Question 1 of 20OriginsEasy
Black history quiz
Celebrate the trailblazers who changed America with this Black history quiz, covering groundbreaking achievements in science, the arts, sport, politics and civil rights. It makes a great Black History Month quiz for family night or the classroom, with 20 questions for every level of history fan.
A free quiz from Megan Moran.
Question 2 of 20Civil rightsEasy
In December 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat in which city?
Question 3 of 20OriginsMedium
Negro History Week was set in February to include the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and which abolitionist and writer?
Question 4 of 20Science and spaceMedium
In 1992, who became the first African American woman to travel into space, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour?
Question 5 of 20Politics and lawHard
The lead case in the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education came from which state?
Question 6 of 20SportEasy
In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier playing for which team?
Question 7 of 20Science and spaceMedium
Agricultural scientist George Washington Carver, famous for his work with peanuts, taught for 47 years at which school?
Question 8 of 20Arts and lettersHard
Who became the first African American to win an Academy Award, for her role in Gone with the Wind (1939)?
Question 9 of 20Civil rightsEasy
In August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of which Washington, DC, landmark?
Question 10 of 20Politics and lawMedium
Who became the first African American justice of the US Supreme Court, in 1967?
Question 11 of 20Science and spaceHard
Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to hold a pilot's license, earned it in 1921 in which country?
Question 12 of 20Arts and lettersMedium
Who became the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1993?
Question 13 of 20Civil rightsEasy
Which abolitionist, born into slavery in Maryland, made about 13 trips back to guide roughly 70 people to freedom on the Underground Railroad?
Question 14 of 20Arts and lettersMedium
Poet Langston Hughes was a leading voice of which 1920s flowering of Black art, music and literature, named after a New York City neighborhood?
Question 15 of 20Politics and lawHard
Who became the first Black woman elected to the US Congress, in 1968, and later sought the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination?
Question 16 of 20Science and spaceMedium
NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson double-checked the computer's orbit calculations at the request of which astronaut, before his 1962 flight?
Question 17 of 20SportEasy
Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in which city?
Question 18 of 20OriginsMedium
In 1976, which US president became the first to officially recognize Black History Month?
Question 19 of 20SportHard
In 1975, who became the first Black man to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon?
Question 20 of 20BusinessMedium
Which entrepreneur, who built a hair-care company for Black women, is recognized by Guinness World Records as America's first self-made female millionaire?
Answer all 20 to see your score.
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Show all the answers, with the facts behind them
- Which historian, often called the "father of Black history," launched Negro History Week in 1926? Carter G. WoodsonThe son of formerly enslaved parents, he earned a Harvard PhD in history in 1912, the second African American to do so.
- In December 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat in which city? MontgomeryHer arrest sparked a bus boycott that lasted more than a year and ended after the US Supreme Court upheld a ruling against segregated buses.
- Negro History Week was set in February to include the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and which abolitionist and writer? Frederick DouglassBorn enslaved in Maryland, he never knew his exact birth date and chose to celebrate his birthday on February 14.
- In 1992, who became the first African American woman to travel into space, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour? Mae JemisonA trained physician, she later became the first real astronaut to appear on Star Trek, in a 1993 episode of The Next Generation.
- The lead case in the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education came from which state? KansasThe ruling against segregated public schools was unanimous, 9 to 0, with Chief Justice Earl Warren writing the opinion.
- In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier playing for which team? Brooklyn DodgersMLB retired his number 42 across every team in 1997, and on Jackie Robinson Day each April 15 all players wear it.
- Agricultural scientist George Washington Carver, famous for his work with peanuts, taught for 47 years at which school? Tuskegee InstituteHe urged Southern farmers to rotate cotton with crops like peanuts and soybeans, which put nitrogen back into worn-out soil.
- Who became the first African American to win an Academy Award, for her role in Gone with the Wind (1939)? Hattie McDanielShe won Best Supporting Actress at the 1940 ceremony, yet had to sit at a segregated table at the far wall of the room.
- In August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of which Washington, DC, landmark? Lincoln MemorialAn estimated 250,000 people joined the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom that day.
- Who became the first African American justice of the US Supreme Court, in 1967? Thurgood MarshallAs a civil rights lawyer, he won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court.
- Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to hold a pilot's license, earned it in 1921 in which country? FranceBack home she thrilled crowds as a barnstorming stunt pilot, performing loops and figure eights, and was nicknamed "Queen Bess."
- Who became the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1993? Toni MorrisonHer novel Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988.
- Which abolitionist, born into slavery in Maryland, made about 13 trips back to guide roughly 70 people to freedom on the Underground Railroad? Harriet TubmanDuring the Civil War she helped lead the 1863 Combahee River Raid in South Carolina, which freed more than 700 enslaved people.
- Poet Langston Hughes was a leading voice of which 1920s flowering of Black art, music and literature, named after a New York City neighborhood? Harlem RenaissanceDuke Ellington led the band at the famous Cotton Club, which featured Black performers but admitted only white audiences.
- Who became the first Black woman elected to the US Congress, in 1968, and later sought the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination? Shirley ChisholmHer campaign slogan, "Unbought and Unbossed," also became the title of her 1970 autobiography.
- NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson double-checked the computer's orbit calculations at the request of which astronaut, before his 1962 flight? John GlennShe received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 and lived to the age of 101.
- Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in which city? BerlinA year earlier, at a college meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he broke or equaled six world records in about 45 minutes.
- In 1976, which US president became the first to officially recognize Black History Month? Gerald FordThe first month-long celebration had already been held at Kent State University in Ohio in 1970.
- In 1975, who became the first Black man to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon? Arthur AsheHe had also won the 1968 US Open as an amateur, so he couldn't accept the winner's prize money.
- Which entrepreneur, who built a hair-care company for Black women, is recognized by Guinness World Records as America's first self-made female millionaire? Madam C. J. WalkerBorn Sarah Breedlove in Louisiana in 1867, she was the first child in her family born into freedom.
