Multiple Choice
Identify the
choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
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The Segregation
System
Segregated buses might
never have rolled through the streets of Montgomery or anywhere else in the United States-if the
Civil Rights Act of 1875 had remained in force. This act outlawed segregation in public facilities by
decreeing that “all persons . . . shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the
accommodations . . . of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of
public amusement.” In 1883, however, the Supreme Court declared the act
unconstitutional
| | PLESSY V. FERGUSON
During the 1890s, a number of other court decisions and
state laws severely limited African-American rights . In 1890, Louisiana passed a law requiring
railroads to provide “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored
races.” In the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896, the Supreme Court ruled that this law did
not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees all Americans equal treatment under the
law.
Armed with the Plessy
decision, states throughout the nation, but especially in the South, passed what were known as Jim
Crow laws, or laws aimed at separating the races. Laws forbade marriage between blacks and whites
and established many other restrictions on social and religious contact between the races . There
were separate schools, as well as separate streetcars, waiting rooms, railroad coaches, elevators,
witness stands, and public restrooms. The facilities provided for blacks were always far inferior to
those provided for whites . Nearly every day, African Americans faced humiliating signs that read,
Colored Water; No Blacks Allowed; Whites Only. | | |
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1.
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In 1873 a civil rights act was
passed that made segregation unconstitutional in the United States. If this is true, why did
segregation continue until the late 1900’s?
a. | The government refused to enforce
the law | c. | People in the
North ignored the law | b. | The Supreme Court said the law was
unconstitutional | d. | People in the South ignored the
law |
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2.
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The 14th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution says that the law must be applied equally to all citizens. In the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896, what did the Supreme Court rule?
a. | The U.S. government should not
interfere in segregation cases. | c. | Separate facilities for the races did not violate the 14th
Amendment | b. | Slavery is unconstitutional | d. | Separate facilities for the races did violate the 14th
Amendment |
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3.
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What were Jim Crow
laws?
a. | Laws designed to separate the
races | c. | Law that forbid the sale of bourbon
whisky to African Americans | b. | Laws designed to bring the races together | d. | Laws designed to protect black
people |
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SEGREGATION
CONTINUES INTO THE 20TH
CENTURY
In the late 1800s, some
African Americans tried to escape Southern racism by moving north. This migration of Southern African Americans speeded up
greatly during World War I, as many African-American sharecroppers abandoned the farms for the
promise of industrial jobs in Northern cities . However, once African Americans reached the North,
they discovered that racial prejudice and segregation patterns existed there as well. Most African
Americans could find housing only in all black neighborhoods. In addition, many white workers
resented competition from blacks, resentment which sometimes led to violence . |
African American war
plant workers | | In many ways, the events of World War II
set the stage for the civil rights movement. First, the demand for soldiers in the early 1940s
created a shortage of white male laborers, which opened up new job opportunities for African
Americans, and women. Second, about 700,000 African Americans served in the armed forces, which
needed so many fighting men that they gradually had to end discriminatory policies that had kept
African Americans from serving in fighting units. Many African-American soldiers returned from the
war determined to fight for their own freedom now that they had helped defeat Fascist regimes
overseas . Third, during the war, civil rights organizations actively campaigned for
African-American voting rights and challenged Jim Crow laws. In response to protests, President
Roosevelt issued a presidential directive prohibiting racial discrimination by federal agencies and
all companies that were engaged in war work. The groundwork was laid for more organized campaigns to
end segregation throughout the United States. | | |
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4.
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During the 20th century many
African Americans moved from the South to the North. What was the main motivation for this
migration?
a. | The civil rights movement was
stronger in the North | c. | In the North there
was no segregation | b. | Good paying factory jobs in the North | d. | Martin Luther King encouraged blacks to move
North |
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5.
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Which World War II events
motivated black people to want more civil rights and set the stage for the civil rights
movement of the 50’s and 60’s?
a. | Black men serving in the
military | d. | Roosevelt
declaring an end to segregation in war industries | b. | Blacks working in the war
plants | e. | All of these set the state for the civil rights
movement | c. | Civil rights leaders campaigned for an end to Jim Crow laws and for voting
rights |
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6.
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In World War II African
Americans
a. | secretly wanted Japan to win the war
because they were not white | c. | were pro American patriots who worked and fought for the United
States | b. | agreed with the Black Muslims who refused to help the U.S. in the
war | d. | hated the United States because of
segregation |
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Challenging
Segregation in Court
Since 1909, the NAACP had fought to end segregation. One influential
figure in this campaign was Charles Hamilton Houston, a brilliant Howard University professor who
trained African-American law students and who also served as chief legal counsel for the NAACP from
1934 to 1938.
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Thurgood
Marshall | THE NAACP LEGAL STRATEGY - In
deciding the NAACP’s legal strategy, Houston considered the blatant inequality between the
separate schools many states provided for the two races . At that time, the nation spent ten times as
much money educating a white child as it did educating an African-American child. It was to redress
this injustice that Houston chose to focus the organization’s limited resources on challenging
segregated public education .
For help, Houston recruited some of his most able law students
to prepare a battery of cases to take before the Supreme Court. In 1938, he placed the team under the
direction of Thurgood Marshall. Over the next 23 years, Marshall and his NAACP lawyers would win 29
out of 32 cases argued before the Supreme Court. Several of the cases that Marshall and his team of
lawyers won became legal milestones, each one chipping away at the segregationist tenets of Plessy v.
Ferguson .
· In the 1946 case Morgan v. Virginia, the
Supreme Court declared unconstitutional those state laws mandating segregated seating on interstate
buses .
· In 1950, the high
court ruled in Sweatt v. Painter that state law schools must admit black applicants, even if
separate black schools exist.
· In another 1950 case that Marshall and his team argued, the court ruled that blacks
admitted to state graduate schools were entitled to the use of all the school’s facilities.
· BROWN V. BOARD OF
EDUCATION Marshall’s most stunning victory came on May 17, 1954, in the case known as Brown
v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas . In this case, the court responded to a brilliant legal
brief written by Marshall that addressed segregated education in four states-Kansas, South Carolina,
Virginia, and Delaware. The court lumped the state cases together in a single ruling named for the
case concerning nine-year-old Linda Brown. Her father, Oliver Brown, had charged the board of
education of Topeka with violating Linda’s rights by denying her admission to an all-white
elementary school four blocks from her house. The state had directed Linda to cross a railroad yard
and then take a bus to an all-black elementary school 21 blocks away. In a landmark verdict,
the Supreme Court unanimously struck down segregation as unconstitutional . The Court’s
decision, written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, in part stated the
following.
To separate
[African-American children] from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of
their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect
their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. . . . We conclude that in the field of
public education the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. Separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal .
CHIEF JUSTICE EARL WARREN, Brown v. Board of
Education
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7.
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How did Charles Hamilton Houston decide to attack racism?
a. | In the
streets | c. | In the
courts | b. | In the workplace | d. | In the inner city |
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8.
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Charles Hamilton Houston was
especially upset of inequality in
a. | the work
place | c. | in the
churches | b. | in the schools | d. | in the military |
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9.
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What was the 1946 case Morgan v. Virginia case concerned with?
a. | segregation in the
workplace | c. | segregation in
transportation | b. | segregation in the military | d. | segregation in schools |
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10.
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What was the Sweatt v. Painter case about
a. | admission of black applicants to law
schools | c. | work place
segregation | b. | promotion of blacks in the military | d. | admission of black men to medical
colleges |
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11.
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What was the name of the very
able African American lawyer who worked with the NAACP for 23 years and won 29 of the 32
cases he argued before the Supreme Court?
a. | Plessy
Fergusson | c. | Charles
Hampton | b. | Charles Houston | d. | Thurgood Marshall |
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12.
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What was the Brown v Board of
Education case all about?
a. | A nine year old girl, Linda Brown,
was not allowed to go to a white school 4 blocks from her house because she was
black | c. | Linda Brown was not permitted to go
to an all black school, just 4 blocks from her house. | b. | Linda Brown, a white girl, was forced to go to an all
black school as part of a forced integration plan for Topeka,
Kansas | d. | Linda Brown could not go to school because there were not
black schools in Topeka, Kansas |
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13.
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There are 9 judges on the
Supreme Court. How many voted to end segregation in the Brown v Board of Education
case.
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14.
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Earl Warren was a conservative
Republican appointed to the Supreme Court by Republican President, Dwight Eisenhower. How did Warren
feel about segregation in public schools?
a. | He was in favor of segregation as
long as the schools for blacks and whites were equal | c. | He was opposed to segregated schools because black and white school were
inherently unequal | b. | He was not if favor of segregated schools, even though he thought black and
white schools could be equal | d. | He had no opinion about segregated
schools and thought the U.S. government should stay out of the
controversy. |
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15.
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The Brown v Board of Education
decision was based on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the U.S. What constitutional
principle is part of the 14th Amendment.
a. | free
speech | c. | equal protection of the
law | b. | freedom of the press | d. | the right to have a lawyer in
court |
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Reaction to the Brown
Decision
The ruling thrilled
African Americans and many other Americans . “I was so happy, I was numb,” declared
Thurgood Marshall . The Chicago Defender, an African-American newspaper, pronounced,
“[It’s] a second emancipation proclamation .” The Brown decision
immediately affected some 12 million school children in 21 states . Official reaction to the ruling
was mixed. In Kansas and Oklahoma, state officials said they expected segregation to end with little
trouble. In Texas the governor promised to comply but warned that plans might “take
years” to work out. In Mississippi and Georgia, officials vowed total resistance. Governor
Herman Talmadge of Georgia branded the decision “a flagrant abuse of judicial power” and
pledged, “The people of Georgia . . . will map a program to insure . . . permanent segregation
of the races .” | |
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16.
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How did the states react to the
Brown v Board of Education decision?
a. | The reaction was solidly against the
decision | c. | The reaction was
mixed | b. | The reaction was solidly for the decision | d. | The states did not react to the
decision |
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RESISTANCE TO SCHOOL INTEGRATION
Within a year of the Brown decision, more than 500 school
districts in the nation had desegregated their classrooms. In the cities of Baltimore, St.
Louis, and Washington, D.C ., African-American and white students sat side by side for the first time
in history.
However, in areas where African Americans made up the majority of the population,
whites often resisted desegregation because they feared losing control of the schools . In some
places, the Ku Klux Klan reappeared and White Citizens Councils boycotted businesses that supported
desegregation. To hasten compliance, the Supreme Court handed down a second Brown. ruling in 1955
that ordered district courts to implement school desegregation “with all deliberate
speed.” Neither Congress nor President Eisenhower moved to put teeth into the court order. In
Congress, more than 90 Southern members issued the “Southern Manifesto,” which denounced
the Brown decision and called on the states to resist it “by all lawful means.” Although
the president accepted the Courts ruling as law, he also confided privately to an aide, “The
fellow who tries to tell me that you can do these things by force is just plain nuts .” Events
in Little Rock, Arkansas, would soon force Eisenhower to act against this
belief. | |
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17.
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Why were white people afraid in
districts where black people made-up a majority of the citizens?
a. | Whites were afraid that they would
have to incorporate “black studies” into the curriculum | c. | Whites were afraid they would loose control of the
schools | b. | Whites were afraid blacks and whites would have to go to school
together | d. | Whites were afraid of the increased
costs of educating black students |
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18.
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A second Brown decision was
handed down by the Supreme Court in 1955. What did it say.
a. | The schools can take as much time as
they needed to desegregate | c. | The schools did not have to desegregate if they were planning on a challenge
to the 1954 Brown decision | b. | The schools must desegregate right away | d. | The schools must segregate right
away |
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19.
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In Congress, more than 90
Southern members issued the “Southern Manifesto,” What did it say?
a. | States should use any lawful means
to resist desegregation | c. | States should use
any means, even violence, to resist desegregation | b. | States should use any lawful means to resist
segregation | d. | States should use any means, even
violence, to resist segregation |
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 CRISIS IN
LITTLE ROCK
In 1948, Arkansas had become the first Southern state to admit African Americans
to the state universities without being required by a court order. By the 1950s, some scout troops
and labor unions in Arkansas had quietly ended their Jim Crow practices. In Little Rock itself;
citizens had elected two men to the school board who publicly backed desegregation-and the school
superintendent, Virgil Blossom, had been working on a plan for gradual desegregation since 1953.
However, state politics created an explosive situation . Caught in a tight reelection race, Governor
Orval Faubus jumped on the segregationist bandwagon . In September 1957, he ordered the National
Guard to turn away the nine African-American students who had volunteered to integrate Little
Rock’s Central High School as the first step in Blossom’s | plan. That afternoon, a federal
judge ordered Faubus to let the students into school the next day. Eight members of the “Little
Rock Nine” received phone calls from ministers who volunteered to escort the students to school
for their safety. The family of the ninth student, Elizabeth Eckford, did not have a phone . The next
morning, she put on the carefully ironed white-and-black dress she had made for her first day at an
integrated school and set out alone . On the sidewalk outside Central High, Eckford faced an
abusive crowd of students and adults . Terrified, the 15-year-old Eckford searched the mob for a
friendly face. “I looked into the face of an old woman, and it seemed a kind face,” she
later told one interviewer. “But when I looked at her again, she spat on me.” Trailed by
the mob, Eckford managed to make it to a bus stop, where two friendly whites stayed with her until
the bus came.
President Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal
control and ordered a thousand paratroopers into Little Rock. Under the watchful eye of these
soldiers, the nine African American teenagers attended class. But even these soldiers could not
protect the students from troublemakers who confronted them on stairways, in the halls, and in the
cafeteria. Nor could the soldiers block interference by Faubus, who shut down Central High at the end
of the school year rather than let integration continue.
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20.
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Why did Governor Orval Faubus try to stop integration of Little Rock Central High
School?
a. | He was an old time
segregationist | c. | He did not try to
block integration at Central High School | b. | He thought integration would cost the city too much
money | d. | He was trying to be popular with the voters of
Arkansas |
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21.
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_____ was governor of _____
during the _____ high school incident in Little Rock.
a. | Orville Faubus - Alabama -
Central | c. | George Wallace -
Alabama - Northeast | b. | Orville Faubus - Arkansas - Central | d. | George Wallace - Mississippi -
Lincoln |
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22.
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Who did Governor Faubus use to
turn away the black students who were trying to enroll in Central High School.
a. | The Little Rock Police
force | c. | The Arkansas Highway
Patrol | b. | The Little Rock National Guard | d. | The Arkansas National Guard |
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23.
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What did President Eisenhower
do to force Central High School to accept the 9 black students?
a. | made Central High School a Federal
High School so it was no longer under the control of Arkansas | c. | placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control
and ordered a thousand paratroopers into Little Rock | b. | Eisenhower did nothing because he was against integration
of the schools | d. | Eisenhower did nothing because he
was afraid |
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24.
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At the end of the school year,
what did Governor Faubus do to Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas?
a. | finally allowed the school to be
integrated | c. | made it a private
school | b. | turned the school into an all black high
school | d. | shut the high school rather than
integrate |
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25.
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In the United States the
schools are under the control of the states. What gave the U.S. government the right to force the
schools in Little Rock, Arkansas to integrate?
a. | the Brown v Board of Education
decision by the U.S. Supreme Court | c. | The U.S. government had no right to force the states to
integrate | b. | the Brown v Board of Education decision by the state
courts | d. | The Plessy v Ferguson decision by the Supreme Court of the
U.S. |
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