Unit 8 LEQ (The Civil Rights Movement) Answers

APUSH Long Essay Question Answers for The Civil Rights Movement

Guidelines

• Respond to the prompt with a historically defensible thesis or claim that establishes a line of reasoning.
• Describe the broader historical context relevant to the prompt.
• Support an argument in response to the prompt using specific and relevant examples of evidence.
• Use historical reasoning (e.g., comparison, causation, continuity or change over time) to frame or structure an argument that addresses the prompt.
• Use evidence to corroborate, qualify, or modify an argument that addresses the prompt.

Question

Rubric

1pt: Thesis must create a historically defensible argument and it must be located in the first or last paragraph.

• The desegregation of schools was caused by the Civil Rights movement; however, the most important result of the movement was voting rights reform allowing Black Americans more of a say in politics.
• Although the military was integrated following 1848 and more people were allowed to vote, the most important changes occurred in educational opportunities for Black children.
• Although the opportunity to attend Black colleges rose significantly as a result of the Civil Rights Movement, the most important result were the political opportunities which arose as a result of Johnson’s Great Society programs.
• As a result of the Civil Rights movement, Black students gained more educational opportunities; however the greatest impact occurred in professional sports as Black players began to have more opportunities in professional sports.
• Although legislation impacted American Indians and Gay Americans, it was most effective at providing political opportunities for Black Americans allowing them to create further legislation.

1pt: To earn the point, the response must accurately describe broader historical events or processes relevant to the Civil Rights Movement from 1947 to 1980.

• Black involvement in WWII
• Practices of Gandhi
• Tuskegee Airmen
• A. Philip Randolph
• Plessy v. Ferguson
• Disenfranchisement
• Failure of the 14th and 15th amendments
• US involvement overseas to reduce the spread of communism and expand democracy
• Rosie the Riveter

1pt: Provides specific examples of evidence relevant to the topic of the prompt.

• Truman’s Executive Order
• Jackie Robinson
• Korean War
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Little Rock Nine
• Sit-Ins
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• SCLC, CORE, SNCC
• Black Panthers
• Birmingham Race Riots
• March on Washington
• John F. Kennedy
• Lyndon Johnson
• KKK
• James Meredith
• AIM
• Stonewall Inn
• Roe v. Wade
• ERA

1pt: Supports an argument in response to the prompt using specific and relevant examples of evidence.

• Ex: The desegregation of schools was caused by the Civil Rights movement; however, the most important result of the movement was voting rights reform allowing Black Americans more of a say in politics.
• Brown v. Board of Education laid the foundation for ending segregation in schools. Unfortunately, students still faced ridicule as evidenced by Little Rock, Arkansas.
• However, as a result of the Voting Rights Act of 1865, the rights and privileges of the 15th Amendment were provided to Black Americans. Black voters could then elect officials to pass more effective civil rights legislation.

1pt: Uses historical reasoning (e.g. comparison, causation, CCOT) to frame or structure an argument that addresses the prompt.

• The response clearly accomplishes the goal of stating the relative importance of causes of the Civil Rights Movement.
• The response must identify and explain how one effect was more important than another in order to receive the point.

1pt: The response demonstrates a complex understanding of the historical development that is the focus of the prompt, using evidence to corroborate, qualify, or modify an argument that addresses the question.

• Not only the importance of the positive effects of the Civil Rights Movement, but also where the movement fell remarkably short.
• The Civil Rights movement from more than one perspective. In other words, give a detailed examination of Black, Women, Native, Hispanic, or Gay impact.
• The impact of worldview on change following the riots of 1963 and how America’s appearance on a world stage shaped Civil Rights Legislation.
• A detailed similarity between the movements of the post civil war era or the 1920s to the movements in the 1950s and 60s.

Next Steps

• 🧠 Want to continue reinforcing your knowledge of Unit 8? Check out Unit 8 Trivia, either as a document or as a game.
• ⏭ Ready to move on to the next topic? Take a look at the collection of Unit 9 Resources.
• 📚 Want to review multiple units? Check out all of the APUSH SAQs, LEQs, and DBQs.
• 🤝 Got more questions? Want to help others studying the same topic? Jump into a room in Hours!