Deck 7: Free Black People in Antebellum America

Question 1

What types of laws did Indiana, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin pass regarding black citizens in their states?

A) They all allowed blacks to vote, and banned segregation.
B) They all pushed for women's rights well before the beginning of the national women's rights movement.
C) They banned all blacks from the state in their constitutions.
D) They tried to bring slavery into their states, but failed.

Answer 1

They banned all blacks from the state in their constitutions.

Question 2

What is true of the free black population in America from the period from 1820 to 1860?

A) Most of the free population was over the age of 55.
B) The actual number of free blacks went down over the period.
C) More women than men were free.
D) Few of the free blacks lived in the cities.

Answer 2

More women than men were free.

Question 3

What were some of the results of racial segregation?

A) Black and white relations were often quite good, since whites felt superior.
B) Blacks began to be separated by class, since upper-class blacks did not have to deal with segregation as much.
C) Blacks lived in segregated communities in northern cities.
D) Blacks admired whites and their accomplishments.

Answer 3

Blacks lived in segregated communities in northern cities.

Question 4

From where did the term "Jim Crow" come?

A) Jim Crow was the first African American to challenge the segregation of public facilities in court.
B) It was a black-face minstrel act of the 1840s.
C) Jim Crow was a derogatory term for a scarecrow, often used by agricultural blacks.
D) The origins of "Jim Crow" are completely unknown.

Question 5

Why was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 considered a danger to free blacks?

A) White masters could have fugitive slaves shot upon sight, and frequently did.
B) The federal government, for the very first time, demonstrated that it endorsed and supported slavery.
C) Any black northerner, under the terms of this law, could be kidnapped and forced into slavery in the South.
D) Most never worried about the law; it was rarely enforced or used.

Question 6

Which party developed to support Andrew Jackson and oppose John Quincy Adams?

Question 7

What was the term used to describe segregated facilities?

Question 8

What did the Democratic Party and the Whig Party have in common?

A) They were both against the spread of slavery to the territories.
B) They really had nothing in common, since they were opposition parties.
C) They both favored secession by the South.
D) They were both led by slaveholders, and neither really championed black rights.

Question 9

How did New York deal with voting requirements for blacks?

A) It allowed both black and white women to vote, with no property requirements.
B) It completely eliminated the right to vote for all blacks.
C) It eliminated the property requirement for whites, but continued to have it for black men.
D) It refused to change its property requirements for either whites or blacks.

Question 10

What form of discrimination did all free blacks in urban areas face in the North?

A) disfranchisement
B) segregation
C) inability to own property
D) inability to own a gun

Question 11

How did the free black family in the North change in the time period between 1820 and 1860?

A) The number of two-parent households began to increase as more slaves were freed.
B) More became single-parent households, with women heading them.
C) The number of two-parent households remained steady.
D) Black families began having more children, on average, than white families.

Question 12

When property qualifications were removed from voting requirements in most states during the Age of Jackson,

A) elites disfranchised black men.
B) elites continued to allow those wealthy black men who could vote before to vote.
C) elites opened the voting process up to black women as well.
D) elites allowed Native Americans to vote, but not any other ethnic group.

Question 13

What party brought about the repeal of Ohio's black laws?

Question 14

Where was the largest free black urban population in the period between 1820 and 1860?

A) Philadelphia
B) New York
C) Virginia
D) Massachusetts

Question 15

Before the Industrial Revolution could have much of an effect in America, what had to be greatly improved?

A) number of banks and amount of capital
B) agricultural improvements to feed workers
C) transportation
D) labor relations

Question 16

What were "black laws"?

A) laws that set up certain rights for blacks, including some rights previously held by whites only
B) laws that made it more difficult for blacks to come into an area
C) laws that forbid blacks from entering certain professions like law and medicine
D) laws that segregated blacks into inferior accommodations on transportation

Question 17

What trend doomed the openly elitist Federalists party?

Question 18

Most white northerners in the period 1820-1860

A) were generally more liberal than southerners in race issues.
B) wanted nothing to do with blacks, and had the same kind of racist ideas as southerners.
C) were about equally divided between those who wanted slavery to continue and those who fought against it.
D) thought that blacks were very hard, honest workers, and would take jobs away from them.

Question 19

Which of the following statements about segregation is true?

A) The "better classes" of blacks were sometimes allowed into facilities reserved for whites.
B) Blacks faced many difficulties in trying to ride public transportation, although they often had no choice but to attempt to ride them.
C) Segregation was only apparent in the South.
D) Segregation of public facilities only began in the 20th century.

Question 20

What generalization can be made about New England and the middle states and the enfranchisement of black men?

A) Because racism was strong in the North as well as the South, all of these states disenfranchised black voters.
B) All of these states allowed all black men to vote.
C) All of these states limited black men and women's voting in some way.
D) Generalizations are impossible: Some states forbid black voting, some continued to allow it, and some merely limited it in some way.

Question 21

Who was the first African American to argue a case before the United States Supreme Court?

Question 22

What themes did many black authors during the period emphasize?

A) They emphasized slavery and the contradictions between it and American stated values.
B) If blacks trusted in God, slavery would end.
C) They emphasized the kindness of many northerners and the evils of many southerners.
D) Black authors generally tried to mimic white authors, and looked at many of the same themes.

Question 23

Which of the following was not true about the black elite?

A) The black elite could serve as a bridge between liberal whites and the black community.
B) They were often clergy, black professionals or businessmen who had attained some status in a segregated community.
C) Complexion played no role in status in urban areas.
D) Some black elites could gain significant amounts of wealth.

Question 24

Why was it difficult for blacks to find jobs in the North after 1820?

A) There were very few jobs in the North after 1820, due to an economic depression.
B) White immigration increased, and employers preferred to hire whites.
C) Racism began in the North only after 1820.
D) .Industry, especially textiles, began to shift to the south.

Question 25

What was a difference between free blacks in the Upper South and in the North?

A) Fewer free blacks lived in cities in the North than in the Upper South.
B) Upper South free blacks could be quickly sold into slavery to pay for the cost of their arrest, or to pay off debts.
C) Free blacks in the Upper South were always assumed by whites to be slaves unless they could prove otherwise.
D) Actually, free blacks in the Upper South had a lot in common with free blacks in the North.

Question 26

How were black and white voluntary associations similar during the antebellum period?

A) Black and white associations were very different in tactics and ideas.
B) They both drew on a reform spirit of the time, focusing on many of the same issues and concerns.
C) Blacks focused solely on abolishing slavery.
D) Black women were rarely able to join voluntary associations, but white women could join if they wanted.

Question 27

What is true about black doctors during the time period?

A) There were very few of them, since they were not allowed into American medical schools, and you could not practice medicine without a degree and a license.
B) They always faced very high levels of violence from whites who thought they were dangerous.
C) Some used natural, herbal remedies and became quite successful.
D) Women generally dominated the field of medicine at this time.

Question 28

What types of organizations did black women seem attracted to in the antebellum period?

A) women's rights organizations, especially those stressing the right to vote
B) poetry and reading clubs
C) mutual aid organizations, especially those that helped the poor and disadvantaged
D) groups that worked for the protection of nature and the environment

Question 29

What types of skilled jobs were black men able to find?

A) ironwork or bricklayers
B) newspaper journalists
C) house servants
D) shoemakers or barbers

Question 30

Where were the two largest African Methodist Episcopal churches?

A) Virginia and New Orleans
B) New York City and Philadelphia
C) Massachusetts and Vermont
D) Rhode Island and New York

Question 31

Why did separate black congregations begin to be criticized within the black community?

A) Some, including Frederick Douglass, thought that they were just another example of segregation in American society.
B) Some thought that black ministers were being far too intellectual, and not speaking to the common black member.
C) Some thought that the black churches should be more involved with the community, rather than simply holding worship services.
D) Some criticized the churches for not organizing mass marches and protests against segregation..

Question 32

What was not the result of inadequate public funding for black schools in the North?

A) Teaching suffered, since the pay was so low.
B) Many northerners, even those who favored abolition, thought that black students were poorer intellectually.
C) Some black leaders began to push for integrated schools in the North.
D) White teachers refused to teach there at all.

Question 33

What were Frederick Douglass and other abolitionist leaders able to do to Massachusetts' public schools?

A) Get city leaders to allow all-black schools to be established.
B) Desegregate the schools, including those in Boston, by 1855.
C) Push for African history to be taught as well as white European history.
D) Get city leaders to pay black teachers the same as white teachers.

Question 34

Who was the first African American to graduate from medical school?

Question 35

Which African-American singer earned the nickname "The Black Swan"?

Question 36

Why did black families often have boarders?

A) because whites forced them to have an overseer keeping track of activities
B) for protection from white violence, since many boarders were young men, and many families were headed by women
C) for economic considerations, since they needed the money
D) because housing was at an all-time low, and people did not have very many places to stay

Question 37

What was true about blacks and admission to institutions of higher learning?

A) It was often easier to come by than primary education.
B) No college or university in the North allowed students of both races to attend.
C) Higher education for blacks was very similar to college today.
D) Blacks generally were not interested in a college-level education at this time.

Question 38

What was the most famous bi-racial university during the antebellum period?

Question 39

What black institution continued to be the center of black communities?

Question 40

What types of jobs were black women able to find?

A) shoemakers or barbers
B) domestic servants or seamstresses
C) secretarial or clerical work
D) waitresses in restaurants

Question 41

Regarding employment, free blacks in the Upper South

A) were never hired by whites, since they could get free slave labor.
B) faced less competition from immigrants until the 1850s, and therefore could get jobs in industry more easily than blacks in the North.
C) were in skilled trades, like carpenters, bakers, and barbers.
D) could generally only get jobs as barbers within the black community.

Question 42

How were Deep South free blacks' lives different from other free blacks' lives?

A) There were more free blacks in the Deep South, but they had fewer rights.
B) Free blacks in the Deep South generally had parents who were both directly from Africa.
C) A sophisticated caste system developed in the Deep South, with free blacks often more closely identifying with the white masters than slaves.
D) There were no free blacks in the Deep South.

Question 43

Black communities in the Deep South

A) failed to develop, since whites cracked down so hard on the free population.
B) developed slowly, and with few fraternal organizations, and more free blacks remained illiterate compared to other sections of the country.
C) developed with many of the same institutions as in the Upper South and North, except that black communities often lacked a separate church.
D) developed with exactly the same pattern as in other regions of the country.