315 Black History Trivia Questions & Answers!

Black history is a mosaic of powerful stories, brilliant minds, and world-shaping achievements.

This ultimate trivia guide celebrates that legacy, testing knowledge of ancient African kingdoms, courageous freedom fighters, cultural icons, modern pioneers, and global landmarks while spotlighting the triumphs that continue to inspire future generations across continents and centuries.

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African Kingdoms & Ancient History

• Question: Which ancient Nubian kingdom, centered at Napata and later Meroë, produced powerful queens known as kandakes?
  Answer: The Kingdom of Kush.
• Question: What West African city, once part of the Songhai Empire, housed Sankore University and thousands of manuscripts?
  Answer: Timbuktu.
• Question: Who was the 14th-century Mali emperor celebrated as possibly the richest man ever?
  Answer: Mansa Musa.
• Question: Which West African empire prospered through the gold-salt trade across the Sahara?
  Answer: The Ghana Empire (Wagadu).
• Question: What monumental ruins in southern Africa include soaring stone walls built without mortar?
  Answer: Great Zimbabwe.
• Question: Which legendary queen of Ethiopia visited King Solomon, according to tradition?
  Answer: The Queen of Sheba (Makeda).
• Question: Name the East African city-state that dominated Indian Ocean trade and blended Arabic and Bantu culture.
  Answer: Kilwa Kisiwani.
• Question: Which medieval empire, ruled by Sunni Ali and Askia Muhammad, controlled much of West Africa?
  Answer: The Songhai Empire.
• Question: What indigenous script of the ancient Aksumite civilization still survives in Ethiopian liturgy?
  Answer: Geʽez.
• Question: Which North African scholar’s “Book of Routes and Realms” noted Ghana’s wealth?
  Answer: Al-Bakri.
• Question: Who was the famed Moroccan traveler whose writings described Mansa Musa’s generosity?
  Answer: Ibn Battuta.
• Question: Which warrior queen led the Dahomey Amazons in present-day Benin?
  Answer: Queen Hangbe.
• Question: What Egyptian dynasty of “Black Pharaohs” originated from Kush?
  Answer: The 25th Dynasty.
• Question: Which gold-rich forest kingdom in present-day Ghana crafted intricate bronze regalia?
  Answer: The Ashanti Kingdom.
• Question: What coastal kingdom in Nigeria became famous for its “Benin Bronzes”?
  Answer: The Kingdom of Benin.
• Question: Which Central African kingdom was ruled by leaders titled “Manikongo”?
  Answer: The Kingdom of Kongo.
• Question: Which 10th-century Ethiopian queen reputedly sacked Aksumite churches?
  Answer: Queen Gudit (Yodit).
• Question: Name the southeastern African empire ruled by Mwene Mutapa.
  Answer: The Kingdom of Mutapa (Monomotapa).
• Question: Which desert-crossing people transported salt southward in camel caravans?
  Answer: The Berbers (Tuareg).
• Question: What loom-woven cloth of vibrant patterns originated with the Asante?
  Answer: Kente cloth.
• Question: Which vast walled earthwork in Nigeria is longer than the Great Wall of China?
  Answer: Sungbo’s Eredo (Walls of Benin).

Enslavement & Resistance

• Question: Which 1839 revolt saw captives led by Joseph Cinqué seize the schooner La Amistad?
  Answer: The Amistad rebellion.
• Question: What secret network of safe houses helped thousands flee slavery to the North and Canada?
  Answer: The Underground Railroad.
• Question: Who famously mailed himself to freedom in a wooden crate in 1849?
  Answer: Henry “Box” Brown.
• Question: Which woman nicknamed “Moses” guided at least 70 enslaved people to freedom?
  Answer: Harriet Tubman.
• Question: What 1739 uprising in South Carolina was the largest slave revolt in the British colonies?
  Answer: The Stono Rebellion.
• Question: Who led the 1831 Virginia revolt that intensified repressive laws?
  Answer: Nat Turner.
• Question: Which maroon community in Jamaica secured autonomy after an 1738 treaty?
  Answer: The Windward (Trelawny Town) Maroons.
• Question: On which West African island did formerly enslaved Black Americans found Freetown in 1792?
  Answer: Sierra Leone.
• Question: Which 1772 British court case freed James Somerset and undermined slavery in England?
  Answer: Somerset v Stewart.
• Question: What 1791-1804 revolution created the first Black republic?
  Answer: The Haitian Revolution.
• Question: Who authored the influential 1789 memoir “The Interesting Narrative”?
  Answer: Olaudah Equiano.
• Question: Which abolitionist newspaper founded by Frederick Douglass in 1847 symbolized freedom’s voice?
  Answer: The North Star.
• Question: What folklore claims quilts stitched coded routes for freedom seekers?
  Answer: The Underground Railroad quilt code.
• Question: Which rebel maroon leader fought Spanish rule in Hispaniola from 1532-1546?
  Answer: Sebastián Lemba.
• Question: Who sued in Missouri for her daughters’ freedom in 1824, foreshadowing Dred Scott?
  Answer: Polly Berry (Polly Wash).
• Question: What Canadian community, founded by Josiah Henson, welcomed escapees and became Buxton?
  Answer: The Dawn Settlement.
• Question: Which enslaved pilot surrendered the CSS Planter to Union forces in 1862?
  Answer: Robert Smalls.
• Question: What alleged 1741 conspiracy sparked mass trials and executions in New York City?
  Answer: The New York Conspiracy (Negro Plot).
• Question: Which song’s lyrics directed travelers to “Follow the Drinking Gourd”?
  Answer: “Follow the Drinking Gourd.”
• Question: What 1793 U.S. law empowered slave catchers and punished helpers?
  Answer: The Fugitive Slave Act.
• Question: Which West African Muslim scholar’s Arabic writings surfaced in North Carolina?
  Answer: Omar Ibn Said.

Abolition & Reconstruction

• Question: Who founded the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833 and published The Liberator?
  Answer: William Lloyd Garrison.
• Question: Which constitutional amendment abolished slavery in 1865?
  Answer: The 13th Amendment.
• Question: What amendment granted Black men the right to vote in 1870?
  Answer: The 15th Amendment.
• Question: Who became the first African American U.S. senator, representing Mississippi in 1870?
  Answer: Hiram Revels.
• Question: What federal agency created in 1865 aided formerly enslaved people?
  Answer: The Freedmen’s Bureau.
• Question: Which historic university was founded in D.C. in 1867 for Black education?
  Answer: Howard University.
• Question: What white-supremacist group, founded in 1865, terrorized Black communities?
  Answer: The Ku Klux Klan.
• Question: Who delivered the 1867 speech “What the Black Man Wants”?
  Answer: Frederick Douglass.
• Question: Which 1883 Supreme Court decision gutted the Civil Rights Act of 1875?
  Answer: The Civil Rights Cases.
• Question: What 1877 political deal ended Reconstruction and withdrew federal troops?
  Answer: The Compromise of 1877.
• Question: Which educator founded Tuskegee Institute in 1881?
  Answer: Booker T. Washington.
• Question: What 1896 case upheld “separate but equal” segregation?
  Answer: Plessy v Ferguson.
• Question: Which journalist launched a global anti-lynching crusade in the 1890s?
  Answer: Ida B. Wells.
• Question: Who issued Special Field Order No. 15 promising “40 acres and a mule”?
  Answer: General William T. Sherman.
• Question: What 1905 gathering of Black leaders in Buffalo preceded the NAACP?
  Answer: The Niagara Movement.
• Question: Which organization did W. E. B. Du Bois co-found in 1909 to fight segregation?
  Answer: The NAACP.
• Question: Who served as an army nurse with the 33rd U.S. Colored Infantry and wrote a memoir?
  Answer: Susie King Taylor.
• Question: What first HBCU in the South opened in Raleigh in 1865?
  Answer: Shaw University.
• Question: Which 1863 executive order declared freedom in Confederate states?
  Answer: The Emancipation Proclamation.
• Question: What Black militia was attacked in the 1876 Hamburg Massacre?
  Answer: The Hamburg Company.
• Question: Who briefly served as Louisiana’s governor in 1872, the first Black state governor?
  Answer: P. B. S. Pinchback.

Harlem Renaissance & Black Arts Movement

• Question: Which poet’s “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” became a Harlem Renaissance hallmark?
  Answer: Langston Hughes.
• Question: Name the jazz-age Harlem nightclub famed for segregated audiences and Black performers.
  Answer: The Cotton Club.
• Question: Who painted the series “Migration of the Negro”?
  Answer: Jacob Lawrence.
• Question: What 1923 anthology edited by Alain Locke was dubbed the “New Negro Bible”?
  Answer: The New Negro: An Interpretation.
• Question: Which “Empress of the Blues” sang “Downhearted Blues”?
  Answer: Bessie Smith.
• Question: Who wrote the 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God?
  Answer: Zora Neale Hurston.
• Question: Which magazine of the Urban League hosted literary contests for Harlem writers?
  Answer: Opportunity.
• Question: Who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and choreographed “Revelations”?
  Answer: Alvin Ailey.
• Question: Which playwright’s 1959 A Raisin in the Sun was Broadway’s first by a Black woman?
  Answer: Lorraine Hansberry.
• Question: Which poet’s 1969 collection Black Feeling, Black Talk signaled militant verse?
  Answer: Nikki Giovanni.
• Question: Who coined the rallying cry “Black Power” in 1966?
  Answer: Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture).
• Question: What 1965 Harlem institution founded by Amiri Baraka advanced Black nationalist theater?
  Answer: The Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School.
• Question: Which trumpeter’s 1959 album Kind of Blue revolutionized modal jazz?
  Answer: Miles Davis.
• Question: Who wrote the poem “We Real Cool”?
  Answer: Gwendolyn Brooks.
• Question: Name the photographer whose images of Black life appeared in Life, Ebony, and Jet.
  Answer: Gordon Parks.
• Question: Which swing dance, born in Harlem ballrooms, evolved into the Jitterbug?
  Answer: The Lindy Hop.
• Question: Who introduced “double consciousness” in 1903, influencing Harlem thinkers?
  Answer: W. E. B. Du Bois.
• Question: Which socialite hosted Harlem’s famed Dark Tower salons?
  Answer: A’Lelia Walker.
• Question: Who composed the opera Troubled Island premiered in 1949?
  Answer: William Grant Still.
• Question: Which sculptor’s 1876 marble Forever Free inspired Renaissance artists?
  Answer: Edmonia Lewis.
• Question: Which Pan-African leader founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association?
  Answer: Marcus Garvey.

Civil Rights Movement

• Question: Who refused to surrender her bus seat in Montgomery in 1955?
  Answer: Rosa Parks.
• Question: What 1963 gathering heard Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream”?
  Answer: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
• Question: Which Mississippi NAACP field secretary was assassinated in 1963?
  Answer: Medgar Evers.
• Question: What 1965 Selma protest became known as Bloody Sunday?
  Answer: The Edmund Pettus Bridge attack.
• Question: Who integrated the University of Mississippi in 1962?
  Answer: James Meredith.
• Question: Which Nashville student sit-in leader later served in Congress?
  Answer: John Lewis.
• Question: What student group formed in 1960 to coordinate sit-ins?
  Answer: SNCC.
• Question: Name the 1964 campaign to register Mississippi voters.
  Answer: Freedom Summer.
• Question: Which 1954 Supreme Court case ended legal school segregation?
  Answer: Brown v Board of Education.
• Question: Who delivered the 1964 speech “The Ballot or the Bullet”?
  Answer: Malcolm X.
• Question: What 1967 Supreme Court case struck down interracial-marriage bans?
  Answer: Loving v Virginia.
• Question: Which landmark law banned discrimination in public accommodations in 1964?
  Answer: The Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Question: What 1968 act outlawed housing discrimination?
  Answer: The Fair Housing Act.
• Question: Which Chicago activist co-chaired the 1966 open-housing marches with Dr. King?
  Answer: Al Raby.
• Question: What group founded in Oakland in 1966 advocated armed self-defense?
  Answer: The Black Panther Party.
• Question: Who became the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 1968?
  Answer: Shirley Chisholm.
• Question: What 1963 Birmingham protest saw children face firehoses?
  Answer: The Children’s Crusade.
• Question: Which Arkansas high school was integrated by the Little Rock Nine?
  Answer: Little Rock Central High School.
• Question: Who became the first Black Supreme Court Justice in 1967?
  Answer: Thurgood Marshall.
• Question: What Atlanta-based organization elected Dr. King its first president in 1957?
  Answer: SCLC.
• Question: Which 1967 Aretha Franklin hit demanded R-E-S-P-E-C-T?
  Answer: “Respect.”

Politics & Public Service

• Question: Who was elected 44th U.S. president in 2008?
  Answer: Barack Obama.
• Question: Which Californian became America’s first woman of Black and South Asian heritage vice president?
  Answer: Kamala Harris.
• Question: Who was the first Black U.S. Secretary of State (2001-2005)?
  Answer: Colin Powell.
• Question: Which diplomat became the first Black woman Secretary of State in 2005?
  Answer: Condoleezza Rice.
• Question: Who became the first Black mayor of a major U.S. city (Cleveland, 1967)?
  Answer: Carl Stokes.
• Question: Which civil-rights leader founded Rainbow PUSH and ran for president twice?
  Answer: Jesse Jackson.
• Question: Who became Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator in 2021?
  Answer: Raphael Warnock.
• Question: Which voting-rights champion founded Fair Fight after a 2018 gubernatorial bid?
  Answer: Stacey Abrams.
• Question: Who became Atlanta’s first Black female police chief in 1994?
  Answer: Beverly Harvard.
• Question: Who was the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate (1992)?
  Answer: Carol Moseley Braun.
• Question: Which Virginian was the first elected Black governor since Reconstruction (1989)?
  Answer: Douglas Wilder.
• Question: Who joined the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 as its first Black woman justice?
  Answer: Ketanji Brown Jackson.
• Question: Which Alabama physician served as U.S. Surgeon General from 2009-2013?
  Answer: Dr. Regina Benjamin.
• Question: Which journalist-turned-diplomat founded The New York Age and later served in Liberia?
  Answer: T. Thomas Fortune.
• Question: Who became the first Black woman elected to Congress from California in 1972?
  Answer: Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.
• Question: Which senator, elected in Massachusetts in 1966, was the first Black senator chosen by popular vote?
  Answer: Edward Brooke.
• Question: Who became Chicago’s first Black mayor in 1983?
  Answer: Harold Washington.
• Question: Which former congresswoman was elected Los Angeles’ first Black woman mayor in 2022?
  Answer: Karen Bass.
• Question: Who was New York City’s first Black mayor, elected in 1989?
  Answer: David Dinkins.
• Question: Which Liberian leader became Africa’s first elected female president in 2006?
  Answer: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
• Question: Who became the first Black speaker of Maryland’s House of Delegates in 2019?
  Answer: Adrienne A. Jones.

Science, Technology & Innovation

• Question: Which NASA mathematician’s calculations enabled John Glenn’s 1962 orbit?
  Answer: Katherine Johnson.
• Question: Who patented the three-position traffic signal in 1923?
  Answer: Garrett Morgan.
• Question: Which agricultural scientist championed crop rotation with peanuts?
  Answer: George Washington Carver.
• Question: Who became the first Black woman in space in 1992?
  Answer: Dr. Mae Jemison.
• Question: Which physician’s blood-plasma research saved WWII lives?
  Answer: Dr. Charles Drew.
• Question: Who co-invented the resistor that made pacemakers more reliable?
  Answer: Otis Boykin.
• Question: Which astrophysicist built the UV camera flown on Apollo 16?
  Answer: George Carruthers.
• Question: Who became the first Black woman to earn a PhD from MIT and later chaired the NRC?
  Answer: Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson.
• Question: Which IBM engineer helped create the color PC monitor and Gigahertz chip?
  Answer: Mark Dean.
• Question: Which roboticist founded Zyrobotics and became OSU’s engineering dean in 2024?
  Answer: Dr. Ayanna Howard.
• Question: Who was the first African American to earn a chemistry PhD in 1916?
  Answer: St. Elmo Brady.
• Question: Who invented laser-phaco cataract surgery?
  Answer: Dr. Patricia Bath.
• Question: Name the former NASA engineer who created the Super Soaker.
  Answer: Lonnie Johnson.
• Question: Which economist won the 1979 Nobel Prize for development theory?
  Answer: Sir Arthur Lewis.
• Question: Who invented the automatic elevator door in 1887?
  Answer: Alexander Miles.
• Question: Which mathematician supervised NACA’s West Area Computing group?
  Answer: Dorothy Vaughan.
• Question: Who invented the Cardiopad for remote heart monitoring?
  Answer: Arthur Zang.
• Question: Who became Africa’s first person in space in 2002?
  Answer: Mark Shuttleworth.
• Question: Which Nigerian entrepreneur co-founded Andela and Flutterwave?
  Answer: Iyinoluwa Aboyeji.
• Question: Who led the U.S. EPA from 2009-2013 as its first Black head?
  Answer: Lisa P. Jackson.
• Question: Which engineer founded high-speed West African internet company MainOne Cable?
  Answer: Funke Opeke.

Music & Performing Arts

• Question: Who is hailed as the “Queen of Soul” with hits like “Respect”?
  Answer: Aretha Franklin.
• Question: Which New Orleans trumpeter nicknamed “Satchmo” revolutionized jazz?
  Answer: Louis Armstrong.
• Question: Who became the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music (2018)?
  Answer: Kendrick Lamar.
• Question: Which superstar headlined “Beychella” at Coachella 2018?
  Answer: Beyoncé.
• Question: Name the reggae icon behind albums like Exodus.
  Answer: Bob Marley.
• Question: Who composed the Duke Ellington standard “Take the ‘A’ Train”?
  Answer: Billy Strayhorn.
• Question: Which Atlanta duo coined “Dirty South” and released ATLiens?
  Answer: Outkast.
• Question: What pianist-singer fused jazz, blues, and activism in “Mississippi Goddam”?
  Answer: Nina Simone.
• Question: Which ballroom legend dubbed the “Godfather of Voguing” starred in Paris Is Burning?
  Answer: Willi Ninja.
• Question: Who was the first Black artist to headline the Grand Ole Opry (1962)?
  Answer: Charley Pride.
• Question: Which Motown group topped charts with “My Girl”?
  Answer: The Temptations.
• Question: Who is nicknamed “Mama Africa” and won a 1966 Grammy?
  Answer: Miriam Makeba.
• Question: Which Jamaican-born choreographer won a Tony for Broadway’s The Lion King?
  Answer: Garth Fagan.
• Question: Name the blues guitarist who called his guitar “Lucille.”
  Answer: B.B. King.
• Question: Who became the first Black conductor of a major U.S. orchestra in 1961?
  Answer: Henry Lewis.
• Question: Which mogul co-founded Def Jam in 1984?
  Answer: Russell Simmons.
• Question: What Bronx dance element of hip-hop features acrobatic floor moves?
  Answer: Breakdancing (B-boying).
• Question: Which jazz vocalist from the Bronx won Best New Artist Grammy in 2023?
  Answer: Samara Joy.
• Question: Who composed the 1959 suite Mingus Ah Um?
  Answer: Charles Mingus.
• Question: Who became American Ballet Theatre’s first Black female principal dancer (2015)?
  Answer: Misty Copeland.
• Question: Which Nigerian singer’s 2022 hit “Calm Down” took TikTok by storm?
  Answer: Rema.

Film, Television & Pop Culture

• Question: Who was the first Black actor to win Best Actor Oscar (1964)?
  Answer: Sidney Poitier.
• Question: Which 2018 Marvel film was the first superhero movie nominated for Best Picture?
  Answer: Black Panther.
• Question: Who hosts the talk show famous for “You get a car!”?
  Answer: Oprah Winfrey.
• Question: Which comedian created Chappelle’s Show?
  Answer: Dave Chappelle.
• Question: Who won an Oscar for portraying Richard Williams in King Richard?
  Answer: Will Smith.
• Question: Who became the first Black woman to win Best Actress Oscar (2002)?
  Answer: Halle Berry.
• Question: Which ABC sitcom about the Johnson family tackles race issues?
  Answer: Black-ish.
• Question: Who created and starred in HBO’s Insecure?
  Answer: Issa Rae.
• Question: What 1977 miniseries adapted Alex Haley’s novel about Kunta Kinte?
  Answer: Roots.
• Question: Which actress won an Oscar for 12 Years a Slave?
  Answer: Lupita Nyong’o.
• Question: Who voiced Mufasa in The Lion King?
  Answer: James Earl Jones.
• Question: What 2016 film highlighted Black women mathematicians at NASA?
  Answer: Hidden Figures.
• Question: Who won a 2017 Emmy for acting in Atlanta, reviving Black comedy wins?
  Answer: Donald Glover.
• Question: Which entertainer broke late-night ground with The Arsenio Hall Show?
  Answer: Arsenio Hall.
• Question: Who became the first Black woman to direct a $100-million film (A Wrinkle in Time, 2018)?
  Answer: Ava DuVernay.
• Question: Which writer became the first Black woman to win an Emmy for Comedy Writing (2017)?
  Answer: Lena Waithe.
• Question: What 1971 film starring Richard Roundtree defined Blaxploitation?
  Answer: Shaft.
• Question: Who played Morpheus in The Matrix franchise?
  Answer: Laurence Fishburne.
• Question: Which ABC sitcom created by Quinta Brunson follows Philadelphia teachers?
  Answer: Abbott Elementary.
• Question: Who, at 24, became the first Black Oscar nominee for Best Director (Boyz n the Hood, 1991)?
  Answer: John Singleton.
• Question: What 2017 thriller by Jordan Peele introduced the “sunken place”?
  Answer: Get Out.

Sports & Athletics

• Question: Who broke MLB’s color barrier in 1947?
  Answer: Jackie Robinson.
• Question: Which gymnast boasts a record 30 world championship medals?
  Answer: Simone Biles.
• Question: Who was the first Black heavyweight boxing champion (1908)?
  Answer: Jack Johnson.
• Question: Which two sprinters raised gloved fists at the 1968 Olympics podium?
  Answer: Tommie Smith and John Carlos.
• Question: Who became the first Black woman to win a tennis Grand Slam singles title (1956)?
  Answer: Althea Gibson.
• Question: Which Liberian striker won FIFA World Player of the Year (1995)?
  Answer: George Weah.
• Question: Who earned the nickname “His Airness” in the NBA?
  Answer: Michael Jordan.
• Question: Which driver won the 2008 Formula One world title, a first for a Black racer?
  Answer: Lewis Hamilton.
• Question: Who proclaimed “I am the greatest” and lit the 1996 Olympic torch?
  Answer: Muhammad Ali.
• Question: Who was the first Black head coach to win a Super Bowl (2007)?
  Answer: Tony Dungy.
• Question: Which tennis legend holds 23 Grand Slam singles titles?
  Answer: Serena Williams.
• Question: Who sprinted to triple Olympic 100m golds (2008-2016)?
  Answer: Usain Bolt.
• Question: Which gymnast was the first Black woman all-around Olympic champ (2012)?
  Answer: Gabby Douglas.
• Question: What unlikely winter sport debut inspired Cool Runnings?
  Answer: Jamaica’s bobsled team.
• Question: Who was the first Black golfer to play the Masters (1975)?
  Answer: Lee Elder.
• Question: Which figure skater earned Olympic bronze in 1988, a first for a Black woman?
  Answer: Debi Thomas.
• Question: Who paused her WNBA career for criminal-justice activism and later married Jonathan Irons?
  Answer: Maya Moore.
• Question: Who became the first Black athlete to win the Heisman Trophy (1961)?
  Answer: Ernie Davis.
• Question: Which swimmer became the first Black woman Olympic gold medalist (2016)?
  Answer: Simone Manuel.
• Question: Who set still-standing 100m and 200m women’s world records in 1988?
  Answer: Florence Griffith Joyner.
• Question: Which coach led Seattle to the 1979 NBA title, first for a Black head coach?
  Answer: Lenny Wilkens.

Literature & Poetry

• Question: Who wrote the 1845 autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass?
  Answer: Frederick Douglass.
• Question: Which poet’s 1773 collection made her America’s first published Black woman poet?
  Answer: Phillis Wheatley.
• Question: Who authored the Pulitzer-winning 1987 novel Beloved?
  Answer: Toni Morrison.
• Question: Which author of Kindred is revered for Afrofuturism?
  Answer: Octavia Butler.
• Question: Name the poet who recited “On the Pulse of Morning” at the 1993 inauguration.
  Answer: Maya Angelou.
• Question: Who penned the 1964 play Dutchman?
  Answer: Amiri Baraka.
• Question: Which St. Lucian poet won the 1992 Nobel Prize for Omeros?
  Answer: Derek Walcott.
• Question: Who wrote Between the World and Me (2015)?
  Answer: Ta-Nehisi Coates.
• Question: Which journalist spearheaded The 1619 Project?
  Answer: Nikole Hannah-Jones.
• Question: Who became the youngest inaugural poet at age 22 (2021)?
  Answer: Amanda Gorman.
• Question: Who authored Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953)?
  Answer: James Baldwin.
• Question: Which Nigerian author wrote Half of a Yellow Sun (2007)?
  Answer: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
• Question: Who co-created the graphic memoir series March?
  Answer: John Lewis.
• Question: Which Trinidadian novelist wrote A House for Mr Biswas?
  Answer: V. S. Naipaul.
• Question: Who wrote the Harlem Renaissance bestseller Home to Harlem (1928)?
  Answer: Claude McKay.
• Question: Name the playwright whose 2017 revival of Sweat earned a Pulitzer.
  Answer: Lynn Nottage.
• Question: Which Congolese author penned Broken Glass?
  Answer: Alain Mabanckou.
• Question: Who wrote the genealogical epic Roots (1976)?
  Answer: Alex Haley.
• Question: Which Canadian poet is a pioneer of dub poetry?
  Answer: Lillian Allen.
• Question: Who won the 2015 Booker Prize for A Brief History of Seven Killings?
  Answer: Marlon James.
• Question: Which Sierra Leonean author’s memoir A Long Way Gone recounts life as a child soldier?
  Answer: Ishmael Beah.

Black Women Trailblazers

• Question: Which aviator became the first Black woman with an international pilot’s license (1921)?
  Answer: Bessie Coleman.
• Question: Who was the first Black woman elected to Congress (1968)?
  Answer: Shirley Chisholm.
• Question: Who became the first Black U.S. Poet Laureate (1993)?
  Answer: Rita Dove.
• Question: Which Ghanaian-born neurosurgeon broke Johns Hopkins barriers in 2020?
  Answer: Dr. Nancy Abu-Bonsrah.
• Question: Who was America’s first Black female combat pilot (2001)?
  Answer: Vernice Armour.
• Question: Who became ABT’s first Black female principal dancer in 2015?
  Answer: Misty Copeland.
• Question: Which astronaut is slated for a long-duration ISS mission on Starliner?
  Answer: Dr. Jeanette Epps.
• Question: Who co-founded #BlackLivesMatter in 2013?
  Answer: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi.
• Question: Which Kenyan environmentalist won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize?
  Answer: Wangari Maathai.
• Question: Who became Harvard University’s first Black president in 2023?
  Answer: Claudine Gay.
• Question: Which athlete was the first Black woman on a U.S. Olympic team (1932)?
  Answer: Tidye Pickett.
• Question: Who created Grey’s Anatomy and wrote Year of Yes?
  Answer: Shonda Rhimes.
• Question: Which billionaire entrepreneur founded Fenty Beauty and Savage x Fenty?
  Answer: Rihanna.
• Question: Who won an Oscar for Best Costume Design for Black Panther (2019)?
  Answer: Ruth E. Carter.
• Question: Who launched MainOne Cable, nicknamed West Africa’s “Broadband Queen”?
  Answer: Funke Opeke.
• Question: Which sprinter nicknamed “Pocket Rocket” has more than 30 global medals?
  Answer: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
• Question: Who became the first Black woman federal judge in 1966?
  Answer: Constance Baker Motley.
• Question: Which actress-entrepreneur founded Pattern Beauty and stars in Black-ish?
  Answer: Tracee Ellis Ross.
• Question: Who was the first Black woman vice-presidential nominee (Progressive Party, 1952)?
  Answer: Charlotta Bass.
• Question: Which singer-actress became the first Black Miss America (1983)?
  Answer: Vanessa Williams.
• Question: Who became the first woman and first African to lead the WTO (2021)?
  Answer: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Global Black History

• Question: Which Brazilian martial art blends dance, music, and combat?
  Answer: Capoeira.
• Question: Who became South Africa’s first Black president in 1994?
  Answer: Nelson Mandela.
• Question: Name Haiti’s founding father who declared himself emperor in 1804.
  Answer: Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
• Question: Which Afro-Venezuelan soldier nicknamed “Negro Primero” fought with Bolívar?
  Answer: Pedro Camejo.
• Question: Who led Jamaica’s 1831 Baptist War against slavery?
  Answer: Samuel Sharpe.
• Question: What 1976 uprising protested Afrikaans-only schooling in South Africa?
  Answer: The Soweto Uprising.
• Question: Which Trinidadian historian wrote The Black Jacobins?
  Answer: C. L. R. James.
• Question: Who became Britain’s first Black cabinet minister (2002)?
  Answer: Paul Boateng.
• Question: In which island nation did Marcus Garvey’s teachings inspire Rastafari?
  Answer: Jamaica.
• Question: Which city hosted FESTAC ’77, a global Black arts festival?
  Answer: Lagos, Nigeria.
• Question: Who became Canada’s first Black female governor general (2005)?
  Answer: Michaëlle Jean.
• Question: What Pan-African union briefly united Ghana and Guinea from 1958?
  Answer: The Ghana-Guinea Union (later Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union).
• Question: Which Mozambique-born striker nicknamed “Black Panther” starred at the 1966 World Cup?
  Answer: Eusébio.
• Question: Who organized the first Pan-African Conference in London (1900)?
  Answer: Henry Sylvester-Williams.
• Question: Which Senegalese director is hailed as the “father of African cinema”?
  Answer: Ousmane Sembène.
• Question: Name the 1760 Jamaican rebellion led by Tacky.
  Answer: Tacky’s War.
• Question: Which Cape Verdean singer popularized morna globally?
  Answer: Cesária Évora.
• Question: Who reigned as Ethiopia’s emperor from 1930-1974 and resisted fascism?
  Answer: Haile Selassie I.
• Question: What 1884-85 meeting partitioned Africa among European powers?
  Answer: The Berlin Conference.
• Question: Which Colombian coastal music style using marimbas gained UNESCO status in 2010?
  Answer: Currulao.
• Question: Who led the Mau Mau uprising as a Field Marshal in 1950s Kenya?
  Answer: Dedan Kimathi.

Modern Milestones (2000–2025)

• Question: Who became the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court (2022)?
  Answer: Ketanji Brown Jackson.
• Question: Which Formula One star tied Schumacher with seven titles in 2020?
  Answer: Lewis Hamilton.
• Question: Who became the most Grammy-awarded artist ever in 2023?
  Answer: Beyoncé.
• Question: Who became the NFL’s first Black team president with Washington in 2020?
  Answer: Jason Wright.
• Question: Which Barbadian prime minister guided her nation to republic status in 2021?
  Answer: Mia Mottley.
• Question: Who was the first Black astronaut on a long-duration ISS mission (2020-21 Crew-1)?
  Answer: Victor Glover.
• Question: Who became CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance in 2021, one of few Black women Fortune 500 CEOs?
  Answer: Rosalind Brewer.
• Question: Which tennis star wore masks honoring Black victims while winning the 2020 U.S. Open?
  Answer: Naomi Osaka.
• Question: What global protests erupted after George Floyd’s murder in 2020?
  Answer: The George Floyd protests / Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
• Question: Who became the first Afro-Latina transgender Golden Globe winner in 2022?
  Answer: Michaela Jaé (MJ) Rodriguez.
• Question: Which Martinican director received an honorary Oscar in 2022?
  Answer: Euzhan Palcy.
• Question: Who became Maryland’s first Black governor in 2023?
  Answer: Wes Moore.
• Question: Which Jamaican sprinter clocked 10.54 s in the 100 m in 2021?
  Answer: Elaine Thompson-Herah.
• Question: Who is set to be the first Black astronaut to orbit the Moon on Artemis II (2025)?
  Answer: Victor Glover.
• Question: What 2022 Marvel sequel honored Chadwick Boseman?
  Answer: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
• Question: Who debuted as Ghana’s first Winter Olympian skeleton athlete in 2018?
  Answer: Akwasi Frimpong.
• Question: Which designer became the first Black American guest couturier in Paris (2021)?
  Answer: Kerby Jean-Raymond.
• Question: Who achieved EGOT status in 2018 with an Emmy for Jesus Christ Superstar?
  Answer: John Legend.
• Question: Who became the first Black head of an Oxford college (University College, 2020)?
  Answer: Baroness Valerie Amos.
• Question: Which sprinter set a U20 world 200 m record of 19.49 s in 2022?
  Answer: Erriyon Knighton.
• Question: Who became the UK’s first Black Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2022?
  Answer: Kwasi Kwarteng.

Culture, Food & Heritage

• Question: What seasoned leafy-greens soul-food staple often uses smoked turkey or ham hocks?
  Answer: Collard greens.
• Question: Which New Orleans celebration features colorful Mardi Gras Indians each Super Sunday?
  Answer: Mardi Gras Super Sunday.
• Question: Name the iconic 1960s hairstyle symbolizing Black pride.
  Answer: The Afro.
• Question: Which Ga harvest festival in Ghana is called “Homowo,” meaning “hooting at hunger”?
  Answer: Homowo.
• Question: What Chicago-born dance culture centers around competitive ballroom “vogue” battles?
  Answer: Ballroom vogueing.
• Question: Which spicy West African street-food seasoning is called suya?
  Answer: Suya spice.
• Question: What Gullah Geechee dish mixes rice, shrimp, and tomatoes?
  Answer: Red rice (Gullah shrimp rice).
• Question: Which Afro-Caribbean religion blends Yoruba traditions with Catholicism?
  Answer: Santería.
• Question: Name Jamaica’s iconic scotch-bonnet–laced grilled chicken.
  Answer: Jerk chicken.
• Question: What vibrant West African wax-print fabric is popularly called Ankara?
  Answer: Dutch wax (Ankara) cloth.
• Question: Which Louisiana language mixes French, Spanish, African, and Native words?
  Answer: Louisiana Creole.
• Question: What week-long holiday honors African heritage each December?
  Answer: Kwanzaa.
• Question: Name the Louisiana stew of okra, seafood, and roux.
  Answer: Gumbo.
• Question: Which Brazilian national dish of black beans and pork has enslaved-era roots?
  Answer: Feijoada.
• Question: What ancient African hairstyle consists of close-scalp braids?
  Answer: Cornrows.
• Question: Which hourglass-shaped West African drum “talks” through pitch changes?
  Answer: The talking drum.
• Question: What gospel music style grew from Black church hymns with call-and-response?
  Answer: Gospel.
• Question: Which Nigerian cultural festival features a massive river fishing contest?
  Answer: Argungu Fishing Festival.
• Question: What Grenadian carnival character in horned costume is called Jab Jab?
  Answer: Jab Jab.
• Question: Which Senegalese rice-and-fish dish, thieboudienne, is UNESCO-listed?
  Answer: Thieboudienne (ceebu jën).
• Question: What Jamaican sound-system practice of remixing and toasting birthed dub?
  Answer: Dub.