The civil rights movement, 1954–1965

Grade 11 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cards A to C on school segregation (the excerpt is exact; the summaries are in our words). Card A, "Brown v. Board of Education, the Court's conclusion". Who made it: the Supreme Court of the United States, Chief Justice Earl Warren writing for a unanimous Court. When: May 17, 1954. For whom: the parties, the states and the public. Why: to decide whether segregated public schools break the Fourteenth Amendment. Excerpt (Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483, conclusion): "We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently [by their very nature] unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated [in the same position] for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment." Card B, "Plessy v. Ferguson, in brief". Who made it: historians and government agencies writing today. When: today. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) the Supreme Court upheld a Louisiana law that required separate railroad cars for Black and white passengers. The Court said the Fourteenth Amendment was not broken if the separate cars were equal. The idea became known as "separate but equal." Card C, "Brown v. Board of Education, in brief". Who made it: historians and government agencies writing today. When: today. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court decided the case of Brown v. Board of Education (Topeka, Kansas). The Court combined school cases from four states: Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia and Delaware. In a unanimous opinion by Chief Justice Earl Warren, it ruled that separating children in public schools by race breaks the Fourteenth Amendment's promise of equal protection under the law. For public schools, the ruling overruled the "separate but equal" idea from Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

2. 1.

   Bo uses Cards A, B and C together. Which question can the three cards answer?

   • What did the Court order school boards to do, and by what date were they to do it?
   • How did the Court rule on public school segregation in 1954, and which earlier idea did it overrule?
   • How quickly did schools in each of the four states desegregate once the ruling was announced in May 1954?
   • What did Black families in Topeka think of the ruling on the day it was announced?
3. 2.

   Card A is from the Court's opinion and card C is a summary written today. What is a sound use of both for Esme?

   • Trust card A and ignore card C, since a summary written today adds nothing that the opinion itself lacks
   • Treat both as the Court's words, since each describes the same decision in plain language
   • Use the opinion for the Court's own reasoning and the summary for background, such as the four states
   • Trust card C and ignore card A, since a summary is easier to read than the Court's own words
4. 3.

   Jun writes one sentence from Cards A to C. Which sentence do the cards support?

   • The 1954 ruling ended Plessy for public places of any kind, and schools were integrated nationwide by 1955
   • The 1896 ruling in Plessy overruled the 1954 ruling in Brown, since both involved the Fourteenth Amendment
   • The Court was split in Brown, with Chief Justice Warren writing a dissent against the ruling
   • In 1954 the Court overruled, for public schools, the 1896 idea that separate facilities could be equal

5. Use this

   Cards A to C on two protests (the table is exact; the summaries are in our words). Card A, "The Montgomery bus boycott, in brief". Who made it: historians and government agencies writing today. When: today. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing a bus driver's order to give up her seat. Within days Black leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association and chose Martin Luther King Jr. as president. Black riders, more than 70 percent of the city's bus passengers, stopped riding and ran carpools instead. The boycott lasted 381 days. Four women challenged the city's bus rules in court in Browder v. Gayle, and on November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court upheld the ruling against bus segregation. The bus company desegregated its buses after that ruling. Card B, "The Greensboro sit-in, in brief". Who made it: historians and government agencies writing today. When: today. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: On February 1, 1960, four first-year students of North Carolina's Agricultural and Technical College sat down at the whites-only lunch counter of a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, ordered coffee and waited. The next day they came back with 19 supporters. On the third day 85 people joined in, and by the end of the week 400 had taken part. The students took turns so they would not miss classes. Card C, table: Southern cities that had integrated their restaurants and lunch counters (National Park Service page on the Greensboro Woolworth building). By summer 1960: 33 cities. One year later: 126 cities.

6. 4.

   Kira looks at the table in Card C: 33 cities by summer 1960 and 126 a year later. Which statement about the table is accurate?

   • It shows that the sit-ins caused each of the 93 added cities to integrate, since the count rose after the sit-ins began
   • It shows 126 new cities integrated in the year after summer 1960, since 126 is the later figure in the table
   • It shows how many cities had integrated by each date, but not why they changed
   • It shows that by summer 1961 no lunch counter in the South was segregated, since 126 cities had integrated by then
7. 5.

   Luz combines Cards A, B and C. Which question can the three cards answer together?

   • Why did the owners of lunch counters in each city decide to change their rules in 1960 and 1961?
   • Which of the two protests, the boycott or the sit-ins, did more to end segregation in the South?
   • What did Black Americans do in Montgomery and Greensboro, and how many cities had integrated by a year later?
   • How many people drove in the carpools during the Montgomery boycott, and which kinds of cars did they use each week?
8. 6.

   Card B says the Greensboro students "took turns so they would not miss classes." What does that detail suggest to Milo about the protest?

   • Many people joined, since 85 took part on the third day and 400 had taken part by the end of the week
   • The protest was run by the college, which told the students when to sit down and when to leave
   • The students cared more about classes than about the protest, since they put school first at the counter
   • The protest was planned and sustained, with students sharing the work instead of acting once
9. 7.

   Noah writes a sentence from Cards A, B and C. Which sentence do the cards support?

   • Montgomery's buses desegregated after a boycott and a court ruling, and many more cities integrated lunch counters
   • Protests alone changed segregation across the South by 1961, without any court ruling or law
   • The Montgomery bus company desegregated its buses before the boycott began, and the boycott followed it by several months
   • The Greensboro sit-in drew 400 people on its first day, and the count of integrated cities then fell

10. Use this

    Cards A to C on voting (the excerpt is exact; the summaries are in our words). Card A, "Four terms, in our words". Who made it: historians and government agencies writing today. When: today. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: Segregation means keeping people apart by race in schools, buses, lunch counters and other public places. In much of the South, segregation was required by state and local laws. Desegregation means ending segregation. A poll tax was a fee a person had to pay before voting. A literacy test was a reading and writing test, given by local officials, that a person had to pass to register to vote. Card B, "The Voting Rights Act, section 2". Who made it: the United States Congress, in a law (Public Law 89-110). When: August 6, 1965. For whom: the states, local officials and the public. Why: to forbid voting rules that deny the vote because of race. Excerpt (Voting Rights Act of 1965, section 2): "No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge [cut back] the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color." Card C, "The 24th Amendment, in brief". Who made it: historians and government agencies writing today. When: today. For whom: readers today. Why: to sum up what is known. Summary in our words, not a quotation: The 24th Amendment says the right to vote in a primary or other election for President, Vice President, senators or representatives may not be denied or cut back because a person did not pay a poll tax or other tax. Congress passed it on August 27, 1962, and the states completed ratification on January 23, 1964. It covers federal elections.

11. 8.

    Ren uses Cards A, B and C together. Which question can the three cards answer?

    • Which county registrars were most strict about literacy tests in the Deep South before 1965?
    • Which court cases struck down the poll tax in state elections, and in what year was each one decided by the justices?
    • Which voting rules did these texts name or forbid, and what did a poll tax and a literacy test require?
    • How many new voters registered in the South in the year after the Voting Rights Act was signed?
12. 9.

    Card B is a law and card A explains terms. How do the purposes of the two cards differ for Tala?

    • Card B shows what happened at the polls, and card A shows what Congress planned for registrars
    • Card A explains words to readers today, and card B is a legal rule meant to be obeyed and enforced
    • Both cards are rules for registrars, since each one mentions poll taxes or voting qualifications in its text
    • Card A is the weaker source because it is in our words, so its definitions should be ignored
13. 10.

    Which sentence about voting law do Cards A to C support for Zee?

    • The 24th Amendment banned literacy tests, since it protects the right to vote in federal elections
    • Section 2 bars race-based voting rules, and the 24th Amendment ended poll taxes for federal elections
    • The Voting Rights Act of 1965 came before the 24th Amendment was ratified in January 1964
    • The 24th Amendment ended poll taxes in elections at each level, state and local as well as federal elections