15
Civil Rights
Multiple–Choice Questions
1. The first federal civil rights law enacted since Reconstruction was the Civil Rights
Act of 1957. This law makes it a crime to __________.
a. discriminate in public accommodations on the basis of race
b. discriminate in employment on the basis of race
c. intimidate or threaten African Americans exercising their right to vote
d. require voters to pay poll taxes
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
Page Reference: 451
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
2. The Fourteenth Amendment attempted to guarantee which of the following to
former slaves?
a. 40 acres of farmland and a mule
b. economic equality with whites
c. citizenship rights
d. debt forgiveness
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
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Page Reference: 450
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
3. In striking down Colorado’s constitutional amendment barring sexual orientation
as a protected category in antidiscrimination lawsuits, the Supreme Court used the
__________ test.
a. reasonable basis
b. heightened scrutiny
c. rational basis
d. strict scrutiny
Topic: Equal Protection of the Laws: What Does It Mean?
Learning Objective: LO 15.3: Analyze the Supreme Court’s three-tiered
approach used to evaluate discriminatory laws.
Page Reference: 457
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
4. The Fifteenth Amendment guarantees citizens the right to vote regardless of
__________.
a. race
b. gender
c. age
d. property ownership
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
Page Reference: 450
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
5. Federal Courts have applied the 1964 Civil Rights Act in which of the following
contexts?
a. reducing racial segregation in housing
b. workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians
c. sexual harassment in the workplace
d. use of race as a factor in university admissions
504
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
Page Reference: 452 – 453
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
6. When did women win the guaranteed right to vote?
a. during the Civil War
b. immediately after the Civil War
c. at the same time that black males won the right to vote
d. decades after black males won the right to vote
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
Page Reference: 452
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
7. The term “Asian American” describes approximately __________ people.
a. 2 million
b. 6 million
c. 10 million
d. 20 million
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
Page Reference: 455
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
8. The civil rights movement pushed for racial equality. When did this movement
take place?
a. during Reconstruction
505
b. during the early 1900s
c. during the 1950s and 1960s
d. after passage of the Equal Rights Amendment
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
Page Reference: 451
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
9. In what two ways does the Constitution protect civil rights?
a. by declaring that all people are created equal and stating that all are equally
entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
b. by ensuring that government officials do not discriminate against citizens and
by granting federal and state governments power to protect citizens against
discrimination by private individuals
c. by granting the states the power to ignore any federal laws that the states find
are discriminatory against the particular people living in that state
d. by declaring that all people, men and women, black and white, are created
equal, and that all forms of discrimination are wrong, whether political, social, or
religious
Topic: Introduction
Learning Objective: Introduction
Page Reference: 446
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
10. __________ was a policy mandated by federal courts to overcome school
segregation due to residential clustering by race.
a. Affirmative action
b. Busing
c. School vouchers
d. The quota system
Topic: Education Rights
Learning Objective: LO 15.6:
506
Evaluate the historical process of school integration and the current state of
affirmative action.
Page Reference: 466 – 467
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
11. Which of the following occurred during the period including both world wars that
facilitated employment and social gains for African Americans?
a. entry into the military by African Americans to serve their country
b. dissolution of segregation in war factories to recruit more African Americans to
work in them
c. migration of African Americans to northern cities to seek jobs in war factories
d. greater need for African Americans to work in agricultural production in the
South
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
Page Reference: 450
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
12. When did African Americans begin challenging the doctrine of segregation in the
courts?
a. in the 1870s
b. in the 1930s
c. in the 1950s
d. in the 1960s
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
Page Reference: 450
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
13. Presidents __________ used their executive authority to fight racial
discrimination, despite congressional resistance.
a. Hoover and Roosevelt
507
b. Truman and Eisenhower
c. Clinton and George W. Bush
e. Johnson and Grant
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
Page Reference: 451
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
14. __________ determine(s) naturalization requirements.
a. The Constitution
b. Congress
c. The Supreme Court
d. States
Topic: Equality and Equal Rights
Learning Objective: LO 15.1: Explain the concept of equality and assess the
rights of citizens.
Page Reference: 447
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
15. Rosa Parks was arrested for challenging which of the following?
a. poll taxes
b. grandfather clauses
c. Jim Crow laws
d. slavery
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice; Rights to Equal Access: Accommodations,
Jobs, and Homes
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law; LO 15.5: Describe congressional
legislation against discrimination in housing, employment, and accommodations.
Page Reference: 451, 463 – 464
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
508
16. The case of Fisher v. Texas concerned which of the following?
a. the use of race as a factor in college admissions
b. sexual harassment in the workplace
c. same-sex marriage
d. accessibility of facilities to people with disabilities
Topic: Introduction
Learning Objective: Introduction
Page Reference: 444, 446
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
17. Romer v. Evans (1996) was a victory for __________.
a. voting rights activists
b. gay rights activists
c. disabled rights activists
d. Asian Americans
Topic: Equal Protection of the Laws: What Does It Mean?
Learning Objective: LO 15.3: Analyze the Supreme Court’s three-tiered
approach used to evaluate discriminatory laws.
Page Reference: 457
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
18. What are natural rights?
a. the rights of all people to dignity and worth
b. the rights of all people to be free of arbitrary government action
c. the rights of all people regardless of sexual orientation
d. the rights of all people to be free from irrational discrimination
Topic: Introduction
Learning Objective: Introduction
Page Reference: 446
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
509
19. State policies on affirmative action in college admissions are best characterized as
__________.
a. consistent
b. stable
c. in flux
d. successful
Topic: Education Rights
Learning Objective: LO 15.6: Evaluate the historical process of school
integration and the current state of affirmative action.
Page Reference: 468
Skill Level: Analyze It
Difficulty Level: Difficult
20. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. insisted that protest aimed at ending
discrimination in the South should be conducted __________.
a. in accordance with the law
b. nonviolently
c. anonymously
d. with all deliberative speed
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
Page Reference: 451
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
21. 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 grandfather clause
Topic: Equal Protection of the Laws: What Does It Mean?
510
Learning Objective: LO 15.3: Analyze the Supreme Court’s three-tiered
approach used to evaluate discriminatory laws.
Page Reference: 457
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
22. To what extent were the civil rights of African Americans protected after the Civil
War?
a. Their civil rights increased in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War and
have continued to increase steadily ever since.
b. There were no attempts to protect the civil rights of African Americans until
Reconstruction ended.
c. Attempts to protect the civil rights of African Americans after the Civil War
were largely unsuccessful for decades.
d. It was two decades after the Civil War before African Americans had civil
rights that were comparable to those of whites.
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
Page Reference: 450
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
23. What did the Supreme Court decide in Korematsu v. United States (1944)
regarding the internment of those with Japanese ancestry living in the United
States?
a. It was permissible because the United States was at war with Japan.
b. It was permissible because it only applied to noncitizens.
c. It did not pass the strict scrutiny test, and the internment was promptly
terminated.
d. It was unconstitutional, but it was too late to do anything about it.
Topic: The Quest for Equal Justice
Learning Objective: LO 15.2: Compare and contrast the efforts of various
groups to obtain equal protection of the law.
Page Reference: 456
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
511
24. What strategy did the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) use most effectively to advance civil rights for African
Americans?
a. boycotts
b. litigation
c. nonviolent direct action
d. marches and rallies
Topic: Education Rights
Learning Objective: LO 15.6: Evaluate the historical process of school
integration and the current state of affirmative action.
Page Reference: 466
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
25. 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. The Constitution does not prohibit segregation; it only mandates equal
protection under the law.
c. Railroad transportation involves interstate commerce, which is regulated by
Congress; there is no provision in federal law that prohibits segregation.
d. Each state has the right to interpret the Constitution as it sees fit, as long as the
interpretation is “reasonable and without malice.”
Topic: Rights to Equal Access: Accommodations, Jobs, and Homes
Learning Objective: LO 15.5: Describe congressional legislation against
discrimination in housing, employment, and accommodations.
Page Reference: 463 – 464
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
Difficulty Level: Moderate
26. The Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas (2003) primarily enhanced
the civil liberties of __________.
a. African Americans
b. Native Americans
c. gays and lesbians
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