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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What notable member of the U.S. Navy visited Langley shortly before Dorothy Vaughan arrived?
(a) Chief Frank Knox.
(b) Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox.
(c) Captain Frank Knox.
(d) U.S. General Frank Knox.

2. What did black newspapers call the black soldiers who fought overseas during World War II?
(a) Black Battalions.
(b) Black Yanks.
(c) Tan Soldiers.
(d) Tan Yanks.

3. What was the name of the senator from Virginia who vehemently opposed the Fair Employment Practices Committee?
(a) Thomas Byrdsong.
(b) Melvin Butler.
(c) Harry Byrd.
(d) Woodrow Wilson.

4. How did Dorothy Vaughan find a place to stay when she arrived in Newport News?
(a) The personnel department at Langley kept a file of available housing separated by races.
(b) She stayed with people she met at church.
(c) A friend gave her the name of a woman who owned a boarding house.
(d) She found an ad in the paper for "colored housing."

5. What did the "X" in the designation of an airplane signify?
(a) That it was experimental.
(b) That it was a cargo plane.
(c) That it was a bomber.
(d) That it was a fighter plane.

6. What was the name of the pilot who broke the sound barrier?
(a) Harry Byrd.
(b) John Glenn.
(c) Thomas Byrdsong.
(d) Chuck Yeager.

7. Who was the head computer when Langley began hiring black women?
(a) Mary Jackson.
(b) Blanche Sponsler.
(c) Virginia Tucker.
(d) Dorothy Vaughan.

8. Where did Dorothy Vaughan and her husband live after marrying?
(a) Newport News.
(b) Farmville.
(c) Hampton.
(d) Little Rock.

9. Why did Mary Jackson return home after her first year as a teacher?
(a) Because she did not like teaching.
(b) To pursue a graduate degree.
(c) To care for her ill father.
(d) She had been fired for expecting too much from her students.

10. What did the local living around Langley Research Center call the people who worked at Langley because of their eccentric behavior?
(a) NACA nuts.
(b) NACA nerds.
(c) Airheads.
(d) Space cadets.

11. What trial was Langley drawn into because of a suspected connection to one of the employees there?
(a) Roe v. Wade.
(b) The Rosenberg trial.
(c) Brown v. Board of Education.
(d) The Nuremberg trial.

12. How many more children did Dorothy and Howard Vaughan have after Dorothy moved to Newport News?
(a) Three.
(b) Two.
(c) Zero.
(d) One.

13. How did Leonard Vaughan and the other black children ensure they would get the pond to themselves?
(a) Put a fake "colored only" sign on the shore.
(b) Wait for the white children to leave.
(c) Intimidate the white children.
(d) Get their first.

14. What were the segregation laws called?
(a) Jim Crow laws.
(b) Uncle Tom laws.
(c) Colored Workers laws.
(d) Racial Separation laws.

15. What was the name of the personnel officer at Langley Research Center when Dorothy Vaughan began working there?
(a) John Glenn.
(b) Asa Phillip Randolph.
(c) Thomas Byrdsong.
(d) Melvin Butler.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who hid the "colored computers" sign from the cafeteria?

2. What did Langley do in hopes of turning the computers into junior engineers?

3. Which Executive Order desegregated the military?

4. Who was Matilda West, the black employee who was fired for disloyalty, related to?

5. What did the researchers at Langley use to gain test results without the dangers of test flights?

(see the answer keys)

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