Bring the Noise
Q: This hymn of Black resilience, long known as the Negro national anthem, sparked controversy in 2008 when Rene Marie sang it instead of the U.S. anthem at an event in Colorado.
Q: This term, coined by the Combahee River Collective in 1977, describes a shift toward political alliances formed within a specific demographic rather than mass or class reductionist politics.
Identity Politics
Q: This 1974 blacksploitation stars Pam Grier as the title character who takes on a gang of drug dealers who killed her boyfriend.
Foxy Brown
Q: This former Black Panther and member of the Black Liberation Army wrote a widely read autobiography after escaping prison and receiving political asylum in Cuba.
Assata Shakur
Q: This Compton-raised tennis star won her 1st major singles title in 1999, and her record-setting 23rd in 2017.
Serena Williams
Q: This singer, dubbed “The First Lady of Song” debuted at age 17 in one of the earliest Amateur Nights at the world famous Apollo Theater, where she initially planned a dance performance before being intimidated by another group and switching to singing on the spot.
Ella Fitzgerald
Q: This self-proclaimed “Black lesbian feminist warrior poet” was famous for her fierce critique of racism, sexism, and homophobia in her collection of essays “Sister Outsider.”
Audre Lorde
Q: In Season Three of Star Trek, Nichelle Nichols shared primetime TV’s first interracial kiss with William Shatner. What was her character’s name?
Lt. Uhura
Q: This Ecuadorian revolutionary heroine of South America was given the celebratory title "Libertadora del Libertador" (Liberator of the Liberator) by her lover Simón Bolívar after saving him from an assassination attempt in 1828.
Manuela Sáenz
Q: In 2025 she led her team to a third championship title, becoming the first WNBA or NBA player to win a scoring title, be a champion, Finals MVP, MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season.
A'ja Wilson
Q: This American hip hop duo is widely acknowledged as the "First Ladies of Rap and Hip-Hop,” after being the first female rap act to win a Grammy Award.
Salt-N-Pepa
Q: This black woman was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), although was later ousted because her “radical” anti-lynching activism was perceived as too “extreme.”
Ida B. Wells
Q: This Kenyan‑Mexican actress starred in the 2016 drama Queen of Katwe, directed by Mira Nair and featuring a cameo by Nair’s son, Zohran Mamdani.
Lupita Nyong'o
Q: This Trinidadian Marxist feminist, journalist, and activist used her writing to connect Black struggles in the United States with anti‑imperialist movements across the African diaspora.
Claudia Jones
Q: This World, Olympic, Youth Olympic, and X Games champion in the halfpipe is the first snowboarder to win the title at all four major events
Chloe Kim
Q: This Whitney Houston soundtrack album is widely acknowledged as the best-selling album credited to a woman with sales of over 45 million copies since its release in November 1992 in connection with a movie of the same name in which she held a starring role.
The Bodyguard
Q: This queen of the Ambundu Kingdoms of Ndongo led a series of revolts against the Portuguese, allying with the Dutch Republic in the early 17th Century, forming the first African-European alliance against another European aggressor.
Queen Nzinga
Q: She became the first African American to earn the Triple Crown of Acting after winning an Oscar for this 2017 film.
Fences
Q: This late 19th century pioneering Chinese revolutionary, feminist, and poet, fought against gender norms by famously dressing in men's clothing, and was executed after a failed uprising against the Qing dynasty, believing that women's rights and political revolution naturally went hand in hand.
Qiu Jin
Q: This Māori rugby player led New Zealand to back-to-back Gold Medals at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics.
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe