In 1963, A Three-Week-Long Demonstration for Jobs at the Construction Site GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading passage question

Question: In 1963, a three-week-long demonstration for jobs at the construction site of the Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, became one of the most significant and widely publicized campaigns of (5) the civil rights movement in the United States. An interdenominational group made up mostly of locally based African American ministers, who had remained politically moderate until then, organized and led hundreds of people in an aggressive protest. Their (10) efforts relied mainly on the participation and direct financial support of the ministers’ own congregations and other congregations throughout Brooklyn. The goal of this campaign was to build a mass movement that would force changes in government policies as (15) well as in trade union hiring practices, both of which they believed excluded African Americans from construction jobs.

Inspired by the emergence of African American religious leaders as key figures elsewhere in the civil (20) rights movement, and reasoning that the ministers would be able to mobilize large numbers of people from their congregations and network effectively with other religious leaders throughout the city, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a national civil (25) rights organization, had decided to ask the ministers to lead the Downstate campaign. However, by organizing a civil disobedience campaign, the ministers were jeopardizing one of the very factors that had led CORE to seek their involvement: their (30) positions as politically moderate community leaders. 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 (35) communities, and ministers of African American congregations in Brooklyn had often acted as mediators between their communities and the government. Many of them also worked for major political parties and ran for political officethemselves. (40) By endorsing and leading the Downstate protest, the

ministers were risking their political careers and their reputations within their communities for effecting change through established political channels. The Downstate campaign ended with an (45) agreement between the ministers and both government and union officials. This agreement did not include new legislation or a commitment to a specific numerical increase in jobs for African Americans, as the protestors had demanded. But even (50) though some civil rights activists therefore considered the agreement incomplete, government officials did

pledge to enforce existing antidiscrimination legislation. Moreover, the Downstate campaign effectively aroused public concern for the previously (55) neglected problem of discrimination in the construction industry. It also drew public attention, which had hitherto focused on the progress of the civil rights movement primarily in the southern United States, to the additional need to alleviate (60) discrimination in the North. Finally, throughout the campaign, the ministers managed to maintain their moderate political ties. The dual role played by the

ministers—activists who nonetheless continued to work through established political channels—served (65) as a model for future ministers who sought to initiate protest actions on behalf of their communities.

“In 1963, a three-week-long demonstration for jobs at the construction site of the Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.”- is a comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 5 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

Question 1
It can be reasonably inferred from the passage that the author’s attitude is most favorable toward which one of the following?

(A) the ways in which the Downstate campaign altered the opinions of union leaders
(B) the impact that the Downstate campaign had on the implementation of new antidiscrimination legislation
(C) CORE’s relationship to the demonstrators in the Downstate campaign
(D) the effects that the Downstate campaign had on public awareness
(E) the way in which the leaders of the Downstate campaign negotiated the agreement that ended the campaign

Question 2
Which one of the following assertions about the results of the Downstate campaign does the author affirm in the passage?

(A) It achieved all of its participants’ goals for changes in union policy but not all of its participants’ goals for government action.
(B) It directly achieved neither all of its participants’ goals for government action nor all of its participants’ goals for changes in union hiring policies.
(C) It achieved all of its participants’ goals for changes in government policies, but did not achieve all of its participants’ goals for union commitment to hiring policies.
(D) It achieved all of its particular goals for government action immediately, but only gradually achieved some of its participants’ desired effects on public opinion.
(E) It eventually achieved all of its participants’ particular goals for both government action and establishment of union hiring policies, but only after extended effort and significant risk.

Question 3
The primary function of the reference to past activities of ministers and churches (lines 31–38) is to

(A) demonstrate that the tactics used by the leaders of the Downstate campaign evolved naturally out of their previous political activities
(B) explain why the leaders of the Downstate campaign decided to conduct the protest in the way they did
(C) provide examples of the sorts of civil rights activities that the leaders of CORE had promoted
(D) indicate how the Downstate campaign could have accomplished its goals by means other than those used
(E) underscore the extent to which the Downstate campaign represented a change in approach for its leaders

Question 4
Which one of the following does the author affirm in he passage?

(A) CORE was one of several civil rights organizations that challenged the hiring practices of the construction industry.
(B) The Downstate campaign relied primarily on CORE and other national civil rights organizations for most of its support.
(C) After the Downstate campaign, concern for discrimination in the construction industry was directed primarily toward the northern United States.
(D) Many ministers of African American congregations in Brooklyn had sought election to political office.
(E) In response to the Downstate campaign, union officials pledged to adopt specific numerical goals for the hiring of African Americans.

Question 5
The passage most clearly suggests that which one of the following is true of the group of ministers who led the Downstate campaign?

(A) The Downstate campaign did not signal a significant change in their general political and social goals.
(B) After the Downstate campaign, they went on to organize various other similar campaigns.
(C) They had come together for the purpose of addressing problems in the construction industry well before CORE’s involvement in the Downstate campaign.
(D) They were criticized both by CORE and by other concerned organizations for their incomplete success in the Downstate campaign.
(E) Prior to the Downstate campaign, many of them had not been directly involved in civil rights activities

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