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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which black poet and leader proclaimed after World War I, "We return from fighting! We return fighting! Make way for democracy!" (66)?

2. In what year did Senator Joseph McCarthy's first event aimed at inciting a second Red Scare take place?

3. Who was appointed to lead the new bureau called the General Intelligence Division?

4. How many black people were arrested in the melee termed the Elaine Massacre?

5. Which newspaper proclaimed in relation to the Red Scare that "Free speech has been carried to the point where it is an unrestrained menace" (101)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What scene is captured in the photograph Sandler includes as an epigraph to Chapter 4: The Red Scare and what is its significance?

2. When and where did "1919's most murderous acts of violence" (82) take place?

3. What did the Northern United States symbolize for the famous writer Richard Wright?

4. Discuss the way in which the theme of injustice arises within the book's descriptions of the aftermath of the Elaine Massacre.

5. Discuss an example of irony Sandler points out within a particular historical event.

6. What is the philosophy behind Communism and why are its results so often less than idyllic?

7. How long did the tragic period entitled the Red Summer last?

8. Who coined the phrase the Red Summer and why?

9. What role did the black press play in the Great Migration of the early twentieth century?

10. How were the expectations of black American soldiers dashed when they returned from fighting in World War I?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do the themes of deception and secrecy function within 1919: The Year That Changed America and what is Sandler’s message regarding these themes?

Essay Topic 2

How is the theme of hypocrisy treated within Sandler’s text and with which of the text’s messages does the theme closely connect?

Essay Topic 3

In what way does Sandler go about breaking the text into parts and how do these structural elements help to advance the text’s arguments?

(see the answer keys)

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