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Freedom Walkers: Claudette Colvin

Total questions: 14

Worksheet time: 8mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

What mainly does the following passage reveal (paragraph 4)?


“Judge Wiley C. Hill threatened to send them to reform school until they were twenty-one, but relatives managed to get them an attorney. They were fined and sent back to New Jersey.”

a)

A. Blacks in Alabama received harsh treatment if they attempted to challenge segregation laws.

b)

B. Reform schools in Alabama were the only ones that were integrated in 1949.

c)

C. New Jersey courts ruled segregation to be unconstitutional.

d)

D. If the Johnsons had not been from New Jersey, they would have been the NAACP’s test case to challenge segregation laws.

2.

What is most closely the meaning of “she must have been paying attention in her civics classes” in the passage below (paragraph 6)?


“Claudette Colvin was an A student at all-black Booker T. Washington High. She must have been paying attention in her civics classes, for she insisted on applying the lessons she had learned after boarding a city bus on March 2, 1955.”

a)

A. Colvin was seen as a model defendant for the NAACP to challenge segregation laws because of what a good student she was.

b)

B. All-black schools were well-known for their strong civics courses.

c)

C. Colvin was well-versed in the law before refusing to give up her seat on the bus.

d)

D. Colvin’s civics teacher wound up leading her defense after she was arrested.

3.

The following passage (paragraph 16) adds to the buildup to the bus boycott mainly by_________________________.


“But in actual practice, whenever a white person needed a seat, the driver would order blacks to get up and move to the back of the bus, even when they had to stand in the aisle.”

a)

A. showing how whites in the South went beyond the letter of segregation laws to further discriminate against blacks

b)

B. painting a picture that the segregation laws were so complex that no black person would be able to challenge them in court

c)

C. showing how bus drivers lobbied for harsher segregation laws

d)

D. arguing that the Montgomery segregation laws were actually fair

4.

Which of the following inferences is best supported by the passage below (paragraph 22)?


"E.D. Nixon and other blacks leaders wanted to take the entire bus segregation issue into federal court. They hoped to demonstrate that segregated buses were illegal under the U.S. Constitution. But first they needed the strongest possible case-the arrest of a black rider who was above reproach, a person of unassailable character and reputation who could withstand the closest scrutiny."

a)

A. Most black leaders were fearful of taking on the segregation laws, due to harsh punishments.

b)

B. Claudette Colvin was embarrassed by civil rights leaders.

c)

C. Claudette Colvin ultimately accepted segregation.

d)

D. Black leaders intentionally sought out Rosa Parks to be a public face of the resistance.

5.

Which of these inferences is best supported by the text?

a)

A. Blacks in Alabama were subject to discrimination in many walks of life.

b)

B. Black leaders in Montgomery were not sympathetic to Claudette Colvin because she was poor and pregnant.

c)

C. The Mary Louise Smith case did not draw much attention because she did not talk back to the bus driver who asked her to move.

d)

D. Edwina and Marshall Johnson wanted to attend reform school.

6.

Which sentence from the text most strongly supports the correct answer to question 5?

a)

A. “Claudette was on her way home from school that day.”

b)

B. “Claudette Colvin, Nixon felt, was too young and immature.”

c)

C. “Claudette’s arrest galvanized the black community.”

d)

D. “Gray had grown up in Montgomery, attended Alabama State, and gone to Ohio for law school, because Alabama didn’t have a law school for blacks.”

7.

What is most closely a central idea from Chapter 2 of Freedom Walkers?

a)

A. Black leaders in Montgomery had no idea how they would challenge the bus laws.

b)

B. The movement to challenge segregation gained momentum as more African Americans educated themselves.

c)

C. Claudette Colvin was a firm believer in segregation.

d)

D. Whites were careful not to target blacks who they thought could provide a challenge to segregation down the line.

8.

Which sentence from the text most strongly supports the correct answer to Question 7?

a)

A. “A rugged man with a forceful manner and commanding voice, he founded the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).”

b)

B. “She had expected to be cleared, and when the judge announced his verdict, she broke into agonized sobs that shook everyone in the crowded courtroom.”

c)

C. “She remained locked up at the city jail until she was bailed out later that day by the pastor of her church.”

d)

D. “At school, Claudette had been studying the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and she had taken those lessons to heart.”

9.

What is a synonym for the word "civics"?

a)

forbidden

b)

violence

c)

government class

d)

procedure

10.

What is a synonym for the word "restricted"?

a)

forbidden

b)

authorized

c)

violence

d)

procedure

11.

What is a synonym for the word "entitled"?

a)

authorized

b)

forbidden

c)

violence

d)

procedure

12.

What is a synonym for the word "battery"?

a)

procedure

b)

violence

c)

authorized

d)

forbidden

13.

Which three details from the text apply to Claudette Colvin?

a)

Occupied a row on the bus alone

b)

From a poor section of Montgomery

c)

Almost sent to rent to reform school by the judge

d)

Not breaking any laws with the seat in question

14.

Which three details from the text apply to Edwina and Marshall Johnson?

a)

Almost sent to reform school by the judge

b)

Had ridden on integrated buses up North

c)

Were not aware of the bus laws in Montgomery

d)

From a poor section in Montgomery