Politics
Which amendment to the U.S. Constitution formally granted voting rights to African American men?
The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, prohibited disenfranchisement based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Who was the first African American to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball?
Jackie Robinson, who entered the National League in 1947
What is widely considered the first book published by an African American author, and who wrote it?
Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) by Phillis Wheatley, an enslaved woman in Boston
Which 1863 executive order by President Abraham Lincoln declared that all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory were free?
The Emancipation Proclamation
Which singer is famously known as the "Queen of Soul"?
Aretha Franklin, known for hits like "Respect" and being the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Who was the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate?
Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, was sworn into the U.S. Senate in 1870 during Reconstruction
Which trailblazing athlete became the first African American to win a Grand Slam tennis title?
Althea Gibson, who won the French Open in 1956
Which 1920s literary and artistic movement, centered in New York City, celebrated Black life and culture?
The Harlem Renaissance, featuring writers like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Claude McKay
When did the first enslaved Africans arrive in the English colonies in America?
1619, when a ship arrived in Point Comfort, Virginia, carrying captives from Angola
Who was the first African American to write and direct a Hollywood feature film?
Gordon Parks, who directed The Learning Tree in 1969
What legislation signed into law in 1965 aimed to eliminate legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented Black Americans from exercising their right to vote?
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
Who was the first African American to manage a major league sports team?
Basketball superstar Bill Russell
Who was the first African American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1993) and won a Pulitzer for her novel Beloved?
Toni Morrison
Which U.S. President signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and in what year?
President Abraham Lincoln signed it in 1863, declaring slaves in Confederate-held territory to be free.
Who was the first African American to win an Academy Award?
Hattie McDaniel, who won Best Supporting Actress for her role as "Mammy" in Gone with the Wind in 1940
Who was the first African American woman elected to the United States Congress?
Shirley Chisholm, who was elected to represent New York's 12th Congressional District in 1968
Which quarterback became the first African American to win a Super Bowl?
Doug Williams, who won Super Bowl XXII in 1988
What is the significance of the 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun in literary history?
Written by Lorraine Hansberry, it was the first Broadway play written by a Black woman
What Supreme Court case decided in 1954 declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional?
Brown v. Board of Education, which was successfully argued by NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall
What was the first Black-owned cable network, co-founded by Robert L. Johnson in 1980?
Black Entertainment Television (BET).
Which activist and co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) later became a long-serving U.S. Congressman from Georgia?
John Lewis
Who was the first African American to win the Masters Tournament?
Tiger Woods, who won in 1997.
Which 19th-century abolitionist author wrote the famous narrative Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave?
Frederick Douglass
Who was the first African American woman to become a self-made millionaire?
Madam C.J. Walker, who built her fortune by developing and selling hair care products for Black women
Who was the first African American woman to host her own nationally syndicated talk show?
Oprah Winfrey, who launched The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986