Black History Quiz

1. Jackie Robinson became the first black player in modern-
day professional baseball when he joined this major league 
team in 1947. 2. Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King 
Jr. won the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize in what year? 3. 
This abolitionist was known widely as Sojourner Truth. Her 
given name, though, was: 4. What black doctor gained 
international acclaim for discovering means to preserve 
blood plasma -- a discovery that led to the creation of 
blood banks? 5. This 1896 Supreme Court case spawned the 
"separate but equal" legal doctrine. 6. In 1909, what black 
explorer was the first person to reach the North Pole? 7. 
She was the first American woman track star to win three 
gold medals in the Olympic Games and was referred to as 
"The World's Fastest Woman." 8. This black doctor is widely 
credited with performing the world's first successful open 
heart surgery. 9. The "separate but equal' legal doctrine 
was overturned by this landmark Supreme Court case in 1954. 
10. Hattie McDaniel was the first black person to win an 
Oscar award for her role in what movie? 11. Black orator 
Frederick Douglass started this abolitionist newspaper in 
1847. 12. In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson appointed this 
man to the U.S. Supreme Court, making him the nation's 
first black justice. 13. In 1972, she became the first 
black woman to seek nomination as the Democrats' 
presidential candidate. 14. She was the first black woman 
to be licensed as a pilot. 15. The route slave ships took 
from Africa to the Americas became known as the: 16. This 
tennis player became the first black athlete to win a 
singles title at Wimbledon. 17. She was the charismatic 
spokeswoman of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at 
the Democratic National Convention of 1964. 18. Before the 
Emancipation Proclamation, a slave was considered this 
fraction of a person. 19. He was the first black person to 
serve on the Democratic National Committee. 20. When it was 
broadcast in 1977, this TV show earned the highest ratings 
of any network program in television history. 21. Harriet 
Tubman, along with this abolitionist group, were 
instrumental in "conducting" the Underground Railroad. 22. 
He was the first black professional boxer to become the 
world's heavyweight champ. 23. Toni Morrison was awarded 
the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for this book. 24. This 
television station was the first in the nation to become 
black-owned and operated. 25. She helped found the National 
Association of Colored Women in 1896. (This quiz was 
researched and compiled by Detroit Free Press Special 
Writer David Graves.)

(Answers on the back)

Answers

1. Brooklyn Dodgers 
2. 1964 
3. Isabella Baumfree 
4. Charles Drew 
5. Plessy vs. Ferguson 
6. Matthew Henson 
7. Wilma Rudolph 
8. Daniel Hale Williams 
9. Brown vs. Board of Education 
10. Gone With The Wind 
11. The North Star 
12. Thurgood Marshall 
13. Shirley Chisholm 
14. Bessie Coleman 
15. Middle Passage 
16. Althea Gibson 
17. Fannie Lou Hamer 
18. 3/5 
19. Coleman Young 
20. Roots 
21. Quakers 
22. Jack Johnson  
23. Beloved 
24. WGPR-TV (Detroit)
25. Mary Church Terrell