When Jamaican-born social activist Marcus Garvey came to the United St

Passage breakdown

In the first paragraph, the author introduces Marcus Garvey's ideas and states that his timing was good:

• Garvey's message was one of "unity, pride, and improved conditions for African American communities."
• His timing was fortunate because soldiers returning from WWI would be open to this message.

In the second paragraph, the author further explains why Garvey's timing was good:

• African Americans were enthusiastic about joining the armed forces, but were disappointed by their experiences in the military and upon their return home.
• This gap between expectations and reality "inspire[d] a revitalization movement."

In the third paragraph, the author argues against some scholars regarding Garvey's role, and provides his/her own perspective:

• Some scholars suggested that Garvey created the revitalization movement.
• The author disagrees, stating that Garvey did not create the movement but "gave this consciousness its political expression."

For more on the process of breaking down RC passages, check out this article and our live RC videos.

Explanations for individual questions

• Question 1
  
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• Question 2
• Question 3
  
  • Part 1
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• Question 4

Question 14 begins with the phrase " According to the passage", which indicates the answer must be found directly from the passage and we don't need to infer it from the passage. Unfortunately, as OG 13 OA mentions that the answer is C, this answer choice is not directly mentioned in the passage. of course we could conclude that it is the correct answer but as we all know from Critical Reasoning concluding from some premises are inference type questions. Am I right?

"But such an argument only tends to obscure the consciousness of identity, strength, and sense of history that already existed in the African American community. Garvey did not create this consciousness; rather, he gave this consciousness its political expression."

Leaving the CR skills aside. i think the answer choice directly follows from these lines. The answer choice c is directly mentioned. Which choice did you pick ?

Wh

Answer this Question after reading only the first and the last para.
What would be marcus's success ?
And if we look deeply this line :
*Some scholars have argued that Garvey created the consciousness from which he built, in the 1920s, the largest revitalization movement in African American history. *

If you answer the followng thre qustions you will ace the entire passge.
And find what would have brought this revolution ? Who brought this revolution ? and why did Only he succeed in doing this?

E. The goal of the mass movement that Marcus Garvey helped bring into being was to build on the pride and unity among African Americans.

option E is wrong because GARVEY wanted unity, pride, and improved conditions for African American communities.
and not AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS

When Jamaican-born social activist Marcus Garvey came to the United States in 1916, he arrived at precisely the right historical moment. What made the moment right was the return of African American soldiers from the First World War in 1918, which created an ideal constituency for someone withGarvey's message of unity, pride, and improved conditions for African American communities.

Hope it helps

17.According to the passage, many African American people joined the armed forces during the First World War for which of the following reasons?

The part of the text we have to look at is this:
"Hoping to participate in the traditional American ethos of individual success, many African American people entered the armed forces with enthusiasm,"

B. They expected to fulfill ideals of personal attainment.
The passage states "ethos of individual success", and B is pretty much a rewording of the above part.

D. They hoped that joining the military would help advance the cause of desegregation.
We know that they "find themselves segregated from white troops and subjected to numerous indignities.", but we cannot say that they joined the army to advance the cause of desegregation.

B is right. G create the conciousness,so we can suppose that the conciousness did not exsit in the people mind before. If G plan to start a movement, he need to change the attitude of people to support him.
E is wrong. I think that the answer E confuses the the reason and result. According to the scholar mentioned, the movement was built on the conciousness that G created before the movement, not "was to build on". In line 22, we can know that the goal of movement is to fulfill the longstanding expectations(is equal to conciousness).

look forward someone to pointing out my mistake.
Hopefully my explain is helpful.

"Some scholars have argued that Garvey created the consciousness from which he built, in the 1920s, the largest revitalization movement in African American history. But such an argument only tends to obscure the consciousness of identity, strength, and sense of history that already existed in the African American community. Garvey did not create this consciousness; rather, he gave this consciousness its political expression."

Scholars argued that Garvey created the consciousness and not hoped.

Query for Gmatninja/Gmatninja2:
Can you explain OA for Q#15 is D and not C. (Q: The passage suggests that many African American people responded to their experiences in the armed forces in which of the following ways?)
As per the passage it clearly says that Asian African people were dis satisfied after returning from world war and last paragraph stresses on Garvey giving movement a political expression, meaning that soldiers joined the political movement .

If i could opine on this...

I think you are reading too much into it. The passage never implied that the soldiers joined / had political affiliations after they returned from the WW1. That infact should be the reason why you should eliminate the answer choice. It could be quite possible that other African Americans joined the political affiliations. Be critical in your purview when you eliminate the answer choices. Don't imply things which are not intended to or are not 100% deducible. Even if there is a figment of doubt, eliminate the answer choice. On the contrary this line from the passage should be your focus:

Considering similar experiences, anthropologist Anthony F. C. Wallace has argued that when a perceptible gap arises between a culture’s expectations and the reality of that culture, the resulting tension can inspire a revitalization movement: an organized, conscious effort to construct a culture that fulfills longstanding expectations.


Hope that helps.

Summary of my attempt: 6.57mins...all correct.

Thanks TheMechanic for the explanation!

Feel free to use the "Request Expert Reply" button if you still have any doubts.

The passage does not specifically say that Garvey "supported the movement to protest segregation" or that there even was such a movement to protest segregation prior to his arrival in the United States. All we know about segregation is that the soldiers "returned to a United States that was as segregated as it had been before the war."

We are told that there was an "ideal constituency for someone with Garvey's message" and that Garvey "gave this consciousness [of identity, strength, and sense of history that already existed in the African American community] its political expression". This fits with choice (C):


I hope that helps!

Passage: Marcus Garvey

Question: Scholars’ Beliefs

The Simple Story

Social activist Marcus Garvey arrived in the United States at the right time for his message to resonate. African American soldiers, who were returning from the First World War, found that their experiences (both in the armed forces and upon returning) did not meet their expectations. According to anthropologists, this type of gap between expectations and reality can create a community consciousness. While some argue that Garvey created the consciousness on which he built his movement, the author asserts that this consciousness among African Americans actually already existed.

Sample Passage Map

Here is one way to map this passage. (Note: abbreviate as desired!)

MG → Good timing

AA – xprnc not living up to expect

MG movement – helped by existing AA conscious.

Note: AA is an abbreviation for African Americans; xprnc is an abbreviation for experience; expect is an abbreviation for expectations.

Step 1: Identify the Question

The word inferred in the question stem indicates that this is an Inference question.

Step 2: Find the Support

Read the text surrounding the scholars mentioned in the the question to identify what they believe.

“Some scholars have argued that Garvey created the consciousness from which he built, in the 1920’s, the largest revitalization movement in African American history.”

Step 3: Predict an Answer

Expect the answer to be some form of the scholars’ belief: that Garvey created the consciousness. Note that this is the opposite of what the author of the passage believes; keep an eye out for trap answers!

Step 4: Eliminate and Find a Match

(A) While the importance of returning African American soldiers is discussed in the second paragraph, it is not mentioned in relation to these scholars.

(B) CORRECT. The idea the Garvey had to change a number of prevailing attitudes in order to further his movement matches with the idea of creat[ing] the consciousness from the quoted sentence.

(C) This is a trap! The answer matches the beliefs of the author of the passage: that Garvey’s movement benefited from existing attitudes in the African American community. But the question asks about the beliefs of scholars, who hold the opposite view: that Garvey had to create the consciousness.

(D) In order to revitalize consciousness, that consciousness must already exist. The scholars believe Garvey created the consciousness, a belief that is inconsistent with this answer. Moreover, the quoted sentence does not discuss the scholars’ awareness of what Garvey hoped; rather they state what they believe he actually did (i.e. create the consciousness). This answer is also a trap because it uses the word revitalize, a form of which is found in the quoted sentence, but other parts of the answer are not supported as discussed above.

(E) Garvey did present a message of pride and unity, according to the first paragraph, but the passage does not discuss whether the scholars hold this belief.

Passage: Marcus Garvey

Question: Reaction to Armed Forces

The Simple Story

Social activist Marcus Garvey arrived in the United States at the right time for his message to resonate. African American soldiers, who were returning from the First World War, found that their experiences (both in the armed forces and upon returning) did not meet their expectations. According to anthropologists, this type of gap between expectations and reality can create a community consciousness. While some argue that Garvey created the consciousness on which he built his movement, the author asserts that this consciousness among African Americans actually already existed.

Sample Passage Map

Here is one way to map this passage. (Note: abbreviate as desired!)

MG → Good timing

AA – xprnc not living up to expect

MG movement – helped by existing AA conscious.

Note: AA is an abbreviation for African Americans; xprnc is an abbreviation for experience; expect is an abbreviation for expectations.

Step 1: Identify the Question

The word suggests in the question stem indicates that this is an Inference question.

Step 2: Find the Support

The passage does not directly state how African Americans responded to their circumstances upon returning. The end of the second paragraph does provide a view of how people with similar experiences might respond.

“…when a perceptible gap arises between culture’s expectations and the reality of that culture, the resulting tension can inspire a revitalization movement.”

This sentence sums up the specific circumstances described as applying to African Americans who entered the armed forces: they had high expectations but faced segregation and other indignities.

Step 3: Predict an Answer

The answer could mention the specific circumstances faced by African American entering the armed forces. Because this is an inference question, it is also possible that the answer will focus on the broader idea from the quoted sentence: a gap between expectations and reality.

Step 4: Eliminate and Find a Match

(A) While the passage does say that African Americans entered the armed forces with enthusiasm, their allegiance to the armed forces after completing their service is never mentioned in the passage.

(B) Attitudes towards the United States involvement in the First World War are not presented in the passage.

(C) While the passage does mention segregation and other indignities as conditions that African American soldiers experienced, it suggests that these conditions may inspire a movement or consciousness. The passage does not state that such conditions led to joining political organizations to protest the conditions.

(D) CORRECT. This answer is a match to the first part of the sentence quoted above. The returning soldiers realized the gap between their expectations and the realities.

(E) The passage suggests that many returning soldiers may have been receptive to Garvey’s message due to their new consciousness. This answer states the opposite.

Hi all

I have a query on the question -3. i.e. (It can be inferred from the passage that the “scholars” mentioned in line 24 believe which of the following to be true?)

As per the third paragraph, it is mentioned that Garvey created the consciousness and that called for the largest revitalization movement. in the next line, the author mentions that the whole thing can tend to obscure as it was already there. Therefore he did not create or build the consciousness for the revitalization movement.

For the above references, we can conclude that the ideology was always prevailing and Garvey gave it a new political expression to it. Hence why not option C?

Hope i am not wrong!

thanks
subhankar

Need your views and suggestion regarding Q3. While I must mention, after being informed that B is right choice, it seems to me as a right choice because my brain can act funny in many scenarios. I would request you to view option E as well and help me/us why it cannot be right choice.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that the “scholars” mentioned in the highlight text believe which of the following to be true?

(B) Marcus Garvey had to change a number of prevailing attitudes in order for his mass movement to find a foothold in the United States.
(E) The goal of the mass movement that Marcus Garvey helped bring into being was to build on the pride and unity among African Americans.

"Some scholars have argued that Garvey created the consciousness from which he built, in the 1920s, the largest revitalisation movement in African American history. But such an argument only tends to obscure the consciousness of identity, strength, and sense of history that already existed in the African American community. Garvey did not create this consciousness; rather, he gave this consciousness its political expression."

I had used my inference from the underlined part that while scholars believe Garvey was the one who established foundation for consciousness of well being for African Americans, author believe it is wrong. Reason being, consciousness always existed i.e. of pride, identity and well being etc. Hence, author presents that Garvey used already established foundation to further his cause and not as scholars think he created it.

E - Might use goal of the movement and we can think, there is no goal discussed in passage, but here the sentence intends to convey that scholars believe Garvey build a foundation of a movement on pride and unity etc. ( previous para : consciousness of i.e. of pride, identity and well being etc. ), hence I chose this option.

I agree B communicates correct message too but please help why E can be wrong. Happy to be advised if my understanding of para above need correction

Based on that last paragraph of the passage, we only know one thing that SCHOLARS actually believed:


That's it. We know absolutely nothing else about what those scholars believe. The rest of the paragraph expresses the AUTHOR'S point of view that the consciousness already existed in the African American community, and that Garvey simply gave that consciousness its political expression.


Again, we know nothing about the SCHOLARS' beliefs, other than their belief that Garvey created the consciousness from which he built his movement. The scholars say nothing about the goal of Garvey's movement.

More importantly, the scholars are saying that Garvey built the consciousness himself -- and by "consciousness", we mean exactly that sense of pride and unity in the African American community. So it doesn't make sense to say that Garvey's goal was to "build on the pride and unity" that already existed. If anything, the scholars are suggesting that Garvey created that sense of pride and unity, and that it didn't exist earlier.

We also went through this passage in a YouTube live video, though I don't think we covered all of the questions in detail.

I hope this helps!