Literature
Music/Art/Actors
Civil Rights
Scientists
Sports
100
A 2017 young adult novel. Centers around 16-year-old Starr Carter who witnesses her best friend Khalil's death at the hands of a police officer. Soon after, she must struggle under the spotlight of national attention as the only witness.
What is The Hate U Give?
Author: Angie Thomas
100
This singer was the soulful voice behind "RESPECT", "A Natural Woman", and "I Say A Little Prayer". There was a strong connection to gospel music throughout this person's work.
Who is Aretha Franklin?
100
After converting religions while in prison for robbery, this person's Islamic faith was the foundation of their social justice advocacy. As a prominent leader and voice in the Nation of Islam, this person preached ideals of Black nationalism and independence by tapping into the anger and frustration that resulted from years of racism and segregation. This person's words helped fuel the Black Power movement of the '60s and '70s.
Who is Malcolm X?
100
An agricultural scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of products using peanuts, sweet potatoes and soybeans. He would go on to teach and conduct research at Tuskegee University for decades.
Who is George Washington Carver?
100
An American professional tennis player. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time. The Women's Tennis Association ranked her singles world No. 1 on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017.
Who is Serena Williams?
200
1987. This very famous novel examines the destructive legacy of slavery as it chronicles the life of a Black woman named Sethe, from her pre-Civil War days as a slave in Kentucky to her time in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1873. Strangely, her house in Ohio is haunted by a malevolent ghost. This book is based on the true story of Margaret Garner.
What is Beloved?
Author: Toni Morrison
200
One of the best guitarists of all time, this person was most famous for their song "All Along the Watchtower". This person played “The Star Spangled Banner” at Woodstock on August 18, 1969.
Who is Jimi Hendrix?
200
This person was one of America's foremost attorneys. As chief of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, this person led the legal fight against segregation, argued the historic 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, and became the nation's first Black Supreme Court Justice.
Who is Thurgood Marshall?
200
An American engineer, physician and NASA astronaut, this person became the first African-American woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992.
Who is Mae C. Jemison?
200
This person was an American professional boxer, activist, entertainer, poet and philanthropist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century, and is frequently ranked as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.
Who is Muhammad Ali?
300
The first science fiction written by a Black woman (1979). Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she’s been given...
What is Kindred?
Author: Octavia E. Butler
300
An American actress and producer. This person is the recipient of an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards. She is the first African-American woman to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting". Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017. Her notable works include How to Get Away With Murder (2014) and Fences (2016).
Who is Viola Davis?
300
This person was a political activist, professor at UC Santa Cruz, and author who was an active member in the Communist Party and the Black Panther Party. This person is most famous for their involvement with the Soledad brothers, who were accused of killing a prison guard and this person was accused of taking part in the event. This person continues to fight for anti-racist, feminist, and LGBTQ+ causes.
Who is Angela Davis?
300
The three women at the focus of the Hidden Figures (2016) figures film. NAME AT LEAST ONE. These women were "human computers" and brilliant mathematicians who helped launch astronaut John Glenn into space.
Who are Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn, and Mary Johnson?
300
American professional baseball player who became the first African-American athlete to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. This person broke the baseball color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.
Who is Jackie Robinson?
400
Considered a classic of the Harlem Renaissance, this is the epic tale of Janie Crawford who sets out to be her own person -- no mean feat for a black woman in the '30s. Janie's quest for identity takes her through three marriages and into a journey back to her roots. Deals with themes of gender roles, love, and independence. (1937)
What is Their Eyes Were Watching God?
Author: Zora Neale Hurston
400
The first African-American actress to win the Oscar for Best Actress, 2002, for her performance in Monster’s Ball. She is also known for her roles in Catwoman (2004) and Bruised (2021).
Who is Halle Berry?
400
This person used investigative reporting to shed light on the horrors of the lynching of Black Americans in the Jim Crow South. This person was also a co-founder of the NAACP. Their well known works include Southern Horrors (1892) and A Red Record (1895).
Who is Ida B. Wells?
400
Chemist who pioneered the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants, such as cortisone, steroids and birth control pills. This person worked at Depauw and is most famous for developing the first total synthesis of an anti-glaucoma drug.
Who is Percy Lavon Julian?
400
First Black woman in history to become individual all-around Olympic champion; only American all-around champion to win multiple gold medals in a single Olympic games; member of 2016 U.S. Olympic Team. Has not officially announced her retirement, but she did not attend the Tokyo Olympics.
Who is Gabby Douglas?
500
1953. A semi-autobiographical novel. It tells the story of John Grimes, an intelligent teenager in 1930s Harlem, and his relationship with his family and his church. The novel also reveals the back stories of John's mother, his biological father, and his violent, fanatically religious stepfather, Gabriel Grimes. The novel focuses on the role of the Pentecostal Church in the lives of African Americans.
What is Go Tell it on the Mountain?
Author: James Baldwin
500
Prominent artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement. This person's art focused on wealth versus poverty, integration versus segregation, and inner versus outer experience.
In May of 2017, their work called "Untitled" was sold for $110.5 million, the highest price EVER paid at auction for a work by an American artist.
Who is Jean-Michel Basquiat?
500
This person is an American lawyer, social justice activist, founder/executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, and a law professor at New York University School of Law. The Equal Justice Initiative has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aiding children prosecuted as adults.
Who is Bryan Stevenson?
500
This person is a mathematician who invented an accurate model of the Earth which was used as the foundation for the creation of the Global Positioning System (GPS). She was inducted into the United States Air Force Hall of Fame—one of the highest honors awarded by the Air Force.
Who is Gladys West?
500
Despite being told as a child she would never walk again, this athlete became an international track and field star. At the height of her career, “the fastest woman in the world” used her platform to shed light on social issues. She became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games.
Who is Wilma Rudolph?