The Case for Reparations Quizzes

The Case for Reparations Quiz 1

1 What do all of the epigraphs have in common?
They are all about slaves

They have nothing in common

They all concern the idea of reparations

They're all important texts to American literature and history
2 Why is Jim Crow Mississippi a kleptocracy?
Because Jim Crow Mississippi was deeply racist and violent

Because the government economically discriminated against Black people

Because they used to lynch Black people

Because they arrested Black people without cause
3 What is the franchise?
The right and ability to earn and keep money

The right and ability to stay safe travelling through strange neighborhoods

The right and ability to vote

The right and ability to own and keep land
4 Why is the Ross family forced to begin sharecropping?
The government claims they owe money in back taxes

Their home and belongings are forcibly seized by white people

They are harassed so much that they are forced to move to a lower income area

Clyde Ross's father goes into debt
5 What makes sharecropping a predatory practice?
Sharecroppers would often end up going into debt to landowners as a result of unfair treatment

There is no recourse for landowners not sharing the profits fairly

Bales of cotton would often "disappear" during counts, making the recorded yield lower

All of the above
6 What was the significance of home ownership in the mid 20th century?
None of these

It represented an entry into the middle class

It meant that you were considered a full fledged member of society

It meant that you could access better schools
7 Which of the following applies to homes sold on contract?
The buyer keeps the deed, but is constantly paying the seller back

The bank keeps the deed, but the buyer is still forced to pay the seller

The seller keeps the deed, and the buyer has to pay them back in full before getting any ownership claim to the house

The bank keeps the deed, and the buyer has to pay the bank back in full before getting the deed
8 How did contract sellers profit?
By selling homes at inflated prices

By taking the down payment and monthly payments as profit after evicted family could no longer pay

By buying homes at lower prices than they were worth

All of the above
9 What is the impact of the government insuring mortgages?
Interest rates drop as well as the amount needed for a down payment

It means that homeowners can keep the deeds to their houses

There is no real effect but there's significant social capital associated with having an insured mortgage

Houses cost less overall because they're in good neighborhoods
10 How did the FHA exclude Black people from getting mortgages?
They partnered with local governments to support segregation

They refused to give people who were Black mortgage insurance

They spread misinformation about mortgages to Black people so they wouldn't know what kind of mortgages to ask for

They rated neighborhoods where Black people lived as "D" neighborhoods, which meant they were usually ineligible for FHA backing
11 What was one of the results of redlining?
Black people started to move North from the Jim Crow South

Contract sellers went out of business since they could no longer sell bad mortgages to white people

White people began to feel guilty about how the government was excluding Black people

Black people had effectively zero access to legitimate methods of obtaining a house
12 Which of these is NOT one of the methods the Contract Buyers League used to fight against contract sellers?
Refusing to pay their monthly installments directly to the seller

Starting nationwide protests against the practice of selling on contract

Bringing a case against contract sellers in court

Showing up to the neighborhoods of contract sellers and informing people of the details of the contract lending trade
13 What does the phrase "a difference of kind, not degree" refer to?
The fact that Black people and white people in Chicago are fundamentally different

The fact that Chicago is still extremely segregated

The fact that racism is extremely severe and affects each community differently

The fact that the disparity between white Chicago and Black Chicago is staggeringly large
14 Which of these factors has NOT stayed roughly the same since the 1970s?
The gap between Black and white wealth

The gap between Black and white income

The choice of neighborhoods that Black families have

The gap between Black teen and white teen pregnancy rates
15 What does Coates refer to as "the essence of American racism"?
Disrespect

Hatred

Discrimination

Slavery
16 How has the Supreme Court reacted recently to the progressive legislation of the 1960s?
They've started to add to it

They have eliminated it completely

They have remained neutral

They've been rolling it back
17 Who was Belinda Royall?
One of the first recorded successful petitioners for reparations in the US

A woman kidnapped from her home in what is now Ghana

A freed slave

All of the above
18 Is the idea of reparations new?
No, but it has been resisted for a long time, by everyone but the government

Yes, but only because Black people weren't left alone even after slavery was abolished

No, but it has been resisted for a long time on all but individual levels

No, but it was forgotten about for a long time
19 What does HR 40 do?
Commit the United States to reparations

Create a commission to study reparation ideas

Argue for the United States' responsibility to provide economic reparations

Describe the reparations needed by the African American community
20 Why does Coates mention Jefferson and Washington's history with slavery?
To prove that all Americans remain connected with the founders

To prove that they were awful people

To show that it's unfair to identify with their positive histories and not with their crimes

To argue that most founding fathers owned slaves
21 What is included in "our ample patrimony"?
The political legacy of America's founding fathers

Both the positives and the debts incurred by America's past

The material wealth passed down through generations

Rich American history
22 Why can't America just pledge "Never again" when it comes to slavery?
Because the apology is insincere

Because that doesn't fix the damages left by slavery

Because America has already violated this promise

Because it's not fair to ask modern day people to apologize for things their ancestors did
23 What, for Coates, indicates that America's opposition to reparations is more than just logistics?
The fact that people laugh at the idea of reparations

The fact that people think that Black people brought their situation on themselves

The fact that people continue to exploit the Black community

The fact that people aren't willing to even study the possibility
24 What was the error in Barack Obama's thinking on affirmative action?
Thinking that all Black people who get into good schools are there because of affirmative action

Comparing his family, which is in a unique position, with the average white family

Assuming his children have to have affirmative action in order to get into college

Not understanding that, as children of the president, Malia and Sasha would likely get into good colleges anyways
25 What is one of the false narratives about the African American community's economic struggles that Coates mentions in the article?
That they need to be nicer to white people

That their situation is the result of years of racism

That the problem is that they are fatherless

That they need to get over slavery

What does Ta-Nehisi Coates argue about the roots of American wealth and democracy

One of the key elements to understanding Coates' arguments is that the problems he describes are systemic, meaning that they can be present in multiple facets of society and that it is a problem faced by the vast majority of a group. For example,...

Asked by D’Myah P #1324852

Answered by Aslan on 10/25/2023 3:12 AM

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Why does Coates devote so much time to the story of CLyde Ross? In what ways do Ross's experiences reflect the experience of black Americans more generally?

Clyde Ross's childhood in the Jim Crow South is unfortunately not very unique. Living in Mississippi at the time, Black families were constantly subject to all different forms of legal and social harassment and subjugation. Though Coates does not...

Asked by Benny Van Bawi T #996505

Answered by jill d #170087 on 10/3/2022 9:35 AM

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Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “The Case for Reparations, Sources

Sorry, this is only a short-answer space.

Asked by AnitaKing #1078418

Answered by Aslan on 11/20/2020 3:25 AM

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The Case for Reparations

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Case for Reparations Quiz 1

The Case for Reparations Questions and Answers

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