Prereading Quiz: The Children’s Crusade

Before you read “The Children’s Crusade,” take this five-question quiz to find out how much you already know.

1

Which of these words have opposite meanings?

Integration and segregation have opposite meanings. Segregation is the separation of people by race, ethnic group, gender, or class. Integration is the process of bringing together different groups of people.

2

During the Children’s Crusade, hundreds of ____ were arrested for protesting segregation.

The Children’s Crusade was a series of marches largely made up of young people. About 600 teens and kids were arrested on May 2, 1963. Organizers pledged that the next day’s march would be even bigger, and officials responded by ordering firefighters to use fire hoses and police to use dogs against the protesters.

3

Which of these specifically outlawed racial segregation at public facilities and in workplaces?

Although the 14th Amendment guaranteed equal rights to Black Americans beginning in 1868, Jim Crow laws and practices subjected them to discrimination long after. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed racial segregation at public facilities and in workplaces.

4

Which of these people helped organize protests as part of the American civil rights movement?

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the civil rights leaders who organized the protests in Birmingham, Alabama, which resulted in the Children’s Crusade. Fellow civil rights leader James Bevel came up with the idea to get kids involved and held workshops for teens with his wife, Diane Nash.

5

What did King argue in his famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail”?

King argued that Black Americans were justified in using peaceful protest to demand change. He told White religious leaders who had criticized the Birmingham marches that he hoped they would “understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.”

Text-to-Speech