US Civil Rights MCQs with Answer
What year was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed into law?
A) 1962
B) 1963
C) 1964
D) 1965
Answer: C) 1964
Which famous civil rights leader was known for his role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
A) Malcolm X
B) Martin Luther King Jr.
C) Rosa Parks
D) Harriet Tubman
Answer: B) Martin Luther King Jr.
The Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954 ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional in which country?
A) France
B) United States
C) United Kingdom
D) Canada
Answer: B) United States
What civil rights legislation was passed in 1965 to eliminate barriers to voting for African Americans?
A) Civil Rights Act of 1964
B) Voting Rights Act of 1965
C) Equal Rights Amendment
D) Civil Rights Act of 1968
Answer: B) Voting Rights Act of 1965
Who was the African American woman known for her refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955?
A) Rosa Parks
B) Coretta Scott King
C) Fannie Lou Hamer
D) Ella Baker
Answer: A) Rosa Parks
The Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, aimed to prevent discrimination in which area?
A) Employment
B) Education
C) Housing
D) Public transportation
Answer: C) Housing
Which civil rights organization, founded by W.E.B. Du Bois in 1909, focused on achieving legal equality for African Americans?
A) NAACP
B) SNCC
C) SCLC
D) CORE
Answer: A) NAACP
What event in 1963, organized by Martin Luther King Jr., was a landmark demonstration for civil rights and economic equality?
A) Selma to Montgomery March
B) March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
C) Birmingham Campaign
D) Freedom Rides
Answer: B) March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
In 1967, which African American athlete became the first to refuse to stand during the national anthem at the Olympic Games to protest racial inequality in the United States?
A) Muhammad Ali
B) Jackie Robinson
C) John Carlos
D) Jesse Owens
Answer: C) John Carlos
What Supreme Court case in 1857 ruled that enslaved people were property and not citizens, exacerbating tensions between North and South on the issue of slavery?
A) Dred Scott v. Sandford
B) Plessy v. Ferguson
C) Brown v. Board of Education
D) Roe v. Wade
Answer: A) Dred Scott v. Sandford
Which civil rights leader co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957 to promote nonviolent resistance against segregation and discrimination?
A) Malcolm X
B) Martin Luther King Jr.
C) Stokely Carmichael
D) Medgar Evers
Answer: B) Martin Luther King Jr.
What landmark legislation signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin?
A) Civil Rights Act of 1964
B) Voting Rights Act of 1965
C) Fair Housing Act of 1968
D) Equal Pay Act of 1963
Answer: A) Civil Rights Act of 1964
Which African American woman was a prominent civil rights activist, known for her anti-lynching campaign in the early 20th century?
A) Ella Baker
B) Ida B. Wells-Barnett
C) Fannie Lou Hamer
D) Dorothy Height
Answer: B) Ida B. Wells-Barnett
The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1964, abolished what practice that had effectively denied African Americans the right to vote?
A) Poll taxes
B) Literacy tests
C) Grandfather clauses
D) Gerrymandering
Answer: A) Poll taxes
Which African American teenager’s brutal murder in 1955 for allegedly flirting with a white woman galvanized the Civil Rights Movement?
A) Emmett Till
B) Trayvon Martin
C) Medgar Evers
D) James Chaney
Answer: A) Emmett Till
What was the name of the bus that was set on fire during the Freedom Rides in 1961, highlighting the struggle against segregation in public transportation?
A) Freedom Bus
B) Rosa Parks Bus
C) Greyhound Bus
D) Montgomery Bus
Answer: C) Greyhound Bus
Who was the first African American Supreme Court Justice, appointed in 1967?
A) Thurgood Marshall
B) Clarence Thomas
C) Sonia Sotomayor
D) Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Answer: A) Thurgood Marshall
The term “Jim Crow” refers to which of the following?
A) Racial segregation laws and practices
B) Civil rights activists
C) Underground railroad
D) African American military units
Answer: A) Racial segregation laws and practices
What civil rights organization, founded by Malcolm X and others in 1965, advocated for self-defense and black nationalism?
A) SNCC
B) SCLC
C) Black Panthers
D) NAACP
Answer: C) Black Panthers
Which 1966 Supreme Court case ruled that suspects in police custody must be informed of their right to remain silent and have an attorney present during questioning?
A) Brown v. Board of Education
B) Gideon v. Wainwright
C) Miranda v. Arizona
D) Loving v. Virginia
Answer: C) Miranda v. Arizona
The Civil Rights Act of 1875 aimed to prohibit what kind of discrimination?
A) Employment discrimination
B) Housing discrimination
C) Voting discrimination
D) Public accommodations discrimination
Answer: D) Public accommodations discrimination
Who was the African American woman known for her powerful speeches on civil rights and women’s rights in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
A) Ella Baker
B) Sojourner Truth
C) Rosa Parks
D) Harriet Tubman
Answer: B) Sojourner Truth
The Black Power movement emerged in the 1960s as a response to what?
A) Police brutality
B) Economic inequality
C) Racial discrimination
D) All of the above
Answer: D) All of the above
What prominent civil rights leader and former baseball player was a vocal advocate for racial equality and social justice?
A) Jackie Robinson
B) Willie Mays
C) Hank Aaron
D) Muhammad Ali
Answer: A) Jackie Robinson
The “Little Rock Nine” were a group of African American students who faced violent opposition when they attempted to do what in 1957?
A) Vote
B) Attend a desegregated school
C) Sit at a whites-only lunch counter
D) Ride in the front of a bus
Answer: B) Attend a desegregated school
Which civil rights leader was a key figure in the Chicano civil rights movement and co-founded the United Farm Workers union?
A) Cesar Chavez
B) Dolores Huerta
C) Hector P. Garcia
D) Corky Gonzales
Answer: A) Cesar Chavez
What landmark Supreme Court case in 1896 upheld racial segregation under the doctrine of “separate but equal”?
A) Brown v. Board of Education
B) Plessy v. Ferguson
C) Dred Scott v. Sandford
D) Loving v. Virginia
Answer: B) Plessy v. Ferguson
Which civil rights activist and organizer co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960?
A) Ella Baker
B) John Lewis
C) Bob Moses
D) Fannie Lou Hamer
Answer: A) Ella Baker
What important civil rights legislation, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, aimed to eliminate barriers to voting for African Americans?
A) Civil Rights Act of 1964
B) Voting Rights Act of 1965
C) Fair Housing Act of 1968
D) Equal Pay Act of 1963
Answer: B) Voting Rights Act of 1965
Which African American civil rights activist, known for her role in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, later served in the U.S. Congress?
A) Fannie Lou Hamer
B) Rosa Parks
C) Shirley Chisholm
D) Coretta Scott King
Answer: C) Shirley Chisholm
What civil rights organization, founded by Native American activists in 1968, aimed to address issues faced by Native Americans?
A) AIM (American Indian Movement)
B) NAACP
C) SNCC
D) SCLC
Answer: A) AIM (American Indian Movement)
Which African American playwright and author wrote the acclaimed play “A Raisin in the Sun,” addressing racial and social issues in the 1950s?
A) Lorraine Hansberry
B) James Baldwin
C) Maya Angelou
D) Langston Hughes
Answer: A) Lorraine Hansberry
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination based on which of the following?
A) Race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
B) Age and disability
C) Sexual orientation and gender identity
D) Socioeconomic status
Answer: A) Race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
Which African American activist, known for her work on women’s rights and civil rights, famously said, “Ain’t I a Woman?”
A) Rosa Parks
B) Sojourner Truth
C) Harriet Tubman
D) Maya Angelou
Answer: B) Sojourner Truth
The Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, aimed to prevent discrimination in which area?
A) Employment
B) Education
C) Housing
D) Public transportation
Answer: C) Housing
Which African American scientist and educator became a prominent spokesperson for civil rights and environmental justice in the 20th century?
A) George Washington Carver
B) Mae Jemison
C) Benjamin Banneker
D) Rachel Carson
Answer: A) George Washington Carver
Which civil rights leader and labor organizer co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) in 1962, later becoming the United Farm Workers (UFW) union?
A) Cesar Chavez
B) Dolores Huerta
C) Philip Vera Cruz
D) Larry Itliong
Answer: A) Cesar Chavez
What African American activist and author emerged as a leading voice for women’s rights and civil rights during the early 20th century?
A) Ida B. Wells-Barnett
B) Mary Church Terrell
C) Nannie Helen Burroughs
D) Pauli Murray
Answer: A) Ida B. Wells-Barnett
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 included provisions aimed at desegregating which public spaces?
A) Schools, restaurants, and hotels
B) Public transportation and parks
C) Libraries and museums
D) All of the above
Answer: D) All of the above
What landmark Supreme Court case in 1954 declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional?
A) Plessy v. Ferguson
B) Brown v. Board of Education
C) Dred Scott v. Sandford
D) Loving v. Virginia
Answer: B) Brown v. Board of Education