Quiz: Black History

How much do you know about African American leaders and events?

Kenneth Terrell and AARP Staff

Published June 17, 2021

/ Updated February 07, 2023

11 Questions

9f1bc36b-bb9a-4fad-827a-11478234a6ea

Quiz: Black History

[ {
 "question" : "Juneteenth, which became an official federal holiday in 2021, commemorates this:\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "The emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the U.S.",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "The service of black troops in the U.S. Army during the Civil War.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that effectively ended 'separate but equal' education.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "The signing into law of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "The name comes from the June 19, 1865 date when federal troops arrived in Texas after the Civil War and proclaimed that the state's slaves were free.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What group launched the Freedom Rides in 1961?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "ACLU-American Civil Liberties Union",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "SCLC-Southern Christian Leadership Conference",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "CORE-Congress of Racial Equality",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "SNCC-Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Busloads of Freedom Riders went from town to town, testing local compliance with federal orders to desegregate interstate bus terminals.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "At the time of her historic bus incident, what was Rosa Parks' occupation?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Hospital orderly",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Drugstore clerk",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "High school cafeteria worker",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Department store seamstress",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Parks was arrested Dec. 1, 1955, after refusing to surrender her seat to a white passenger.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "Which of these influential authors became the first African American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Maya Angelou",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "August Wilson",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Lorraine Hansberry",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Toni Morrison",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Morrison, author of Beloved and The Bluest Eye, won the Nobel Prize in 1993 for “novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import [that give] life to an essential aspect of American reality.”\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "Before he was elected president of the United States, Barack Obama served as a U.S. senator of which Midwestern state?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Illinois",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Indiana",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Iowa",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Ohio",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Obama was elected as the junior U.S. senator from Illinois in November 2004 and filled that role until he was elected president, four years later.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "In addition to his influential campaigns to become president of the United States, in 1984 and 1988, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson is known for his leadership roles with which civil rights organizations?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Southern Christian Leadership Conference",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "People United to Save Humanity (Operation PUSH)",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Rainbow Coalition",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "All of the above",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Starting with his participation in a sit-in in his hometown of Greenville, South Carolina, in July 1960, Jackson has dedicated his life to civil rights activism through several organizations.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "In 1960, four African American college students staged a sit-in that helped integrate this store's lunch counter.\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Woolworth's",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "W.T. Grant",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "G.C. Murphy",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "S.S. Kresge",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "The store was in downtown Greensboro, N.C.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "In 1968 she became the first African American woman elected to Congress:\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Barbara Jordan",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Maxine Waters",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Shirley Chisholm",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Carol Moseley Braun",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Chisolm represented the 12th district of New York in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1969 to 1983. Though she was unsuccessful in her campaign to become the Democratic Party’s 1972 presidential nominee, her “Unbought and Unbossed” slogan has influenced Black leaders for decades since then.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "Members of what labor union helped to build the nation’s black middle class and civil rights movement?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "American Federal of Teachers",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Communications Workers of America",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Thousands of Pullman porters created the first labor union for African Americans and exemplified the possibility of upward mobility for blacks.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "Who was elected chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1966?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Charles E. Cobb Jr.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Stokely Carmichael",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "John Lewis",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Bobby Seale",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Carmichael replaced John Lewis and began advocating black power.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "In 2022, Wes Moore became the third Black American to win an election for governor. Which of the following states has NOT elected a Black governor?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Illinois",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Massachusetts",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Virginia",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder became the first African American to be elected governor in 1990, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick in 2007. While they were not elected, Oscar Dunn and P.B.S. Pinchback were lieutenant governors of Reconstruction-era Louisiana who served as acting governors. David Paterson of New York is another lieutenant governor who assumed acting governor duties in 2008.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

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