The Nadir of Race Relations Trivia Quiz

Answer: Voter identification laws

Voter identification laws are a 20th century twist on "Jim Crow" laws. But their purpose is the same as their predecessors: to suppress young and minority voters.
The Fifteenth Amendment was passed in 1870 to protect the voting rights of African-Americans, but states (especially southern states) found numerous ways to subvert it. Grandfather clauses allowed people to vote if their grandparents could vote prior to 1867. They also allowed whites who had lost land during the Civil War to vote, because their grandparents owned the land.
Poll taxes, sometimes cumulative poll taxes, were started in Georgia in 1871 and spread to most southern states. They were eliminated by the 24th Amendment in 1964. Literacy tests, judged by white election officials, were a common bar to voting.
In the period immediately after the Civil War known as Reconstruction (1865-1877) the federal government attempted to protect the rights of newly freed slaves. That effort tapered off in the 1880s, and was largely dead by 1890.

Answer: Plessy vs Ferguson

Plessy vs Ferguson (163 US 537) was an 1896 decision regarding railroad transportation. Homer Plessy, a New Orleans resident, was required to ride in a "blacks only" car under Louisiana law. Plessy challenged the law based on the 14th Amendment, and lost. Southern states used the ruling for decades to justify racially discriminatory policies, especially segregated schools.

It was the law of the land until the court overturned it in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. Dred Scott was the 1857 case which justified slavery by giving African-Americans second class legal status, and was a key reason the Civil War began. Santa Clara is an 1886 case that created the legal fiction of corporate personhood. Korematsu was the 1944 case that justified the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

Answer: The Clansman

"The Clansman" is part of a trilogy by Thomas Dixon, Jr which promotes the cause of white supremacy and argues the Ku Klux Klan helped restore order in the Reconstruction-era South.
"Birth of a Nation" was the first film to be screened at the White House. President Wilson reportedly said "It is like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true." There is dispute as to whether Wilson actually said this, or if it was clever marketing by Dixon. The film was the biggest box office hit of its day, and was a key factor in the revival of the Ku Klux Klan in 1915.
While "Gone with the Wind" does contain many racist stereotypes, it was published in 1936. "The Root of Evil" was a 1911 novel by Dixon about Communism. I do not believe there is a real novel called "The South Shall Rise Again"; it is a slogan.

(The "nation" referred to in the film title "Birth of a Nation) is the KKK, not a nation in any normal sense of the word).

Answer: Woodrow Wilson

Wilson, often seen as a liberal icon, was born in Staunton, Virginia and raised in the Reconstruction Era South. And like most southerners of his day, Wilson believed in white supremacy. Abraham Lincoln had desegregated the federal government, and Wilson put back color barriers, appointing white southerners to positions traditionally held by African-Americans. Wilson also fought against including provisions on racial equality for Asians in the Treaty of Versailles. McKinley and Taft were from Ohio, and Coolidge was from Vermont.

Answer: Chicago

On July 27, 1919, an incident on a "whites only" beach escalated into two weeks of rioting that left 38 dead and hundreds wounded in Chicago. Washington did have major race riots in July, with 15 dead and over 50 wounded. Memphis was one of 26 cities that had race riots between May and September of 1919. The Tulsa race riot of 1921 was the largest in US history, with dozens of city blocks destroyed and huge numbers of casualties; the official toll is 36.

Answer: Arkansas

In October, 1919, a group of black sharecroppers in Elaine, Arkansas met to seek higher prices for their crops. When a white deputy was shot at the meeting, outraged white citizens, fearing insurrection, roamed the countryside, killing those they feared. Five whites were killed, and between 100 and 200 African-Americans were killed. In the aftermath, dozens of African-Americans were convicted in sham trials, with 12 sentenced to death. The Supreme Court actually intervened on behalf of the wrongfully convicted prisoners.

Answer: True

African-American jockeys were "banned" from the Derby in 1903 due to their success (owners and trainers simply ceased to choose them). Oliver Lewis rode Aristides to the very first win in the Kentucky Derby, back in 1875. Over the next 28 years, African-American jockeys would win 15 times. James Winkfield, who won the 1902 Derby on Alan-A-Dale, was the last African-American to win. Winkfield won over 2600 races during his 30 year career. Bicycle racing was another sport where African-Americans were so successful they were banned.

Answer: Indiana

While the first Klan was centered in the South, the second emergence between 1915 and 1930 had a huge following in the Midwest as well. The KKK in Indiana had enormous political influence, even removing Governor Warren McCary when he came out against them, and replacing him with Jackson. Up to 15 percent of the adult male population of Indiana belonged to the KKK in the 1920s.

The Indiana Klan fell apart when its leader was convicted of the rape and murder of a young woman. Michigan also had a large KKK following, at least 265,000. Ironically, the northern KKK organizations tended to be larger and more powerful than the southern ones.

While the Klan still exists, most reports indicate it has been 5000 and 8000 members.

Answer: Illinois

"Sundown towns" were communities which prohibited African-Americans from being in town after dark. Their methods ranged from subtle intimidation to law-enforcement harassment to outright violence, including lynching. This form of racial discrimination also applied to Jews and Asian-Americans in some areas.

Many of these laws were on the books till the 1970s. James Loewen details the history of racial exclusion laws in "Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism" (2005). His research reveals there were "sundown towns" all across the United States, and often the practice was more common in northern states than southern states. Illinois had over 440 communities that were "sundown towns" in some point in their past.

The Midwest actually had more "sundown towns" than the Deep South.

Answer: Mississippi

Mississippi had an amazing 539 lynchings of African-Americans out of 581 total.
Georgia was second with 492, Texas was third with 352 and Louisiana had 335. These four states combined had almost half of all lynchings in the United States. The peak year for lynching in the United States was 1892.
Lynchings are defined as "extra-judicial executions." Since blacks in the South were excluded from juries during this period, most mobs involved in lynching knew there was little likelihood they would ever face punishment for their actions. Many lynch mobs actually took photographs of their actions.