BLACK HISTORY QUIZ

People and Events in the American Civil Rights Movement
Major events and names of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States are familiar to most of us. But nearly every event has a fascinating and often inspiring story behind it. Do you know the answers to the who, what, where, and why behind the headlines of American civil rights history? Take our quiz and find out.

1.) Jim Crow laws and customs enforced racial segregation and discrimination in the United States, especially in the South. Who was Jim Crow?

a.)   A character in a minstrel show
b.)   A segregationist minister from Alabama
c.)   A character in Uncle Tom's Cabin

2.) In 1961 Freedom Riders (black and white) traveled around the South in buses, riding from Washington, D.C., to Jackson, Mississippi, where they were arrested and imprisoned. What was the purpose of the Freedom Rides?

a.) To support Rosa Parks, who was jailed for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger
b.) To transport protesters to and from the March on Washington
c.) To test a court decision that declared segregation illegal in bus stations that were open to interstate travel

3.) Whites in Little Rock, Arkansas, rioted to protest the integration of Central High School. Federal troops were sent in to maintain order. Who sent the troops to Little Rock?

a.) John F. Kennedy
b.) Dwight D. Eisenhower
c.) Lyndon B. Johnson

4.) In 1962 a black man applied for admission to the all-white University of Mississippi. A federal court ordered the university to desegregate, but the governor of Mississippi defied the order and tried to prevent the man from enrolling. The Kennedy administration sent federal marshals with the student when he enrolled. What was the student's name?

a.) James Meredith
b.) Medgar Evers
c.)Jesse Jackson

5.) Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Why was King in Memphis?

a.) To give his "I Have a Dream" speech
b.) To support striking workers
c.) To take part in the NAACP's "Jobs and Freedom" march

6.) It is widely known that Jackie Robinson was the player who broke the color barrier in major league baseball. Who was the baseball executive who hired Robinson?

a.) Abner Doubleday
b.) Branch Rickey
c.) Kenesaw Mountain Landis

7.) Many events during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States turned violent. What event is known as Bloody Sunday?

a.) A church bombing in which four children were killed
b.) A police attack on voting-rights marchers
c.) The murder of three young civil rights workers (a black volunteer and his white coworkers)

8.) One of the best-known proponents of civil disobedience (refusal to obey civil laws or decrees), Martin Luther King, Jr., advocated nonviolent protest in the fight for civil rights. He was not, however, the first person to set forth the basic tenets of civil disobedience. Who was?

a.) Henry David Thoreau
b.)Ralph Waldo Emerson
c.) Mohandas Gandhi

9.) A constitutional amendment guaranteed African American men the right to vote: ''the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.'' Which amendment is this?

a.) 13th Amendment
b.)15th Amendment
c.) 19th Amendment

10.) School desegregation was a major part of the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century. Challenges to segregation arose around the country in states such as Arkansas, Massachusetts, and Mississippi. What was the first legal challenge to segregated schools?

a.) Brown v. Board of Education
b.) Sweatt v. Painter
c.) Roberts v. City of Boston

11.) In 1967 President Lyndon Johnson appointed the National Commission on Civil Disorders and charged the commission with investigating urban riots in the United States. In 1968 the commission released its report, which warned, ''Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white--separate and unequal.'' What was the name of the report?

a.) Kerner Report
b.) Warren Report
c.) A Nation at Risk

12.) The Civil Rights Memorial, which honors 40 people who gave their lives between 1954 and 1968 in the fight for racial equality, was dedicated in 1989. Where is this memorial located?

a.) Washington, D.C.
b.) Montgomery, Alabama
c.) Memphis, Tennessee

CLICK HERE FOR THE CORRECT ANSWERS

RESULTS

The correct answer: A A character in a minstrel show
Jim Crow was a minstrel character from the 1830s who embodied the negative stereotypes of blacks. Segregation was often called the Jim Crow system.
The correct answer: C To test a court decision that declared segregation illegal in bus stations that were open to interstate travel
The Freedom Riders, both black and white, traveled around the South in buses to test the effectiveness of a 1960 Supreme Court decision (Boynton v. Virginia). This ruling declared that segregation was illegal in bus stations that were open to interstate travel.
The correct answer: B Dwight D. Eisenhower
President Dwight Eisenhower dispatched troops to secure the admission of nine black students into a ''white'' high school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The correct answer: A James Meredith
James Meredith became the first black student at the University of Mississippi. He has been involved in various civil rights and political activities over the years.
The correct answer: B To support striking workers
Throughout 1966 and 1967 King turned the focus of his civil rights activism to economic issues, arguing for the redistribution of the nation's economic wealth to help overcome entrenched black poverty.
The correct answer: B Branch Rickey
In 1945 Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, hired Jackie Robinson, who became the first African American to play modern major league baseball. Rickey concluded that segregation in major league baseball was morally wrong and was politically indefensible in the state of New York.
The correct answer: B A police attack on voting-rights marchers
In 1965 the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) participated in a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to draw national attention to the struggle for black voting rights in Alabama. Just outside of Selma, the police told marchers to go home. When they refused, the police beat and tear gassed the protesters.
The correct answer: A Henry David Thoreau
In his 1849 essay ''Civil Disobedience,'' American writer, philosopher, and naturalist Henry David Thoreau expressed the fundamental ideas of civil disobedience for the first time.
The correct answer: B 15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed African American men the right to vote.
Although it was ratified in 1870, it was enforced only briefly. It was not until almost 100 years later, with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that the courts enforced it.
The correct answer: C Roberts v. City of Boston
The nation's first legal challenge to segregated schools was Roberts v. City of Boston (1849). A black man named Benjamin F. Roberts sued to force the city of Boston to allow his daughter Sarah to attend the nearest elementary school, instead of a segregated school across town. A young black attorney, Robert Morris, and Charles Sumner, who later authored the Civil Rights Act of 1875, represented Roberts.
In 1954 Brown v. Board of Education, which declared that "in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place," broke the back of segregation.
The correct answer: A Kerner Report
In 1965 riots erupted in black sections of many major cities, including Los Angeles, Newark, Detroit, and Chicago. President Lyndon Johnson charged the commission with analyzing the specific causes of the riots. The National Commission on Civil Disorders presented its findings in the Kerner Report, which concluded that urban violence reflected the profound frustration of inner-city blacks and that racism was deeply embedded in American society.
The correct answer: B Montgomery, Alabama
The Civil Rights Memorial, designed by Vietnam War Memorial artist Maya Lin, is located in Montgomery, Alabama.