Answers -- Fun, Facts, and Trivia
July 2002 Issue

The Dirksen Center wants to help teachers teach better by giving them the opportunity to use technology to create, customize, and share online learning activities in their classrooms. The Center wants to help students learn more by bringing educational resources together in one place that provide new ways to learn about Congress interactively.

If your students are interested in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, for example, they can print and complete the "Brown v. Board of Education" Supreme Court case word search found on Congress for Kids at: http://www.congressforkids.net/games/judicialbranch/2_judicialbranch.htm.

Breaking Down Segregation, Building Up Knowledge

1. In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the idea of "separate but equal" was declared unconstitutional because it violated which idea contained in the 14th Amendment?

A) Legal Rights
B) "Equal Protection Under Law"
C) Judicial Review
D) Segregation

2. Trivia: Who argued for the plaintiff in Brown v. Board of Education before the Supreme Court in 1955?
(Answer: Thurgood Marshall -- This case ended segregation in public elementary schools. Marshall later became the first African- American Supreme Court justice.)

3. Busing, which was the main vehicle for ending segregation, was strongly attacked in both the North and the South. The imposition of busing often led to ___________.

A) integration
B) white "backlash"
C) desegregation
D) white flight

4. True or False: Active legal measures intended to bring two ethnic groups together or actively designing government policies to mix different races is called "desegregation."
(Answer: False -- "desegregation" refers to the removal or elimination of laws that keep two ethnic groups apart or that call for segregation. Link to: http://www.congresslink.org/glossary.html#D)

Answers to the June issue of Fun, Facts, and Trivia link here: http://www.webcommunicator.org/funfactstrivia0602ans.htm.

Do you have or know of an online activity you would like The Dirksen Congressional Center to feature on its new Web site for students -- Congress for Kids? The Center is currently seeking online activities that provide new ways to learn about Congress and the workings of the federal government interactively.

If you have questions or suggestions for online activities, contact Cindy Koeppel