DC Black History
General Black History
Blacks in Energy
DCPSC Black History
Blacks in Utility
100
Who was not born and raised in Washington, DC?
A) Goldie Hawn B) Regina Hall C) Stephen Colbert
D) Issa Rae
Issa Rae
Jo-Issa Rae Diop (born January 12, 1985), known professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, director, producer, and entrepreneur. Born in Los Angeles, CA, she was raised mostly in Potomac, Maryland. With her own unique flare and infectious sense of humor, Rae first received attention for her award-winning web series and the accompanying New York Times best-seller, “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.” She created and starred in the Peabody-award-winning HBO series, INSECURE, which garnered her multiple Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominations. In 2018 and 2022, Rae was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
100
Which event sparked the modern Civil Rights Movement in the United States?
A) Dr. Martin Luther King's “I Have A Dream Speech” B) Brown vs Board of Education C) Montgomery Bus Boycott D) The March on Selma
Montgomery Bus Boycott
100
Which device converts electricity into light that Lewis Latimer helped to patent?
A) Television B) Solar Panels C) Telephones D) Lightbulb
Lightbulb
Lewis Latimer was an African American inventor and engineer who played a crucial role in developing the carbon filament for the light bulb. He also patented an improved method to produce carbon filaments and worked on the development of the first practical method of storing electrical energy in the form of improved batteries. His contributions have had a lasting impact on energy storage technology. This was during the late 19th century. He was active in the late 1800s, and his notable work in these areas occurred around the 1880s.
100
Who is the DCPSC's youngest African American Chairman?
A) Emile Thompson B) William Porter C) Howard Davenport D) Patricia Worthy
Emile Thompson
Emile C. Thompson was appointed to the DCPSC by Mayor Muriel Bowser in 2021 and re-appointed as Interim Chairman in 2021. He was confirmed as Chairman in 2022. Thompson was previously an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, serving as a Deputy Chief. He has also served as a Principal Member of the D.C. Water Board of Directors since 2016. He also served as a senior advisor to the Mayoral Administrations of Vincent Gray and Muriel Bowser.
100
Who was the first Black person to be the head of the Department of Energy?
A) Hazel O'Leary B) Frederick McKinley Jones
C) Carolyn B. Parker D) Lonnie Johnson
Hazel O'Leary
Hazel O'Leary served as the United States Secretary of Energy from 1993 to 1997.
200
In what year did the migration of African Americans from the South to Washington, D.C., reportedly tip their percentages to majority status and lead to the informal use of the term “Chocolate City?
A) 1918 B) 1930 C) 1955 D) 1957
1957
Great Migration, in U.S. history, the widespread migration of African Americans in the 20th century from rural communities in the South to large cities in the North and West. At the turn of the 20th century, the vast majority of Black Americans lived in the Southern states. From 1916 to 1970, during this Great Migration, it is estimated that some six million Black Southerners relocated to urban areas in the North and West.
200
Who was the leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement?
A) Dr. Martin Luther King B) Malcolm X C) Medgar Evers D) John Lewis
John Lewis
200
Who was the first Black man to be an officer of the American Gas Association?
A) John Tucker B) Frederick Douglass C) William Hart D) Robert Bunsen
John Tucker
John Tucker, the first Black officer of the American Gas Association (AGA), was a founding member of the American Associate of Blacks in Energy (AABE). Serving on the National Board of Directors from 1977-1989, he received the AABE's highest honor, the James E. Stewart Award, in 1989, recognizing his outstanding leadership in the energy field and community.
200
Who was the first African American woman to become a Commissioner?
A) Ruth Hankins-Nesbitt B) Amos Ledbetter
C) Edward W. Williams D) Edna Mae Brown
Ruth Hankins-Nesbitt
The first elected Mayor, Walter Washington, appointed Ruth Hankins-Nesbitt, Esq. as the first confirmed woman & Black woman Commissioner. Her colleagues elected her Chair, and she began promoting and hiring women and people of color at the Commission.
200
Who is the first DCPSC Commissioner to be appointed to FERC?
A) James Thomas B) Willie Phillips C) Richard Morgan D) Howard Davenport
Willie Phillips
Willie L. Phillips was appointed by Mayor Gray to the DCPSC in 2014 and reappointed by Mayor Bowser to serve as Chairman in 2018. Phillips is an experienced regulatory attorney with years of legal expertise in private practice and as in-house counsel. He has an extensive background in the areas of public utility regulation, bulk power system reliability, and corporate governance. He led efforts to improve DCPSC communications and update public-facing platforms. Phillips was named by President Biden to be Acting Chairman of FERC on January 3, 2023.
300
Which Black historic figure helped to map out and plan DC?
A) Benjamin Banneker B) H.D. Woodson C) Paul Laurence Dunbar D) Duke Ellington
Benjamin Banneker
300
In 1979, who founded the Maryland Minority Contractors Association to advocate for Black equity in government contracts?
A) Wayne K. Curry B) Tommie Broadwater, Jr.
C) Robert L. Clay, Sr.
D. Jack Johnson
Robert L. Clay, Sr.
In recognition of these advocacy efforts, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich tapped Robert Clay to sit on a Commission in 2003 to reform the state of Maryland's Minority Business Program.
300
What was Alice H. Parker's significance in history?
A) Creating Power Lines
B) Patenting a system of central heating using natural gas
C) Inventing the curling iron
D) Inventing the water filter system
Patenting a system of central heating using natural gas
300
Who was the first African American Commissioner and Chairman?
A) William L. Porter B) Wesley H. Long
C) George E.C. Hayes D) James A. Washington
George E.C. Hayes
President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed George E. C. Hayes to be a Commissioner. From the start, he served 1955 to 1961. He earned a law degree from Howard University School of Law in 1918 and taught there starting in 1924 while he maintained a private practice in the District. With Spottswood William Robinson III, he was the lead counsel on Bolling v. Sharpe, the companion case to Brown v. Board of Education. Hayes argued that denying Black students the liberty to attend non-segregated schools violated due process. He also became the first African American to chair the Public Utilities Commission.
300
Who was the first Black president of NARUC?
A) Ron Harris B) Russell Grey C) Collette Honorable D) Marin Walker
Collette Honorable
Collette D. Honorable also served as a FERC Commissioner from January 2015 through June 2017, a role for which she was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Prior to joining FERC, she spent several years on the Arkansas Public Service Commission, including serving as commissioner, interim chairman and chairman. Currently, she is Exelon’s Executive Vice President, Public Policy and Chief External Affairs Officer. She was president of NARUC from November 2013 to November 2014.
400
When did radio station WHUR 96.3FM start on the campus of Howard University?
A) 1985 B) 1955 C) 1971 D) 1963
1971
Howard University is Washington’s only stand-alone radio station and one of the few university-owned commercial radio stations in America, broadcasting since 1971. WHUR is also the home of the original Quiet Storm program, which longtime D.C. listeners have rated number one in the evening since 1976, and which spawned the namesake music genre that now airs on many radio stations across the United States.
400
Who became the first African American woman to serve as the United States Secretary of State in 2001?
A) Marica Fudge B) Kamala Harris C) Stacey Abrams D) Condoleeza Rice
Condoleeza Rice
In 2001, Condoleeza Rice was appointed national security adviser by President George W. Bush, becoming the first African American woman (and woman) to hold the post, and went on to become the first Black woman to serve as U.S. Secretary of State.
400
What is Shirley Ann Jackson known for?
A) First Black woman CEO at Pepco
B) First Black woman VP at Washington Gas
C) First Black woman Ph.D. physicist at Bell Telephone Laboratories
D) None of the above
First Black woman Ph.D. physicist at Bell Telephone Laboratories
Shirley Ann Jackson, born on August 5, 1946, in Washington, DC, is the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She holds the distinction of being the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics at MIT and the second African-American woman in the United States to obtain a doctorate in physics.
400
What is Estella Bradley's significance at the Commission?
A) First Black employee hired at the professional level
B) Worked as the Commission's Secretary
C) Worked on the first Commission's media team
D) None of the above
First Black employee to be hired at the professional level
In 1964, Chairman James A. Washington hired Estella Bradley as GS 11 Accountant at $8,410 a year. She was the first Black employee hired at a professional level position and was a Howard University graduate.
400
Who was the first Black president of Washington Gas?
A) James H. DeGraffenreidt, Jr B) Donald Wilson
C) John Smith D) Lisa Moore
James H. DeGraffenreidt, Jr.
James H. DeGraffenreidt, Jr became the president and chief operating officer of Washington Gas in 1994 and later became the company’s CEO in 1998. He has served on the boards of the Harbor Bankshares Corporation, Mass Mutual Financial Group, the American Gas Association, and the Alliance to Save Energy.
500
In 1977, which native Washingtonian was named the first woman chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission?
A) Eleanor Holmes Norton B) Donna Brazile C) Sharon Pratt D) Dorothy Height
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Eleanor Holmes Norton (born June 13, 1937) is an American lawyer and politician serving as a delegate to the United States House of Representatives, representing the District of Columbia since 1991. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to serving in Congress, Holmes Norton organized the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the civil rights movement and was chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
500
James A. Washington, Jr. served as DCPSC Chairman from 1961 to 1966. What significant events was he not a part of at the DCPSC?
A. The name of the PUC changed to the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia, with the additional authority regulating the securities industry in the District
B. Hired the first Black consultants to work for the DCPSC
C. Was a victim of racial segregation when he went to a 1962 NARUC Meeting and was refused entry into the hotel to attend the meeting
D. Established a scholarship fund for local college students funded by ratepayers and shareholders
Establishing a scholarship fund for local college students funded by ratepayers and shareholders
President John F. Kennedy appointed James A. Washington, Jr. to be a Commissioner of the Public Utilities Commission of the District of Columbia. During his tenure, the name of the PUC changed to the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia, with the additional authority regulating the securities industry in the District.
500
What was David N. Crosthwait Jr. known for?
A) Creating Gas Stove B) Starting Verizon Wireless
C) Inventing the Payphone D) Helping to revolutionize the HVAC system
Helping to revolutionize the HVAC system
David Crosthwait, inventor and authority on heat transfer, ventilation, and air conditioning, devoted his career to redefining the technology of indoor climate control.
500
Who is the longest-serving Black Commissioner in DCPSC history?
A) Greer Johnson B) Willie L. Phillips C) Agnes Yates D) Belva D. Newsome
Agnes Yates
Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelley first nominated Agnes M. Alexander in 1992 as a Commissioner. She is the longest-serving Commissioner in the history of the DCPSC, having served more than four terms after being re-nominated by Mayors Marion Barry and Anthony Williams. Mayor Williams also nominated her to be Chairman in 2003, a position she held until her departure at the end of 2008.
500
Who is the first Black president of Pepco?
A) Donna Cooper B) Beverly Perry C) Calvin Butler
D) Thomas Graham
Thomas H. Graham