What Happened this Day?
What Happened this Day 2?
Name that Flag
50 States, 50 Fun Facts
50 States, 50 Fun Facts 2
100
December 7, 1941
A. Allies invade Normandy.
B. Japan surrenders World War II.
C. Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.
C. Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.
100
August 24, 79
A. Augustus defeats Mark Antony at Actium.
B. The Roman Empire falls.
C. Mount Vesuvius eruption buries the city of Pompeii.
C. Mount Vesuvius eruption buries the city of Pompeii.
The ruins of Pompeii laid under about 20 feet of pumice stones and ash until they were discovered in the 1700s.
100
A. Nepal B. Laos
A. Nepal
100
Maryland lawyer Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” after witnessing which fort successfully defend Baltimore from the British?
A. Fort Sumter
B. Fort McHenry
B. Fort McHenry
100
The opening lines of “America the Beautiful” were written by a Massachusetts teacher visiting Colorado while atop what mountain?
A. Pikes Peak
B. Denali
A. Pikes Peak
Schoolteacher Katharine Lee Bates recorded many of the nation’s natural beauty witnessed on her cross-country trip in her poem “America,” which was later paired with music. Colorado’s Pikes Peak offered a view of “purple mountain majesties.”
200
July 20, 1969
A.First humans walk on the Moon.
B.Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated.
C.John F. Kennedy is assassinated.
A.First humans walk on the Moon.
200
March 10, 1876
A. Guglielmo Marconi invents the radio.
B. The first telegram is sent.
C. The first voice telephone call is made.
C. The first voice telephone call is made.
--Other inventors came up with devices used to transmit sound for decades before Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone allowed the transmission of speech.
200
A. Swede B. Switzerland
B. Switzerland
200
Also the state animal, which creature is illustrated on the back of the Oregon state flag?
A. moose
B. beaver
B. beaver
Oregon earned the nickname the “Beaver State” because the large rodents were abundant in the state’s many streams and beaver fur became a valuable resource for early settlers of the state.
200
Hawaiians eat more of which of these foods per capita than any other state, consuming some seven million cans a year?
A. Green Giant green beans
B. Hormel Spam
C. Campbell’s tomato soup
B. Hormel Spam
300
June 15, 1215
A. Genghis Khan dies.
B. The First Crusade is launched.
C. The Magna Carta is signed.
C. The Magna Carta is signed.
The Magna Carta declared that the king of England was subject to the rule of law, and it became the basis of jurisprudence in England (and by extension, the United States).
300
December 17, 1903
A. Orville Wright makes the first successful flight.
B. Thomas Edison patents his light bulb.
C. Jonas Salk develops the polio vaccine.
A. Orville Wright makes the first successful flight.
Orville Wright attributed his and his brother’s interest in flight to a rubber-band-powered toy helicopter their father had bought them in 1878.
300
A. Argentina B. Kenya
A. Argentina
300
Ohio is the Buckeye State. What is a buckeye?
A. a shoe
B. a nut
C. an insect
B. a nut
300
A term linked to a discovery made using gold, which of these words is California’s state motto?
A. Eureka
B. Huzzah
C. Excelsior
A. Eureka
400
April 14, 1912
A. The U.S.S. Maine explodes.
B. The Titanic hits an iceberg.
C. The Hindenburg explodes.
B. The Titanic hits an iceberg.
The iceberg that sank the Titanic was spotted at 11:40 pm, but the ship was too close to avoid collision. At 12:20 am the crew radioed for help, and by 2:20 am the Titanic had foundered.
400
June 18, 1815
A. Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo.
B. The Battle of the Alamo begins.
C. British forces burn down the White House.
A. Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo.
After escaping exile on the island of Elba, Napoleon was restored as the emperor of France until his final defeat at Waterloo.
400
A. Vatican City B. Malta
A. Vatican City
400
Until it became its own state in 1820, the area that is now Maine was a part of what other state?
A. New Hampshire
B. Vermont
C. Massachusetts
C. Massachusetts
400
The first U.S. circulating coin to include braille, Alabama’s state quarter features a likeness of which person?
A. Ray Charles
B. Helen Keller
B. Helen Keller
500
November 11, 1918
A. the first “talkie” movie released
B. the first modern Olympic Games
C. end of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I
C. end of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I
--While peace would come later in other places, the ceasefire that ended the fighting in western Europe on November 11, 1918, became the basis for Armistice Day (later renamed in the United States as Veterans Day).
500
October 14, 1066
A. beginning of the Renaissance
B. first performance of a William Shakespeare play
C. the Battle of Hastings
C. the Battle of Hastings
500
A. Germany B. Belgium
B. Belgium
500
Wyoming is nicknamed the “Equality State” because it was the first to do which of the following?
A. recognize gay marriage
B. enact affirmative action laws
C. allow women the right to vote
C. allow women the right to vote
The Territory of Wyoming passed a law on December 10, 1869, allowing women the right to vote. When Wyoming became a state in 1890, it was the first state to allow women’s suffrage.
500
Producing more than 2.5 million gallons in 2022, Vermont is the nation’s leading source of which of the following?
A. milk
B. orange juice
C. maple syrup
C. maple syrup
In 2022, Vermonters tapped more than 6.5 million maple trees to retain their sticky-sweet crown.