Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
As we all know, February is Black History Month. A time to observe and celebrate the enormous contributions Black Americans have made on the fabric of this nation and on the world in general.
With that spirit in mind, I thought it might be interesting for you and your family to test your collective knowledge of Black History with a quiz that, admittedly, is a bit more challenging than last week’s offering. Let’s begin.
1. Who was the first African American Major League Baseball player?
Ernie Banks
Satchel Paige
Jackie Robinson
Larry Doby
2. Where was Malcolm X killed?
Audubon Ballroom,
Manhattan
Downtown Boston
His House, Queens
Massachusetts State
Prison
3. Where was the first “sit-in” at a segregated lunch counter?
Jackson, Mississippi
Atlanta, Georgia
Charleston,
South Carolina
Greensboro,
North Carolina
4. At its height, what was the slave population in the U.S.?
About 500,000
About 2 Million
About 1 Million
About 4 million
5. Who was the first African American Nobel Peace Prize winner?
Ralph Bunche
Albert John Lutul
Martin Luther King Jr.
Nelson Mandela
6. Who was the first African American to serve as a U.S. Senator?
Hiram Revels
Carol Mosley Braun
Edward Brooke
Blanche K. Bruce
7. Who was the first African American to serve as a US Supreme Court Justice?
William Henry Hastie
Thurgood Marshall
Charles Hamilton
Houston
Clarence Thomas
8. Who was the first African American to win an Academy Award?
Sidney Poitier
Dorothy Dandridge
Halle Berry
Hattie McDaniel
9. Who was the first African American to perform at the White House?
B.B. King
“Blind Tom” Wiggins
Louis Armstrong
Aretha Franklin
10. What year was the Thirteenth Amendment ratified, abolishing slavery?
1862
1872
1865
1867
11. Who signed The Emancipation Act?
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant
James Buchanan
Abraham Lincoln
12. With the 15th Amendment ratification in 1870, what did African Americans gain in the United States?
Freedom from Slavery
Right to Citizenship
Status
Voting Rights
Right to Sit Anywhere
13. Who was the only African American among the original NAACP executives?
Rosa Parks
Frederick Douglass
Martin Luther King Jr.
W.E.B. Du Bois
14. Who established the first non-indigenous settlement of Chicago?
Jean Baptiste Pointe
Du Sable
Joseph Moreno
Pedro Alonso Nino
Sally Bayne
15. Sarah Goode was the first African American woman to receive a patent. What did she invent?
Hair Straightening
System
Dry-Cleaning Process
Lip Stick
Folding Bed
Make expanding your knowledge and appreciation of Black History a year-round, family event. There’s so much to learn and so much to be proud about.
Answer Key: 1. Jackie Robinson 2. Audubon Ballroom, Manhattan 3. Greensboro, North Carolina 4. 4 million 5. Ralph Bunche 6. Hiram revels 7. Thurgood Marshall 8. Hattie McDaniel 9. “Blind Tom” Wiggins 10. 1865 11. Abraham Lincoln 12. Voting Rights 13. W.E.B. DuBois 14. Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable 15. Folding Bed