African-American History

1. What is the name given by DNA specialists to the world's first human as identified in Africa and determined by the study o genetic history?

2. Who was the first African warrior-king to unite Upper and Lower Egypt four millennia ago?

3. Name the two undoubted Africans who conquered and ruled all of Egypt at least 600 years before the birth of Christ.

4. Identified as the mother of Akhenaten, the world's first proponent of the idea of one God, this Egyptian Queen was described by her contemporaries as "coal " in complexion and undoubtedly African in her facial features. What was her name?

5. A 10th century African king on a round trip between his kingdom of ancient Mali and Mecca in Arabia was so wealthy that spending by his 40,000-person entourage upset the economies of the nations through which they passed. Identify this African king.

6. Songhai, the greatest and largest of the "Big Three" pre-colonial West African empires, was founded by a warrior family which supplied several generations of rulers with the same name. What was the name?

7. What was the name of a major pre-colonial African University whose professors were required to sign their individual names to the diplomas of every graduating student who had attended their classes?

8. Called the "African Attila, " this mighty warrior, in the 1820s,organized an exceptionally disciplined army of 100,000 soldiers and at age 34 conquered territory larger in size than the country of France. What was his actual name?

9. In East Africa, there're remnants of magnificent 14th century stone structures once known as the "African Acropolis" and "The Temple. "Falsely attributed to European architects, these artifacts are now seen as the works of Africans exclusively. Identify these artifacts by the names now most commonly used to describe them.

10. Of scores of states and societies in pre-colonial West Africa, name the two largest and most famous.

11. In slavery era trans Atlantic trade involving Africa, Europe and the "New World," what products were most commonly shipped from a) Europe to African societies and b) the "New World" slave societies to Europe?

12. European control of the African continent evolved from negotiated waterfront landing rights to military conquest, ending in the parcelling out of Africa to major European powers in the 1880s at an infamous conference held in what city?

13. In the 20th century African political independence movements, what types of associations did Black activists first organize in their freedom struggles?

14. With a larger circulation than any other newspaper published by Blacks anywhere and often carrying articles written in English, French and Spanish, the Negro World reached at least 500,000 readers per issue. It was published by what organization?

15. In 1914, Frances anctioned the election of Blaise Diagne, the first Black from any European colony to hold a seat in a mainland law-making body. Identify this body.

16. In Kenya, the famed Mau Mau movement represented reaction to political subordination, economic oppression and outright racism, but in the wake of the movement emerged the "George Washington" of Kenya. What was his name?

17. More than one Nobel Prize has been awarded persons on the African continent. Identify the first African Nobel Prize recipient by name, country and year of award.

18. During the past century, of the 54 countries on the continent of Africa, all but one has been a "possession," "colony" or "protectorate" of some European power. What's the one exception?

19. Perhaps the most famous African of the 20th century, Nelson Mandela was freed in 1990 after spending 27 years behind bars as a political prisoner. Name the prison site where he served most of is sentence.

20. What language is most commonly spoken by Black sin the western hemisphere?
    
    African-American Firsts
    

21. In the colonial era, the first free Black self-governing community in North America was established in 1752 in Spanish-controlled Florida. Name this community.

22. The first publication produced by a person in defense of an African-American community was issued in 1794 by Richard Allen, the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal church, rejecting accusations of over charging for services in a Philadelphia city emergency. Name the date and the occasion of the allegations.

23. While African Americans made up large proportions of sailors on early American ships, the first person to own a small fleet of seagoing vessels was based in Massachusetts and in 1813 financed his own "back-to-Africa" movement. Identify this merchant seaman.

24. Given the name "Isabella" and speaking Dutch from infancy , the first Black female professional anti-slavery orator, she has been given credit for a speech in English she never made. What was her stage name and what was the title ofa litany written in her honor?

25. Trained in Boston's New England Female Medical College in1864, the first African American female holder of the degree Doctor of Medicine built up a huge practice in Richmond, Virginia. What was the name of this pioneer professional? 

26. An African American used clothing store owner in Boston authored the first nationally noticed political pamphlet by a person. Some locations made it a crime to possess this document. Identify the author and the pamphlet.

27.   By "stealing" a Confederate navy vessel and delivering it to the Union, this enslaved African became the first hero of the Civil War. He remained in the public eye as a post-Civil War Congressman. Identify him.

28. As the granddaughter of one of Philadelphia's wealthiest Blacks who once had over a hundred workers of both races in his ship sail repair business, Charlotte For ten was among the first women of color to "go South" to teach freed men and women. She reported this experience in what publication?

29. He helped Frederick Douglass edit the North Star, 1848, published a still cited book in 1852,ledan exploratory party to Africa in 1859, and in 1865, he was the first Black during the Civil War to be appointed to a rank higher than sergeant. What were his rank and name?

30. Until 1864 it was illegal for African Americans to tread upon the floors of the United States Congress. In celebrating the passage of the 13thAmendment in 1865, a radical clergyman became the first Black to address the House of Representatives. What was his name?

31. The first African American elected to the United States Congress was never seated. He was also the first African American to speak on business before the House of Representatives. Identify him

32. While African Americans holding the Ph.D. now number several thousand, the very first African to earn a Ph. D. in the United States graduated from Yale University in 1876 in the difficult field of physics. What was his name?

33. Who was the first African-American female to complete work for the Ph. D. while attending Radcliffe College in Massachusetts in field of English in 1921.

34. She was the founder of her own college, the organizer of public issue association in the 20th century, first African female administrator to head a federal office and made history down to the writing of her "Last Will and Testament." Who was she?

35. At the core of the institutional arrangements effecting the amount of credit and cash available in the United States, the Federal Reserve Board is to the American economy what the heart is to the human body: a pump whose decisions pulsate throughout the nation. Identify the first Black to head this unit of government?

36. While several African American females hold congressional seats in our time, the very first Black woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1968 had already served in her state legislature. Identify that noted person.

37. In national recognition, this African American educator achieved a "double first": he was the first to have a U.S. stamp issued (1940) bearing his likeness and the first to have a U.S. coin issued (1946) with his facial image. Identify him.

38. A major model for Blacks and whites in the 1940s, this educator achieved national renown for his scientific work and became the first African American to be honored with a federally-funded statue (1960) to his memory. Who was he?

39. While most enslaved Africans in the New World used to raise sugar cane, a freeperson of color was the first person to follow explicitly scientific methods in1843in the conversion of cane juice to crystallized sugar. Identify that person.

40. Before becoming the first African American to attain the rank of general in the U.S. Air Force, this serviceman was the first and only individual in recent military history to receive two promotions within 24 hours--from captain to major and lieutenant colonel. Identify him.

41. While astronauts are now seen as routine, few are aware of the first Black person to be selected for the exceedingly rigorous training required by the space program's Manned Orbiting Laboratory in 1967. What was that person's name?

42. Mae C. Jemison, the first female astronaut, is known primarily for her role in the space program. Before entering this program in 1987, Ms. Jemison worked in Sierra Leone, Africa for two years in what capacity?

43. From its founding in 1867 to 1926,Howard University, the nation's best known most comprehensive predominantly Black university, had white presidents. What was the profession and full name of its first African-American president?

44. Able to write in English, French and German by his early twenties, this Philadelphia-born scholar was the first African American to be awarded, in 1907, a Rhodes scholarship, the world's most prestigious grant for advanced study at Oxford University. Identify him.

45. The National Science Foundation, as the government's presence in scientific research, distributes billions of dollars to support the work of some of the nation's most brilliant individuals. Who was the first African American to head this foundation?
    
    Heroes and Heroines
    

46. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) were among the most prominent national civil rights advocacy organizations in the Sixties. One individual served first as manager of SCLC and then of SNCC. Identify that person.

47. In the epoch-making arrest of Mrs. Rosa Parks , which launched the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, Mrs. Parks had a "day job" as a professional seamstress in a department store. What was her far more significant "night job?"

48. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's predecessor at Montgomery's Dexter Avenue Baptist Church was perhaps more fearless than Dr. King, but his effort at confronting racism was perceived as being "ahead of  his time." Identify this now legendary minister.

49. During the Civil Rights Movement, the NAACP was at the heart of protest movements on behalf of African Americans. Its most famous director switched from a career of recording news to one of making news when, in 1955,he became Executive Director of the NAACP. Who was he?

50. Dating from 1911, the National Urban League has been a major organization monitoring the economic and education status of African Americans. During the Civil Rights movement, its Executive Director was a former social work professional who headed the League until his untimely demise in 1971.Identify him.

51. Affecting the speech and mannerisms of an aristocrat, this individual created Black America's most powerful labor union and was a pioneer in mass demonstrations. What was his name?

52. Daisy Gaston Bates, then a state NAACP advisor to the famed "Little Rock Nine" desegregating Little Rock, Arkansas' Central High School in 1957,lost her business in the struggle. Identify the business.

53. At the beginning of World War II, Navy Mess Attendant Dorie Miller shot down four Japanese planes. He was proclaimed a hero, returned to duty and lost his life in battle still a mess man attendant. The United States Navy acknowledged his heroics by awarding him what special honor?

54. In the 1940s when it was most dangerous to do so, the NAACP assigned its Southern states field representative to report on the illegal activities of groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Her work brought her a measure of fame and the attentions of Southern racists. Identify her by name.

55. In 1937 Joe Louis Barrow defeated an early "great white hope" before a crowd of 45,000 fans and became the first African American officially recognized heavyweight champion since Jack Johnson. Name his opponent.

56. In a heroic congressional career of a quarter century, the first African American Representative from New York proposed 50 different bills embodying the early concepts of equal opportunity and affirmative action, and saw each of them become law. Identity this lawmaker.

57. After being fired from her South Carolina public school teaching job in 1956 for her membership in the NAACP, she made the entire South her classroom through her numerous adult literacy and civic education workshops and programs. Identify this individual.

58. Gaining enduring national fame for her eloquent defense of the U.S. Constitution during hearings on whether or not then President Richard Nixon had perhaps violated it, this African-American member of the U.S. House of Representatives became a role model for females of both races. Identify the individual and state represented.

59. The famous case of  Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (Kansas) declaring racial segregation unconstitutional was the finale of a legal strategy commonly attributed to the heroic background work of one law school professor and legal activist who trained Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and others.

60. A self-employed full time racial spokesperson for most of his life, in 1988 Jesse Louis Jackson ran for president of the United States and received more votes than any other African American for any office at any time. How many votes did he receive?

61. The 1963 March on Washington was notable for a) its size--250,000 marchers, b) peaceful conduct and c) the classic I Have a Dream" speech by Dr. Martin Luther King. The person commonly given credit for the logistics of the march was trained by Asa Philip Randolph, the master of marches. Identify this person.

62. Antedating the "Freedom Rides of the 1960s, the first-known organized freedom ride protests occurred in 1947 to test the effectiveness of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision outlawing racial segregation in interstate travel. Name the group.

63. In the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, the two opposing armies halted their fighting for one hour to listen to an African-American singer. After the last song, the combatants resumed their endeavors to destroy one another. What was the name of this famous singer?

64. Fluent in French and Latin and supportive of fellow African Americans writing in English during the 1920s and the author off our novels between 1924 and 1928, this Black Philadelphia native has been described as the "mother" of the Harlem Renaissance. Identify her.

65. With the publication of his Native Son, a 1940 instant "best seller," many African Americans saw Richard Wright as an intellectual hero who was unafraid to tell unvarnished truths about the impact of racism on self-esteem. Why was this book called a best seller?
    
    POLITICS * MASS MOVEMENTS
    

66. In the pre-emancipation period, the Northern political movement in the 1840s to abolish slavery included African-American leaders such as Samuel Ringgold Ward, Henry Highland Garnet and Frederick Douglass. What political party received their endorsement?

67. The first Black elected to any public office in America during slavery was also elected to the U.S. Congress after the Civil War. Between these periods, he was a high official of the Freedmen's Bureau, a law school dean and a U.S. diplomat. Identify this person.

68. Upstate New York was the home base of the first explicitly political association organized by Blacks during the years prior to the Civil War. Frederick Douglass was selected to head this group. What was this organization called?

69. The Compromise of 1850, legalizing the retrieval of fugitive slaves anywhere in the United States, stimulated an emigration movement, with many blacks moving to Canada. Name this emigration association.

70. The 1857 Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision denying citizenship nationalized slavery on the one hand and gave state and local authorities control over slavery on the other. What part of the decision was used to make this outcome possible?

71. When the Civil War erupted, free Blacks in the North held numerous rallies supporting it but most of the 180,000 African-American soldiers were from the Deep South. Which state supplied the largest proportion of African-American soldiers?

72. The movie "Glory" with Denzel Washington highlighted the famed54 Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a unit made up of African-American volunteers from many other Northern states; however the honor of supplying the largest number of Northern Black soldiers went to what state?

73. In addition to their heroics at Fort Wagner in South Carolina and the Battle of the Crater in Virginia, Black Civil War soldiers took part in some 39 major battles and minor engagements. How many African-American soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor?

74. In anticipation of Union victory in 1864,NorthernBlackleaders held their largest pre-emancipation conference, attended by144 eminent individuals, with Frederick Douglas presiding. Where was this leadership summit held?

75. Recognizing that the mass of Blacks were engaged in agriculture and other forms of manual labor, in1869 Isaac Myers, a Baltimore owner of a ship caulking firm, issued a national call for Black workers to organize. Scores of Blacks responded by organizing what union?

76. In making the shift from exclusion in 1865 to inclusion in political activity in 1868, African Americans in the Deep South learned the details of government in workshops throughout the South, held under the sponsorship of what organization?

77. The 1876 ending of Black reconstruction resulted in a mass movement in 1879-80 of hundreds of thousands of Southerners who went to Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Illinois. What was this mass movement known as?

78. In the last two decades of the 19th century some 1,300,000 Southern African-American farmers organized for cooperative buying of supplies and selling of produce. These farmers were part of the Farmers Alliance movement. What was the name of their separate organization?

79. Abandoned by the Republican party and rejected by the Democratic party in the 1890s,African-American political activists were attracted to a third party. What was it called?

80. In 1896, the National Federation of Afro-American Women and the National Conference of Colored combined under the name National Association of Colored Women. Their very first president was a future civil rights activist. What washer name?

81. Booker T. Washington's theory of racial uplift was based on an 1890s social philosophy which favored the social stratification of races. What was the label given to this philosophy?

82. With African Americans virtually eliminated from political life at beginning of the 20th century, a new political movement equating efficient public service with Anglo- Saxon ethnic purity attracted many "mainstream" Americans who urbanized the Ku Klux Klan. What was this new movement called?

83. The Roaring Twenties for mainstream America was a peak period for African American musical and literary innovation. What popular phrase was applied to African-American creative life during this period?

84. The 1960s flowering of literary and artistic talents among African Americans brought forth names such as Don Lee, Amir Baraka (aka Leroi Jones), Sonya Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Alvin Ailey and many others. What was the name given to this creative period?

85. Alex Haley, the author of both  Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, is one of the few writers with two enduring culturally significant works. Almost single- handedly Haley popularized a field of historical research known as what?
    
    Science, Technology and Inventions
     

86. After a distinguished career as teacher, research chemist and business entrepreneur, the renowned Dr. Perch L. Julian became a millionaire in 1961 by merging Julian Laboratories with the huge chemical company known by what name?

87. During the 1930s and 40s Dr. Earnest E. Just gained international fame for his work on the dynamics of egg fertilization and cell structure and at age 22 received from the NAACP its highest recognition for the individual whose work contributed most to the advancement of African Americans. What is the name of this prestigious award?

88. While Dr. Daniel Hale Williams is well known as the first physician to successfully operate on the human heart, he is less well known as a hospital administrator who headed two major African-American hospitals. Name the hospitals.

89. Jan Ernest Matzeliger, the Black mechanical wizard whose shoe making machine placed America in the forefront of the shoe manufacturing business, migrated to North America in search of economic opportunity and found it here rather than in his native land. Where was his original home?

90. As a Black professional inventor. Elijah McCoy not only saved manufacturing concerns untold millions with his non-stop oil lubricating devices, but also earned a comfortable living from his own business which was advertised as what enterprise?

91. In a field where a microscopic mistake can generate major effects, Dr. Benjamin Carson routinely makes national news as a master neurosurgeon. Since 1984, Dr. Carson's professional base of operations has been at what hospital?

92. Calculating the trajectories of spacecraft for lunar or moon landings is work of very high precision and very low margins for error. An Afro-American female pioneering in the mathematics of interplanetary navigation spent 30 years at NASA and was honored with plaques containing her name. Identify her.

93. The holder of the B.A., the M.A. and the Ph. D. in mathematics before his 23rd birthday work in the fields of statistics and probability theory, this famed professor had a distinguished career at the University of California-Berkeley. Name him.

94. From winning first place in Washington, D.C. high school science fairs to becoming the first Black female to earn a doctorate in physics from Massachusetts Institute of  Technology in the field of particle physics to being chosen president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, this outstanding scientist has been a role model for many African-American students. Name this outstanding scientist.

95. African Americans are disproportionately liable to suffer from sickle cell anemia, a disease which can led to stroke, swollen hands and pneumonia. For five decades , the nation's leading researcher on this illness worked at Howard University. Name him.

96. In a career reminiscent of Granville T. Woods' a nearly a century earlier, this inventor was widely recognized for his work involving electro gas dynamics, and related subjects. He shows up on most rosters of contemporary Black scientists and inventors. What is his name?

97. Among the few highly trained and internationally recognized African Americans in the field of computerized weather modeling and global greenhouse effects is the former president of the mainstream American Meteorological Society. Identify him.

98. While African Americans are still underrepresented in the field of medicine, the leading producer of Black undergraduates who eventually enter medical school upon graduating from a small private college in the South. Name the institution.

99. The Apollo 16 lunar landing vehicle placed on the moon an ultraviolet camera/spectrographic device to take unprecedented detailed images of stars in the making, billions of miles away. This feat fulfilled the childhood dream of its African-American designer. Name this designer.

100. Prior to the 1950s, the Southern medical profession was as racially segregated as its dance halls. Who was pre-eminent leader of the struggle to desegregate the practice of medicine in the United States.

101. The African-American co-inventor of the foil electric microphone element, which issued in nearly 90% of the world's phones, holds upwards of 40 patents in America and some 200 in Europe. These accomplishments have been recognized by the ultra selective National Inventors Hall of Fame. Identify this inventor.

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