Deck 16: Civil Rights: the Struggle for Political Equality

Question 1

What does the Lilly Ledbetter Act do?

A) requires businesses to make their properties accessible to people in wheelchairs
B) eliminates all vestiges of Jim Crow and prevents new Jim Crow policies
C) makes it a federal crime to fire someone for being gay
D) makes it easier for someone to sue over gender-based pay discrimination
E) aids Native Americans in the university admissions process

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following argued many of the key civil rights cases before the Supreme Court on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and then later went on to become a justice of the Supreme Court?

A) Martin Luther King, Jr.
B) Earl Warren
C) Thurgood Marshall
D) Lyndon Johnson
E) Robert Kennedy

Answer 2

C

Question 3

When did women win the guaranteed right to vote?

A) when the Constitution was adopted
B) during the Civil War
C) immediately after the Civil War
D) at the same time that black males won the right to vote
E) decades after black males won the right to vote

Answer 3

E

Question 4

The provision of the Fourteenth Amendment that prohibits any state from denying any person within its jurisdiction "the equal protection of the laws" is known as the __________ clause.

A) due process
B) jurisdiction
C) grandfather
D) equal protection
E) privileges and immunities

Question 5

What was the objective of the women's suffrage movement?

A) the right to an abortion
B) the right to own property
C) equal pay for equal worth
D) the right to vote
E) broad gender equality

Question 6

Which of the following have dominated the story of the extension of civil rights for African Americans since the mid-1960s?

A) ending legally sanctioned discrimination, and debate over voter ID fraud
B) ending legally sanctioned discrimination, and debate over actions that should be taken to remedy past wrongs done to African Americans
C) ending unequal access to education, and debate over voter ID fraud
D) ending unequal access to education, and debate over actions that should be taken to remedy past wrongs done to African Americans
E) reimbursing African Americans for their losses during slavery, and debate over actions that should be taken to remedy past wrongs

Question 7

What was the primary focus at the 1848 convention at Seneca Falls, New York, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton?

A) the prohibition of alcohol
B) women's rights
C) rights for former slaves
D) ending the Civil War
E) the New Deal

Question 8

The Fourteenth Amendment attempted to guarantee which of the following to former slaves?

A) forty acres of farmland and a mule
B) free university education
C) economic equality with whites
D) citizenship rights
E) debt forgiveness

Question 9

What did the Supreme Court determine was unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education?

A) integrated schools
B) poll taxes
C) segregation of schools
D) unequal school funding
E) school busing

Question 10

The Fifteenth Amendment guarantees citizens the right to vote regardless of __________.

A) race
B) gender
C) age
D) property ownership
E) involvement in insurrection

Question 11

The privileges and immunities clause in the Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment ensures which of the following?

A) that privileges come with being a U.S. citizen, and all citizens will be immune from prosecution until there is evidence of guilt
B) that states cannot deprive anyone of life, liberty, or property arbitrarily
C) that citizens from out of state will have the same legal rights as local citizens
D) that all states must provide equal treatment to all people within their boundaries
E) that segregation is allowed as long as separate facilities are equal

Question 12

Which of the following is true of the U.S. Constitution?

A) It pays little attention to guarantees of equality, and even includes provisions sustaining the institution of slavery and the noncitizen status of Native Americans.
B) It declares that all men are created equal and have rights, but the framers meant men and not women, since they believed a woman's place is in the home.
C) It pays little attention to guarantees of rights, but does include provisions about equality that have led civil rights leaders to declare that equal people should have equal rights.
D) It pays little attention to guarantees of equality, but does include provisions condemning slavery and promoting citizen status for Native Americans.
E) It declares that all men are created equal and have rights, but leaves out any mention of slaves, women, and Native Americans.

Question 13

Which of these does the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ban?

A) poll taxes and grandfather clauses
B) discrimination in public accommodations
C) integration in public transportation
D) discrimination based on sexual orientation
E) nonviolent direct action

Question 14

What did Jim Crow laws mandate?

A) voting rights
B) racial segregation
C) poll taxes
D) grandfather clauses
E) black codes

Question 15

The civil rights movement pushed for racial equality. When did this movement take place?

A) immediately after the Civil War
B) during Reconstruction
C) during the early 1900s
D) during the 1950s and 1960s
E) after passage of the Equal Rights Amendment

Question 16

Who had to pay poll taxes?

A) winning candidates
B) losing candidates
C) county clerks
D) voters
E) nonvoters

Question 17

The Thirteenth Amendment bans slavery. When was it passed?

A) when the South seceded from the Union
B) during the Civil War
C) immediately after the Civil War
D) immediately after Reconstruction
E) during the civil rights movement

Question 18

The Supreme Court has based a woman's right to an abortion on which grounds?

A) equal protection
B) privileges and immunities
C) due process
D) privacy
E) strict scrutiny

Question 19

What did Chief Justice Roger Taney claim in the Supreme Court case of Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857?

A) The Founders made clear in the Constitution that all people are equal and have inalienable rights, and therefore government and whites must honor those rights
B) Under the Declaration of Independence, all men are created equal, but the Founders made it clear that phrase does not include women, who belong in the home
C) The Founders believed that blacks had no rights that whites or government were bound to honor or respect
D) The Constitution does not mention equality, but nevertheless, in the spirit of democracy it should be honored, and therefore both black and white men have rights
E) The Founders believed blacks should be slaves and women should stay home, so no white men or government is bound to grant them any particular rights

Question 20

In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), the Supreme Court determined that __________ were unconstitutional.

A) poll taxes
B) grandfather clauses
C) all forms of affirmative action
D) Jim Crow laws
E) racial quotas

Question 21

Which of the following accommodations would an employer most likely have to make to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act?

A) hiring a disabled person instead of an equally qualified person without a disability
B) providing better medical insurance for employees who have a disability
C) lowering expectations for the quality of work performed by employees with disabilities
D) ensuring that employees who use a wheelchair have jobs that shield them from public contact
E) installing a ramp and other physical accommodations for someone who uses a wheelchair

Question 22

What is the source of de facto segregation and discrimination?

A) practice
B) law
C) the Constitution
D) Congress
E) affirmative action

Question 23

What was the basis for the Supreme Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that upheld the constitutionality of a state law requiring segregated railroad facilities?

A) Former slaves are not entitled to full citizenship rights because they did not immigrate to the United States willingly.
B) Former slaves are not entitled to full citizenship rights because they were considered property under the law.
C) The Constitution does not prohibit segregation; it only mandates equal protection under the law.
D) Railroad transportation involves interstate commerce, which is regulated by Congress; there is no provision in federal law that prohibits segregation.
E) Each state has the right to interpret the Constitution as it sees fit, as long as the interpretation is "reasonable and without malice."

Question 24

What was the Supreme Court's rationale in the Civil Rights Cases (1883) for why Congress could not prohibit discrimination in public accommodations?

A) Congress cannot regulate public accommodations because they involve interstate commerce.
B) Congress cannot regulate public accommodations because they tend to be owned by private individuals.
C) Congress cannot regulate public accommodations because it lacks the authority to spend money without the permission of the states.
D) Congress cannot prohibit discrimination because doing so violates the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
E) Congress cannot prohibit discrimination because there was insufficient evidence that discrimination exists.

Question 25

The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits states from doing which of the following?

A) refusing equal treatment to all people within their boundaries
B) depriving women, African Americans, and Native Americans of their rights
C) preventing anyone from voting by use of voter ID fraud
D) refusing to honor the legal rights of citizens from out of state
E) depriving anyone of life, liberty, or property arbitrarily

Question 26

In which of the following instances would a company be most likely to be absolved of liability for the sexually harassing behavior of a supervisor?

A) The top managers were unaware of the supervisor's behavior.
B) The worker was unable to prove that the offensive actions made it impossible to do the job.
C) The victim reported the behavior in a reasonable amount of time but failed to follow the procedures outlined in the company's solid and well-communicated harassment policy.
D) The worker was unable to prove that the offensive actions caused psychological harm.
E) The company had a solid and well-communicated harassment policy, but the victim failed to report the behavior within a reasonable amount of time.

Question 27

What did the Supreme Court decide in Smith v. Allwright (1944) regarding the practice of excluding nonwhites from political-party primary elections?

A) It was unconstitutional.
B) It was permissible under the separate-but-equal doctrine.
C) It did not trigger the strict scrutiny test, so the practice was deemed reasonable.
D) It was unconstitutional, but would be allowed in order to prevent violent reactions from whites.
E) It was constitutional, since the Constitution condoned segregation.

Question 28

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is most likely to fight to reduce which of the following?

A) racism
B) affirmative action
C) sexism
D) sodomy
E) job training programs

Question 29

What did the Supreme Court mean when it declared during World War II that race was a "suspect classification"?

A) Any person of a different race, and particularly Japanese Americans, should be deemed suspicious until they could prove innocence.
B) Any law using race as a basis should be suspected of being an unconstitutional classification, but the burden would be on the one challenging the law to prove it.
C) Any classification based on race would undergo suspect scrutiny during Supreme Court review, and the rule maker would have to prove it was used because of a compelling public interest.
D) Any local, state, or national law using racial criteria was presumed to be unconstitutional unless it could be shown to be both necessary and compelling.
E) Any person of a different race could be classified as a suspect if a crime was committed in that person's neighborhood, but only if there was at least circumstantial evidence indicating the person might be guilty.

Question 30

The Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas (2003) primarily enhanced the civil liberties of __________.

A) African Americans
B) Asians
C) American Indians
D) gays and lesbians
E) disabled Americans

Question 31

For which of the following would the Supreme Court most likely apply intermediate scrutiny to determine whether the policy is an unconstitutional violation of the equal protection clause?

A) preventing whites from attending schools designed to serve African American students
B) prohibiting those over seventy years old from working in law enforcement
C) prohibiting gays and lesbians from serving in the military
D) requiring government contractors to have a racially diverse workforce
E) having different minimum ages for men and women to marry

Question 32

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was designed to overturn which of the following?

A) integration
B) Jim Crow laws
C) nonviolent direct action
D) the Fifteenth Amendment
E) Reconstruction

Question 33

What provision of the Fourteenth Amendment serves as a cornerstone of our understanding of civil rights?

A) the all men are created equal clause
B) the equal protection clause
C) the privileges and immunities clause
D) the Equal Rights Amendment
E) the grandfather clause

Question 34

Who benefited the most from grandfather clauses?

A) Northerners
B) Southern Democrats
C) former slaves
D) educated whites
E) illiterate whites

Question 35

In the South after Reconstruction, what did the Democratic Party use to prevent African Americans from having a meaningful impact on the outcome of elections?

A) Jim Crow laws
B) whites-only primaries
C) majority-minority districts
D) de facto segregation/discrimination
E) affirmative action

Question 36

The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to do which of the following?

A) provide equal treatment to all people within their boundaries
B) refrain from depriving anyone of life, liberty, or property arbitrarily
C) allow all people to vote, regardless of race, color, or previous position of servitude
D) give the same rights to citizens from out of state as given to local citizens
E) honor the rights of women, African Americans, and Native Americans

Question 37

Referring to Table 16.1, why did Southern states like Alabama enact literacy tests?

A) to reduce in-person voter fraud
B) to punish Confederate loyalists
C) to raise revenue
D) to improve the democratic decision-making process
E) to get around the Fourteenth Amendment

Question 38

Under the Court's review standards, a law that classifies people according to __________ will be given strict scrutiny by the Supreme Court to determine its constitutionality.

A) race
B) age
C) disability
D) gender
E) sexual orientation

Question 39

If a group of people were systematically discriminated against in the past, which of the following would constitute an affirmative action policy designed as a remedy to help the members of this group overcome the legacy of discrimination?

A) a hiring policy that favors those with relatives working in government
B) a college admissions policy that gives preferential treatment to members of the group
C) a color-blind job application process to give members of this group an equal chance
D) a policy that gives extra weight to votes cast by members of the group
E) requiring all applicants for government jobs to have at least two years of prior experience

Question 40

Which of the following is an accurate statement about the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy?

A) Barack Obama initiated the policy as a goodwill gesture to the gay and lesbian community.
B) It prevented gays and lesbians from serving in the military.
C) It required gay and lesbian soldiers to keep quiet about their sexual orientation.
D) It prevented the military from discharging gay and lesbian soldiers.
E) It prohibited gay and heterosexual soldiers from discussing their sexual activity.

Question 41

What is the status of affirmative action in college admissions after the Supreme Court decisions in the two Michigan cases, one involving the University of Michigan undergraduate program and one the law school?

A) Affirmative action policies are generally permissible, but they cannot involve race-based quotas or numerical point systems.
B) Affirmative action policies are assumed to be unconstitutional unless the university can demonstrate the need to promote racial tolerance.
C) Affirmative action policies are assumed to be constitutional unless an applicant can demonstrate that race affected the admissions decision.
D) Affirmative action policies must ensure that all racial and ethnic groups are represented in accordance with the population of the nation as a whole.
E) All forms of affirmative action are unconstitutional because they unfairly favor some people over others based on the color of their skin.

Question 42

How has the rationale for affirmation action changed over time?

A) The rationale has changed from ensuring equal treatment to providing special privileges.
B) The rationale has changed from remedying past discrimination to enhancing diversity.
C) The rationale has changed from promoting equality to promoting reverse discrimination.
D) The rationale has changed from guaranteeing civil liberties to guaranteeing civil rights.
E) The rationale has changed from guaranteeing civil rights to guaranteeing civil liberties.

Question 43

Which of the following arguments would most likely be made by an opponent of affirmative action policies?

A) Affirmative action helps to compensate for past discrimination.
B) Discrimination is a natural part of the human experience.
C) Affirmative action discriminates on the basis of race.
D) Diversity helps Americans better understand each other.
E) Unaddressed past discrimination causes perpetual inequality.

Question 44

How has the Equal Rights Amendment affected women's civil rights?

A) It has ensured that men and women are treated equally in the workplace.
B) It has ensured that the courts evaluate gender discrimination using the strict scrutiny test.
C) It has eliminated gender discrimination in the military.
D) It solidified the civil rights women had earlier won through legal victories.
E) It has had little effect because it was not formally adopted.

Question 45

Why did Congress pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

A) in order to facilitate the prosecution of those who had restricted the voting rights of African Americans
B) because it was clear that the South had no intention of living up to the spirit of the Fifteenth Amendment
C) because Congress was afraid the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. would lead a boycott of white businesses if the legislation was not passed
D) to prevent the race riots from spreading from African American neighborhoods into traditionally white neighborhoods
E) the Supreme Court had determined that only the national government could regulate elections

Question 46

How are the Fourteenth Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 similar?

A) They both were enacted quickly and easily.
B) They both passed the strict scrutiny test administered by the Supreme Court.
C) They were both based on Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce.
D) They both sought equal rights for women.
E) They both sought equal rights for African Americans.

Question 47

Which of the following affirmative action programs would be a clear violation of the Supreme Court's decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)?

A) considering race as a factor in university admissions decisions
B) considering how an applicant would contribute to the diversity of the university
C) considering applicants' academic and extracurricular achievements
D) admitting some minority applicants with lower academic achievement than some rejected white applicants
E) setting aside a certain percentage of admissions slots for African American students

Question 48

Which of the following is an example of de jure segregation?

A) Jim Crow laws
B) the tendency for churches to be racially homogeneous
C) the small number of African American senators
D) sequestering the jury in order to ensure a fair trial
E) Title IX legislation

Question 49

What was the Supreme Court's justification for overturning the separate-but-equal doctrine?

A) The Supreme Court did not have all of the facts when it adopted the separate-but-equal doctrine.
B) The separate-but-equal doctrine was never intended to apply to people.
C) The quality of life for African Americans in the South had deteriorated considerably since the adoption of the separate-but-equal doctrine.
D) The Supreme Court needed to step in because the South had been unwilling to segregate educational facilities as required by Plessy v. Ferguson.
E) Segregated schools stigmatize minority children and are inherently unequal.

Question 50

Which of the following accurately describes a difference between de jure and de facto segregation/discrimination in the United States?

A) De jure segregation/discrimination is now fairly rare; de facto segregation/discrimination is now fairly common.
B) De jure segregation/discrimination is generally constitutional; de facto segregation/discrimination is generally unconstitutional.
C) De jure segregation/discrimination is fairly common now; de facto segregation/discrimination was fairly common during the civil rights movement.
D) De jure segregation/discrimination currently exists by race; de facto segregation/discrimination currently exists by gender.
E) De jure segregation/discrimination is prohibited by the Constitution; de facto segregation/discrimination is prohibited by law.

Question 51

Which of the following best describes the purpose of the literacy test that was used in the South?

A) to sabotage the civil rights movement
B) to support Jim Crow laws
C) to stop African Americans from voting
D) to encourage boycotting of elections by African Americans
E) to stop the vandalizing of polls by angry segregationists

Question 52

Of the following people, who could serve in the military under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy?

A) all gays and lesbians
B) gays but not lesbians
C) lesbians but not gays
D) only those who were straight
E) closeted gays and lesbians

Question 53

Who of the following would be the most likely to support the Defense of Marriage Act?

A) a married gay couple
B) a married heterosexual couple
C) a polygamous family
D) someone who supports gay marriage
E) someone who is opposed to gay marriage

Question 54

Although laws and courts have prohibited age discrimination in hiring, benefit, and promotion practices, problems for older workers persist for which of the following reasons?

A) Older people can't hide their age when they apply for a job.
B) Workers become less productive as they get older and have less energy, so it is harder for them to get promotions.
C) Younger workers do not like working with older people because they are so far behind on technology.
D) Older workers have to use their medical benefits more often, so companies charge them higher premiums for insurance.
E) The jobs of older workers can be in jeopardy when companies are downsizing.

Question 55

How does the strict scrutiny applied by the Supreme Court differ from intermediate scrutiny?

A) Intermediate scrutiny requires a compelling and necessary reason, while strict scrutiny requires proof of a substantial relation.
B) Strict scrutiny is applied only to gender classifications, while intermediate scrutiny is applied to racial and sexual orientation classifications.
C) Strict scrutiny is applied to a broader array of classifications than is intermediate scrutiny.
D) Strict scrutiny makes it more difficult for the government to demonstrate that there is a proper basis for a law.
E) Those who challenge a law will have an easier time getting it overturned if the Supreme Court applies intermediate scrutiny.

Question 56

What was the rationale for rejecting the claim that the federal government needed to abolish Jim Crow laws because they conflicted with the equal protection clause?

A) The federal government should not interfere in states' rights to determine their own equal protection laws and should not practice social engineering.
B) The federal government should leave the decision up to each state because in some states Jim Crow laws were important for maintaining social order.
C) Jim Crow laws helped African Americans achieve equality by building character through overcoming adversity, so to declare them a violation of equal protection would be counterproductive.
D) The equal protection clause applied only to the actions of the federal government, so states were within their rights to enact Jim Crow laws.
E) The equal protection clause referred only to social equality, not legal or political equality, so the federal government should not make equal protection a legal or political issue.

Question 57

Which of the following situations would most likely be a violation of Title IX?

A) an election jurisdiction that does not provide bilingual ballots when there is a large bilingual community
B) a legal prohibition on hiring women for positions that are known to be hazardous to women's reproductive health
C) a college that spends significantly more on sports programs for men than for women
D) job applications that are not made accessible to the blind
E) an employer who systematically pays women less than men for doing comparable work

Question 58

Why did southern states enact poll taxes?

A) to raise revenue for the government
B) to ensure that only people who really want to vote would do so
C) to get around the Fifteenth Amendment
D) to enfranchise former slaves
E) because literacy is necessary for democracy to function

Question 59

If you thought you were getting an inferior public education because of your ethnicity, which part of the Constitution would you rely on most heavily to justify your case?

A) the First Amendment
B) the Thirteenth Amendment
C) the Fourteenth Amendment
D) the Nineteenth Amendment
E) the Equal Rights Amendment

Question 60

Which of the following laws would be the most likely to draw strict scrutiny from the Supreme Court when determining its constitutionality?

A) Male and female student athletes cannot compete on the same basketball team at the university level.
B) Businesses cannot discriminate against gays and lesbians in hiring and promotion decisions.
C) Those without a college degree are not eligible for upper-level civil service jobs.
D) African Americans and whites must be given equal access to the public school system, including extracurricular activities.
E) Government contracts must be awarded to a contractor who is a racial minority whenever at least 10 percent of the bidders are minority-owned businesses.

Question 61

__________ upheld the right of private individuals-but not government-to discriminate in the provision of public accommodations.

Question 62

Jim Crow laws required __________ of African Americans and whites.

Question 63

The admissions office at a public university could likely establish a permissible affirmative action policy that awards minority students by bumping up their SAT score by 100 points.

Question 64

In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court overturned the separate-but-equal doctrine that the Court had established in Brown v. Board of Education.

Question 65

The Supreme Court has prohibited school districts from using race when determining which students will attend which schools.

Question 66

The focus of the __________ was to establish women's right to vote.

Question 67

The __________ was enacted in 1990 and is designed to protect the civil rights of disabled Americans.

Question 68

Since the 1950s, the Supreme Court has gradually eliminated virtually all de facto segregation and discrimination in the United States.

Question 69

The passage of the Equal Rights Amendment has helped ensure women's equality in the workplace.

Question 70

According to the "Using the Framework" feature box, the Roberts Court is less supportive of affirmative action programs than was the Rehnquist Court.

Question 71

After years of desegregation efforts, black children and white children are now exposed to one another equally in the South and in the Northeast and Midwest.

Question 72

Brown v. Board of Education overturned the __________ doctrine.

Question 73

The grandfather clause was a device that allowed whites who had failed the literacy test to vote as long as their ancestors had voted prior to 1867.

Question 74

The Supreme Court has affirmed the right of consenting adults to engage in private sexual activity.

Question 75

Experiences of racial profiling by the police have been reported by a fairly large percentage of African American men, but very rarely by Latino or Asian men.

Question 76

Gender classifications are evaluated by the Supreme Court using the strict scrutiny standard to ensure that it is necessary to accomplish a permissible state goal and is the least restrictive way to reach that goal.

Question 77

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 has expanded educational and sports opportunities for women students.

Question 78

Many states currently use the white primary as a form of affirmative action for electoral politics.

Question 79

The __________ Amendment guarantees African Americans the right to vote.

Question 80

Reconstruction was the era of racial healing that followed the civil rights movement.