Ch5 Test Bank + Answers + Civil Rights Toward a More Equal

AM GOV 2019-2020, 6e (Losco)

Chapter 5 Civil Rights: Toward a More Equal Citizenry

1) The Voting Rights Act of 1965

A) provided the legal basis for voting rights for minorities, but it had no enforcement mechanisms.

B) was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2013.

C) applied only to federal elections, not to state and local elections.

D) allowed federal officials to enter southern states to register African American voters.

E) had little lasting impact on the voting participation rates of African Americans.

2) How has federal policy toward campus sexual assault changed since the election of Donald Trump?

A) Colleges are to have less time to bring an investigation to a close.

B) Colleges are to require greater levels of proof or evidence before charging the accused as guilty.

C) Accused students are to have less college support and protection during the investigation process. 

D) Mediation is to be eliminated as a means of solving cases. 

E) Colleges are to be largely free to ignore claims of sexual assault. 

3) Which of the following phrases best encapsulates the meaning of the term civil rights?

A) the guaranteed freedoms on which the government cannot intrude

B) the personal liberties of individual citizens

C) the assurance of equal treatment to all citizens regardless of group identity

D) the protection of members of historically disadvantaged groups from discrimination

E) the protection of all groups and individuals from discrimination

4) In the Dred Scott decision of 1857, the Court decided all of the following EXCEPT that

A) slaves could never become citizens.

B) long-term residency in a free state or territory did not make a slave free.

C) slaves could not bring suit in court.

D) Congress could ban slavery from a territory but not from a state.

E) the Missouri Compromise was invalidated based on Fifth Amendment rights.

5) Slavery was ultimately abolished from the United States by the

A) Emancipation Proclamation.

B) Compromise of 1877.

C) Twelfth Amendment.

D) Thirteenth Amendment.

E) Fourteenth Amendment.

6) The Fourteenth Amendment did all of the following EXCEPT

A) extend the rights of national citizenship to all Americans.

B) guarantee equal protection under the laws of any state.

C) guarantee all male citizens the right to vote.

D) ensure citizens of due process.

E) limit the ability of state governments to infringe on the rights of citizens.

7) In the wake of Reconstruction, southern states used all of the following means to disenfranchise black voters EXCEPT

A) grandfather clauses.

B) explicit racial prohibitions on voting.

C) poll taxes.

D) literacy tests.

E) property qualifications.

8) In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court ruled that

A) segregated facilities were not inherently unconstitutional, as long as they were equal.

B) though Jim Crow laws clearly violated Fourteenth Amendment protections, the federal government had no authority to interfere in the internal matters of states.

C) African Americans were not citizens and so could not claim the same rights as white Americans.

D) the Fourteenth Amendment was unconstitutional.

E) as second-class citizens, African Americans must endure second-class facilities.

9) What was the primary means by which the NAACP pursued civil rights during the first half of the twentieth century?

A) through appeals to the president

B) by lobbying Congress

C) by mobilizing grass-roots activists

D) through civil disobedience

E) through the courts

10) The landmark Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education was significant because it

A) was the first instance in which the Supreme Court decided in favor of protecting African Americans' civil rights.

B) overturned the doctrine of "separate but equal."

C) effectively ended segregation, both de jure and de facto, in America's public schools.

D) effectively brought the Civil Rights Era to a triumphant close.

E) required the immediate end of segregation in public schools.

11) Which of the following is true of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling?

A) Its chief impact was felt in the northern states.

B) It primarily affected the southern states.

C) Its chief impact was to reduce the prevalence of de facto segregation.

D) It did little to limit de jure segregation.

E) The use of the phrase "with all deliberate speed" in the ruling helped to bring about swift legislative changes in the southern states.

12) Rosa Parks's most important contribution to the civil rights movement was

A) delivering her "I Have a Dream" speech at the culmination of a march on Washington.

B) founding and leading the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

C) convincing the NAACP to abandon its legal strategy and take a more militant approach to civil rights.

D) inspiring a bus boycott when she chose to be arrested rather than give up her seat.

E) becoming the first African American woman to serve in the Senate.

13) Which African American leader is famous for making the "I Have a Dream" speech?

A) Malcolm X

B) Jesse Jackson

C) Bobby Seale

D) Stokely Carmichael

E) Martin Luther King, Jr.

14) The Southern Christian Leadership Conference

A) focused on nonviolent protests.

B) recruited young people for "freedom rides" and sit-ins.

C) is the oldest civil rights group in the United States.

D) often countered the advice of Martin Luther King, Jr.

E) had little lasting impact on the civil rights movement.

15) The landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were pushed through Congress by which president?

A) John Kennedy

B) Dwight Eisenhower

C) Richard Nixon

D) Harry Truman

E) Lyndon Johnson

16) The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did all of the following EXCEPT for

A) protecting voters by outlawing literacy tests.

B) creating the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

C) barring discrimination by accommodations engaged in interstate commerce.

D) prohibiting discrimination in employment based on race.

E) prohibiting discrimination in employment based on sex.

17) Which of the following statements about the conditions of African Americans in the United States today is LEAST accurate?

A) As indicated by the election of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, the number of national political offices held by African Americans is roughly commensurate to their percentage of the general population.

B) African American citizens are more likely than white citizens to be convicted of a crime.

C) African American convicts are more likely than white convicts to be sentenced to death for their crimes.

D) Despite the end of legally sanctioned segregation, residential segregation still exists for many African Americans.

E) The average African American family's household income is roughly two-thirds that of the average white American family.

18) In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that state bans on same-sex marriage violated the Fourteenth Amendment in which case?

A) Obergefell v. Hodges

B) Loving v. Virginia

C) Grutter v. Bollinger

D) Shelby County v. Holder

E) Lau v. Nichols

19) The birth of the gay rights movement is most commonly traced to riots in

A) New York in 1969.

B) Miami in 1958.

C) San Francisco in 1974.

D) Chicago in 1983.

E) Los Angeles in 1962.

20) Which Supreme Court decision ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act violated the equal protection clause and was unconstitutional?

A) Loving v. Virginia

B) Lawrence v. Texas

C) Bowers v. Hardwick

D) United States v. Windsor

E) Obergefell v. Hodges

21) Which section of the Constitution provides the chief basis for Supreme Court rulings on equality?

A) Article V

B) Fourteenth Amendment

C) Bill of Rights

D) Article III

E) the Preamble

22) Based on the principle of "invidious discrimination," in order for the Supreme Court to declare discriminatory practices unconstitutional, the Court must decide that the practices

A) have no rational basis.

B) are deliberately discriminatory.

C) reinforce existing racial, ethnic, or sexual hierarchies.

D) lack the support of the community.

E) privilege one group over another.

23) In deciding a case involving a law that allegedly discriminated against gay citizens, the Supreme Court would most likely apply the

A) rational basis test.

B) due process test.

C) intermediate scrutiny test.

D) original intention test.

E) strict scrutiny test.

24) If an elderly woman sued a state government over a law requiring her to retire from a certain job at a certain age, the Supreme Court would most likely decide the case on the basis of the

A) rational basis test.

B) due process test.

C) intermediate scrutiny test.

D) original intention test.

E) strict scrutiny test.

25) If lower-income citizens sued a state government over a voting registration law that required them to present a driver's license or pay for an alternative state identification card in order to vote, the Supreme Court would most likely decide the case on the basis of the

A) rational basis test.

B) due process test.

C) intermediate scrutiny test.

D) original intention test.

E) strict scrutiny test.

26) In deciding a case in which a male citizen sued a state government over a law that he believed discriminated against him based on his gender, the Supreme Court would most likely rely on the

A) rational basis test.

B) due process test.

C) intermediate scrutiny test.

D) original intention test.

E) strict scrutiny test.

27) In deciding a case in which an Asian American woman claims that a state law discriminates against her based on her ethnicity, the Supreme Court would most likely use the

A) rational basis test.

B) due process test.

C) intermediate scrutiny test.

D) original intention test.

E) strict scrutiny test.

28) Which of the following arguments would LEAST likely be advanced by a proponent of affirmative action?

A) Affirmative action policies benefit not only racial minorities, but also women, who make up over half the population.

B) Affirmative action policies have little direct adverse effect on the opportunities available to white men.

C) The goal of a diverse society is one that benefits all members of society, not just the historically disadvantaged.

D) Any policy that privileges one racial group over another is an unacceptable form of racism.

E) Traditional measures for measuring merit contain subjective biases that work against racial minorities.

29) In the case of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), the Supreme Court ruled that

A) universities could not constitutionally take race into consideration as a factor in student admissions.

B) universities could consider race as a factor in student admissions, but racial quotas were unconstitutional.

C) racial quotas were a constitutional means by which public universities could ensure a diverse student body.

D) the racial make-up of a public university must roughly reflect the racial composition of the public the university serves.

E) the strict scrutiny test was not applicable to matters involving higher education.

30) Which of the following happened when Texas and California ended the affirmative action programs in their public universities in the 1990s?

A) The number of African American college students in those states dropped significantly.

B) The number of African American college students in those states increased slightly.

C) The number of African American college students did not measurably change.

D) Hispanic American college students decreased in number, but not African American college students. 

E) The Supreme Court forced those universities to reinstate race as a primary factor in admissions decision-making.

31) In 2007, the Supreme Court took which of the following decisions on race and education?

A) It emphasized the need to expand efforts to ensure racial integration in public schools.

B) It opposed race-based public school initiatives, even if the goal of those initiatives is to enhance diversity.

C) It approved efforts to expand racial diversity in universities only if the methods employed were systematic and quantifiable.

D) It rejected all measures to encourage racial diversity at universities.

E) It avoided addressing cases related to racial initiatives in either universities or public schools.

32) Which minority group is most responsible for pioneering the civil rights tactics other groups have adopted since the 1960s?

A) Asian Americans

B) gay and lesbian Americans

C) African Americans

D) Hispanic Americans

E) Native Americans

33) Which of the following statements about Native Americans' struggle for civil rights is LEAST accurate?

A) Historically, Native Americans have been victims of legislation that deprived them of their land and their culture.

B) Native Americans were not granted citizenship en masse until 1924.

C) Since the founding of the American republic, Native Americans have formed formal political and social movements to protest their mistreatment.

D) During the 1960s and 1970s, Native American activists engaged in militant actions such as seizing control of Alcatraz and holding hostages at Wounded Knee.

E) Native Americans continue to suffer disproportionately from ill health and poverty.

34) Currently, the largest ethnic minority group in the United States is

A) Asian Americans.

B) white Americans.

C) African Americans.

D) Hispanic Americans.

E) Native Americans.

35) The civil rights leader César Chávez is best known for his efforts on behalf of

A) auto workers.

B) disenfranchised southern African Americans.

C) disabled Americans.

D) gays and lesbians.

E) migrant farm workers.

36) The majority of Hispanic Americans in California, Arizona, and Texas are of ________ origin.

A) Honduran

B) Nicaraguan

C) Cuban

D) Mexican

E) Puerto Rican

37) In the case of Korematsu v. United States, the Supreme Court decided that

A) because the internment of Japanese Americans was based solely on race, it was unconstitutional.

B) while the government had the right to send Japanese immigrants to internment camps, their native-born children, as American citizens, must be freed.

C) although Congress might had the power to order the internment of Japanese Americans, the president could not constitutionally do so by executive order.

D) in times of war, American citizens have no civil rights the government is obligated to respect.

E) the internment of Japanese Americans was a constitutional measure.

38) Which of the following statements about Asian Americans is most accurate?

A) They have never faced the sort of discriminatory immigration restrictions that groups from many other parts of the world had to face.

B) There were almost no Asians or Asian Americans in the United States before the 1970s.

C) Asian Americans have experienced notable academic success at colleges and universities.

D) Asian Americans are disproportionately represented in political offices and positions of business management.

E) Young Asian Americans are unusually politically active.

39) Throughout the twentieth century, which group advocated most vocally and effectively for the rights of disabled Americans?

A) war veterans

B) the NAACP

C) elderly Americans

D) gay and lesbian Americans

E) workers in high-risk jobs

40) Based on current understandings of the Americans with Disabilities Act, public schools would have to make special accommodations for all of the following students EXCEPT

A) a student with poor but functional eyesight.

B) a student who is confined to a wheelchair.

C) a student with Parkinson's disease.

D) a student with AIDS.

E) a student born without the use of her arms.

41) Which of the following statements about the rights of older Americans is LEAST accurate?

A) In 1986, Congress phased out mandatory retirement for all but a few occupations, such as firefighting.

B) Because senior employees often make the most money, they are also often targeted for firing by employers looking to cut costs.

C) Some graduate schools reject older applicants out of hand, because such applicants will have fewer years to ply their trade.

D) Since 1967, federal law has protected workers over the age of 40 from unreasonable discrimination based on their age.

E) Despite, or perhaps because of, the various forms of discrimination they face, elderly Americans generally wield little political power or influence.

42) In a 2008 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that

A) federal workers who file claims of age discrimination have the same protections from retaliation as they would in the private sector.

B) federal workers have no constitutional protections related to age discrimination.

C) state workers have no constitutional protections related to age discrimination.

D) federal workers who file claims of age discrimination have fewer protections from retaliation than they would in the private sector.

E) federal workers who file claims of age discrimination have more protections from retaliation than they would in the private sector.

43) Which of the following statements about gay rights is LEAST accurate?

A) A majority of Americans disagree with the statement that society should discourage homosexuality.

B) Homosexuals are usually better educated and wealthier than other minority groups.

C) For a time, homosexuals were not allowed to work in the federal government or immigrate to the United States.

D) The modern gay rights movement began with a police raid on gay bar in 1969.

E) The American public has shown its support for gay marriage by approving referenda in most states establishing legal recognition of such unions.

44) Regarding gays and lesbians serving in the military, President Clinton supported a policy

A) allowing lesbians to serve, but not gays.

B) allowing gays and lesbians to openly serve.

C) prohibiting gays and lesbians from serving at all.

D) of "Don't ask, don't tell."

E) essentially the same as the one adopted by President Obama.

45) In Lawrence v. Texas (2003), the Supreme Court decided that

A) consenting adults have the constitutional right to engage in homosexual acts in the privacy of their homes.

B) although the military could reject a prospective enlistee based on his or her sexual orientation, it could not discharge a soldier on active duty for the same reason.

C) the Boy Scouts' ban on gay troop leaders amounted to an illegal act of discrimination.

D) the courts of one state were constitutionally bound to recognize and respect same-sex marriages conducted in another state.

E) the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits federal recognition of gay and lesbian couples, is an unconstitutional form of discrimination.

46) Which state was the first to legalize same-sex marriage through a court ruling?

A) California

B) New Hampshire

C) Vermont

D) New York

E) Hawaii

47) Women's struggle for equality differs from other civil rights struggles primarily because women

A) have faced fewer obstacles to employment.

B) have faced fewer obstacles to political participation.

C) are not a minority.

D) have no history of agitating for their rights.

E) have acquired their rights more fully and quickly than other groups, especially African American men.

48) Which of the following statements about the early women's movement (1840–1875) is LEAST accurate?

A) The movement evolved largely from women's participation in abolitionism.

B) The immediate impetus for the women's movement was the refusal of male participants at an antislavery gathering to allow women to participate in the proceedings.

C) The movement was in part an offshoot of the religious revivalism of the day.

D) The movement ended in triumph with the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote.

E) A pivotal moment in the movement was a convention held at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848.

49) Who was the leader of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, founded in 1890?

A) Abigail Adams

B) Susan B. Anthony

C) Lucretia Mott

D) Elizabeth Cady Stanton

E) Betty Friedan

50) From 1890 to 1920, the women's rights movement focused its energies primarily on

A) improving women's economic opportunities.

B) changing the cultural standards that held women back.

C) enhancing women's legal standing.

D) electing women to high political office.

E) securing the right to vote.

51) All of the following contributed to the modern feminist movement EXCEPT

A) the publication of The Feminine Mystique.

B) the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

C) the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

D) a Supreme Court case upholding a discriminatory jury selection process on the grounds that a woman's place was in the home.

E) the creation of President Kennedy's Commission on the Status of Women and its subsequent report.

52) In recent years the Supreme Court has ruled that

A) statutory rape laws that apply only to female victims are constitutional.

B) requiring only men to register with the Selective Service is unconstitutional.

C) laws that prevent men from collecting alimony while allowing women to do so are constitutional.

D) prosecutors may choose to exclude either women or men from juries in order to create a jury sympathetic to their case.

E) single-sex nursing schools are legal and constitutional.

53) Who was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives?

A) Nancy Pelosi

B) Sarah Palin

C) Hillary Clinton

D) Anita Hill

E) Jeannette Rankin

54) Women in America obtained the right to vote in national elections in ________.

A) 1790

B) 1865

C) 1890

D) 1920

E) 1974

55) Proponents of comparable worth policies argue that the gap between women's and men's average wages results from

A) workers in jobs traditionally held by women being paid less than workers in jobs traditionally held by men, even if the skill sets and educational backgrounds required for the jobs are the same.

B) women traditionally working in jobs that require less skills and educational background than jobs traditionally held by men.

C) employers refusing to pay women the same wages for doing the same work as men.

D) the tendency of women to leave the workforce for extended periods to raise children.

E) the tendency of female college students to shun disciplines such as business and engineering which lead to high-paying jobs.

56) Which of the following statements about current Supreme Court views on sexual harassment is LEAST accurate?

A) Sexual harassment is a form of gender discrimination prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

B) Alleged victims of sexual harassment must demonstrate that their employers were aware of the harassment and did nothing to stop it.

C) In some instances, schools can be sued if school officials allow one student to harass another sexually.

D) Alleged victims of sexual harassment do not need to show severe psychological injury or demonstrate that the harassment prevented them from doing their job in order to win their case.

E) Employers can be held responsible for a supervisor's harassment of an employee, even if the employer is unaware of the harassment.

57) Define civil rights. How do they differ from civil liberties? How are they best protected? Is it possible for all people to enjoy civil rights equally, or do the civil rights of some groups necessarily infringe on the civil rights of others? Can persons from groups that have historically enjoyed positions of privilege be said to possess civil rights?

58) Discuss the African American civil rights movement. What was the legacy of oppression African Americans had to overcome? What were the tactics they employed to gain their civil rights? Which of those tactics proved most successful?

59) Describe the impact of the African American civil rights movement on other oppressed groups. Which tactics developed by African Americans did members of these other groups adopt? Which tactics did they develop on their own? Which group has the most success in bringing about legal changes to secure equal rights?

60) Describe the development of the modern women's rights movement. What are its historical precursors? What are its most pressing concerns today? What unique circumstances have women had to face in their struggle for equality?

61) Discuss the impact of the various civil rights movements. Have these movements succeeded in broadly expanding civil rights and equal opportunity? Does the struggle for civil rights need to progress further or has it already gone too far? Did the civil rights struggles bring the nation together or divide it into separate identity groups? Do measures designed to overcome historic discrimination become forms of "reverse discrimination"?

62) Some call the struggle for equal rights for gays and lesbians the last major civil rights struggle for America. In what ways are gays and lesbians discriminated against? How has this discrimination been perpetuated? What is happening at the local, state, and national levels to combat this discrimination? What is the current extent of legal same-sex marriage in the United States?

63) Write an essay in which you critically examine the main arguments for and against affirmative action in higher education. What arguments can be made in favor of it? When does it become reverse discrimination, if ever?