia to protect civil rights protesters and fired Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark.
D) Civil rights activists gave up their idea of marching to Montgomery, setting back any gains made by the Movement.

Question 66

The purpose of the March on Washington in August of 1963 was to __________.

A) pressure Congress and demonstrate the urgency of the civil rights cause
B) fill the city jails with protesters
C) display the new, more violent attitude of the Movement
D) show the public that the Movement had the potential to retaliate with violence

Question 67

When Lyndon Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 into law, he inaccurately predicted that it would "not affect the lives of millions," but this law actually __________.

A) increased the number of immigrants seeking family reunification with American citizens or resident aliens
B) encouraged more legal immigration from Latin American countries
C) decreased the number of Asian immigrants
D) increased the number of unskilled immigrant laborers from the Eastern Hemisphere

Question 68

LULAC and the GI Forum initially contended that Mexican American civil rights activists needed to focus their efforts on __________.

A) American citizens of Mexican descent
B) the rights and protection of agricultural workers
C) Mexican noncitizens residing in the United States
D) newly emerging barrios such as San Antonio and Los Angeles

Question 69

How did the decision made by Emmett Till's mother to insist on an open-casket funeral for her murdered son affect the struggle for civil rights?

A) Photographs of Till's mutilated body appeared in African American magazines and made its readers realize that northern African Americans were also vulnerable to racist violence.
B) Photographs of Till's mutilated body were circulated in the nation's most popular news magazines and convinced many southern white readers to oppose segregation and racist violence.
C) The photographs of Till's mutilated body swayed an all-white jury to find his murderers guilty.
D) After seeing the photographs of Till's mutilated body, President Eisenhower ordered federal troops to Mississippi to protect African Americans from further racist violence.

Question 70

How did the Birmingham campaign change the nature of black protest?

A) The unemployed and working poor who joined in the struggle cared less about nonviolence and more about immediate practical gains.
B) Civil rights leaders who had previously held to a philosophy of nonviolence shifted to one of more militant aggression.
C) Black activists no longer welcomed white participation or support.
D) Students, professionals, and members of the religious middle class left the movement.

Question 71

Why were civil rights leaders and participants willing to suffer mistreatment and imprisonment for the sake of their cause?

A) They counted on the violent reaction and harsh measures of extreme segregationists to draw attention to and garner support for the civil rights cause.
B) They hoped to provoke a militant and vehement reaction from fellow civil rights activists to bring about change by force.
C) They intended to use their trials as vehicles to challenge weak enforcement laws.
D) They identified themselves with religious martyrs.

Question 72

Why did Lyndon Johnson, after becoming president, change his position on civil rights?

A) He wanted to unite the Democratic Party and prove himself as a leader.
B) He hoped to placate white southern Democrats.
C) He came to terms with his own racism.
D) He realized that he needed to take control of the issue so that it did not go too far in granting equality to minorities.

Question 73

Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent approach was most influenced by __________.

A) Mohandas Gandhi
B) Walter Rauschenbusch
C) Bayard Rustin
D) Glenn Smiley

Question 74

During World War II, membership in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People __________.

A) increased tenfold
B) dwindled
C) nearly doubled
D) remained consistent

Question 75

In 1947, President Truman publicly supported proposals for voting rights and antilynching laws __________.

A) but did not introduce any legislation to make them law
B) and shepherded legislation through Congress on both issues
C) but resisted desegregation of the armed forces
D) yet did not see this position as politically advantageous

Question 76

The sit-in movement of the 1960s, which began in a Woolworth store in the city of Greensboro, North Carolina, was initiated largely by __________.

A) black students from nearby colleges
B) the few remaining former slaves from the Civil War era
C) white middle-class females
D) African American ministers of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Question 77

The success of James Meredith's enrollment at the University of Mississippi in 1962 reinforced the importance of __________ to guarantee African American rights.

A) federal government intervention in state affairs
B) states' rights taking precedent over the powers of the executive branch
C) a state governor voluntarily deferring to the authority of the federal government
D) church groups in the fight against discrimination

Question 78

Why were racially integrated Freedom Rides planned through the South in 1961?

A) to test southern compliance with court orders banning segregation in interstate travel and terminal accommodations
B) to bus black and white college students to southern cities to organize lunch counter sit-ins
C) to confront white segregationists in violent rallies planned in Alabama and Mississippi
D) to force southern colleges and universities to enroll African American students

Question 79

The "chain of immigration and sponsorship" refers to __________.

A) people seeking to join their relatives already living in the United States
B) American agribusiness's efforts to sponsor workers for its industry
C) the association of members of Congress and groups such as JACL and LULAC to strive toward common goals
D) the circulation of Puerto Ricans between the island and the mainland

Question 80

The sit-in movement was important because it __________.

A) represented a new form of direct-action protest that was dignified and powerful
B) was organized by the African American leaders and older generation involved in the civil rights struggle
C) turned the tide of racial prejudice in the country
D) was the only event of its kind throughout the 1960s