Topic 5 AP Exam Practice
Multiple-Choice Questions
Questions 1–3 refer to the following passage.
“To you and all the Commissioners and staff of the TRC [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] we say, on behalf of the nation: Thank you for the work you have done so far! If the pain has often been unbearable and the revelations shocking to all of us, it is because they indeed bring us the beginnings of a common understanding of what happened and a steady restoration of the nation’s humanity. The TRC . . . was established by an Act of Parliament with overwhelming support. It is composed of individuals from all backgrounds and persuasions. It has put the spotlight on all of us. . . . [W]e are confident that it has contributed to the work in progress of laying the foundation of the edifice of reconciliation. . . . Reconciliation requires that we work together to defend our democracy and the humanity proclaimed by our Constitution . . . . The wounds of the period of repression and resistance are too deep to have been healed by the TRC alone, however well it has encouraged us along that path. Consequently, the Report that today becomes the property of our nation should be a call to all of us to celebrate and to strengthen what we have done as a nation as we leave our terrible past behind us forever.
Let us celebrate our rich diversity as a people, the knowledge that when the TRC in its wisdom apportions blame, it points at previous state structures; political organisations [organizations]; at institutions and individuals, but never at any community. Nor can any individual so identified claim that their brutal deeds were the result of some character inherent in any community or language group… Above all, we should remember that it was when South Africans of all backgrounds came together for the good of all that we confounded the prophets of doom by bringing an end to this terrible period of our history.”
Nelson Mandela, statement on receiving the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission report, October, 1998
1. What is the “terrible past” that the author refers to in the above passage?
- (A) The system of apartheid
- (B) The imprisonment of Mandela
- (C) The Boer Wars
- (D) The Zulu massacre
2. What was the goal of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission?
- (A) To prevent the white South Africans from retaking political control
- (B) To establish a new system of governing South Africa
- (C) To establish an atmosphere of multiracial trust
- (D) To punish the South African Boers for implementing apartheid
3. How does the TRC differ from the Nuremberg trials?
- (A) The Nuremberg trials sought retribution.
- (B) The TRC forgave all apartheid implementers.
- (C) The Nuremberg trials prevented future ethnic injustice.
- (D) The TRC was international in scope. SHORT-ANSWER QUESTION 1. Use the passage below to answer all parts of the question that follows. “I think these may be my last words. My name is Chai Ling. I am twenty- three years old. My home is in Shandong Province. . . . The situation has become so dangerous. . . . If we withdraw from the square, the government will kill us anyway and purge those who supported us. If we let them win, thousands would perish, and seventy years of achievement would be wasted. Who knows how long it would be before the movement could rise again? The government has so many means of repression—execution, isolation. . . . I believe that democracy is a natural desire. It should guarantee human rights and independence, and foster self-respect—all of which people are entitled to. Unfortunately, the basic human instinct for independence has been greatly inhibited and degraded among the Chinese. . . . The square is our last stand. If we lose it, China will retreat into another dark age, the people will once again turn against one other, with no real feelings or communication between them. If a nation’s own people don’t stay and help it to grow and develop, who will? But I will not be there to protect the square because I’m different from the others: my name is on the blacklist. I don’t want to die.” Chai Ling, Interview at Tiananmen Square, 1989 (A) Explain how historical events affected Ling’s argument in the passage. (B) Explain ONE historical situation that supports Ling’s argument. (C) Explain ONE way in which struggles for democracy in China are similar to the struggles for democracy in South Africa. 2. Answer all parts of the question that follows. (A) Explain ONE way in which people challenged old assumptions about race, class, gender, or religion after 1900. (B) Explain ONE way in which access to education affected social structures after 1900. (C) Explain ONE way in which the development of the United Nations affected global integration after 1900.