Deck 24: The Triumph of Black Politics: 1980 to the Present

Question 1

Which of the following groups was not a part of the coalition that elected Ronald Reagan in 1980?

A) white southerners unhappy with the civil rights movement changes
B) people opposed to women's rights and abortion rights
C) white northerners unhappy about busing and affirmative action
D) people who hoped to increase government spending on different government programs

Answer 1

people who hoped to increase government spending on different government programs

Question 2

Why did many blacks and civil rights organizations protest Reagan's appointment of William Bell to lead the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission?

A) Bell was a conservative black man, and had very few qualifications.
B) Bell was well known as a racist white senator from Alabama.
C) Bell was an established politician with a reputation for corruption and dishonesty.
D) Bell was white and most of the people who headed the EEOC were black.

Answer 2

Bell was a conservative black man, and had very few qualifications.

Question 3

What did the case of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke involve?

A) the discrimination against a black student attempting to enroll in law school
B) a white man who claimed that he was not allowed to vote with black students
C) a white man who said that the University of California's admission requirements discriminated against him
D) a group of black and white students who refused to attend classes together

Answer 3

a white man who said that the University of California's admission requirements discriminated against him

Question 4

Which type of institution has been at the center of the backlash against affirmative action?

A) educational institutions
B) restaurants and cafeterias
C) businesses and places of work
D) government jobs

Question 5

Which of the following was not a program adopted by the Reagan and Bush (Sr.) administrations that had a negative effect on blacks?

A) They cut funds for the redevelopment of inner cities.
B) They favored the wealthy over the middle or poor classes.
C) They appointed some blacks, but generally only those who followed their conservative viewpoint.
D) Reagan completely reoriented the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights by replacing all the previous members with whites.

Question 6

How has the percentage of African Americans in the University of California system been affected by dropping affirmative action?

A) The percentage of blacks has dropped slightly overall.
B) The percentage of blacks has fallen dramatically overall.
C) The percentage of blacks has actually risen slightly.
D) The percentage of blacks has actually risen dramatically.

Question 7

On what country did many African Americans focus their efforts during the 1980s?

A) South Africa
B) Zimbabwe
C) Yugoslavia
D) Germany

Question 8

What significant first did Ronald Brown achieve?

A) He was the first black man to run for the presidency.
B) He became the first black man to lead a major national political party.
C) He was the first black man to be elected mayor of a predominantly white city.
D) .He was the first black man to be selected to the US Supreme Court.

Question 9

What was the effect of trickle-down economics under Reagan?

A) Middle-class people and lower class people's incomes went up, and more jobs were created.
B) Wealthy people's incomes rose significantly, but unemployment went up.
C) Black people gained in status, especially economically.
D) The United States became the wealthiest industrialized nation in the world.

Question 10

Which of the following is not true about black Americans in the Republican Party during the Reagan years?

A) They were carefully cultivated by the party as representatives.
B) Because of their visibility, they often had a substantial amount of power within the party structure.
C) They were a small, well-educated group.
D) There were no conservative black Americans at this time.

Question 11

Who became the president of South Africa at least partially as a result of the antiapartheid movement in the United States?

A) F. W. de Klerk
B) François Mitterrand
C) Nelson Mandela
D) W. E. B. Du Bois

Question 12

What president endorsed and developed the "Philadelphia Plan," on which most affirmative action programs were based?

A) Lyndon Johnson
B) Richard Nixon
C) Harry Truman
D) Ronald Reagan

Question 13

What did the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988 accomplish?

A) Although it would have made significant gains for blacks, Reagan vetoed it at the last minute.
B) It helped black women gain jobs in federal employment.
C) It would have negated all rights gained by blacks over the previous thirty years; however, President Clinton vetoed it.
D) It said that all federal funds to an entire institution would be withheld if any part of the institution discriminated against women or racial minorities.

Question 14

How did Ronald Reagan's election affect African Americans?

A) Reagan worked for better opportunities for blacks, and to expand civil rights.
B) It affected them badly-Reagan turned away from broadening civil rights advances and opportunities.
C) Reagan was a rather mixed case. He appointed a lot of blacks to high cabinet positions, but seemed unwilling to risk losing support of southern whites to do much else for them.
D) Reagan ignored all aspects of black civil rights, hoping to make the issue go away.

Question 15

What is apartheid?

A) another term for industrialization
B) a system of racial discrimination and oppression, glorifying white supremacy
C) a type of African music that gained popularity among some blacks in the 1980s
D) a type of international foreign policy, where some governments are set "a part" because of race

Question 16

Reagan and Bush distinguished between "old civil rights law" and "new civil rights law." They did not support the "new" law that, they said,

A) was concerned with discriminatory outcomes.
B) was concerned with discriminatory intents of people.
C) was concerned with eliminating racism completely.
D) was concerned with placing blacks in a superior position to whites.

Question 17

What was the effect of Reagan's policies on the EEOC and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights?

A) His actions made the groups far stronger and pervasive in American society.
B) He had no policies with respect to these agencies.
C) Both were hampered in operations or reduced to insignificance.
D) Reagan abolished both of them during his first few days in office.

Question 18

What was the idea behind Ronald Reagan's "trickle-down" economics?

A) It would help black families by giving them small amounts of money.
B) It gave tax breaks to the wealthy, who were then supposed to spend that money to improve the economy and benefit middle- and lower-class people.
C) It was a very complicated theory that involved a variety of levels of tax increases and decreases, and property taxes to achieve maximum growth.
D) Trickle down economics asserted that water conservation measures needed to be implemented to save money and resources.

Question 19

What is affirmative action?

A) a policy to promote black people over white people in all instances
B) policies to remedy historic discrimination in employment and education for minorities
C) policies to equalize voting opportunities for blacks
D) policies to give black people income to better their situation, and equalize them with whites economically

Question 20

What was not a problem with Clarence Thomas's nomination to the Supreme Court?

A) Thomas had little experience as a judge.
B) Thomas was a conservative, and did not reflect the views of many African Americans.
C) Anita Hill came forward to accuse Thomas of sexual harassment.
D) Thomas was overtly favorable toward affirmative action, and this delayed his confirmation by the Senate.

Question 21

Who led the "Rainbow Coalition"?

Question 22

What is not true about the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996?

A) It eliminated aid to help children of poor families.
B) It denied welfare benefits to legal immigrants.
C) It drastically reduced food stamp benefits.
D) It provided more years of benefit for families.

Question 23

How did blacks feel about Clinton?

A) They refused to support him at first, but later reluctantly did.
B) They warmly welcomed his candidacy against Bush, and felt that he was the best president since Lyndon Johnson regarding black rights.
C) They never supported him.
D) The black vote was split evenly between Bush and Clinton in 1992.

Question 24

Why did President Bush's popularity plummet after the 2004 election?

A) Voters did not agree with his decision to appoint Rice as secretary of state.
B) Voters were angry about the way he handled the war in Iraq.
C) Voters did not like his economic policies, as the number of people in poverty skyrocketed.
D) Actually, Bush's popularity began to plummet after his election in 2000, not 2004.

Question 25

How did the Rodney King verdict show differences between whites and blacks regarding American justice?

A) Blacks and whites actually came together to support the verdict.
B) Blacks saw the acquittal of the police officers as an example of continued injustice while whites saw it as preserving law and order.
C) Blacks and whites actually came together to oppose the verdict.
D) Blacks saw the fact that Rodney King was released as evidence that the American court system favored whites.

Question 26

What is true about George W. Bush's appointments of African Americans in his administration?

A) He refused to appoint blacks as cabinet level advisers.
B) He generally followed Reagan's policy of only appointing token blacks to insignificant positions.
C) He appointed blacks to key posts, including Colin Powell as secretary of state and Condoleezza Rice as national security adviser.
D) He was the first president to have a majority of black advisers on his staff.

Question 27

What problems were reported with election results in Florida in the 2001 election?

A) The election went smoothly in Florida. Mississippi was a problem area, since it denied many blacks the right to vote.
B) In many cases, whites were denied the right to vote by blacks and Hispanics.
C) Studies revealed that areas with high percentages of blacks were least likely to have up-to-date voting equipment.
D) The problems in Florida were purely political-the Democrats in power refused to allow Republicans to vote at most polling stations.

Question 28

How does the black community feel about the idea of reparations for blacks to compensate for slavery?

A) As with many other issues, opinion is divided over reparations.
B) The black community is solidly behind the idea.
C) The black community is solidly against the idea.
D) Elite blacks seem to favor it, while poor blacks seem to be against it.

Question 29

Which of the following was an idea supported by Jesse Jackson in the 1984 presidential campaign?

A) He wanted to represent people who felt politically marginalized, like blacks, white working-class people, feminists, and environmentalists.
B) He hoped to cut back the growth of government, business, and labor.
C) He wanted to push through more civil rights and welfare cuts of the Reagan administration.
D) He wanted to have a national holiday celebrating Malcolm X.

Question 30

Who was the first American president to visit Africa?

A) Bill Clinton
B) George Bush
C) Harry S. Truman
D) Ronald Reagan

Question 31

Who received the Democratic nomination for president in 1984?

A) Walter Mondale
B) Geraldine Ferraro
C) Ronald Reagan
D) Michael Dukakis

Question 32

What was different about Clinton's appointment of black people to administrative positions?

A) He failed to appoint any blacks to administrative positions.
B) He appointed blacks to positions that often had nothing to do with race.
C) He appointed fewer blacks than Ronald Reagan had.
D) Blacks refused to support some of his appointments, because he generally picked unqualified people.

Question 33

Why was Shirley Chisholm's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination not taken more seriously?

A) She never had any political support.
B) She lacked any financial backing whatsoever.
C) She was a woman in a very male-dominated field.
D) She was extremely liberal, and supported what she called "black supremacy."

Question 34

Which of the following is not true about crime by African Americans?

A) Over 90% of the murders and violent offenders against blacks are black themselves.
B) The murder rate for African Americans was seven times that of whites in 1997.
C) 49% of all murder victims are black.
D) In 62% of cases, blacks are victimized by whites.

Question 35

Who received the Democratic nomination for president in 1988?

A) Walter Mondale
B) Michael Dukakis
C) George Bush
D) David Dinkins

Question 36

What was the name of the Supreme Court case that decided to stop the recount of Florida votes, and gave the 2000 election to George Bush?

Question 37

What did the report that was published by Amnesty International in 1998 demonstrate?

A) Middle Eastern countries were by far the most common human rights offenders.
B) American police violated many international laws and that many victims of police abuse in America were minorities.
C) Americans enjoyed far more economic and social benefits than people in other countries.
D) That the US government was the strongest in the world in preventing human rights abuses..

Question 38

Why was Bush criticized by many blacks, and by Jesse Jackson, during his election campaign in 1988?

A) Jackson said Bush would overturn many black gains in civil rights.
B) Bush had accused Jesse Jackson of taking bribes and other types of corruption.
C) Bush refused to renounce a very negative ad depicting Willie Horton, a black man who raped a white woman while on furlough (granted by Dukakis) from prison.
D) Bush had wrongly accused Jackson of sexual harassment.

Question 39

What economic policy did Clinton support that was a departure from his predecessors' economic policies?

A) He lowered taxes for all Americans, making him very popular.
B) He attempted to get America out of a large recession, but never succeeded during his presidency.
C) He decided to raise taxes on higher-income Americans.
D) He wanted to reduce taxes for all minority groups to compensate for past discrimination.

Question 40

What events countered President Bush's assertion that everything was going well with the war in Iraq?

A) The war actually was going very well in Iraq, as Saddam Hussein was ousted from power.
B) The number of Americans killed skyrocketed to over 20,000 in the year 2006.
C) Iraqi insurgents made some key gains in Afghanistan.
D) There were daily suicide bombings, attacks on US troops, and other acts of terrorism during the war.

Question 41

Which city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005?

A) Houston
B) New Orleans
C) Miami
D) Galveston

Question 42

What event is called the "Emmett Till" moment for the hip-hop generation?

A) the murder of Tupac Shakur
B) the election of Barack Obama
C) Hurricane Katrina
D) the overthrow of Saddam Hussein