The Story Behind the Bus (Study Sync)

1. What is most likely the author’s reason for mentioning that Rosa Parks was “an active member of the local NAACP” in Paragraph 2?

• A. To suggest that she was on her way to a civil rights meeting that day

• B. To establish that Parks was already familiar with current issues facing African Americans

• C. To show that Parks already knew Martin Luther King, Jr.

• D. To suggest that she was being targeted by the bus driver that day

2.What is the meaning of “I knew I had the strength of my ancestors with me” as it is used in Paragraph 3?

“Her action was spontaneous and not premeditated, although her previous civil rights involvement and strong sense of justice were obvious influences. ‘When I made that decision,’ she said later, ‘I knew that I had the strength of my ancestors with me.’”

• A. Parks was confident that other African Americans on board the bus would fight back against the driver with her.

• B. Parks was aware that legal decisions in situations like this one had historically favored African Americans.

• C. Parks reminded herself that past generations of African Americans had dealt with even harsher circumstances.

• D. Parks carried a locket given to her by her grandmother that she held onto when she needed strength.

3.Which of the following choices best explains what caused the Montgomery Bus Boycott to end?

• A. African Americans refused to ride the buses in Montgomery ever again.

• B. African American leaders compromised and decided to call an end to it before they could achieve victory.

• C. Montgomery was forced to integrate the buses after the Supreme Court struck down existing laws.

• D. Courts ruled in the Plessy v. Ferguson case that African Americans could have their own bus line, so long as it was separate but equal.

4.What is the meaning of the sentence which states it was “not just an accident that the civil rights movement began on a city bus” as it is used in Paragraph 7?

“It was not just an accident that the civil rights movement began on a city bus. In a famous 1896 case involving a black man on a train, Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court enunciated the “separate but equal” rationale for Jim Crow. Of course, facilities and treatment were never equal.”

• A. The NAACP planned to challenge the bus laws by sending Rosa Parks on the bus and having her refuse the driver’s instructions.

• B. Civil rights leaders saw no progress in their attempts to integrate trains and pushed all their resources toward buses.

• C. Public transportation had long been a battleground for segregation laws.

• D. Martin Luther King, Jr. first came up with his “I Have a Dream” speech while riding on a Montgomery bus.

5.What is a central idea of “The Story Behind the Bus”?

• A. Civil rights leaders had been waiting for an ideal case to present a strong challenge to segregation laws.

• B. Bus companies and segregation laws had not been challenged until Parks refused to give up her seat.

• C. Jim Crow laws would still be in place if not for the Montgomery bus incident.

• D. Parks’s challenge to the bus law was successful because it was spontaneous.

6.Which sentence from the text most strongly supports the answer to question 5?

• A. “On this bus on that day, Rosa Parks initiated a new era in the American quest for freedom and equality.”

• B. “Mrs. Parks appealed her conviction and thus formally challenged the legality of segregation.”

• C. “Under Jim Crow customs and laws, it was relatively easy to separate the races in every area of life except transportation.”

• D. “However, both were rejected because black leaders felt they would not gain white support.”

Which word means:

Separation of people based on race?

• integrated

• segregation

• volatile

8.Which word means:

Not in accordance with the laws of the nation?

• inequity

• segregation

• unconstitutional

9.Which word means:

Likely to change unpredictably and for the worse?

• volatile

• integrated

• inequity

10.Which word means:

Made accessible to everyone?

• segregation

• integrated

• unconstitutional