20-21 JFK/LBJ/Civil Rights Test

Multiple Choice Questions: Choose the best answer for each question below.

1. John F. Kennedy was quick to address domestic issues when he took office in 1964.
a. True b. False

2. The discovery of Cuban missiles in the Soviet Union caused the outbreak of the Cuban Missile
Crisis in 1961.
a. True b. False

3. There was complete solidarity and agreement among all the organizations involved in the Civil
Rights Movement in the 1960s.
a. True b. False

4. Racism was not just present in the South, as there was a significant amount of racism in the
North during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
a. True b. False

5. Fidel Castro gained power in Cuba with the promise of democracy during the 1959 Cuban
Revolution.
a. True b. False

6. Who lead the communist revolution in Cuba from 1956-1959?

a. Joseph Stalin
b. Fidel Castro
c. Benito Mussolini
d. Fulgencio Batista

7. Which president promoted the New Frontier and passed legislation that increased defense
spending, provided federal aid for education, and expanded the space program among others?
a. Richard Nixon
b. Dwight D. Eisenhower
c. John F. Kennedy
d. Lyndon B. Johnson

8. Why did the United States hope to influence an uprising to oust the Cuban leader Fidel Castro in
1961?
a. Fidel Castro took control of U.S. assets in Cuba
b. Fidel Castro declared a communist government in Cuba
c. Fidel Castro strengthened his ties with the Soviet Union
d. All of the above

9. What was John F. Kennedys response to discovering Soviet missiles in Cuba?

a. He placed a quarantine around Cuba to keep Soviet ships from reaching the island
b. He threatened the Soviets with nuclear warfare if they did not remove the missiles
c. He threatened to invade the Soviet Union if they did not remove the missiles at once
d. He sent a group of Cuban exiles to infiltrate Cuba and influence an uprising

10. Civil rights activists traveled through the Deep South on buses to protest segregation in seating
on buses and in bus terminals. This event was known as
a. Freedom summer
b. The Selma Campaign
c. The Montgomery Bus Boycott
d. Freedom rides

11. Which of the following declared that separate but equal facilities were constitutional and did
NOT violate the fourteenth amendment?
a. Brown v. Board of Education
b. Plessy v. Ferguson
c. Mapp v. Ohio
d. Gideon v. Wainwright

12. What was the main purpose of the Freedom Summer in Mississippi in 1961?
a. To protest segregated bus seating
b. To stage sit-ins in attempt to desegregate lunch counters throughout the state
c. To register as many African American voters as possible
d. To enroll as many people as possible in historically white schools

13. After the Freedom Riders were violently attacked in Anniston, Alabama, they
a. Abandoned the protest, which ended in failure
b. Received federal protection from United States marshals into Jackson, Mississippi
c. Armed themselves for protection
d. Moved the protest to Chicago

14. What was one significant outcome of the Birmingham Campaign?

a. It convinced President Kennedy to advocate for the passage of a civil rights bill to Congress
b. The campaign was a failure and separate but equal facilities continued into the late 1960s.
c. It ended segregation on buses and bus terminals throughout the Deep South
d. It led to President Johnsons passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed
discriminatory literacy tests

15. What was the ruling of the Warren Court case of Mapp v. Ohio?
a. Police must inform every suspect of their rights at the time of arrest
b. Prosecutors may not use evidence obtained in illegal searches
c. The state must provide the defendant with an attorney even if they cannot afford one
d. Separate but equal facilities were unconstitutional

16. Which of the following situations was one characteristic of the Berlin Crisis of 1958-1960?
a. All access to West Berlin was blocked off, and in response the U.S. began to drop supplies on the
city from airplanes
b. Berlin was divided into four zones of occupation. The West was controlled by France, Britain,
 and American forces, while the East was under Soviet control.
c. East Germans began to flee to West Berlin to escape communism, and this exposed the
failure of the East German government and weakened the economy.
d. West Berlin forces built a wall around their half of the city to protect it from the spread of
communism from the East Germans.

17. What was the significance of both the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act 1965?
a. These acts contributed to the expansion of democracy in the United States
b. These acts ensured the constitutional rights of African Americans and other minorities
c. These acts represented an acknowledgement of the struggles African Americans were facing in
the United States by the federal government
d. All of the above

18. Read the excerpt below.

Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to
enlarge his talents.where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than
the quantity of their goods.
Which president said this in a speech at the University of Michigan in 1964, and declared
the War on Poverty?
a. Richard Nixon
b. Dwight D. Eisenhower
c. John F. Kennedy
d. Lyndon B. Johnson

19. Which of the following is a description of Bloody Sunday that happened on March 7, 1965?
a. This was the day when the Ku Klux Klan murdered three civil rights workers in Neshoba
County, Mississippi
b. This was the day when a bus full of Freedom Riders was firebombed by white supremacists on
their journey to test the desegregation laws through the Deep South.
c. This was the day voting rights protesters were blocked from crossing the Edmund Pettus
Bridge and violence broke out toward the peaceful protesters in Selma, Alabama.
d. This was the day one of the most violent race riots in history broke out in Watts, Los Angeles.

20. What was one reason for the creation of the Peace Corps and the Alliance for Progress by
President John F. Kennedy in the 1960s?
a. To spread democratic ideals and block the spread of Communism in underdeveloped
countries
b. To force American ideals on foreign countries
c. To lead peaceful uprisings against oppressive regimes
d. All of the above

21. Study the excerpt below from a letter written to President John F. Kennedy from Premier Nikita
Khrushchev of the Soviet Union in 1962:
You are disturbed over Cuba. You say that this disturbs you because it is 90 miles by sea
from the coast of the United States of America. But you have placed destructive missile
weapons, which you call offensive, in Turkey, literally next to us.
 What was the reason for Kennedys concern over Cuba?
a. Kennedy was worried about communist forces taking over the country as a result of the Cuban
Revolution.
b. Kennedy was concerned about the threat of Cuban nationalists invading the United States and
influencing an uprising.
c. Kennedy became alarmed over the discovery of Soviet missiles on the coast of Cuba.
d. Kennedy was concerned about the possible threat of a Soviet invasion of Cuba, and was worried
it would spread to the U.S. due to the islands close proximity.

22. Read the excerpt below:

Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the
educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of
the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system.
Above is an excerpt from a court case that was written by Chief Justice Earl Warren.
Based on your knowledge of the Warren Court, which court case did this decision come
from?
a. Plessy v. Ferguson
b. Brown v. Board of Education
c. Miranda v. Arizona
d. Mapp v. Ohio

23. The Immigration Act of 1965 was passed as part of the Great Society program and allowed non-
European immigrants to migrate to the United States. What was the significance of this act?
a. It significantly shifted the demographics and culture of the United States
b. It significantly expanded the power of democracy within the United States
c. It set strict quotas for non-European immigrants entering the United States
d. There was an increase in the number of European immigrants migrating to the United States

24. Stokely Carmichael replaced John Lewis as the National Chairman of SNCC in 1966.
Which of the following ideologies did Carmichael begin to promote in 1966?
e. Nonviolence
f. Black Power
g. Racial Equality
h. All of the above

25. All of the following were outcomes of the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba except
a. Fidel Castro began to rely more heavily on aid from the Soviet Union after the invasion
b. The invasions was a massive failure on the part of the United States
c. The United States was successful in overthrowing Fidel Castro and implementing pro-
United States government
d. After the invasion was over, Kennedy and the United States government had to admit their
involvement in the invasion

Written Questions: Please write a response for each question below.

26. Eisenhowers military strategy was one of massive retaliation, or brinkmanship. This meant that
he was willing to bring the United States to the brink of war in response to any outside threat the
U.S. received. Kennedy changed the military strategy to one of flexible response when he took
office. How was this different from brinkmanship?

27. What was at least one difference in ideals, practices, or tactics between Malcolm X and Martin
Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights movement?

28. Explain and give examples of the different types of racism African Americans experienced in the
North and South. Make sure to use the terms from class.

29. Above is a photograph of a riot that took place on the University of Mississippi campus on the
night of September 30, 1962. What major event in civil rights history caused this violent riot to
break out? Why was this event so significant?
30. Khrushchev could eat here. Why not American Negroes? Nikita Khrushchev was the leader of
the Soviet Union from 1953-1964. Why would this be written on a sign used during a sit-in in
the 1960s?
Source: Lellingson. (n.d.). Civil Rights Movement Exam. Retrieved April 25, 2017, from
 http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=civil-rights-movement-exam_1 Ch. 20-21 Test
Short Answer Key
26. With flexible response, kennedy wanted to increase defense spending of non-nuclear weapons
instead of threatening nuclear warfare for small disagreements
27. WWII opened the door for more minorities in the workplace, more african americans served in
the military, and civil rights organizations began to be established
28. Malcolm X was influenced by islam, promoted violent self defense, and wanted separation of
races. MLKJ was influenced by Christianity, promoted non-violent resistance, and wanted racial
equality
29. De facto segregation was more prominent in the North, which was segregation by practice. De
jure segregation was more prominent in the South, which was segregation by law.
30. The riot broke out due to James Merediths attempt at integration. Meredith was the first African
American male to be accepted to the University of Mississippi.