Historians sometimes forget that history is conunu-
ally being made and experienced before it is studied,
interpreted, and read. These latter activities have their
own history, of course, which may impinge in unex-
(5) pected ways on public events. It is difficult to predict
when “new pasts” will overturn established historical
interpretations and change the course of history.
In the fall of 1954, for example, C. Vann Woodward
delivered a lecture series at the University of Virginia
(10) which challenged the prevailling dogma concerning the
history, continuity, and uniformity of racial segregation
in the South. He argued that the Jim Crow laws of the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries not only
codified traditional practice but also were a determined
(15) effort to erase the considerable progress made by Black
people during and after Reconstruction in the 1870’s.
This revisionist view of Jim Crow legislation grew in
Part from the research that Woodward had done for the
NAACP legal campaign during its preparation for
(20) Brown v. Board of Education. The Supreme Court had
issued its ruling in this epochal desegregation case a few
months before Woodward’s lectures.
The lectures were soon published as a book. The
Strange Career of Jim Crow. Ten years later, in a
(25) preface to the second revised edition. Woodward
confessed with ironic modesty that the first edition
“had begun to suffer under some of the handicaps that
might be expected in a history of the American Revolu-
tion published in 1776.” That was a bit like hearing
(30)Thomas Paine apologize for the timing of his pamphlet
Common Sense, which had a comparable impact.
Although Common Sense also had a mass readership.
Paine had intended to reach and inspire: he was not a
historian, and thus not concerned with accuracy or the
(35) dangers of historical anachronism. Yet, like Paine,
Woodward had an unerring sense of the revolutionary
moment, and of how historical evidence could under-
mine the mythological tradition that was crushing the
dreams of new social possibilities. Martin Luther King,
(40) Jr.. testified to the profound effect of The Strange
Career of Jim Crow on the civil rights movement by
praising the book and quoting it frequently.
1. The “new pasts” mentioned in line 6 can best be
described as the
(A) occurrence of events extremely similar to past
events
(B) history of the activities of studying, interpreting, and
reading new historical writing
(C) change in people’s understanding of the past due to
more recent historical writing
(D) overturning of established historical interpretations
by politically motivated politicians
(E) difficulty of predicting when a given historical
interpretation will be overturned
2. It can be inferred from the passage that the “prevailling
dogma” (line 10) held that
(A) Jim Crow laws were passed to give legal status to
well-established discriminatory practices in the
South
(B) Jim Crow laws were passed to establish order and
uniformity in the discriminatory practices of
different southern states.
(C) Jim Crow laws were passed to erase the social gains
that Black people had achieved since Reconstruction
(D) the continuity of racial segregation in the South was
disrupted by passage of Jim Crow laws
(E) the Jim Crow laws of the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries were passed to reverse the effect
of earlier Jim Crow laws
3. Which of the following is the best example of writing
that is likely to be subject to the kinds of “handicaps”
referred to in line 27?
(A) A history of an auto manufacturing plant written by an employee during an autobuying boom
(B) A critique of a statewide school-desegregation plan
written by an elementary school teacher in that state
(C) A newspaper article assessing the historical
importance of a United States President written
shortly after the President has taken office
(D) A scientific paper describing the benefits of a
certain surgical technique written by the surgeon
who developed the technique
(E) Diary entries narrating the events of a battle written
by a soldier who participated in the battle
4. The passage suggests that C. Vann Woodward and
Thomas Paine were similar in all of the following ways
EXCEPT:
(A) Both had works published in the midst of important
historical events.
(B) Both wrote works that enjoyed widespread
popularity.
(C) Both exhibited an understanding of the relevance of
historical evidence to contemporary issues.
(D) The works of both had a significant effect on events
following their publication.
(E) Both were able to set aside worries about historical
anachronism in order to reach and inspire.
5. The attitude of the author of the passage toward the
work of C. Vann Woodward is best described as one of
(A) respectful regard
(B) qualified approbation
(C) implied skepticism
(D) pointed criticism
(E) fervent advocacy
6. Which of the following best describes the new idea
expressed by C. Vann Woodward in his University of
Virginia lectures in 1954?
(A) Southern racial segregation was continuous and
uniform.
(B) Black people made considerable progress only after
Reconstruction.
(C) Jim Crow legislation was conventional in nature.
(D) Jim Crow laws did not go as far in codifying
traditional practice as they might have.
(E) Jim Crow laws did much more than merely reinforce
a tradition of segregation.