Jul.11
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This Week in Freudenfreude: The Farmer Is the Man, Part II

Last week, we had a Fourth of July quiz, commemorating America's history of protest. Today, it's the answers and the results. First, the answers:

  1. What is being protested in this image, which documents events that took place on December 16, 1773?

    An engraving of a harbor; some sort of containers are being thrown off a ship into the water

    a. Merchants charging exorbitant prices for salt (chosen by 1.5% of respondents)
    b. Taxes on tea (97.5%)
    c. An outbreak of diptheria, blamed (incorrectly) on tainted, imported spices (0.5%)
    d. "Immoral" tobacco (0.5%)

    Explanation: It is, of course, a rendering of the Boston Tea Party.


  2. What is being protested by this flag, which was created in the year 1844?

    An American flag with 'Beware of foreign influence' stenciled on it

    a. Catholic immigrants (62.5%)
    b. Chinese immigrants (23.9%)
    c. Communist immigrants (9.4%)
    d. Canadian immigrants (4.2%)

    Explanation: This is a Know-Nothing flag; the Know-Nothings were focused primarily on Irish Catholic immigrants. Chinese immigration did not become an issue until the California gold rush of 1849, and even then, the anti-Chinese movement was the Workingmen's Party, and not the Know-Nothings.


  3. What is being protested by this newspaper, which began publication in 1831?

    Front page of 'The Liberator'

    a. Women's oppression (0.8%)
    b. Masonic influence in American culture (4.4%)
    c. Andrew Jackson (and, later, Jacksonian policies) (6.2%)
    d. Slavery (88.5%)

    Explanation: The Liberator, published by William Lloyd Garrison, was the leading abolitionist newspaper.


  4. What is being protested in this image, which documents events that took place on April 2, 1863?

    A bunch of women march, while men in gray uniforms try to hold them back

    a. The price of bread (90.1%)
    b. Native American raids on Southern cities (0.5%)
    c. The disputed New Orleans mayoral election (4.3%)
    d. The publication of the "pornographic" The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (5.1%)

    Explanation: The Richmond Bread Riots were the most notable among many examples of anti-war protests that broke out in the South during the Civil War.


  5. What is being protested in this image, which documents events that took place on July 14, 1863?

    A large confrontation unfolds in favor of the very large Brooks Brothers store

    a. A tax on wool and wool clothing (essential for winter, in that era) (54.8%)
    b. The military draft (42.5%)
    c. Unsafe drinking water (1.7%)
    d. A ban on firearms within the city limits of New York City (1%)

    Explanation: This is an engraving of the New York City Draft Riots.


  6. What is being protested in this image, which documents events that took place on July 6, 1892?

    A sequence of images showing 'The Great Battle of Homestead'

    a. The damage wrought by the Johnstown Flood (1.7%)
    b. Immigration (10.2%)
    c. Wages for steel workers (81.4%)
    d. A tax on whiskey (6.7%)

    Explanation: The events at Homestead pitted steel workers against management (particularly Henry Clay Frick) and the Pinkerton guards that were hired to break the strikes/protests.


  7. What are the women protesting for, in this photo taken on January 26, 1917?

    Six women, standing in front of the White House, wearing sashes that identify the colleges they graduated from

    a. Child labor laws (6.6%)
    b. Women's suffrage (67.7%)
    c. The outlawing of gender-segregated universities (25.2%)
    d. Temperance (0.5%)

    Explanation: One of the arguments against women's suffrage was that women were not smart enough to vote; the pro-suffrage protesters wore sashes bearing the names of their alma maters to make clear they most certainly were smart enough.


  8. What are the people protesting for, in this photo taken on August 28, 1963?

    Martin Luther King Jr., Marlon Brando, and a bunch of other Black and white people march with arms linked; there are many signs being held, the most prominent says 'We march for jobs now!

    a. Jobs and freedom (55.8%)
    b. Law and order (0.0%)
    c. Fairness and equality (43.8%)
    d. Peace and prosperity (0.4%)

    Explanation: The full title of the famous March on Washington was "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom."


  9. This headline, from June 21, 1967, was the result of a protest against what?

    A headline from the Houston Post shows two pictures of Muhammad Ali; the headline is 'Clay Gets 4 Years; $10,000 Fine

    a. Segregation (2.7%)
    b. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1.8%)
    c. The criminalization of marijuana (1.4%)
    d. The Vietnam War (94.1%)

    Explanation: Cassius Clay, soon to be known as Muhammad Ali, was punished for resisting the draft during the Vietnam War.


  10. What is being protested, in this photo taken on April 22, 1970?

    A person in a gas mask smells a flower

    a. The damage done to the environment by mankind (61.3%)
    b. Chicago's infamous "Flower Law" (repealed soon after) (3%)
    c. The meltdown at Three Mile Island (6.2%)
    d. The use of chemical weapons, especially Agent Orange, in Vietnam (29.5%)

    Explanation: This is from the very first Earth Day.


  11. What triggered this protest, in this photo taken on January 22, 1973?

    A bunch of protesters hold signs; the most prominent says 'January 22, 1973--The Darkest Day in American History

    a. The Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade (89.6%)
    b. The Supreme Court's lifting the national moratorium on the death penalty (9.3%)
    c. The United States' final withdrawal from Vietnam (0.3%)
    d. The successful test of the "Castle Bravo" nuclear bomb (0.8%)

    Explanation: This picture shows anti-choice demonstrators who descended on the Minnesota Capitol building after the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade was announced.


  12. What are the people protesting for, in this photo taken on June 28, 1978?

    A man rides on the roof of a car and holds a sign that says 'I'm from Woodmere, NY'; behind him is another sign opposing the Briggs initiative

    a. Funding for public transportation (1.7%)
    b. Better healthcare for veterans (0.4%)
    c. Gay rights (93.1%)
    d. Ending discrimination in housing (4.8%)

    Explanation: This is Harvey Milk, during his brief time as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.


  13. What was being protested against, in this photo taken on September 12, 2016?

    Football player Colin Kaepernick kneels before a game

    a. Police brutality (98.9%)
    b. Donald Trump (0.5%)
    c. The "slave wages" paid to football players (0.4%)
    d. Poverty (0.2%)

    Explanation: This is Colin Kaepernick, and his main concern was police brutality.


  14. What was being protested for, in this photo taken on March 24, 2018?

    A bunch of people, mostly very young, march down the street. Signs that say 'Students Demand Change' and 'Stop Killing Kids' are visible

    a. Stronger vaccine requirements, particularly the COVID vaccine (0.2%)
    b. Forgiveness of student loans (7.3%)
    c. Stricter limits on abortion (0.8%)
    d. Better gun-control laws (91.7%)

    Explanation: We left just enough detail in the picture that it can be seen that this is a photo of the March for Our Lives protests.


  15. This photo, taken on June 11, 2020, was part of protests that emerged in response to what?

    A statue of Christopher Columbus has been defaced with red paint; a sign has been taped to the statue that says 'Rip the head from your oppressor'

    a. The Keystone XL Pipeline (3.9%)
    b. The death of George Floyd (77.2%)
    c. The publication of new history "standards" in Texas (12.9%)
    d. The renomination of Donald Trump at the 2020 RNC (6%)

    Explanation: One of the signature elements of the George Floyd protests was toppling or defacing statues of historical figures (Christopher Columbus, Junípero Serra, Robert E. Lee, etc.) associated with oppression of minority groups.

    Tiebreaker: The largest protest in U.S. history (by number of participants nationwide) that also included participation from the sitting president took place in what year?

    1970. There is some question as to the largest nationwide protest in American history; it's widely agreed that the first Earth Day involved 20 million participants, while the George Floyd protests involved anywhere from 15 to 25 million. However, Donald Trump most certainly did not participate in the George Floyd protests, while both Richard and Pat Nixon were a part of the first Earth Day, planting a tree on the White House lawn in honor of the occasion:

    Pat Nixon hoists a shovelful of dirt while Richard Nixon looks on

    Yes, it's a pretty obviously staged photo-op, but the Nixons really were pro-environment.

There were a total of 63 readers who got all 15 questions right. Among those were six who got them all AND hit the tiebreaker on the nose. Here are those six:

  1. A.C. in Lake Mary, FL
  2. C.M. in Leesburg, FL
  3. G.J.B. in Rowland Heights, CA
  4. M.A. in Park Ridge, IL
  5. M.L. in West Hartford, CT
  6. T.K. in Salem, MA

Congratulations to these six readers, and indeed, to all readers who put up a perfect score! Oh, and the average score was 11.9, while the median score was 12. (Z)


This item appeared on www.electoral-vote.com. Read it Monday through Friday for political and election news, Saturday for answers to reader's questions, and Sunday for letters from readers.

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