Deck 42: The American People Face a New Century

Question 1

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Maxine Hong Kingston

Answer 1

Student answers will vary.

Question 2

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Frank Lloyd Wright

Answer 2

Student answers will vary.

Question 3

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Douglas Wilder

Answer 3

Student answers will vary.

Question 4

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Jackson Pollock

Question 5

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Randolph Bourne

Question 6

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Big Science

Question 7

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
O.J.Simpson

Question 8

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Frank McCourt

Question 9

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Norman MacLean

Question 10

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Barack Obama

Question 11

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
stem cell research

Question 12

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Cesar Chavez

Question 13

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Jonas Salk

Question 14

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
"outsourcing"

Question 15

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Eero Saarinen

Question 16

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Toni Morrison

Question 17

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Sandra Cisneros

Question 18

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
David Mamet

Question 19

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Condoleezza Rice

Question 20

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
"dot.com" businesses

Question 21

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
postmodernism

Question 22

Major advances in genetic and stem-cell research led to all the following except

A) the cloning of human beings.
B) the prospect of major new medical therapies.
C) the prospect of large profits for bioengineering companies.
D) concern about the ethical implications of cloning and the destruction of embryos.
E) the development of new high-yield crops.

Question 23

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
blogosphere

Question 24

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Information Age

Question 25

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Microsoft Corporation

Question 26

All of the following proved to be characteristics of the new information age economy except

A) instant global communications.
B) high-tech computer and media businesses.
C) the decline of traditional occupations mediating between products and clients.
D) an end to the boom-and-bust capitalist business cycle.
E) outsourcing of white collar American jobs to Third World countries.

Question 27

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

Question 28

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
abstract expressionism

Question 29

Among the biggest trends for white collar workers in the twenty-first century is

A) the continued outsourcing of financial service and engineering jobs to other countries.
B) declining salary rates across the board.
C) increased opportunities to relocate internationally.
D) jobs requiring a higher level of education than in the past.
E) work days that have inched up from eight to ten or even twelve hours a day.

Question 30

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
gender gap

Question 31

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
research universities

Question 32

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Question 33

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
National Endowment for the Arts

Question 34

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Cinco de Mayo

Question 35

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
pop art

Question 36

The rise of computer corporations like Microsoft and dot.com businesses signaled the advent of

A) industrial technology.
B) the global information age.
C) mass democracy.
D) entrepreneurial capitalism.
E) the speculative stock market.

Question 37

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
United Farm Workers Organizing Committee

Question 38

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Human Genome Project

Question 39

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
mainstream media

Question 40

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
multiculturalism

Question 41

In terms of immigration patterns,the period from the 1980s to 2004 has witnessed

A) a return to the high immigration rates of 1924-1965.
B) a resurgence of European immigration to America.
C) a decrease in the number of Asian immigrants.
D) a successful effort to block the flow of immigrants to America's shores.
E) the heaviest influx of immigrants in America's experience.

Question 42

The Latino immigrant population maintained their language and culture better than most previous immigrant groups because

A) they were so thinly scattered across the country.
B) they lived in segregated neighborhoods.
C) of their large numbers and geographic concentration.
D) of a stronger desire to preserve their culture than previous groups had.
E) they remained politically loyal to the Latin American nations from which they came.

Question 43

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 attempted to

A) restrict access to welfare for legal immigrants.
B) require immigrants to learn English as a condition of American citizenship.
C) restrict access to welfare and education for illegal immigrants.
D) deny amnesty to illegal immigrants living in the U.S.
E) penalize employers for hiring illegal immigrants.

Question 44

As women's status changed,men's lives changed in all of the following ways except

A) employers offered paternity leave in addition to maternity leave.
B) companies increasingly acknowledged shared obligations of two-worker households.
C) more men took on traditional female household chores.
D) Congress passed a Family Leave Bill that protected jobs for fathers and mothers who need time off for family reasons.
E) men began to look outside of their marriages for the emotional connections they once shared with wives.

Question 45

By the early twenty-first century,evidence of the growing numbers and influence of the Latino population in the U.S.could be seen in all of the following ways except

A) electing mayors of major cities such as Miami, Denver and San Antonio.
B) the United Farm Workers' success in improving working conditions for the mostly Chicano laborers.
C) more Hispanic restaurants and foods in supermarkets.
D) increasing Spanish-language television broadcasts.
E) more election ballots in Spanish.

Question 46

President George H.W.Bush's plan to offer a "path to citizenship" for 12 million illegal immigrants,while tightening border control and penalizing illegal immigrant hiring

A) gained powerful political momentum through the support of the Catholic Church.
B) won strong support from most elements of his Republican party.
C) pleased almost no one and failed to pass Congress.
D) was welcome by most immigrants and their advocates.
E) sharply divided immigrant groups between those favoring and those opposing it.

Question 47

The group most profoundly affected by the great economic changes of the late twentieth century was

A) African Americans.
B) Hispanics.
C) Asian Americans.
D) women.
E) southerners.

Question 48

The post-World War II rise of Big Science was characterized by

A) an emphasis on the ethical implications of scientific research.
B) large expenditures on failed research initiatives.
C) a close alliance of the federal government, defense-oriented industries, and American research universities.
D) an emphasis on individual scientific genius and entrepreneurship.
E) a belief that knowledge should be advanced without government involvement and interference.

Question 49

One reason that many women remained in low-skill,low-prestige,and low-paying occupations was that they

A) were not allowed to seek advancement.
B) had not yet obtained executive experience.
C) did not have the same educational levels as men.
D) were not protected as workers by the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
E) bore more of the burdens of parenthood than men.

Question 50

The gap between rich and poor widened in the 1980s and 1990s for all of the following reasons except

A) intensifying global economic competition.
B) the decline of unions.
C) tax policies of the Carter and Clinton administrations.
D) the growth of part-time and temporary work.
E) the greater economic rewards for education.

Question 51

The money used to provide Social Security payments to retirees comes from

A) the federal income tax.
B) the contributions made by the elderly during their working lives.
C) Social Security taxes paid by current workers.
D) private employers' pension funds.
E) the federal government's investment of Social Security contributions in the stock market.

Question 52

One dramatic trend regarding American poverty that occurred in the 1990s and 2000 was a

A) sharp increase in poverty for those over age 65.
B) decrease in poverty for children.
C) concentration of poverty in a few regions like Appalachia.
D) decrease in poverty for those over age 65.
E) decrease in poverty for single mothers.

Question 53

One of the most dramatic changes in women's economic condition by the early twenty-first century was

A) that equal pay was finally a reality.
B) the employment of mothers.
C) the decline in the number of women seeking high-demand careers.
D) the removal of the glass ceiling preventing advancement to top positions.
E) the complete end of largely single-sex occupations.

Question 54

Despite numerous victories,feminists in the 1990s and 2000s continued to be frustrated for all of these reasons except that

A) the percentage of women physicians in America remained low.
B) women generally were paid less than men for performing corresponding jobs.
C) women remained concentrated in traditionally feminine occupations.
D) women continued to be legally barred from holding high-level, high-prestige positions.
E) women continued to bear the greatest responsibilities for the welfare of children.

Question 55

The most populous group of Latinos in the United States comes from

A) Cuba.
B) Nicaragua.
C) El Salvador.
D) Mexico.
E) the Dominican Republic.

Question 56

The New Immigrants of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries

A) came to America primarily in search of jobs and economic opportunity.
B) assimilated more quickly into the American mainstream than earlier waves of immigrants.
C) received more in welfare payments, as a group, than they paid in taxes.
D) made Mexican Americans the largest American minority by 1995.
E) settled primarily on the East Coast.

Question 57

In 2005,the foreign-born population accounted for ____ percent of the United States' population.

A) about 17
B) more than 30
C) about 23
D) about 13
E) less than 5

Question 58

By the 2000s,the traditional nuclear family unit was undergoing severe strain because

A) the divorce rate had increased.
B) the number of single-parent households had risen.
C) parent-substitutes had assumed the role of child-rearing.
D) the family no longer served many of its traditional social functions.
E) All of these

Question 59

By 2002,approximately ____ percent of African Americans lived in central cities.

A) 10
B) 52
C) 25
D) 75
E) 90

Question 60

Studies show that illegal immigrants

A) do not seek education for their children.
B) mostly plan to return to their country of origin as soon as they can.
C) claim welfare benefits at the taxpayer's expense.
D) are responsible for a disproportionate share of crime.
E) pay more dollars in federal taxes than they claim in benefits but do often burden local government services.

Question 61

What explains the growing income disparity between wealthy and poor since the 1970s?

Question 62

What were the greatest achievements of Big Science in the post-World War II era? What issues and problems emerged with the close relationship among the federal government,defense industries,and American research universities?

Question 63

In general,the effects of the electronic new media in the early twentieth century were

A) used to reinforce existing political and economic power structures.
B) restricted to those with extensive education and training in their use.
C) of greater benefit to corporations than to ordinary citizens.
D) democratizing for ordinary citizens.
E) complementary to the interests of the traditional mainstream media.

Question 64

The leading painting movement in the immediate post-World War II period was

A) pop art.
B) abstract expressionism.
C) minimalism.
D) Dadaism.
E) postmodernism.

Question 65

Which of the following was not among the notable ethnic and African writers of the period since the 1980s?

A) Amy Tan
B) Toni Morrison
C) Joy Harjo
D) James Welch
E) Raymond Carver

Question 66

The authors conclude that after much of its history as a revolutionary force in a conservative world,America "is now a conservative force in a world of revolution." Do you agree? Why or why not?

Question 67

Mexican American mutual aid societies or Mutualistas provided

A) a way for money to be transferred to relatives back in Mexico.
B) recreation, aid for the sick and disabled, and defense against discrimination.
C) a political alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties.
D) artistic, intellectual, and religious outlets for the immigrant community.
E) a way to maintain Mexican citizenship within the United States.

Question 68

Signs of progress for African Americans in the early 2000s include all of the following except

A) more people moving into the middle class.
B) rising numbers of blacks holding political office locally and nationally.
C) declining numbers of single, female-headed households.
D) increasing numbers of blacks buying homes in the suburbs.
E) an end to efforts to disqualify their votes or keep them from the polls.

Question 69

Which of the following is not among the reasons that Mexican immigrants were,for a long time,slow to become American citizens?

A) Most lived very close to Mexico and remained identified with that country.
B) Many returned frequently to Mexico to visit home and family there.
C) Almost all Mexican immigrants remained migrant farm laborers unable to settle down in cities.
D) It was often considered a badge of dishonor to adopt American citizenship.
E) The Mexican government actively discouraged Mexicans from taking U.S. citizenship.

Question 70

Which of the following was not among prominent American playwrights or musical theater creators in the late twentieth century?

A) Eve Ensler
B) Nilo Cruz
C) Tony Kushner
D) Jackson Pollock
E) David Hwang

Question 71

The first significant numbers of Mexican American immigrants to the United States came during the

A) aftermath of the Mexican War, 1850-1860.
B) era of the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920.
C) Great Depression, 1930-1940.
D) aftermath of World War II, 1945-1955.
E) post-Vietnam War era, 1975-1985.

Question 72

What were the costs and benefits of the new information age economy?

Question 73

In 2006,the number of college graduates in the 25-34 age group was approximately one person in

A) ten.
B) five.
C) twenty.
D) three.
E) four.

Question 74

A few early-twentieth-century intellectuals like Horace Kallen and Randolph Bourne were advocates of

A) racial integration.
B) Eurocentrism.
C) cultural pluralism.
D) universal human rights.
E) the melting pot.

Question 75

In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century,American fiction reflected

A) an increasing number of women writers and female perspectives.
B) a renaissance in Native American literature seeking to recover the tribal past and reimagine the present.
C) the experience of immigrants in America.
D) political themes and social commentary.
E) All of these

Question 76

Critics of multiculturalism in American education charged that too much of it would lead to

A) distorting the achievements of minorities.
B) too much emphasis on white ethnic groups.
C) ethnic violence and possibly civil war.
D) Eurocentrism.
E) a loss of national cohesion and appreciation of shared American values.

Question 77

Evaluate the impact of the postindustrial economy on the American family.In what ways is it accurate to say that the family has not so much declined as altered its forms and functions? What were the greatest challenges that American families faced?

Question 78

Account for the rise of minority groups in American society since World War II.Do you think that this rise has been a healthy development? Why or why not?

Question 79

Which of these is NOT among the challenges facing America and Americans in the twenty-first century?

A) The increasingly unequal distribution of wealth
B) Women increasingly surpassing men in the workforce
C) Diminishing oil supplies and the need for alternative energy sources
D) Enhancing national security without eroding civil liberties
E) Protecting the nation's borders without preventing desirable immigrants from coming to the U.S.

Question 80

African Americans' goal of achieving higher education received a substantial boost when the Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that.

A) blacks could be hired directly as full professors in American universities.
B) racial discrimination in awarding financial aid was illegal.
C) formerly all-white universities had to provide compensation for past discrimination.
D) affirmative action in admissions was legitimate so long as rigid quotas or point systems were not used.
E) racially oriented African American Studies programs were legal.