First of Their Kind
Before Barack
Motor City
Before & After
Olympics History
Library Card
Movie Ticket
STEM
100
Super Bowl VI holds the honor of hosting the 1st Black halftime show performer. This jazz legend is well-known for duets with Louis Armstrong asking you to "Dream a Little Dream of Me."
Ella Fitzgerald
"She is the only performer with whom I've ever worked who made me nervous." - Frank Sinatra, 1959
100
Shirley Chisholm became a New York Assembly woman before Congressional election. She became the first Black person to launch a national campaign for a presidential bid - winning 152 delegates at the Democratic National Convention. Not surprising when you're from this same borough that inspired Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind."
Brooklyn
100
Known as the "Queen of Soul," this singer was born in Memphis but became a Detroit icon, later becoming the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Aretha Franklin
100
If a Civil Rights activist and a Jackson Five alum had a podcast.
Dr. Martin Luther King of Pop
100
This American is now the most decorated gymnast in history after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Simone Biles
100
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, translated into 17 languages and written by this author, centers on Marguerite Johnson - a young Black girl overcoming trauma and racism in one of the most lasting stories published in the literary community.
Maya Angelou
100
1st superhero film nominated for Best Picture, set in the fictional country of Wakanda.
Black Panther
100
The first Black American to go to space, Guion Bluford Jr. was born during this chilly conflict with the Soviet Union.
Cold War
200
From World Champion to Olympic medalist, Debi Thomas later earned her medical degree after earning medals in this icy winter sport.
Figure Skating
200
George Edwin Taylor became the presidential nominee in 1904 for the National Negro Liberal Party - a party focused on the rights of formerly enslaved people. This was his life's purpose after his mother died of what now-cured lung disease that presents with a bloody cough?
Tuberculosis
200
Finish this lyric from the Supremes: Stop! In the name of love, _____________
Before you break my heart
200
This Oscar Winner (Training Day) narrated the 2013 PBS documentary The March chronicling Dr. King's walk to this capital.
Denzel Washington D.C.
200
Known as the Fastest Man Alive - holding the 100m world record of 9.58 seconds set in 2009. He is an 8-time Olympic gold medalist from Jamaica - impressing the world in the 2008 Beijing Olympics he can break every record in all three major racing events.
Usain Bolt
200
This saga of Alex Haley's family history became a famous mini-series in the 1970's and still holds value generations later - telling the story of Kunta Kinte being sold into the slave trade and the years after, winning multiple Emmy's for Outstanding Limited Series.
Roots (based off the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family)
200
This film follows the true-life story of brilliant Black scientists overcoming bigotry and sexism at NASA to contribute towards the launch of American astronaut John Glenn into orbit.
Hidden Figures
200
George Washington Carver was an American agricultural scientist known for developing over 300 uses/products from what food?
Peanuts
300
Sir W. Arthur Lewis was the 1st and only Black Nobel laureate for this science - specifically the balance of industrial and agricultural development within smaller countries. Simply speaking, this science generally relates to the distribution of goods and services. Name the science Lewis was recognized for.
Economics
300
Jesse Jackson worked with Dr. King before his 1984 presidential bid, even beating in several states this future Vice President who served under President Bill Clinton. Talk about an "Inconvenient Truth."
Al Gore
300
Who sings this song?
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" - Marvin Gaye
300
This "Bad" singer would be proud of the sit-in protests against segregated schools that led to this Florida city being recognized on the Civil Rights Historical Trail
Michael Jacksonville
300
Famously stating "you can't eat gold medals," Jesse Owens struggled to find work after the 1936 Berlin Olympics in segregated America. He even had to use the freight elevator to attend a reception in his own honor at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and was not invited to shake the hand of the president at this time.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
300
Manning Marable won the Pulitzer for a biography based on this Black Nationalist leader's activist campaign for self-defense and Black empowerment, credited with saying "My alma mater was books, a good library…"
Malcolm X
300
1st Black writer-director to win the Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 2017 (I know, Get Out!)
Jordan Peele
300
The first Black trainee at Columbia in 1969 for eye care, Patricia Era Bath innovated this specialty and increased access for underserved communities.
Opthamology
400
Madame C.J. Walker became the first female self-made millionaire in America - she was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. After being married once, she settled mostly in this high-elevation state.
Colorado
400
While Channing E. Phillips advocated for civil rights and equitable housing in 1968-1969, this was the same year the United States won the space race to accomplish what?
Land on the moon!
400
Before launching a solo career, he was a child prodigy signed to Motown as "Little".
Stevie Wonder
400
A 1955 Montgomery, Alabama boycott leader refuses to relinquish her bus seat but may take a job alongside opera-trained Donna Meagle in the Pawnee, Indiana city department.
Rosa Parks & Recreation
400
Before entering the professional arena, Muhammad Ali won the Olympic gold in boxing in the 1960 Rome Olympics under his original name before converting to the Nation of Islam. What did he go by prior?
Cassius Clay
400
Playright August Wilson won the 1990 Pulitzer Drama Prize for a story centered on Berniece and Boy Willie, their time as slaves, and their struggles selling this family heirloom - an antique large piece of furniture you can play music on. Was also adapted into a 2024 Netflix film.
Piano
400
The first and only African American actress to win an Academy Award for best actress.
Halle Berry (from "Monsters Ball" in 2001)
400
Nicknamed the "Human Computer," Katherine Johnson's orbital mechanics and trajectory analysis contributed to the modern satellite systems we now use in our cars to get directions to somewhere new (looking for the acronym.)
GPS
500
Alexander Lucius Twilight was the first Black American to receive a bachelor's degree in the 1820's from Middlebury College in Vermont. His father fought hard for him to be able to go to school, enlisting in what the Patriot Army was called during the Revolutionary War.
The Continental Army (named after the Continental Congress)
500
Famed abolitionist and women's suffrage supporter, Frederick Douglas was the very first Black candidate to receive a nominating bid for the American presidency. He received one vote. However, he had a successful anti-slavery newspaper named after this biblical reference used by enslaved people following the Underground Railroad at night to escape to the North.
North Star
500
These two U.S. states became stars on the flag the same year that Motown was founded by Berry Gordy with only an $800 loan.
Hawaii & Alaska
500
Movie in which Morgan Freeman chauffeurs Catherine Bach in her short shorts, perhaps in the General Lee (maybe to get away from one of the first recurring black supporting characters on TV to be nominated for an Emmy - Sheriff Edward Thomas)
Driving Miss Daisy Dukes
500
Surya Bonaly in the 1998 Nagano, Japan Olympics was deducted one point during her figure skating routine for this unsafe, but not illegal, move. Most people can't even do it without skates!
backflip
500
Langston Hughes wrote prose depicting the working-class during the Harlem Renaissance, likening the tired after-hours of workers to this gloomy musical genre here:
"Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway...
He did a lazy sway...
To the tune o' those Weary _____.
Blues
500
Gordon Parks was a composer, author, and filmmaker who focused on race relations, poverty, civil rights, and urban life. He worked at this single-word magazine for two decades that shares historic photos weekly.
Life Magazine
"If you don't have anything to say, your photographs aren't going to say much." - Gordon Parks
500
For his work in the preservation of plasma, Dr. Charles Drew is known as the "father of" this type of storage place heavily used in hospitals for transfusions.
Blood Banks
He protested against the racial segregation of blood donation, and published extensive research refuting its scientific efficacy.
