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Quiz: The History of Desegregation

Test your knowledge of events

Randy Lilleston,

AARP

Published June 14, 2019

8 Questions

Quiz: The History of Desegregation

[ {
  "question" : "This was the landmark 1954 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Engel v. Vitale",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Wisconsin v. Yoder",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Brown v. Board of Education",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Tinker v. Des Moines",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "The court ruled segregated schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which addresses the rights of citizens.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "True or false? The Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling was unanimous.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "True",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "False",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the 9-0 opinion in the case, stating, “We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "In 1955, the Supreme Court issued directives on how to implement Brown v. Board of Education. The court ruled the Brown decision should be implemented…",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Immediately",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Within three years",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Within a decade",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "“With all deliberate speed”",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "The court left it up to states and localities to define “deliberate speed.”",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What was the common nickname for laws that enforced segregation in the South before the 1950s?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "John Brown laws",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Closed-door laws",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Jim Crow laws",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Freedom of choice laws",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "The name is a reference to a minstrel routine that can be dated back to the 1820s.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "In 1958, the court rejected efforts to delay desegregation at Central High School in this city.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Memphis, Tenn.",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Dallas",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Oklahoma City, Okla.",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Little Rock, Ark.",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "The unanimous ruling made it clear that the precedent set in Brown v. Board of Education was binding on all states, even those with contradictory laws.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What was the widely used nickname for the group of students involved in the Little Rock Central High School desegregation attempt?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "The First Seven",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "The Little Rock Nine",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "The Four Founders",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "The Arkansas Eight",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "After the initial attempts of the group to attend Central High were repeatedly rebuffed, President Dwight Eisenhower sent U.S. Army troops and federalized the National Guard to protect the students and ensure that they could attend.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Problems with school desegregation were not limited to the South. In September 1974, more than 4,000 demonstrators protested court-ordered desegregation of schools in this city well north of the Mason-Dixon Line.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Boston",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Minneapolis",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Detroit",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Chicago",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "About 18,000 students were bused to schools outside of their neighborhoods to execute the plan, according to local public radio station WBUR.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "The Supreme Court approved this desegregation strategy for nationwide use in a 1971 case involving a large North Carolina school district.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Open enrollment",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Merging schools",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Mandatory student assignments",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Busing",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "In Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, the court upheld the strategy of moving students to schools out of their neighborhoods by bus.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

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Randy Lilleston is the homepage editor for AARP.org. He previously served as editor-in-chief for business news publisher Industry Dive and was a senior digital editor for NPR, USA Today and CNN.