The Downstate Campaign

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct50% picked this

   The Downstate campaign did not signal a significant change in their general political

   Why this is right

   This is tricky because the Downstate campaign did signal a significant change in their tactics. They went from being moderate intermediaries between community and government to being "radical" civil disobedient protesters. But it didn't change their goals. In the middle of the 2nd paragraph, it says that, "Urban African American ministers and churches had been working for decades with community and government organizations to address the social, political, and economic concerns of their communities". The goal of the Downstate campaign (end of 1st paragraph) was "to build a mass movement that would force changes in government policies as well as in trade union hiring practices, which they felt were excluding African Americans". So are the political / social goals of the Downstate campaign in a similar realm to "addressing the social, political, and economic concerns of their communities?" Sure -- trying to get jobs is definitely an economic concern. And feeling like you're being marginalized because you're African American is a social / political concern.

   Skill tested: Inference · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   50%
2. B

   Out of Scope: various other campaigns9% picked this

   After the Downstate campaign, they went on to organize various other

   The aftermath described towards the end of the final paragraph doesn't mention anything about organizing various other similar campaigns. We know they "continued to work through established political channels", but by definition that would not be a similar campaign. This was an aggressive protest of civil disobedience, not the old school way they would moderately influence the community through established channels.

   9%
3. C

   Unsupported: earlier construction efforts10% picked this

   They had come together for the purpose of addressing problems in the construction industry well before CORE’s involvement

   We're told that they had previously come together to work for their communities (albeit in more moderate ways), but we were never told anything as specific as "they previously worked to address problems in the construction history". All we know is that they previously worked "to address the social, political, and economic concerns of their communities". Finally, if this answer were true, then it would guarantee that choice (A) was also true (if they had previously addressed problems in the construction industry, then it's certainly fair to say that Downstate was not a significant switch to their goals). When answer X implies answer Y, then answer X can't possibly be correct because there can't be two correct answers.

   10%
4. D

   Out of Scope: criticized2% picked this

   They were criticized both by CORE and by other concerned organizations for their incomplete success

   In the 3rd sentence of the last paragraph, we hear that some activists considered the agreement reached to be incomplete, but we're never told anything resembling the idea that CORE actually criticized these ministers who responded to their call for help.

   2%
5. E

   Contradicted, if anything29% picked this

   Prior to the Downstate campaign, many of them had not been directly involved in

   We're told that prior to this campaign, they had for decades worked to address social, political, and economic concerns of their communities, via established political channels. We don't know for sure if those social / political / economic concerns involved civil rights activities, but we definitely are never told that it didn't involve civil rights. We have no textual ammunition to support this language that many of them had never engaged in civil rights activities before. We're even told that "elsewhere in the civil rights movement, African American religious leaders had emerged as key figures".

   29%