Written-In Contrast To The Mainstream Of U.S. Historiography During The GMAT Reading Comprehension

In contrast to the mainstream of U.S. historiography during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, African American historians of the period, such as George Washington Williams and (5) W. E. B. DuBois, adopted a transnational perspective.

This was true for several reasons, not the least of which was the necessity of doing so if certain aspects of the history of African Americans in the United States were to be treated honestly.

(10) First, there was the problem of citizenship. Even after the adoption in 1868 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. The Constitution, which defined citizenship, the question of citizenship for African Americans had not been genuinely resolved. Because (15) of this, emigrationist sentiment was a central issue in black political discourse, and both issues were critical topics for investigation. The implications for historical scholarship and national identity were enormous. While some black leaders insisted on their right to the U.S. (20) citizenship, others called on black people to emigrate and find a homeland of their own. Most African Americans were certainly not willing to relinquish their claims to the benefits of U.S. citizenship, but many had reached a point of profound pessimism and had begun (25) to question their allegiance to the United States.

Mainstream U.S. historiography was firmly rooted in a nationalist approach during this period; the glorification of the nation and a focus on the nation-state as a historical force were dominant. The (30) expanding spheres of influence of Europe and the United States prompted the creation of new genealogies of nations, new myths about the inevitability of nations, their “temperaments,” their destinies. African American intellectuals who (35) confronted the nationalist approach to historiography were troubled by its implications. Some argued that imperialism was a natural outgrowth of nationalism and its view that a state’s strength is measured by the extension of its political power over colonial territory; (40) the scramble for colonial empires was a distinct aspect of nationalism in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

Yet, for all their distrust of U.S. nationalism, most early black historians were themselves engaged in a (45) sort of nation building. Deliberately or not, they contributed to the formation of a collective identity, reconstructing a glorious African past for the purposes of overturning degrading representations of blackness and establishing a firm cultural basis for a (50) shared identity. Thus, one might argue that black historians’ internationalism was a manifestation of a kind of nationalism that posits a diasporic community, which, while lacking a sovereign territory or official language, possesses a single culture, however (55) mythical, with singular historical roots. Many members of this diaspora saw themselves as an oppressed “nation” without a homeland, or they imagined Africa as home. Hence, these historians understood their task to be the writing of the history (60) of a people scattered by force and circumstance, a history that began in Africa.

Question 1: Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main idea of the passage?

(A) Historians are now recognizing that the major challenge faced by African Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the struggle for citizenship.
(B) Early African American historians who practiced a transnational approach to history were primarily interested in advancing an emigrationist project.
(C) U.S. historiography in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was characterized by a conflict between African American historians who viewed history from a transnational perspective and mainstream
historians who took a nationalist perspective.
(D) The transnational perspective of early African American historians countered mainstream nationalist historiography, but it was arguably nationalist itself to the extent that it posited a culturally unified diasporic
community.
(E) Mainstream U.S. historians in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries could no longer justify their nationalist approach to history once they were confronted with the transnational perspective taken by African American historians.

Question 2: Which one of the following phrases most accurately conveys the sense of the word “reconstructing” as it is used in line 47?

(A) correcting a misconception about
(B) determining the sequence of events in
(C) investigating the implications of
(D) rewarding the promoters of
(E) shaping a conception of

Question 3: Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the passage?

(A) Emigrationist sentiment would not have been as strong among African Americans in the late nineteenth century had the promise of U.S. citizenship been fully realized for African Americans at that time.
(B) Scholars writing the history of diasporic communities generally do not discuss the forces that initially caused the scattering of the members of those communities.
(C) Most historians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries endeavored to make the histories of the nations about which they wrote seem more glorious than they actually were.
(D) To be properly considered nationalist, a historical work must ignore the ways in which one nation’s foreign policy decisions affected other nations.
(E) A considerable number of early African American historians embraced nationalism and the inevitability of the dominance of the nation-state.

Question 4: As it is described in the passage, the transnational approach employed by African American historians working in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries would be best exemplified by a historical study that

(A) investigated the extent to which European and U.S. nationalist mythologies contradict one another
(B) defined the national characters of the United States and several European nations by focusing on their treatment of minority populations rather than on their territorial ambitions
(C) recounted the attempts by the United States to gain control over new territories during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
(D) considered the impact of emigrationist sentiment among African Americans on U.S. foreign policy in Africa during the late nineteenth century
(E) examined the extent to which African American culture at the turn of the century incorporated traditions that were common to a number of African cultures

Question 5: The passage provides information sufficient to answer which one of the following questions?

(A) Which African nations did early African American historians research in writing their histories of the African diaspora?
(B) What were some of the African languages spoken by the ancestors of the members of the African diasporic community who were living in the United States in the late nineteenth century?
(C) Over which territories abroad did the United States attempt to extend its political power in the latter part of the nineteenth century?
(D) Are there textual ambiguities in the Fourteenth Amendment that spurred the conflict over U.S. citizenship for African Americans?
(E) In what ways did African American leaders respond to the question of citizenship for African Americans in the latter part of the nineteenth century?

Question 6: The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) Members of a particular diasporic community have a common country of origin.
(B) Territorial sovereignty is not a prerequisite for the project of nation building.
(C) Early African American historians who rejected nationalist historiography declined to engage in historical myth-making of any kind.
(D) The most prominent African American historians in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries advocated emigration for African Americans.
(E) Historians who employed a nationalist approach focused on entirely different events from those studied and written about by early African American historians.

Question 7: The main purpose of the second paragraph of the passage is to

(A) explain why early African American historians felt compelled to approach historiography in the way that they did
(B) show that governmental actions such as constitutional amendments do not always have the desired effect
(C) support the contention that African American intellectuals in the late nineteenth century were critical of U.S. imperialism
(D) establish that some African American political leaders in the late nineteenth century advocated emigration as an alternative to fighting for the benefits of U.S. citizenship
(E) argue that the definition of citizenship contained in the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is too limited

Question 8: As it is presented in the passage, the approach to history taken by mainstream U.S. historians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is most similar to the approach exemplified in which one of the following?

(A) An elected official writes a memo suggesting that because a particular course of action has been successful in the past, the government should continue to pursue that course of action.
(B) A biographer of a famous novelist argues that the precocity apparent in certain of the novelist’s early achievements confirms that her success was attributable to innate talent.
(C) A doctor maintains that because a certain medication was developed expressly for the treatment of an illness, it is the best treatment for that illness.
(D) A newspaper runs a series of articles in order to inform the public about the environmentally hazardous practices of a large corporation.
(E) A scientist gets the same result from an experiment several times and therefore concludes that its chemical reactions always proceed in the observed fashion.

“Written-In contrast to the mainstream of U.S. historiography during the late”- is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension. This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 3 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.

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