America Opportunity - Inequality (1920 73) - Exam Question Bank

AQA GCSE HISTORY PRACTICE EXAM QUESTIONS
America: Opportunity
& Inequality
1920-73
A) Interpretations Questions
Interpretations Set 1 [Specimen Set 1]
01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.
How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about President Roosevelt’s New
Deal?
Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

[4 marks]
02) Why might the authors of Interpretations A and B have a different interpretation about
President Roosevelt’s New Deal?
Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B and your contextual knowledge.
[4 marks]
03) Which interpretation do you find more convincing about President Roosevelt’s New Deal?
[8 marks]
Interpretations Set 2 [Specimen set 2]
How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about women in the 1920s?

[4 marks]
women in the 1920s?
[4 marks]
03) Which interpretation do you find more convincing about women in the 1920s?
[8 marks]
Interpretations Set 3 [2018]
How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about Martin Luther King and the
Civil Rights campaigns?

[4 marks]
Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights campaigns?
[4 marks]
03) Which interpretation do you find more convincing about Martin Luther King and the Civil
Rights campaigns?
[8 marks]
Interpretations Set 4
Interpretation A Red Cole, a production worker who joined Ford aged 18, interviewed in a
1995 BBC documentary ‘People’s Century: On the line’:
The thing about Mr Ford that stuck in my mind was that he started to pay
$5 a day. And that Mr Ford was like a God because he had control of so
many thousands of people and had them in such order - the production
lines, the coming and going, three shifts, eight hours each shift - days,
afternoons and midnights - and everything to me was like clockwork and
I was proud to be a part of it.
Interpretation B Adapted from a 1969 biography of Ford by Booton Herndon, an award-

winning reporter; Harry Bennett was Ford’s second in command.
Bennett liked boxers and wrestlers, and many, particularly the big tough
ones, ended up on the payroll. He sought out tough cops and hired them.
He built up a small army of thugs who kept the workers under complete
control. Anyone doing anything naughty, like talking union, was beaten
to a pulp and fired.
How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about working at Ford?

[4 marks]
working at Ford?
[4 marks]
03) Which interpretation do you find more convincing about working at Ford?
[8 marks]
Interpretation A Miguel Santos, an immigrant to New York from Cuba, interviewed in 1940
for the Federal Writers’ Project, a US government scheme. He was speaking
about his experience soon after arriving in New York in 1904:
Do you want to know the truth? The word ‘liberty’ is heard a lot in the
USA. So how come, when we come here, do we have to stick together
because of the hatred Americans feel towards us? They get drunk and
they pick a quarrel. I said to one of them, “Why do you talk to me in this
contemptuous [insulting] way?” and he closes his hand to threaten me.
So, I threw the first punch, and this policeman comes to arrest me. And
you talk about ‘democracy’ and the ‘rights of man’!
Interpretation B Louis Adamic emigrated from Slovenia in 1913 and settled in California. He
wrote the following in his book, ‘Laughing in the Jungle’, published in 1932
describing what he had been told about America:
My notion of the United States is that it was a grand, amazing, fantastic

place - the Golden Country, huge beyond conception, untellably exciting.
In America one could make pots of money in a short time, acquire

immense holdings [land and property, wear a white collar and have
polish on ones boots - and eat white bread, soup and meat on weekdays
as well as on Sundays, even if you were an ordinary workman.
How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about the immigrant experience in
America in the 1920s?

[4 Marks]
02) Why might the authors of Interpretations A and B have a different interpretation about the
immigrant experience in America in the 1920s?
[4 marks]
03) Which interpretation do you find more convincing about the immigrant experience in
America in the 1920s?
[8 marks]
Interpretation A Raymond Tarver, interviewed in 1940 for the Federal Writers’ Project, a US
government scheme; he was from a small town in South Georgia:
I worked for the First National bank. I was not wealthy at the time of the
panic, but I had some savings and a good job. That was the trouble - my
savings and my job disappeared at the same time. Even so I was more
concerned about our customers. The saddest part was to see the
widows, who had probably just been left a little insurance money and
they put it in the bank. What were they going to live off now?
Interpretation B Jerome Zerbe, interviewed for a book published in 1970; he was from a rich
American family, who lived in Manhattan, one of New York’s wealthiest
areas, during the Depression; a Cadillac is an expensive car.
One day I saw this pathetic beggar, whom I’d always felt sorry for. This
Cadillac drove up. And I’d just given him a quarter. And it picked him up.
There was a woman driving it. And I thought: well, if they can drive a
Cadillac, they don’t need my quarter. His wife had a Cadillac. And I never
saw breadlines, never in New York. If they were, they were in Harlem.
They were never in this section of town. There were never any signs of
poverty. The thirties were a glamorous, glittering moment.
How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about the impact of the depression?

[4 Marks]
impact of the depression?
[4 marks]
03) Which interpretation do you find more convincing about the impact of the depression?
[8 marks]
Interpretation A A trained designer interviewed in 1939 for the Federal Writers' project, a US
government scheme. He lost his job at the start of the Great Depression but
got work with one of the Alphabet Agencies (the Works Progress
Administration - WPA) in Newburyport, Massachusetts:
All I can say is from where I'm standing, things are better now. I'm not
work shy, I'm not a bum - I'm just a guy who needed a break. All the
president's trying to do is pull the United States out of a rut. I mean, you
can't blame the man for trying, can you?
Interpretation B A man from a wealthy American family, who lived in Manhattan, one of New
York’s wealthiest areas, during the Depression. He is speaking in the 1960s
in response to the question 'What does the phrase "New Deal" mean to
you?’:
It meant absolutely nothing except higher taxation. And that he did. He

obviously didn't help the poverty situation in this country, although, I
suppose. I don't know.
How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about FDR’s New Deal?

[4 Marks]
FDR’s New Deal?
[4 marks]
03) Which interpretation do you find more convincing about FDR’s New Deal?
[8 marks]
Interpretation A A female filmmaker Speaking in the 2013 fiIm ‘Feminist: Stories from
Women’s Liberation’; she was a teenager in the 1970s:
Imagine an America where women had the right to vote but could be
rejected for a job because of their gender. Imagine an America where
women were refused admission to colleges and denied access to credit
cards. Imagine being a teacher and being fired for being pregnant. This is
what America was like before the Women's Liberation Movement of the
1960s and 1970s. The Women's Liberation Movement changed women's
lives socially, economically and politically. It was described as 'the
revolution that will affect everybody’. And it did.
Interpretation B Adapted from a 2001 magazine article by Barbara Epstein, a Social History
professor at the University of California who completed her graduate degree
during the 1960s:
Despite the dramatic accomplishments of the women's movement,

gender equality has not yet been achieved. Many more women work
outside the home but most continue to be concentrated in low-paying
jobs; women earn, on the average, considerably less than men; women
are much more likely than men to be poor. Responsibility for childcare
remains largely the responsibility of women. In the 1960s and 1970s
feminists protested the imbalance in power between men and women in
family and personal relations. But these continue to exist.
How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about the feminist movement?

[4 Marks]
feminist movement?
[4 marks]
03) Which interpretation do you find more convincing about the feminist movement?
[8 marks]
Interpretation A From ‘The Roosevelt I Knew’ by Frances Perkins (1946); Perkins was a
member of the Democratic Party and Secretary of Labour in Roosevelt’s
New Deal government:
The New Deal meant that ordinary people would have a better chance in
life. Roosevelt understood that the suffering of the Depression had fallen
on those people least able to bear it. He knew that the rich had been
hard hit too, but at least they had something left. But the ordinary
shopkeeper, the ordinary householder, the farmer who worked the soil
himself, the man who worked for wages - these people were desperate.
The idea was that all these forces of the community should be directed
by making life better for ordinary people.
Interpretation B Adapted from a speech by S. B. Fuller in 1980; he was a self-made, African-

American businessman and a Republican:
The New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt hurt us. He was a rich man's son. All
he received was given to him. So he thinks it's right to give. He didn't
understand that when you give to people, you hurt them. We had soup
lines and the Depression because men lost confidence in themselves. A
dog you feed will not hunt. If you want a dog who hunts, you have to let
him get hungry. You're free to eat if you pay for your food, and you're
free to starve if you don't.

[4 Marks]
FDR’s New Deal?
[4 marks]
[8 marks]
Interpretation A Changes in society after the First World War. From the book ‘The Perils Of
Prosperity’ by W.E. Leuchtenberg, 1958:
There was never a time in American history when youth had such a
special sense of importance as in the years after the First World War.
There was a gulf between the generations. Young men who had fought in
the trenches felt they knew a reality their elders could not even imagine.
Younger girls no longer consciously modelled themselves on their
mothers, whose attitude seemed irrelevant in the 1920s.
Interpretation B Another view Of American society after the First World War. From the book,
‘America in the Twentieth Century’ by J.T. Patterson 1988:
Though a few upper-class women in the cities talked about throwing off
the older conventions - they were the flappers - most women stuck to
more traditional attitudes concerning "their place". Most concentrated
on managing the home. Their daughters were likely to prepare tor
careers as mothers and housewives.
How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about women in the 1920s?

[4 Marks]
women in the 1920s?
[4 marks]
03) Which interpretation do you find more convincing about women in the 1920s?
[8 marks]
Interpretation A An analysis of the New Deal, taken from the article 'The new deal in Review’
in the magazine ‘The New Republic’, 1940:
The New Deal has clearly done far more for the general welfare of the
country and its citizens than any other administration (ie. government) in
the previous history of the nation. Its relief for the under privileged in
city and country has been indispensable. Without this relied and
appalling amount of misery would have resulted... ln addition the new
Deal has accomplished much of permanent benefit to the nation.
Interpretation B Criticism of the New Deal by an American who supported the Republican
Party. It is taken from a book by R. Shaw, ‘The New Deal; Its Unsound
Theories and Irreconcilable Policies’, published in 1933:
The New Deal is nothing more or less than an effort to take away the
savings of hard-working families and to give them to those who do not
deserve them and never will. This destroys the incentive for people in the
future to save and become wealthy. This goes against all the ideas upon
which our nation has been founded.

[4 Marks]
FDR’s New Deal?
[4 marks]
[8 marks]
Interpretation A From a book written by Jameson Clew, published in 1968.

Clew was writing about the reactions to Martin Luther King's death in the
Chicago Tribune. He was an African American who actively supported the
Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 60s:
Martin Luther King was the voice of the whole nation. He reached out to
the hearts and minds of the American public, His I have a Dream speech
shamed those who had turned their backs on African Americans and had
not fulfilled the promises made again and again throughout the 20 th
century. His Of Mississippi and beyond. The Civil Rights movement had
existed since 1909 but without a leader of the calibre of King its progress
was slow and disjointed. At Selma, King calmed the crowd and turned a
potentially very dangerous situation into a dignified victory for all those
who took part. The Civil Rights movement embraced King and he became
the movement. Without him there would have been no Civil Rights Act in
1964.
Interpretation B From ‘Civil Rights: power from the People' by Charles Pearson, published in
2002.
Pearson is Professor of Politics and History at New York State university and
is known as the author of many books exploring the importance of mass
movements in political change:
Martin Luther King was an important figurehead of the Civil Rights

movement but he was a man propped up on the support of those around
him. The Montgomery Bus Boycott is just one of many examples of how
the organisation of a group (the MIA) and drive of its members were
what made it a success. The Civil Rights movement was not about one
man and if it was it was the student who refused to leave a white area;
the working man who refuses to get the bus; the woman who will not
give up her seat; or the 250.000 people who march together on
Washington. It is these many small and significant people that define a
movement.

How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about the reasons for the success of
the Civil Rights Movement?

[4 Marks]
reasons for the success of the Civil Rights Movement?
[4 marks]
03) Which interpretation do you find more convincing about the reasons for the success of the
Civil Rights Movement?
[8 marks]
Interpretation A An extract from one chapter of a published 2017, written by Historian Bruce
J. Schulman, called "Oxford History of the United States".
Bruce J. Schulman is a proud supporter of the Democratic Party, and makes
this clear in much of his published work:
The films and radio stories about exciting parties and social events were
just a dream for millions of Americans. Not all Americans were wearing
strange new “flapper” clothes or dancing until early in the morning.
Millions of Americans in small towns or rural areas continued to live
simple, quiet lives. Life was still hard for many people including blacks,
foreigners, and other minority groups.
Interpretation B President Herbert Hoover in his inaugural address (first speech) to the
country after he was elected President in 1929.
Hoover was the third successive Republican President. This meant that the
Republican party had been in power since 1920:
Ours is a land rich in resources; filled with millions of happy homes;

blessed with comfort and opportunity. In no nation is progress more
advanced than America. In no nation are the people more secure. No
country is more loved by its people, and in no country to people have a
greater love for life. I have no fears for the future of our country. It is
bright with hope that the prosperity of the 1920s will continue on.
How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about the American people’s
experience of the economic boom in the 1920s?

[4 Marks]
American people’s experience of the economic boom in the 1920s?
[4 marks]
03) Which interpretation do you find more convincing about the American people’s experience
of the economic boom in the 1920s?
[8 marks]
B) The ‘Describe’ Question
04) Describe two problems faced by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson in dealing with the Civil
Rights protests during the 1960s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two problems faced by President Roosevelt from the opposition to the New Deal.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two features of the US constitution.

[4 marks]
04) Describe 2 ways in which an investigator might make money from ‘playing the stock market’.
[4 marks]
04) Describe the problem of poverty faced by two groups of people in America in the 1920s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two new developments in American entertainment in the 1920s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two problems faced by immigrants to America in the 1920s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two problems in the American economy that contributed to the Wall Street Crash.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two developments in popular culture in the 1930s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two successes of the Civil Rights Movement.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two ways in which people tried to achieve equal rights for women in the early
1960s?
[4 marks]
04) Describe two ways in which prohibition had an impact on society.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two reasons why America became so rich in the 1920s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe 2 problems faced by American farmers during the depression of the 1930s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two ways that life for women changed in the 1920s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two effects of the Wall Street Crash.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two ways in which African Americans protested peacefully in the 1960s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two measures introduced by the Democratic Government as part of the “Great
Society” in the 1960s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two ways in which the Ford motor industry affected the boom in US economy in
the 1920s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two ways that consumerism affected people’s lives in the 1950s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two ways that life the Civil Rights Acts of 1960s helped to stop racial discrimination.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two ways that social life changed in the 1920s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two reasons why prohibition was introduced.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two ways that life the Civil Rights Acts of 1960s helped to stop racial discrimination.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two ways that Republican party helped businesses to expand in the 1920s.
[4 marks]
04) Describe two ways in which the motor car encouraged social change.
[4 marks]
C) The ‘In What Ways’ Question
05) In what ways were the lives of women affected by the campaign for more equality in the
USA during the 1960s and early 1970s?
Explain your answer.
[8 marks]
05) In what ways did the lives of African Americans and women change during the Second World
War?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways did the lives of ordinary Americans change as a result of the economic boom in
the USA during the 1920s?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways did the lives of some American women change in the 1920s?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways did Prohibition change US society?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways did the lives of African Americans change in the 1920s?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways were the lives of ordinary American people affected by the Great Depression?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways did FDR’s New Deal cause social and economic change?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways did the prosperity of American citizens show itself in the 1950s?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways did Americans try to improve the Civil Rights for African Americans?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways did LBJ try to fulfil his promise of a ‘Great Society’?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways were American attitudes and lifestyles influenced by television in the 1950s
and 60s?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways were the lives of women influenced by the campaign for equality during the
1960s and early 1970s?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways did the development of jazz lead to changes in society?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways did the actions of President Hoover lead to the election of Roosevelt in 1932?
[8 marks]
05) In what ways were American people affected by the first New Deal?
[8 marks]
D) The ‘Bullet Points’ Question
06) Which of the following was the more important reason why there were more opportunities
in America in the 1920s:
• economic growth
• social changes?
Explain your answer with reference to both reasons.
[12 marks]
06) Which of the following achieved more in the 1960s and early 1970s:
• Campaigns to improve the rights of African-Americans

• Campaigns to improve the rights of women?
[12 marks]
06) Which of the following had a greater impact on America in the 1920s:
• The Klu Klux Klan

• The Red Scare?
[12 marks]
06) Which of the following was the more important reason for FDR’s victory in the 1932
election:
• Hoover’s handling of the Great Depression

• FDR’s 1932 political campaign?
[12 marks]
06) Which of the following experienced greater change during World War 2:
• Women
• African Americans?
[12 marks]
06) Which of the following had a greater impact on people in post-war America:
• McCarthyism
• Changes in the US economy?
[12 marks]
06) Which of the following made America a better, fairer society:
• Kennedy’s New Frontier

• Johnson’s Great Society?
[12 marks]
06) Which of the following was the more important reason why the economic boom of the
1920s was sustained in the USA:
• Hire Purchase
• Mass Production?
[12 marks]
06) Which of the following was the more important reason in the ending of prohibition in 1933:
• The failure of law enforcement against illegal speakeasies

• The violence of gangsters controlling the illegal trade of alcohol?
[12 marks]
06) Which of the following was the more important reason why America recovered from the
Great Depression:
• FDR’s New Deal

• WW2?
[12 marks]
06) Which of the following was the more important reason why Senator McCarthy was so
successful in encouraging the fear of Communism?
• The international situation c.1950

• The situation inside the USA c.1950.
[12 marks]
06) Which of the following was the more important reason why the civil rights movement made
progress in the 1960s?
• The policies and activities of Martin Luther King Jr.

• The policies and activities of the Black Power Movement
[12 marks]
06) Which of the following was the more important reason for changes in women’s lifestyles in
the decades after the Second World War?
• Modern technology in the home

• Changing attitudes towards women’s rights
[12 marks]

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AQA GCSE HISTORY PRACTICE EXAM QUESTIONS

Interpretations Set 1 [Specimen Set 1]

01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

Interpretation B Adapted from a 1969 biography of Ford by Booton Herndon, an award-

01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.

How does Interpretation B differ from Interpretation A about working at Ford?

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

My notion of the United States is that it was a grand, amazing, fantastic

In America one could make pots of money in a short time, acquire

01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

It meant absolutely nothing except higher taxation. And that he did. He

01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

Despite the dramatic accomplishments of the women's movement,

01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

Interpretation B Adapted from a speech by S. B. Fuller in 1980; he was a self-made, African-

01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

Interpretation A From a book written by Jameson Clew, published in 1968.

Martin Luther King was an important figurehead of the Civil Rights

01) Read Interpretations A and B from the Interpretations Booklet.

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

Ours is a land rich in resources; filled with millions of happy homes;

Explain your answer using Interpretations A and B.

04) Describe two features of the US constitution.

04) Describe two new developments in American entertainment in the 1920s.

04) Describe two problems faced by immigrants to America in the 1920s.

04) Describe two developments in popular culture in the 1930s.

04) Describe two successes of the Civil Rights Movement.

04) Describe two ways in which prohibition had an impact on society.

04) Describe two effects of the Wall Street Crash.

04) Describe two reasons why prohibition was introduced.

Explain your answer.

Explain your answer.

Explain your answer.

Explain your answer.

05) In what ways did Prohibition change US society?

Explain your answer.

Explain your answer.

Explain your answer.

Explain your answer.

Explain your answer.

Explain your answer.

Explain your answer.

Explain your answer.