Unit 11 & 12 Civil Rights & the Vietnam War (US History)

“Jackie Robinson Breaks Color Barrier in Major League Baseball”

“President Truman Issues Executive Order Desegregating Armed Forces”

“NAACP Challenges School Segregation”

These headlines are most closely associated with…

• a decline in African American participation in political activities

• the beginning of the modern civil rights movement

• Southern resistance to the Civil Rights Act of 1964

• the effects of affirmative action programs

Use the following excerpt to answer the question.

…You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may want to ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”…

— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,

“Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963

Which type of action against unjust laws is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. supporting in this passage?

• civil disobedience

• militant resistance

• judicial activism

• affirmative action

Use the following excerpt to answer the question.

…You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may want to ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”…

— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,

“Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963

Which statement most accurately summarizes the main idea of the passage?

• People must obey Supreme Court decisions.

• You can never break some laws while obeying others.

• Violence brings faster results than peaceful protest.

• Following moral principles is sometimes more important than following the law.

Lunch counter sit-ins and the actions of freedom riders are examples of…

• steps taken in support of the Americans with Disabilities Act

• programs dealing with affirmative action

• violent acts by the Black Panthers

• nonviolent attempts to oppose segregation

Use the following excerpt to answer the question.

"Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

-Brown v. Board of Education

The effect of this Supreme Court ruling was to…

• establish affirmative action programs in higher education

• require the integration of public schools

• desegregate the armed forces and the military academies

• force states to spend an equal amount on each public school student

Cesar Chavez created the United Farm Workers Organization Committee (UFWOC) in 1966 primarily to...

• secure voting rights for Mexican Americans

• provide legal assistance to illegal aliens

• improve working conditions for migrant laborers

• increase farm income

The information on the map supports the conclusion that African American migration between 1940 and 1970 was mainly from the…

• South to the North

• Urban areas to Rural areas

• Mountain states to the West Coast

• Sun Belt to the Great Plains

The data in the chart supports the conclusion that between 1960 and 1990…

• government failed to pass laws that granted women equal access to jobs

• the earnings gap between men and women was only slightly improved

• women’s earnings consistently increased faster than those of men

• most higher paying jobs were still not legally open to women

The changes shown in the chart were most directly the result of the…

• enactment of voting reform laws by these southern states

• Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education

• passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

• executive branch’s resistance to protecting the civil rights of minorities

Use the following excerpt to answer the question.

“It is up to us in the north to provide aid and support to those who are actually bearing the brunt of the fight for equality down south. America has its own iron curtain too.”

– Jackie Robinson, 1960

Based on this statement, how did Jackie Robinson influence the civil rights movement?

• by encouraging social activism

• by promoting racial segregation

• by collecting political contributions

• by organizing educational programs