Question 1

This report declared that "our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white - separate and unequal," and called for expanded aid to African American communities in order to prevent further racial violence and polarization.

Accepted Answer

The Kerner Commission Report, officially the Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, was released in 1968 and famously declared that the United States was moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal. It called for expanded aid to African American communities to prevent further racial violence and polarization.

Question 2

In the ________, one survey found that 50 percent of physical anthropologists and 73 percent of animal behaviorists believed there were biologically differentiated "races" within the species Homo sapiens.

Accepted Answer

The answer of In the ________, one survey found that...

Question 3

Though the authors of this 1990s book had no training in genetics, they wrote about racial differences in IQ scores.

Accepted Answer

The Bell Curve, authored by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray, discusses racial differences in IQ scores despite the authors not having formal training in genetics.

Question 4

___________ is the view that black Americans have done less well than white Americans because of an allegedly deficient culture with its weak work ethic and family values.

Accepted Answer

The correct term is "the racialization of culture," which refers to the perspective that attributes disparities between black and white Americans to supposed cultural deficiencies among black Americans, including perceived shortcomings in work ethic and family values.

Question 5

___________ is a phrase coined by Joe Feagin to describe the inability of a great many whites to understand where African Americans and other Americans of color are coming from and what their racialized experiences are like.

Accepted Answer

Social alexithymia is the term coined by Joe Feagin to describe the difficulty that many white people have in understanding the perspectives and racialized experiences of African Americans and other people of color.

Question 6

This sociologist coined the phrase white fragility to describe that which prevents white Americans from confronting racism.

Accepted Answer

Robin DiAngelo coined the term "white fragility" to describe the defensive reactions many white people have when their ideas about race and racism are challenged, and the ways in which these reactions maintain racial inequality.

Question 7

_______________ can be seen in the images of Hollywood movies including Birth of a Nation (1915) and Gone With the Wind (1939). In such movies, there is a persistence across time in representations of the ideal white American self, which is constructed as dominant, courageous, genial, sympathetic, strong, and generous.

Accepted Answer

"Sincere fictions" refers to the constructed and idealized portrayals of the white American self in these films, which are not authentic or genuine but are presented as if they are true and sincere.

Question 8

Thomas Jefferson played a central role in the early development of racial rationalizations for the enslavement of black Americans.

Accepted Answer

Thomas Jefferson, despite his advocacy for liberty and equality, held complex views on race that contributed to the development of racial rationalizations for slavery. In his writings, notably in "Notes on the State of Virginia," Jefferson expressed beliefs in the inferiority of black people, which were used to justify the enslavement and unequal treatment of African Americans.

Question 9

Prior to English colonization of North America and much of the globe, negative ideas about non-English peoples overseas had NOT previously spread across England.

Accepted Answer

Negative ideas and stereotypes about non-English peoples were already present in England before the colonization of North America and other parts of the globe, often spread through travel literature, religious discourse, and other forms of communication.

Question 10

In the early seventeenth century English American colonists first used terms like "Christians" for themselves and "negroes" for Africans and African Americans.

Accepted Answer

In the early seventeenth century, English American colonists indeed began differentiating themselves as "Christians" and referred to Africans and African Americans as "negroes," reflecting the racial and religious distinctions that were becoming embedded in colonial society.

Question 11

Darker skin color was later on taken by whites as the visible badge of enslavement.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Darker skin color was later on taken...

Question 12

From the 1600s to the 1800s, many court decisions revealed the centrality of slavery to the newly created U.S.

Accepted Answer

The answer of From the 1600s to the 1800s, many...

Question 13

The U.S. Constitution assertively recognized the slavery economy and implicitly incorporated strong white-supremacist ideas in such provisions, including the one that counted an African American as only three-fifths of a person.

Accepted Answer

The U.S. Constitution, through provisions like the Three-Fifths Compromise, indirectly supported the slavery economy and reflected racial biases of the time by counting each enslaved African American as three-fifths of a person for legislative representation and taxation purposes.

Question 14

Writing of mixed-ancestry Americans, Thomas Jefferson remarked that white "amalgamation with the other color produces a degradation to which no lover of his country … can innocently consent."

Accepted Answer

The answer of Writing of mixed-ancestry Americans, Thomas Jefferson remarked...

Question 15

A slaveholder for several decades, then an abolitionist later in life, Thomas Jefferson appeared to oppose slavery not so much because of its inhumanity, but because of its negative impact on whites.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A slaveholder for several decades, then an...

Question 16

A fully developed concept of "race" as a pseudo-biological category was developed by Europeans and European Americans in the late 1600s and 1700s.

Accepted Answer

The concept of "race" as a pseudo-biological category, used to categorize and differentiate humans based on physical characteristics, was indeed developed and solidified by Europeans and European Americans during the late 17th and 18th centuries. This period marked the beginning of scientific racism, which sought to classify humans into hierarchical races.

Question 17

A fully developed concept of "race" as a pseudo-biological category was codified in the work of leading European and American intellectuals around the time of the American Revolution.

Accepted Answer

The concept of "race" as a pseudo-biological category began to be more fully developed and codified by leading European and American intellectuals around the 18th century, coinciding with the era of the American Revolution. This period marked the beginning of more systematic efforts to classify humans into distinct racial categories based on physical characteristics and supposed intellectual and moral qualities, often to justify social hierarchies and imperialism.

Question 18

By the late 1700s, hierarchical racial relations were increasingly explained in overtly bio-racial terms.

Accepted Answer

During the late 18th century, the Enlightenment and the rise of scientific thought led to the categorization of humanity into distinct races, often hierarchically arranged, with explanations for social and economic differences increasingly framed in biological terms. This period marked the beginning of scientific racism, which sought to justify and naturalize racial hierarchies and inequalities.

Question 19

In his book, The History of Jamaica (1774), prominent judge Edward Long, a slaveholder, argued that Africans were a "truly bestial" species.

Accepted Answer

Edward Long, in his book "The History of Jamaica," indeed expressed racist views, arguing that Africans were inferior and likening them to a "bestial" species, reflecting the deeply entrenched racist ideologies of his time.

Question 20

Benjamin Franklin contended that black Americans were an inferior "race," a word he helped to make central to the racialized framing of his day.

Accepted Answer

Benjamin Franklin was actually known for his progressive views for the time, advocating for the education and integration of Black Americans into American society. He was a critic of slavery later in his life and became president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.

Quiz 3: The White Racial Frame- a Social Force