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Brown v. Board of Education - Quiz
Contributed by: Handley
  • 1. What was the title of the memo written by William Rehnquist in 1952?
A) The Brown Decision and its Consequences
B) A Defense of the Fourteenth Amendment
C) A Random Thought on the Segregation Cases
D) Legal Principles of Desegregation
  • 2. In his 1952 memo, which case did Rehnquist argue was right and should be reaffirmed?
A) Plessy v. Ferguson
B) Missouri v. Jenkins
C) Dred Scott v. Sandford
D) Hirabayashi v. United States
  • 3. At his 1971 confirmation hearings, to whom did Rehnquist attribute the authorship of his 1952 memo?
A) Justice Jackson
B) Felix Frankfurter
C) Himself
D) Earl Warren
  • 4. Who criticized Chief Justice Warren for assuming the role of a third legislative chamber?
A) Raoul Berger
B) Michael W. McConnell
C) Herbert Wechsler
D) Learned Hand
  • 5. In Missouri v. Jenkins, what did Justice Clarence Thomas argue about Brown I?
A) It was decided incorrectly.
B) It should be overturned.
C) It relied too heavily on originalism.
D) It has been misunderstood by the courts.
  • 6. According to Clarence Thomas, what kind of segregation was the harm in Brown I tied to?
A) De facto segregation
B) De jure segregation
C) Economic segregation
D) Social segregation
  • 7. Which author argued that the Fourteenth Amendment cannot be defended by the original understanding of its framers?
A) Michael W. McConnell
B) Drew S. Days III
C) Raoul Berger
D) Philip Elman
  • 8. What evidence did Raoul Berger cite to argue that the Fourteenth Amendment permitted segregated schools?
A) The 1875 Civil Rights Act banned segregation.
B) State constitutions explicitly demanded segregation.
C) Congress voted to segregate schools in DC during the same period.
D) The Supreme Court had already ruled segregation legal.
  • 9. What argument did Michael W. McConnell make regarding the Fourteenth Amendment?
A) The Amendment was never intended to apply to education.
B) Radical Reconstructionists were in favor of desegregated southern schools.
C) The Amendment was intended to be colorblind.
D) The framers explicitly ignored school segregation.
  • 10. According to Drew S. Days III, why was reliance on psychological criteria in Brown unnecessary?
A) Racial classifications are odious to a free people by nature.
B) The Constitution explicitly forbids segregated schools.
C) Social science is not a proper basis for legal rulings.
D) Psychological data was flawed and outdated.
  • 11. Who claimed in 1987 that he and Justice Frankfurter were mostly responsible for the Brown decision?
A) William Rehnquist
B) Philip Elman
C) Drew S. Days III
D) Earl Warren
  • 12. According to Thomas Sowell, what school was a living refutation of the claim that racially separate schools were inherently unequal?
A) Dunbar High School
B) Central High School
C) The Washington District School
D) Howard University
  • 13. What did Rehnquist argue in his 1952 memo regarding the determination of minority rights?
A) The Supreme Court is the ultimate protector of minority rights.
B) The majority determines what the rights of minorities are.
C) Minorities must fight for their own rights.
D) Rights are fixed and cannot be changed by the majority.
  • 14. How did Rehnquist characterize his 1952 memo during his 1986 hearings?
A) It was not an accurate reflection of his views at the time.
B) It was a satirical piece.
C) It was a mistake of youth.
D) It was a formal legal opinion for the Court.
  • 15. What was Herbert Wechsler's critique of the Brown decision?
A) It lacked sufficient historical evidence.
B) It was impossible to justify based on neutral principles.
C) It focused too much on the Fourteenth Amendment.
D) It was overly political.
  • 16. Which Texas official organized a campaign to create legal obstacles to desegregation?
A) George Wallace
B) LeRoy Collins
C) Orval Faubus
D) John Ben Shepperd
  • 17. Who was the Arkansas governor who blocked the Little Rock Nine from entering Central High School?
A) John Ben Shepperd
B) J. Lindsay Almond
C) Orval Faubus
D) Thomas Stanley
  • 18. Which military unit did President Eisenhower deploy to Little Rock to ensure the safety of black students?
A) Arkansas National Guard
B) 101st Airborne Division
C) 82nd Airborne Division
D) Alabama National Guard
  • 19. What did Florida's legislature pass to denounce the Brown decision?
A) Civil Rights Act
B) Education Amendment
C) Massive Resistance Act
D) Interposition Resolution
  • 20. Why did Florida Governor LeRoy Collins refuse to sign the Interposition Resolution?
A) He was ordered by the President not to sign.
B) He argued efforts should be made through legal methods.
C) He was a staunch integrationist.
D) He believed the resolution was too lenient.
  • 21. In what year was Byron De La Beckwith finally convicted of murdering Medgar Evers?
A) 1994
B) 1957
C) 1971
D) 1963
  • 22. Who assisted tribal leaders in resolving the bus segregation issue?
A) Harry F. Byrd
B) John F. Kennedy
C) Martin Luther King Jr.
D) George Wallace
  • 23. What city was the first in the South to announce its intent to comply with the Brown decision?
A) Arlington, Virginia
B) Greensboro, North Carolina
C) Little Rock, Arkansas
D) Jackson, Mississippi
  • 24. Who chaired the Greensboro school board and pushed for the initial compliance announcement?
A) D. E. Hudgins Jr.
B) Garland Gray
C) J. Lindsay Almond
D) Thomas Stanley
  • 25. What was the name of the movement led by Senator Harry F. Byrd to resist desegregation in Virginia?
A) The Gray Commission
B) The Southern Manifesto
C) The Compliance Initiative
D) Massive Resistance
  • 26. Which Virginia county chose to close all its public schools rather than desegregate?
A) Norfolk
B) Prince Edward County
C) Arlington County
D) Charlottesville
  • 27. What phrase did white Southerners use to describe the day of the Brown decision?
A) A peaceful transition
B) A day of liberation
C) A victory for equality
D) A Black Monday
  • 28. To what historical event did white Southerners compare the impact of the Brown decision?
A) The signing of the Declaration of Independence
B) The Louisiana Purchase
C) The Boston Tea Party
D) Pearl Harbor
  • 29. What did Southerners prioritize while creating systems of integrated schools?
A) Student achievement scores
B) Qualified teaching staff
C) White leadership
D) Resource equality
  • 30. According to historian Michael Fultz, what did the South do faster than desegregating schools?
A) Building new schools
B) Improving school busing
C) Providing free textbooks
D) Displacing Black educators
  • 31. In what year did the Supreme Court first hear the case of Brown v. Board of Education?
A) 1953
B) 1954
C) 1950
D) 1952
  • 32. Who was appointed Chief Justice after the death of Fred M. Vinson?
A) Robert H. Jackson
B) Hugo Black
C) Earl Warren
D) Felix Frankfurter
  • 33. What was the final vote count of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education?
A) 7-2
B) 9-0
C) 5-4
D) 8-1
  • 34. Which Justice was the last holdout before finally agreeing to the unanimous decision?
A) Stanley F. Reed
B) Tom C. Clark
C) Sherman Minton
D) Harold Hitz Burton
  • 35. In what year was the final Supreme Court decision issued?
A) 1952
B) 1953
C) 1955
D) 1954
  • 36. Who wrote the opinion for the three-judge District Court panel?
A) James P. McGranery
B) Paul Wilson
C) Walter Huxman
D) Thurgood Marshall
  • 37. How many cases were combined into the Brown v. Board of Education case heard by the Supreme Court?
A) Seven
B) Ten
C) Three
D) Five
  • 38. Who organized the 450-student walkout at Moton High School?
A) Walter Reuther
B) Paul Wilson
C) Barbara Rose Johns
D) Thurgood Marshall
  • 39. Which organization sponsored all five cases combined into the Supreme Court hearing?
A) United Auto Workers
B) NAACP
C) Department of Justice
D) American Civil Liberties Union
  • 40. How much money did the United Auto Workers donate to the NAACP's efforts?
A) $50,000
B) $100,000
C) $25,000
D) $75,000
  • 41. Who served as the chief counsel for the plaintiffs before the Supreme Court?
A) Paul Wilson
B) James P. McGranery
C) Thurgood Marshall
D) Walter Huxman
  • 42. Who conducted the state's defense in the Brown case?
A) Thurgood Marshall
B) Walter Reuther
C) Paul Wilson
D) Dean Acheson
  • 43. What kind of brief did the Justice Department file in December 1952?
A) Stare decisis
B) Writ of certiorari
C) Amicus curiae
D) Habeas corpus
  • 44. The Justice Department brief emphasized that segregation hurt the United States in what geopolitical context?
A) The Great Depression
B) World War I
C) The Cold War
D) Colonial expansion
  • 45. Who stated that racial discrimination provided material for Communist propaganda?
A) Walter Reuther
B) James P. McGranery
C) Dean Acheson
D) Anthony Lester
  • 46. Which Secretary of State lamented that the U.S. was under attack in the foreign press due to discrimination?
A) Dean Acheson
B) Walter Huxman
C) James P. McGranery
D) Paul Wilson
  • 47. In what year was Thurgood Marshall appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court?
A) 1967
B) 1960
C) 1952
D) 1954
  • 48. In what year was the class-action lawsuit filed against the Topeka Board of Education?
A) 1955
B) 1951
C) 1949
D) 1954
  • 49. How many Topeka parents were plaintiffs in the lawsuit?
A) Thirteen
B) Fifty
C) Ten
D) Twenty
  • 50. Who was the only student plaintiff to testify about the challenges of reaching her school?
A) Vivian Scales
B) Zelma Henderson
C) Katherine Carper Sawyer
D) Linda Carol Brown
  • 51. What was Oliver Brown's occupation?
A) Welder
B) Pastor
C) Teacher
D) Lawyer
  • 52. Which elementary school did Linda Carol Brown attend?
A) Capper Elementary
B) Sumner Elementary
C) Monroe Elementary
D) Buchanan Elementary
  • 53. Who was the last surviving plaintiff of the lawsuit?
A) Lena Carper
B) Oliver Brown
C) Lucinda Todd
D) Zelma Henderson
  • 54. Which school was described as the white school seven blocks from Linda Brown's house?
A) Buchanan Elementary
B) Topeka High
C) Monroe Elementary
D) Sumner Elementary
  • 55. Who was the chairman of the Topeka NAACP?
A) McKinley Burnett
B) Charles Scott
C) Oliver Brown
D) Lucinda Todd
  • 56. How far away was Monroe Elementary from Linda Brown's house?
A) 1 mile
B) 2 miles
C) 7 blocks
D) 6 blocks
  • 57. In what city and state was the lawsuit filed?
A) Topeka, Kansas
B) Wichita, Kansas
C) Topeka, Oklahoma
D) Topeka, Missouri
  • 58. What was Oliver Brown's role in his local church?
A) Assistant pastor
B) Sunday school teacher
C) Deacon
D) Lead pastor
  • 59. Who convinced Oliver Brown to join the lawsuit?
A) Charles Scott
B) Lucinda Todd
C) McKinley Burnett
D) Linda Brown
  • 60. Which amendment did the Supreme Court rule was violated by racial segregation in schools?
A) Fourteenth Amendment
B) First Amendment
C) Fifth Amendment
D) Thirteenth Amendment
  • 61. What was the vote count in the Supreme Court's decision for Brown v. Board of Education?
A) 5–4
B) 9–0
C) 8–1
D) 7–2
  • 62. What phrase did the Court use in Brown II (1955) to describe the timeline for desegregation?
A) Within one year
B) Immediately
C) With all deliberate speed
D) As soon as possible
  • 63. Which scholar wrote 'An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy'?
A) Earl Warren
B) Thurgood Marshall
C) Harry F. Byrd
D) Gunnar Myrdal
  • 64. Which international organization produced the 1950 statement titled 'The Race Question'?
A) The Cold War Council
B) UNESCO
C) The World Court
D) The United Nations
  • 65. Which justice traveled to India and noted that racism harmed America's international image?
A) Thurgood Marshall
B) Earl Warren
C) Gunnar Myrdal
D) William O. Douglas
  • 66. Who was an African-American parent activist in New York who utilized Brown's principles?
A) McKinley Burnett
B) Mae Mallory
C) Thurgood Marshall
D) Zelma Henderson
  • 67. In what year did the school boycott take place in New York?
A) 1953
B) 1941
C) 1959
D) 1956
  • 68. Since what year had junior high schools been integrated in Topeka?
A) 1871
B) 1941
C) 1953
D) 1949
  • 69. When was Topeka High School first integrated?
A) 1871
B) 1953
C) 1949
D) 1941
  • 70. What did Topeka elementary schools become in January 1956?
A) Integrated high schools
B) Junior high schools
C) Private religious schools
D) Neighborhood attendance centers
  • 71. In what year was Monroe Elementary redesignated as a National Historical Park?
A) 2022
B) 2004
C) 1992
D) 1959
  • 72. In what year did the Supreme Court issue the Brown II decision?
A) 1959
B) 1955
C) 1954
D) 1964
  • 73. The phrase 'all deliberate speed' is traceable to which author?
A) Richard Jones
B) Francis Thompson
C) Linda Brown
D) Charles Scott Jr.
  • 74. How did critics view the language 'all deliberate speed'?
A) As legally binding
B) As an immediate mandate
C) As a precise deadline
D) As too ambiguous
  • 75. In what year was the Brown case reopened in Topeka?
A) 1999
B) 1978
C) 1964
D) 1955
  • 76. Who was the plaintiff that reopened the Brown case in 1978?
A) Richard Jones
B) Charles Scott Jr.
C) Joseph Johnson
D) Linda Brown Smith
  • 77. What was the specific Topeka Public Schools policy that prompted the reopening of Brown?
A) Forced bussing
B) Mandatory integration
C) Open enrollment
D) Teacher assignment quotas
  • 78. In what year did Topeka Unified School District No. 501 finally achieve unitary status?
A) 1994
B) 1998
C) 1999
D) 1989
  • 79. Who assisted the Topeka attorneys in reopening the Brown case?
A) American Civil Liberties Union
B) The Supreme Court
C) The Prince Edward County board
D) Francis Thompson
  • 80. On what date did Linda Brown die?
A) April 1, 2018
B) March 25, 2017
C) January 15, 2018
D) March 25, 2018
  • 81. According to the text, what were the names of Linda Brown's playmates?
A) Alice, Beth, and Carol
B) Mary, Susan, and Linda
C) Sarah, Jane, and Emily
D) Mona, Guinevere, and Wanda
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