Deck 17: African Americans and the 1920s

Question 1

How did other black leaders, like W. E. B. Du Bois and A. Philip Randolph, view Garvey?

A) They were very excited about his ideas, and supported him wholeheartedly.
B) They ignored him and his organization, since it was so small and insignificant.
C) They tended to support him, but only when his ideas mirrored theirs.
D) They continually denigrated him and his ideas, calling him dangerous and a fool.

Answer 1

They continually denigrated him and his ideas, calling him dangerous and a fool.

Question 2

What do the activities of the NAACP regarding "white primaries" and in the Sweet case tell us about their tactics during the 1920s?

A) The NAACP was more likely to get involved in violent protest.
B) The NAACP continued to use the court system to gain changes and civil rights in America.
C) The NAACP was adopting more strident demands for blacks to move to Africa.
D) .The NAACP refused to take a clear stand on race issues, instead tending to follow white politicians at this time.

Answer 2

The NAACP continued to use the court system to gain changes and civil rights in America.

Question 3

What man was very important in greatly expanding the membership of the NAACP through the 1920s?

A) James Weldon Johnson
B) W. E. B. Du Bois
C) Marcus Garvey
D) Booker T. Washington

Answer 3

James Weldon Johnson

Question 4

What made many Americans fear that communism might spread to the United States in 1919 and 1920?

A) arrests of thousands of known communists, who had been plotting the overthrow of the government at that time
B) the success of communism in Canada during the 1920s
C) widespread labor strikes and agitation, as well as the success of communist forces in the Soviet Union
D) concern about communism in England spreading to the United States

Question 5

For what proposal is Garvey best remembered?

A) establishing the Black Star Line, a group of steamships that were supposed to help blacks get back to Africa
B) filing legal cases against the system of segregation
C) setting up numerous schools for young black children in New York
D) forcing many blacks to enlist in his army, and fight New York policemen on a daily basis

Question 6

What organization did Marcus Garvey form in Jamaica in 1914?

A) Universal Negro Improvement Association
B) NAACP
C) World Negro Association
D) Congress of Racial Equality

Question 7

What did the film, Birth of a Nation, depict?

A) an incredibly racist view of blacks as either ignorant or rapists, along with a glorification of the Ku Klux Klan
B) the American Revolution, seen through the eyes of a black slaver
C) Birth of a Nation was the first film directed, written, and produced by blacks. It attempted to glorify black contributions during World War I
D) an accurate, although somewhat romanticized, portrayal of Reconstruction

Question 8

How did Garvey react to the KKK?

A) He praised the organization as being the only honest white men in America.
B) He worked to get them imprisoned as murderers and rapists.
C) He filed a court case to try to take their property as compensation for violence committed.
D) He worked with them sometimes, when he thought additional violence would bring him new members.

Question 9

What does the case of Sacco and Vanzetti tell us about America in the early 1920s?

A) Communism was widespread in America, and justice officials acted quickly to stop it.
B) Many felt their conviction and execution had more to do with xenophobia than legal evidence that they had been involved in a crime.
C) Black men were treated very poorly in the American justice system.
D) Blacks were the primary ethnic group who suffered discrimination in the 1920s.

Question 10

What was not a popular reaction to the film, Birth of a Nation?

A) The NAACP protested it for stereotyping blacks.
B) It was enormously popular among American audiences.
C) The film occasionally incited white violence against blacks.
D) The film encouraged students to study the American Revolution.

Question 11

What was the ultimate result of the Dyer anti-lynching bill?

A) It was the first piece of legislation to actually make lynching a federal crime, and greatly slowed down those crimes.
B) It was so unpopular that it was never even allowed to be discussed in the House.
C) Although the NAACP gained publicity for the anti-lynching crusade, the bill ultimately failed.
D) Although it passed with flying colors, it was a very weak law, and had no effect on slowing the tide of lynching.

Question 12

What was not true about Marcus Garvey and his ideas?

A) Garvey was often very critical about blacks, blaming them for slavery and lack of education and rights.
B) Garvey was very poorly educated, since he grew up in Jamaica, and left school at 14.
C) Garvey began to identify himself with Jesus Christ.
D) Garvey actually relied on leading whites for his main ideas about racial improvement.

Question 13

What organization reemerged shortly after the release of the movie, The Birth of a Nation?

A) NAACP
B) Ku Klux Klan
C) Actors Against Racism
D) the first motion picture rating organization

Question 14

What is true about academic studies and academic views of race in the 1920s?

A) Many scholars and writers were beginning to denounce the ideas of racism and white supremacy.
B) Prominent scholars published numerous books warning about the threat to America from immigrants, and the dangers of "diluting" the white race.
C) Many academic reports were beginning to accept that blacks and whites were equal.
D) Academic studies tended to avoid controversy during the 1920s, especially the issues of race.

Question 15

What 1960s civil rights leader was very influenced by Garvey, and continued promoting some of his ideas?

A) Martin Luther King, Jr.
B) Malcolm X
C) Bayard Rustin
D) Jesse Jackson

Question 16

Garvey wanted to establish a settlement in Liberia. What stopped him?

A) He never had significant support from any blacks for his organization.
B) The American, British, and French governments blocked his requests to the League of Nations, since they wanted to maintain power for themselves.
C) He changed his mind after making a trip to Liberia and seeing the conditions there.
D) He was assassinated by a member of the KKK before he could put his plan into effect..

Question 17

How was the Klan of the 1920s different from the Reconstruction Klan?

A) The Klan in the 1920s was violent, when the Reconstruction Klan generally was not.
B) The Klan of the 1920s expanded their hate targets to include Catholics, Jews, and immigrants as well as blacks.
C) The Klan of Reconstruction was more of a political power.
D) .The Klan was able to run a viable candidate for president in 1924.

Question 18

What led to the decline of the Klan?

A) People across the country began to see them as common terrorists. Many began to denounce their ideas of racism.
B) One Klan leader was convicted of raping a young white woman, when the Klan was supposedly committed to protecting white women from danger.
C) The Great Depression limited income, and many whites could not afford the expensive membership.
D) The Supreme Court declared them a dangerous, subversive organization.

Question 19

What author influenced Garvey's early ideas about changing the situation of blacks?

A) W. E. B. Du Bois
B) Teddy Roosevelt
C) Frederick Douglass
D) Booker T. Washington

Question 20

What benefits did Marcus Garvey and his ideas bring to many black people?

A) His organization brought direct economic benefits, providing a minimum income to all members, regardless of class or race.
B) Garvey brought spiritual salvation to his followers, as he was primarily a Baptist minister.
C) His ideas brought an opportunity to celebrate their culture, history, and heritage in a world that generally saw them as inferior or meaningless.
D) Garvey brought few benefits to his members, as his organization was always very small and extreme.

Question 21

What types of difficulties or discrimination did Pullman porters not face?

A) Customers called all porters by the same name, regardless of their real name.
B) They often had to purchase supplies and uniforms themselves.
C) They were paid less than white workers, and were required to complete some job duties without pay.
D) They often were discriminated against within the black community, as porters were considered lowly..

Question 22

What was a difference between white and black clubs in Harlem?

A) The black clubs were less expensive.
B) The white clubs refused to allow blacks to come in as customers.
C) The white clubs often had bands playing in smoke-filled rooms, while the black clubs would have elaborate dance numbers.
D) Some black clubs stayed open past 3am.

Question 23

What was the "Niggerati," according to Zora Neale Hurston?

A) white people who read and supported black literature
B) her black literary colleagues during the Harlem Renaissance
C) white racists
D) blacks who were racist against darker-skinned blacks

Question 24

What did authors like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston think the purpose of black literature should be?

A) to promote a positive image of blacks, and help resolve racial conflicts
B) to be very political, and stay away from fiction or imagined situations
C) that art should portray ordinary, even poor black people, with their good and bad sides
D) that art should be an expression of black nationalism, like Garvey was expressing

Question 25

Why did the Harlem Renaissance end?

A) Racists began an influential campaign against the art and literature.
B) The great artists of the period began to die off.
C) The Great Depression devastated book sales across the country.
D) Artists' disagreements over the role of literature became very heated, and they split apart.

Question 26

What did Du Bois ask for at the first Pan-African Congress?

A) the creation of a central black nation, but he did not demand the immediate withdrawal of the Europeans
B) that Africans come to America and help African Americans gain rights
C) that Africa begins a communist revolution to support the Soviet Union
D) that countries in Africa work toward taking over a state within America

Question 27

What did Du Bois and Garvey, as well as other black leaders, have in common?

A) very little-they differed on just about every issue during the time
B) they all accepted segregation in America
C) a great interest in Africa, and trying to improve or eliminate colonial rule there
D) they all thought that working through the court system was the best way to win rights for blacks

Question 28

How did Pullman porters react to the difficulties of their jobs?

A) They did not. Pullman porters were generally very uneducated, and did not know how to change their situation.
B) Pullman porters formed a union, with A. Philip Randolph as the leader, to improve their situation.
C) The porters staged sit-ins and demonstrations to protest their difficulties.
D) The porters tried to work behind the scenes, very quietly, to try to get helpful legislation passed by Congress.

Question 29

Which was the most famous Harlem nightspot?

A) Ellington's
B) The Cotton Club
C) Connie's Inn
D) Sugar Cane

Question 30

How did the Pullman Company respond to Randolph's attempt to make gains for the porters?

A) Since they realized the union represented all of their porters, they had no choice but to give in to some demands.
B) The Pullman Company fired those who were in the union, and established their own company union.
C) The company gave the workers more dignity, when management adopted the slogan "Service not servitude."
D) None of these answers are correct.

Question 31

Why was the Pullman Company an early area for black labor organizing?

A) They provided the lowest wages available for any blacks.
B) By the 1920s, it was the largest employer of black people in America.
C) They utilized blacks' educational skills very well, in engineering and developing technology for railroads.
D) They were generally not discriminatory, and allowed blacks great freedom in their jobs.

Question 32

What was the "Harlem Renaissance"?

A) an outpouring of literary and artistic work from blacks during the 1920s
B) a brief time when blacks in Harlem had equal social rights to whites during the 1920s
C) the name given to the time period when Harlem was growing larger, and getting more black institutions
D) a time when historical buildings in Harlem were given great attention

Question 33

What was true about the formal education of many of the black writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance?

A) They were generally very poorly educated, and yet made great strides in art and literature.
B) Many of them went to very elite schools, at a time when any college education was rare.
C) They had a high school education generally, but little else.
D) They generally felt that education for blacks was useless, since they were confined to menial jobs.

Question 34

What was A. Philip Randolph's political orientation?

A) Socialist
B) Republican
C) Democrat
D) He tended to vote for whoever would support blacks.

Question 35

What is true about the occupations of black people after World War I and the great migration?

A) A great majority of blacks were now employed in industrial trades.
B) Almost all black industrial workers were union members.
C) Most black people were still employed in agricultural work or domestic service.
D) Many African Americans had college educations and were employed as managers of businesses.

Question 36

What did authors like Jessie Fauset and W. E. B. Du Bois think the purpose of black literature should be?

A) to promote a positive image of blacks, and help resolve racial conflicts
B) to be very political, and stay away from fiction or imagined situations
C) that art should portray ordinary, even poor black people, with their good and bad sides
D) that art should be an expression of black nationalism, like Garvey was expressing

Question 37

What role did white women like Amy Spingarn and Charlotte Osgood Mason play in the Harlem Renaissance?

A) They were patrons, helping fund writers' works, but they also tried to direct their efforts.
B) They were racist young women, who attempted to find every way possible to stop blacks from writing.
C) They were competing authors, who generally beat out Harlem Renaissance artists for publishing opportunities.
D) They were wives of influential congressmen, who had black artists' works read in the White House.

Question 38

What organization was Randolph asked to lead in 1925?

Question 39

What was true about the Cotton Club?

A) It was generally a black club, with few whites allowed in.
B) Blacks performed there, but were not allowed entrance as customers.
C) It was known for its interracial character, and its anti-discriminatory policies.
D) It was not very popular, since it was in Harlem, and whites were afraid to travel there.

Question 40

What idea did works like Color Struck and The Blacker the Berry . . . reflect?

A) Blacks, if given the opportunity, could excel in America.
B) Many black people also had color prejudices against darker-skinned blacks.
C) Slaves were constantly beaten, and degraded.
D) Most black intellectuals were leaning toward communism as a solution to black problems.

Question 41

Which of the following was not true about blacks in baseball?

A) Black leagues were often very disorganized, and would come and go quickly.
B) Blacks often made very little money.
C) Blacks had to move around a lot to play games.
D) Generally, at this time, blacks far preferred basketball to baseball.

Question 42

Which of the following is not true about amateur sports during the 1910s and 1920s?

A) Black players on white teams rarely encountered discrimination from fans or other athletes.
B) They were more rigidly segregated than professional sports.
C) Amateur sports at black colleges were very popular and well attended.
D) Amateur sports were almost nonexistent: they died out before 1900.

Question 43

How did the New York Giants' (baseball) manager attempt to get a black man into baseball?

A) by having him wear makeup over his skin
B) by describing him as the best baseball player he had ever seen
C) by filing a legal suit against the league for discrimination
D) by describing him as a Native American, rather than a black person

Question 44

Which of the following was a play written by black playwrights?

A) Chocolate Dandies
B) Emperor Jones
C) Othello
D) Porgy and Bess

Question 45

Who was Andrew "Rube" Foster?

A) a black pitcher during the 1910s
B) the man behind the formation of the Negro National League
C) founder of the Chicago American Giants
D) all of these answers are correct