Government Responses to Social Movements

Which of the following statements best explains why the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a significant political event?

It removed structural barriers to minority voting

(The Voting Rights Act of 1965 forbade the use of formal and informal structural barriers to African American suffrage, like literacy tests.)

In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. organized the March on Washington to protest racial discrimination and segregation in public places.

Which of the following statements describes how Congress responded to this situation?

Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964

(The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited segregation of public facilities, as well as discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin.)

In 1952, four African American students in Topeka, Kansas were denied access to certain public schools because of laws segregating public education by race.

Which of the following statements describes how the Supreme Court responded to this situation?

The Supreme Court ruled that the "separate but equal" doctrine violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

(In a landmark case, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that segregated schools were inherently unequal and therefore violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.)

In the 1960s and 1970s, women began protesting gender discrimination in colleges and universities, such as unequal scholarship allocation to men's sports and women's sports.

Which of the following statements describes how Congress responded to this situation?

Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972

(Title IX forbids gender discrimination in education programs (like most universities and colleges) who receive federal funds.)

In the 1960s, literacy tests were used in an attempt to limit African American participation in the voting process.

Which of the following statements describes how Congress responded to this situation?

Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965

(The Voting Rights Act of 1965 forbade the use of formal and informal structural barriers to African American suffrage, like literacy tests.)

Which of the following policies is an example of specific legislation that extended civil rights to women?

Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972

(Title IX forbids gender discrimination in education programs (like most universities and colleges) who receive federal funds.)

In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that race-based segregation in a public school system was unconstitutional.

Which of the following constitutional provisions did the Supreme Court use to support their decision?

The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

(The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment stipulates that no state shall "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The Court ruled in Brown v. Board (1954) that the "separate but equal" doctrine was inherently unequal as it created a sense of inferiority in African American children.)

Based on the information in the pie charts, which of the following best summarizes the effect of Title IX?

It created more opportunities for female athletes to participate in sports

(In the graph, the percentage of female athletes went from 7% of total athletes in 1971-72 to 43% of athletes in 2011-12. Remember that Title IX forbids gender discrimination in education programs (like most universities and colleges) that receive federal funds.)

"An unjust law is a code inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating because it did not have the unhampered right to vote. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up the segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout the state of Alabama all types of conniving methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties without a single Negro registered to vote, despite the fact that the Negroes constitute a majority of the population. Can any law set up in such a state be considered democratically structured?"

Dr. Martin Luther King, "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," 1963

Which of the following governmental policies would the author most likely support as a solution to the problems described in this passage?

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

(The Voting Rights Act of 1965 forbade the use of formal and informal structural barriers to African American suffrage, like literacy tests.)

Which of the following statements best explains why the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a significant political event?

It prohibited discrimination in public places, employment, and voting

(The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited segregation of public facilities, as well as discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin.)

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the two court cases?

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Roe v. Wade (1973)

a) Incorporated the right to vote to the states and Incorporated the right to privacy to the states

b) Decided that segregation in schools violates the equal protection clause and Decided that the right to privacy extends to a woman's right to have an abortion

c) Authorized states to create separate facilities based on race as long as they were equal and Limited the power of state governments to regulate abortion

d) Declared that the state had violated the Fourteenth Amendment and Declared that the state had violated the Sixth Amendment

b) Decided that segregation in schools violates the equal protection clause and Decided that the right to privacy extends to a woman's right to have an abortion

(Roe v. Wade (1973) extended the right of privacy to a woman's decision to have an abortion while recognizing compelling state interests in potential life and maternal health. The Brown decision overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and reexamined the application of the equal protection clause.)

Which of the following accurately describes the information presented in the pie charts?

Female athletes represented a larger proportion of total high school athletes in 2011-2012 than in 1971-1972

(As you can see from the graph, the percentage of female athletes went from 7% in 1971-72 to 41% in 2011-12.)