Deck 5: Civil Rights: Toward a More Equal Citizenry

Question 1

Which African American leader is famous for his "I Have a Dream" speech?

A)Malcolm X
B)Jesse Jackson
C)Bobby Seale
D)Stokely Carmichael
E)Martin Luther King, Jr.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did all of the following EXCEPT for

A)protecting voters by outlawing literacy tests.
B)creating the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
C)barring discrimination by accommodations engaged in interstate commerce.
D)prohibiting discrimination in employment based on race.
E)prohibiting discrimination in employment based on sex.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following is true of the Brown v.Board of Education ruling?

A)Its chief impact was felt in the northern states.
B)It primarily affected the southern states.
C)Its chief impact was to reduce the prevalence of de facto segregation.
D)It did little to limit de jure segregation.
E)The use of the phrase "with all deliberate speed" in the ruling helped to bring about swift legislative changes in the southern states.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Rosa Parks' MOST important contribution to the Civil Rights movement was

A)delivering her "I Have a Dream" speech at the culmination of a march on Washington.
B)founding and leading the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
C)convincing the NAACP to abandon its legal strategy and take a more militant approach to civil rights.
D)inspiring a bus boycott when she chose to be arrested rather than give up her seat.
E)becoming the first African American woman to serve in the Senate.

Question 5

The Fourteenth Amendment did all of the following EXCEPT

A)extend the rights of national citizenship to all Americans.
B)guarantee equal protection under the laws of any state.
C)guarantee all male citizens the right to vote.
D)ensure citizens of due process.
E)limit the ability of state governments to infringe on the rights of citizens.

Question 6

The Supreme Court's 2013 decision that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional means that

A)the federal government will have to act without Congress in order to ensure elections are fair and promote participation.
B)it's now up to citizens to challenge election laws that appear to discriminate against minorities.
C)state governments are now responsible for ensuring that elections are fair and promote participation.
D)the Voting Rights Act must be entirely rewritten and then passed by Congress before any of its provisions can again be in effect.
E)all future laws regulating elections and voter eligibility cannot be challenged in the courts.

Question 7

In the wake of Reconstruction, southern states used all of the following means to disenfranchise black voters EXCEPT

A)grandfather clauses.
B)explicit racial prohibitions on voting.
C)poll taxes.
D)literacy tests.
E)property qualifications.

Question 8

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference

A)focused on nonviolent protests.
B)recruited young people for "freedom rides" and sit-ins.
C)is the oldest civil rights group in the United States.
D)often countered the advice of Martin Luther King, Jr.
E)had little lasting impact on the civil rights movement.

Question 9

Slavery was ultimately abolished from the United States by the

A)Emancipation Proclamation.
B)Compromise of 1877.
C)Twelfth Amendment.
D)Thirteenth Amendment.
E)Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 10

The landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were pushed through Congress by which president?

A)John Kennedy
B)Dwight Eisenhower
C)Richard Nixon
D)Harry Truman
E)Lyndon Johnson

Question 11

What was the primary means by which the NAACP pursued civil rights during the first half of the twentieth century?

A)through appeals to the president
B)by lobbying Congress
C)by mobilizing grass-roots activists
D)through civil disobedience
E)through the courts

Question 12

In the Dred Scott decision of 1857, the Court decided all of the following EXCEPT that

A)slaves could never become citizens.
B)long-term residency in a free state or territory did not make a slave free.
C)slaves could not bring suit in court.
D)Congress could ban slavery from a territory but not from a state.
E)the Missouri Compromise was invalidated based on Fifth Amendment rights.

Question 13

Which of the following phrases BEST encapsulates the meaning of the term "civil rights"?

A)the guaranteed freedoms on which the government cannot intrude
B)the personal liberties of individual citizens
C)the assurance of equal treatment to all citizens regardless of group identity
D)the protection of members of historically disadvantaged groups from discrimination
E)the protection of all groups and individuals from discrimination

Question 14

The Defense of Marriage Act

A)was passed with strong bipartisan support over the veto of President Clinton.
B)saved the government money by avoiding Social Security and other payments to same-sex spouses.
C)was opposed by both President George W.Bush and President Obama.
D)did not specifically define marriage, but was explicit that it could not include same-sex couples.
E)was struck down by a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court.

Question 15

The landmark Supreme Court case of Brown v.Board of Education was significant because it

A)was the first instance in which the Supreme Court decided in favor of protecting African Americans' civil rights.
B)overturned the doctrine of "separate but equal."
C)effectively ended segregation, both de jure and de facto, in America's public schools.
D)effectively brought the Civil Rights Era to a triumphant close.
E)required the immediate end of segregation in public schools.

Question 16

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

A)provided the legal basis for voting rights for minorities, but it had no enforcement mechanisms.
B)was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2013.
C)applied only to federal elections, but not to state and local elections.
D)contain provisions for federal monitoring of voting in areas with histories of discrimination.
E)had little lasting impact on the voting participation rates of African Americans.

Question 17

, the Supreme Court ruled that

A)segregated facilities were not inherently unconstitutional, as long as they were equal.
B)though Jim Crow laws clearly violated Fourteenth Amendment protections, the federal government had no authority to interfere in the internal matters of states.
C)African Americans were not citizens, and so could not claim the same rights as white Americans.
D)the Fourteenth Amendment was unconstitutional.
E)as second-class citizens, African Americans must endure second-class facilities.

Question 18

Which of the following statements about the conditions of African Americans in the United States today is LEAST accurate?

A)As indicated by the election of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, the number of national political offices held by African Americans is roughly commensurate to their percentage of the general population.
B)African American citizens are more likely than white citizens to be convicted of a crime.
C)African American convicts are more likely than white convicts to be sentenced to death for their crimes.
D)Despite the end of legally sanctioned segregation, many African American families live in neighborhoods with few if any white residents.
E)The average African American family's household income is roughly two-thirds that of the average white American family.

Question 19

Which generation has the strongest support for gay marriage?

A)Silent Generation (1928-1945)
B)Baby Boomers (1946-1964)
C)Generation X (1965-1980)
D)Millenials (1981 or later)
E)All generations have about equal support for gay marriage.

Question 20

The birth of the gay rights movement is MOST commonly traced to riots in

A)New York in 1969.
B)Miami in 1958.
C)San Francisco in 1974.
D)Chicago in 1983.
E)Los Angeles in 1962.

Question 21

Members of which ethnic group benefited MOST when Texas and California implemented race-blind admissions to their public universities in the 1990s?

A)Asian Americans
B)white Americans
C)African Americans
D)Hispanic Americans
E)Native Americans

Question 22

Based on the principle of "invidious discrimination," in order for the Supreme Court to declare discriminatory practices unconstitutional, the Court must decide that the practices

A)have no rational basis.
B)are deliberately discriminatory.
C)reinforce existing racial, ethnic, or sexual hierarchies.
D)lack the support of the community.
E)privilege one group over another.

Question 23

, the Supreme Court ruled that

A)universities could not constitutionally take race into consideration as a factor in student admissions.
B)universities could consider race as a factor in student admissions, but racial quotas were unconstitutional.
C)racial quotas were a constitutional means by which public universities could ensure a diverse student body.
D)the racial make-up of a public university must roughly reflect the racial composition of the public the university serves.
E)the strict scrutiny test was not applicable to matters involving higher education.

Question 24

Which minority group is MOST responsible for pioneering the civil rights tactics other groups have adopted since the 1960s?

A)Asian Americans
B)gay and lesbian Americans
C)African Americans
D)Hispanic Americans
E)Native Americans

Question 25

Which of the following statements about Asian Americans is MOST accurate?

A)They have never faced the sort of discriminatory immigration restrictions that groups from many other parts of the world had to face.
B)There were almost no Asians or Asian Americans in the United States before the 1970s.
C)Asian Americans have experienced notable academic success at colleges and universities.
D)Asian Americans are disproportionately represented in political offices and positions of business management.
E)Young Asian Americans are unusually politically active.

Question 26

In deciding a case in which a male citizen sued a state government over a law that he believed discriminated against him based on his gender, the Supreme Court would MOST likely rely on the

A)rational basis test.
B)due process test.
C)intermediate scrutiny test.
D)original intention test.
E)strict scrutiny test.

Question 27

Which of the following statements about Native Americans' struggle for civil rights is LEAST accurate?

A)Historically, Native Americans have been victims of legislation that deprived them of their land and their culture.
B)Native Americans were not granted citizenship en masse until 1924.
C)Since the founding of the American republic, Native Americans have formed formal political and social movements to protest their mistreatment.
D)During the 1960s and 1970s, Indian activists engaged in militant actions such as seizing control of Alcatraz and holding hostages at Wounded Knee.
E)Native Americans continue to suffer disproportionately from ill health and poverty.

Question 28

In deciding a case in which an Asian American woman claims that a state law discriminates against her based on her ethnicity, the Supreme Court would MOST likely use the

A)rational basis test.
B)due process test.
C)intermediate scrutiny test.
D)original intention test.
E)strict scrutiny test.

Question 29

In the case of Korematsu v.United States, the Supreme Court decided that

A)because the internment of Japanese Americans was based solely on race, it was unconstitutional.
B)while the government had the right to send Japanese immigrants to internment camps, their native-born children, as American citizens, must be freed.
C)although Congress might have had the power to order the internment of Japanese Americans, the president could not constitutionally do so by executive order.
D)in times of war, American citizens have no civil rights the government is obligated to respect.
E)the internment of Japanese Americans was a constitutional measure.

Question 30

Which of the following arguments would LEAST likely be advanced by a proponent of affirmative action?

A)Affirmative action policies benefit not only racial minorities, but also women, who make up over half the population.
B)Affirmative action policies have little direct adverse effect on the opportunities available to white men.
C)The goal of a diverse society is one that benefits all members of society, not just the historically disadvantaged.
D)Any policy that privileges one racial group over another is an unacceptable form of racism.
E)Traditional measures for measuring merit contain subjective biases that work against racial minorities.

Question 31

The largest number of Hispanic Americans are of ___________ origin.

A)Honduran
B)Nicaraguan
C)Cuban
D)Mexican
E)Puerto Rican

Question 32

The civil rights leader César Chávez is best known for his efforts on behalf of

A)auto workers.
B)disenfranchised southern African Americans.
C)disabled Americans.
D)gays and lesbians.
E)migrant farm workers.

Question 33

If an elderly woman sued a state government over a law requiring her to retire from a certain job at a certain age, the Supreme Court would MOST likely decide the case on the basis of the

A)rational basis test.
B)due process test.
C)intermediate scrutiny test.
D)original intention test.
E)strict scrutiny test.

Question 34

Based on current understandings of the Americans with Disabilities Act, public schools would have to make special accommodations for all of the following students EXCEPT

A)a student with poor, but functional, eyesight.
B)a student who is confined to a wheelchair.
C)a student with dyslexia.
D)a student with AIDS.
E)a student with autism.

Question 35

In deciding a case involving a law that allegedly discriminated against gay citizens, the Supreme Court would MOST likely apply the

A)rational basis test.
B)due process test.
C)intermediate scrutiny test.
D)original intention test.
E)strict scrutiny test.

Question 36

Currently, the largest ethnic minority group in the United States is

A)Asian Americans.
B)White Americans.
C)African Americans.
D)Hispanic Americans.
E)Native Americans.

Question 37

Which section of the Constitution provides the chief basis for Supreme Court rulings on equality?

A)Article V
B)Fourteenth Amendment
C)Bill of Rights
D)Article III
E)the Preamble

Question 38

In 2007, the Supreme Court took which of the following decisions on race and education?

A)It emphasized the need to expand efforts to ensure racial integration in public schools.
B)It opposed race-based public school initiatives, even if the goal of those initiatives is to enhance diversity.
C)It approved efforts to expand racial diversity in universities only if the methods employed were systematic and quantifiable.
D)It rejected all measures to encourage racial diversity at universities.
E)It avoided addressing cases related to racial initiatives in either universities or public schools.

Question 39

If lower-income citizens sued a state government over a voting registration law that required them to present a driver's license or pay for an alternative state identification card in order to vote, the Supreme Court would MOST likely decide the case on the basis of the

A)rational basis test.
B)due process test.
C)intermediate scrutiny test.
D)original intention test.
E)strict scrutiny test.

Question 40

Throughout the twentieth century, which group advocated MOST vocally and effectively for the rights of disabled Americans?

A)war veterans
B)the NAACP
C)elderly Americans
D)gay and lesbian Americans
E)workers in high-risk jobs

Question 41

Describe the development of the modern women's rights movement.What are its historical precursors? What are its most pressing concerns today? What unique circumstances have women had to face in their struggle for equality?

Question 42

Which of the following statements about the rights of older Americans is LEAST accurate?

A)In 1986, Congress phased out mandatory retirement for all but a few occupations, such as firefighting.
B)Because senior employees often make the most money, they are also often targeted for firing by employers looking to cut costs.
C)Some graduate schools reject older applicants out of hand, because such applicants will have fewer years to ply their trade.
D)Since 1967, federal law has protected workers over the age of 40 from unreasonable discrimination based on their age.
E)Despite, or perhaps because of, the various forms of discrimination they face, elderly Americans generally wield little political power or influence.

Question 43

Who was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives?

A)Nancy Pelosi
B)Sarah Palin
C)Hillary Clinton
D)Anita Hill
E)Jeannette Rankin

Question 44

Which of the following statements about gay rights is LEAST accurate?

A)Persons who know gay men or lesbians personally are more likely to support gay rights.
B)Homosexuals are usually better educated and wealthier than other minority groups.
C)For a time, homosexuals were not allowed to work in the federal government or immigrate to the United States.
D)The modern gay rights movement began with a police raid on gay bar in 1969.
E)The American public has shown its support for gay marriage by approving referenda in state after state establishing legal recognition of such unions.

Question 45

All of the following contributed to the modern feminist movement EXCEPT

A)the publication of The Feminine Mystique.
B)the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
C)the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
D)a Supreme Court case upholding a discriminatory jury selection process on the grounds that a woman's place was in the home.
E)the creation of President Kennedy's Commission on the Status of Women and its subsequent report.

Question 46

Which state was the first to legalize same-sex marriage through a court ruling?

A)California
B)New Hampshire
C)Vermont
D)New York
E)Hawaii

Question 47

, the Supreme Court decided that

A)consenting adults have the constitutional right to engage in homosexual acts in the privacy of their homes.
B)although the military could reject a prospective enlistee based on his or her sexual orientation, it could not discharge a soldier on active duty for the same reason.
C)the Boy Scouts' ban on gay troop leaders amounted to an illegal act of discrimination.
D)the courts of one state were constitutionally bound to recognize and respect same-sex marriages conducted in another state.
E)the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits federal recognition of gay and lesbian couples, is an unconstitutional form of discrimination.

Question 48

Who was the leader of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, founded in 1890?

A) Abigail Adams
B) Susan B. Anthony
C) Lucretia Mott
D) Elizabeth Cady Stanton
E) Betty Friedan

Question 49

Discuss the African American civil rights movement.What was the legacy of oppression African Americans had to overcome? What were the tactics they employed to gain their civil rights? Which of those tactics proved most successful?

Question 50

From 1890 to 1920, the women's rights movement focused its energies primarily on

A)improving women's economic opportunities.
B)changing the cultural standards that held women back.
C)enhancing women's legal standing.
D)electing women to high political office.
E)securing the right to vote.

Question 51

Describe the impact of the African American civil rights movement on other oppressed groups.Which tactics developed by African Americans did members of these other groups adopt? Which tactics did they develop on their own? Which group has had the most success in bringing about legal changes to secure equal rights?

Question 52

Define civil rights.How do they differ from civil liberties? How are they best protected? Is it possible for all people to enjoy civil rights equally, or do the civil rights of some groups necessarily infringe on the civil rights of others? Can persons from groups that have historically enjoyed positions of privilege be said to possess civil rights?

Question 53

Women's struggle for equality differs from other civil rights struggles primarily because women

A)have faced fewer obstacles to employment.
B)have faced fewer obstacles to political participation.
C)are not a minority.
D)have no history of agitating for their rights.
E)have acquired their rights more fully and quickly than other groups, especially African American men.

Question 54

Proponents of comparable worth policies argue that the gap between women's and men's average wages results from

A)workers in jobs traditionally held by women being paid less than workers in jobs traditionally held by men, even if the skill sets and educational backgrounds required for the jobs are the same.
B)women traditionally working in jobs that require less skills and educational background than jobs traditionally held by men.
C)employers refusing to pay women the same wages for doing the same work as men.
D)the tendency of women to leave the workforce for extended periods to raise children.
E)the tendency of female college students to shun disciplines such as business and engineering which lead to high-paying jobs.

Question 55

is LEAST accurate?

A)The movement evolved largely from women's participation in abolitionism.
B)The immediate impetus for the women's movement was the refusal of male participants at an antislavery gathering to allow women to participate in the proceedings.
C)The movement was in part an offshoot of the religious revivalism of the day.
D)The movement ended in triumph with the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote.
E)A pivotal moment in the movement was a convention held at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848.

Question 56

Which Congress has had the highest number of female elected representatives?

A)107^th (elected in 2000)
B)108^th (elected in 2002)
C)110^th (elected in 2006)
D)112^th (elected in 2010)
E)113^th (elected in 2012)

Question 57

Which of the following statements about current Supreme Court views on sexual harassment is LEAST accurate?

A)Sexual harassment is a form of gender discrimination prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
B)Alleged victims of sexual harassment must demonstrate that their employers were aware of the harassment and did nothing to stop it.
C)In some instances, schools can be sued if school officials allow one student to harass another sexually.
D)Alleged victims of sexual harassment do not need to show severe psychological injury or demonstrate that the harassment prevented them from doing their job in order to win their case.
E)Employers can be held responsible for a supervisor's harassment of an employee, even if the harassment does no on-the-job harm.

Question 58

In recent years the Supreme Court has ruled that

A)statutory rape laws that apply only to female victims are constitutional.
B)requiring only men to register with the Selective Service is unconstitutional.
C)laws that prevent men from collecting alimony while allowing women to do so are constitutional.
D)prosecutors may choose to exclude either women or men from juries in order to create a jury sympathetic to their case.
E)single-sex nursing schools are legal and constitutional.

Question 59

Regarding gays and lesbians serving in the military, President Clinton supported a policy

A)allowing lesbians to serve, but not gays.
B)allowing gays and lesbians to openly serve.
C)prohibiting gays and lesbians from serving at all.
D)of "don't ask, don't tell."
E)essentially the same as the one adopted by President Obama.

Question 60

In a 2008 decision, the U.S.Supreme Court ruled that

A)federal workers who file claims of age discrimination have the same protections from retaliation as they would in the private sector.
B)federal workers have no constitutional protections related to age discrimination.
C)state workers have no constitutional protections related to age discrimination.
D)federal workers who file claims of age discrimination have fewer protections from retaliation than they would in the private sector.
E)federal workers who file claims of age discrimination have more protections from retaliation than they would in the private sector.

Question 61

Discuss the impact of the various civil rights movements.Have these movements succeeded in broadly expanding civil rights and equal opportunity? Does the struggle for civil rights need to progress further or has it already gone too far? Did the civil rights struggles bring the nation together or divide it into separate identity groups? Do measures designed to overcome historic discrimination become forms of "reverse discrimination"?

Question 62

Write an essay in which you critically examine the main arguments for and against affirmative action in higher education.What arguments can be made in favor of it? When does it become reverse discrimination, if ever?

Question 63

Some call the struggle for equal rights for gays and lesbians the last major civil rights struggle for America.In what ways are gays and lesbians discriminated against? How has this discrimination been perpetuated? What is happening at the local, state, and national levels to combat this discrimination? What is the current extent of legal same-sex marriage in the United States?