Quiz for Thinking Like a Historian: Civil Rights and Black Power: Strategy and Ideology

Question

1. In sources 1 and 3, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bayard Rustin argued that, in addition to equal access to institutions, African Americans needed what?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. Both sources 1 and 3 argued that African Americans needed greater access to economic opportunities and security in order to improve their status and position in American society.
Incorrect. The answer is b. Both sources 1 and 3 argued that African Americans needed greater access to economic opportunities and security in order to improve their status and position in American society.

Question

2. In source 4, James Farmer wrote, “What the public must realize is that in a demonstration more things are happening, at more levels of human activity, than meets the eye. Demonstrations in the last few years have provided literally millions of Negroes with their first taste of self-determination and political self-expression.” Which of the following offers the most accurate restatement of Farmer’s point?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. Farmer was arguing here that demonstrations by African Americans were valuable not only because they helped to achieve their political goals, but because they provided opportunities for African Americans to define their political agendas and express their political demands. He suggested that participation in demonstrations facilitated the creation of new black identities.
Incorrect. The answer is c. Farmer was arguing here that demonstrations by African Americans were valuable not only because they helped to achieve their political goals, but because they provided opportunities for African Americans to define their political agendas and express their political demands. He suggested that participation in demonstrations facilitated the creation of new black identities.

Question

3. The photograph presented in source 2 emphasized African American demonstrators as

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is a. This photograph presented black demonstrators as nonviolent victims of white repression. It illustrated that violence in the segregated South was actually perpetrated against blacks by whites, and not vice versa.
Incorrect. The answer is a. This photograph presented black demonstrators as nonviolent victims of white repression. It illustrated that violence in the segregated South was actually perpetrated against blacks by whites, and not vice versa.

Question

4. The photograph presented in source 6 portrayed African American protesters in which of the following ways?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is d. This photograph of black athletes giving the black power salute on the awards platform at the 1968 Olympics depicted the protesters as agents for black liberation. These men were being neither dangerous and disruptive nor passive and fearful, but were clearly and calmly demonstrating their identities and demanding support for their cause.
Incorrect. The answer is d. This photograph of black athletes giving the black power salute on the awards platform at the 1968 Olympics depicted the protesters as agents for black liberation. These men were being neither dangerous and disruptive nor passive and fearful, but were clearly and calmly demonstrating their identities and demanding support for their cause.

Question

5. According to Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton (source 5), what was a necessary precondition for black liberation in the United States?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the black power movement in the United States, and Charles Hamilton, a civil rights leader, believed that black liberation depended not on alliances with whites, but rather on blacks themselves. They argued that African Americans needed to build economic and political power in their own communities and to define themselves and their own demands for a new political and social reality in the United States.
Incorrect. The answer is b. Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the black power movement in the United States, and Charles Hamilton, a civil rights leader, believed that black liberation depended not on alliances with whites, but rather on blacks themselves. They argued that African Americans needed to build economic and political power in their own communities and to define themselves and their own demands for a new political and social reality in the United States.