On historic date, test your civil rights knowledge

By Emily Hess

Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Fifty-three years ago today, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave one of the most iconic speeches in American history at the March on Washington.

King’s masterfly speech drew on America’s founding documents — the Constitution and Declaration of Independence — which, according to King, promised “the riches of freedom and the security of justice” to all Americans. The quiz that follows, from the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University in Ohio, provides an opportunity for you to test your knowledge of the March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech” and the civil rights movement more generally.

1. What sentence was not in Martin Luther King Jr.’s final written draft of the “I Have a Dream” speech?

A. “We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.”

B. “I have a dream.”

C. “The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation.”

D. “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off.”

2. In his speech, King said civil rights activists had come to Washington to do what?

A. Cash a check

B. Demand equal pay

C. Criticize the Kennedy administration

D. Disobey unjust laws

3. The first black civil rights activist to propose a march on Washington was:

A. W.E.B. Du Bois

B. A. Philip Randolph

C. Frederick Douglass

D. Martin Luther King Jr.

4. The year 1963 marked the centennial of what historic event?

A. The end of the Civil War

B. The passage of the 13th Amendment

C. Union victory at the Battle of Antietam

D. The issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation

5. King hoped his speech would be received the same way as:

A. The Declaration of Independence

B. Frederick Douglass’ speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

C. The Gettysburg Address

D. Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address

6. Civil rights activists organized the March on Washington to:

A. Mourn the loss of civil rights organizer Medgar Evers

B. Demand greater employment opportunities and racial justice

C. Show their support for the Civil Rights Act, then stalled in Congress

D. Engage in massive demonstrations of civil disobedience

7. Reconstruction, when were federal troops called to the South for the first time to enforce civil rights?

A. The integration of Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957

B. To intervene in Birmingham, Ala., during the May 1963 Children’s Crusade

C. To protect CORE Freedom Riders in 1961

D. To protect those participating in lunch counter sit-ins, which began in Greensboro, N.C., in 1960

8. Which civil rights activist argued that sit-in protests were “bigger than a hamburger”?

A. John Lewis

B. Ella Baker

C. Stokely Carmichael

D. Fannie Lou Hamer

9. Who is known as the sacrificial lamb of the civil rights movement?

A. Malcolm X

B. Medgar Evers

C. Martin Luther King Jr.

D. Emmett Till

10. What was not a part of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., decision?

A. The “separate but equal” doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson has no place in the field of public education

B. Segregation of children in public schools on the basis of race deprives children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities

C. Desegregation will commence with all deliberate speed

D. Segregation in schools is a denial of the Constitution’s equal-protection guarantee

ANSWERS: 1-B, 2-A, 3-B, 4-D, 5-C, 6-C, 7-A, 8-B, 9-D, 10-C

Emily Hess, Ph.D., is a visiting assistant professor of history and an academic adviser for the Ashbrook Center’s master of arts in American history and government program at Ashland University, where she teaches courses focused on 19th and 20th century black history, the Reconstruction era and the civil rights movement. She wrote this for insidesources.com.