Drawing Conclusions Practice Test

Between 1916 and 1970, a movement known as the Great Migration saw millions of African Americans leave the rural South for cities in the North, Midwest, and West. This was not a single, organized event, but a protracted wave of individual and family decisions. The primary 'push' factors were the harsh segregationist laws and poor economic conditions in the South, where sharecropping had left many in a cycle of debt. The 'pull' factors were the lure of industrial jobs, particularly during the labor shortages of the World Wars, and the hope for a life with more freedom and less discrimination. Though life in the North was often difficult and presented its own forms of prejudice, the move represented a profound act of agency for people seeking to improve their circumstances.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a technology many of us use daily without a second thought. It was born, however, out of military necessity during the Cold War. The U.S. Department of Defense wanted a robust, satellite-based system for precise navigation for its military forces anywhere on the globe. The system they developed, based on a constellation of satellites broadcasting time-stamped signals, was so effective that in the 1980s, the government decided to make it available for civilian use. This decision has had a vast impact, enabling everything from in-car navigation and precision agriculture to location-based mobile apps and synchronized financial transactions.