Civil Rights Movement Quiz

Grade 11 · Social Studies · Quiz

Test your knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement's key events, legislation, strategies, and leaders.

Questions

1. Which Supreme Court case declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional?

   1. Plessy v. Ferguson
   2. Marbury v. Madison
   3. Brown v. Board of Education
   4. Korematsu v. United States
   Show answer

   Answer: Brown v. Board of Education

   The unanimous 1954 ruling authored by Chief Justice Earl Warren struck down the 'separate but equal' doctrine and ordered the desegregation of public schools.

2. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was sparked by the arrest of:

   1. Fannie Lou Hamer
   2. Rosa Parks
   3. Coretta Scott King
   4. Claudette Colvin
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   Answer: Rosa Parks

   Rosa Parks was arrested December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat; the NAACP had been looking for a strong test case and her arrest triggered the planned boycott.

3. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in all of the following EXCEPT:

   1. Employment
   2. Public accommodations (hotels, restaurants)
   3. Voting
   4. Federally assisted programs
   Show answer

   Answer: Voting

   The Civil Rights Act addressed employment (Title VII) and public accommodations (Title II); voting discrimination was addressed separately by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

4. Thurgood Marshall argued the Brown v. Board of Education case before the Supreme Court.

   Show answer

   Answer: true

   Thurgood Marshall argued Brown for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; he later became the first Black Supreme Court Justice (1967).

5. The strategy of nonviolent direct action used by civil rights activists was most directly inspired by:

   1. The American Revolution
   2. Mohandas Gandhi's civil disobedience in India
   3. The abolitionist movement of the 1800s
   4. Socialist labor organizing in Europe
   Show answer

   Answer: Mohandas Gandhi's civil disobedience in India

   King explicitly drew on Gandhi's philosophy of satyagraha (truth-force); King visited India in 1959 to study Gandhi's methods directly.

6. Which event most directly led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

   1. The bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church
   2. The assassination of Medgar Evers
   3. The violent attack on marchers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge (Bloody Sunday)
   4. The March on Washington
   Show answer

   Answer: The violent attack on marchers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge (Bloody Sunday)

   Footage of state troopers attacking peaceful marchers aired nationally that evening; Johnson addressed Congress two days later calling for a voting rights law.

7. The Black Power movement differed from King's approach primarily by:

   1. Rejecting any confrontation with white-dominated institutions
   2. Emphasizing racial pride and self-determination over racial integration
   3. Focusing exclusively on legal challenges through the courts
   4. Calling for a return to African nations
   Show answer

   Answer: Emphasizing racial pride and self-determination over racial integration

   Black Power, coined by Stokely Carmichael in 1966, called for independent Black institutions and community control rather than assimilation into white-dominated society.

8. Malcolm X consistently advocated nonviolent resistance throughout his public life.

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   Answer: false

   Malcolm X advocated Black self-defense and initially rejected nonviolence as leaving Black people defenseless; his views evolved significantly before his 1965 assassination.

9. The 'I Have a Dream' speech was delivered at which event?

   1. The Montgomery Bus Boycott rally, 1956
   2. The March on Washington, 1963
   3. The Selma-to-Montgomery March, 1965
   4. The SCLC convention, 1964
   Show answer

   Answer: The March on Washington, 1963

   King delivered the 'I Have a Dream' speech on August 28, 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to approximately 250,000 marchers.

10. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was most effective at:

    1. Eliminating poll taxes (already done by 24th Amendment)
    2. Dramatically increasing Black voter registration in the South
    3. Integrating the Democratic and Republican parties
    4. Ending housing discrimination in northern cities
    Show answer

    Answer: Dramatically increasing Black voter registration in the South

    Before 1965, only 6.7% of eligible Black voters in Mississippi were registered; by 1967, that number had risen to 59.8%, transforming Southern politics.

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