The Case of Brown v. Board of Education and the African American Civil Rights Movement
A BRI video followed by several APUSH-style MCQs, SAQs, and LEQs
In June 2018, the Bill of Rights Institute produced a very good 4:08 video entitled Brown v. Board of Education.
I show this video in class annually; then afterward provide my APUSH students with a chance to answer the APUSH style Multiple Choice, Short Answer, and Long Answer questions found below.
The MCQs
Questions 1–3 refer to the excerpt below.
“We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
* Chief Justice Earl Warren, writing the unanimous opinion of the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 1954
Q1
Which of the following was the most immediate result of the decision excerpted?
- A. Radicals critiqued government actions as doing too little to transform the racial status quo.
- B. Education advocates raised awareness of the effect of poverty on students’ opportunities.
- C. Civil rights activists became increasingly divided over tactical and philosophical issues.
- D. Segregationists in southern states temporarily closed many public schools in an effort to resist the decision.
Q2
The decision excerpted most directly reflected a growing belief after the Second World War that the power of the federal government should be used to
- A. promote greater racial justice
- B. revitalize cities
- C. foster economic opportunity
- D. defend traditional visions of morality
Q3
The Brown decision reversed which of the following earlier decisions?
- A. Marbury v. Madison, which established the principle of judicial review
- B. Worcester v. Georgia, which established that the federal government rather than individual states had authority in American Indian affairs
- C. Dred Scott v. Sandford, which proclaimed that slaves could not be citizens
- D. Plessy v. Ferguson, which endorsed racial segregation laws
Questions 4–5 refer to the excerpt below.
To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone
* Chief Justice Earl Warren, writing the unanimous opinion of the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 1954
Q5
The attorney who convinced the Supreme Court to accept the view expressed above
- A. ran for President in 1980 but lost to Ronald Reagan
- B. was appointed to the United States Supreme Court
- C. became the Governor of California
- D. was the attorney who, in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, asked the Supreme Court to declare the Lousiaian Railroad Act unconstitutional.
Q6
The Brown case decision was based partly on the fact that segregated schools violated the _______ Amendment’s Equal Protection clause.
- A. 10th
- B. 13th
- C. 14th
- D. 15th
The SAQs
- Name and briefly describe the US Supreme Court case that a half-century before Brown v. Board of Education marked the end of most of the political gains African Americans made during Reconstruction.
- Briefly explain one specific historical impact of the US Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education.
- Briefly describe a historical event, development, or process that occurred before the case of Brown v. Board of Education.
- Briefly describe one major similarity between the case of Brown v. Board of Education and the case of Plessy v. Ferguson.
- Briefly describe one major difference between the case of Brown v. Board of Education and the case of Plessy v. Ferguson.
- Briefly describe one major similarity between the case of Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
- Briefly describe one major difference between the case of Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
- Briefly describe one major similarity between the case of Brown v. Board of Education and Executive Order 9981.
- Briefly describe one major difference between the case of Brown v. Board of Education and Executive Order 9981.
- Despite the court’s decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, progress toward equality was slow. Briefly describe one specific piece of evidence in support of this claim.
- During the African American Civil Rights Movement, the legislative branch of the Federal Government (aka the Congress) sought to promote greater racial equality. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is one piece of evidence in support of this claim. What did this law prohibit?
- During the African American Civil Rights Movement, civil rights activists and political leaders sought to get America to fulfill its Reconstruction-era promises. Name one Reconstruction-era promise that many civil rights activists and political leaders claimed had gone unfulfilled?
- Briefly describe one major way in which the executive branch of the US federal government sought to promote greater racial equality during the African American Civil Rights Movement?
- Briefly describe one major way in which the legislative branch of the US federal government sought to promote greater racial equality during the African American Civil Rights Movement?
- After World War II, civil rights activists and leaders combatted racial discrimination utilizing a variety of nonviolent actions. Briefly describe a specific piece of evidence in support of this claim.
- After World War II, some civil rights activists and leaders combatted racial discrimination utilizing more militant forms of direct action. Briefly describe one specific piece of evidence in support of this claim.
- An important term associated with the history of the African American Civil Rights Movement is the term “affirmative action.” What does the term “affirmative action” mean when used in reference to the African American Civil Rights Movement?
- The US Supreme Court decision in the case of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke relates to the term “affirmative action” and quotas. What did the court decide in this case?
The LEQs
- Evaluate the extent to which the decision in Brown vs Board of Education led to the desegregation of public schools from 1954 to 1974.
- Evaluate the extent to which the federal government sought to end racial segregation from 1954 to 1974.
- Evaluate the relative importance of the different causes of the African American Civil Rights Movement.
Sidenote #1
If you have a few MCQs, SAQs, or LEQs that you’ve created and want to see added to this post, just email them to me at ppaccone@smusd.us. I’d gladly include.
Sidenote #2
Below are several more very good and relatively short videos pertaining to the topic of Brown v. Board of Education and the African American Civil Rights Movement.
Sidenote #3
Aside from the above, I also encourage my students to watch APUSH teacher Jose Gergory’s 8.6 AP Daily videos (Early Steps in the Civil Rights Movement and APUSH teachers Rhonda Webb’s 8.10 AP Daily videos (The African American Civil Rights Movement). I’m a big fan of the AP Daily videos.
Yes, I have heard many AP teachers describe the AP Daily videos as “boring,” worse even, but that’s not how I view the videos.
I view the AP Daily videos as content-rich, well-structured, professionally-looking, and well-presented bite-sized bits of knowledge that allow for all students to learn the needed content and skills in as little time as possible.
Below, is what I especially like about the AP Daily videos (Mr. Gregory’s videos, in particular):
- That the information found on each slide is so well written and formatted that the students who want to take notes need only take screenshots of the slides, rather than have to listen over and over again to what the video-producing teacher has said to get the gist of the message. To put it another way, I find the AP Daily videos infinitely more “note-taking friendly” than any of the content-delivering videos produced by various AP teachers found on Youtube, though I think many of these teachers have also produced high-quality videos. I, in fact, show some of their videos in class on occasion, though only after having had my students watch the AP Daily videos.
- That the AP Daily video-producing teachers don’t attempt to interject humor, movie clips, silly faces, and sound effects into their videos. I prefer the no-nonsense, I’m not-going-to-waste-your-time approach; generally finding the alternative, and their attempts to engage, an unwanted distraction.
- That AP Classroom provides me with the ability to hold my students accountable to the watching of the videos by way of an online, though often administered in class, AP Classroom Topic Question Quiz.
- That AP Classroom provides me with an indication of the extent to which the students in my classes have answered the AP Classroom Topic Question Quiz questions correctly.
- That AP Classroom provides me with an indication of the extent to which my students have “watched” each of the assigned videos.
- That AP Classroom does not allow students to skip through a video and still earn credit for having “watched” the video. Students must watch the entire video for AP Classroom to so register.
