315 Black History Trivia Questions & Answers!

Explore 315 Black history trivia questions and answers covering African kingdoms, abolition, civil rights, science, music, sports, and culture.

Use them for a classroom activity or game night. The questions span continents and centuries, with source links beside recently corrected facts.

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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: What roughly 150-kilometer earthwork lies near Ijebu-Ode in Nigeria?
  Answer: Sungbo’s Eredo (Source: UNESCO)

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 Jamaican Maroon group, led by Cudjoe, signed a peace treaty with the British in 1739?
  Answer: The Leeward Maroons (Source: National Library of Jamaica)
• Question: In which present-day country did Black settlers from Nova Scotia arrive at Freetown in 1792?
  Answer: Sierra Leone (Sources: U.S. State Department, Royal Museums Greenwich)
• 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: Which Canadian settlement did Josiah Henson help found near Dresden, Ontario, in 1841?
  Answer: The Dawn Settlement (Sources: Parks Canada: Dawn, Parks Canada: Buxton)
• 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 dean of Ohio State’s College of Engineering in 2021?
  Answer: Ayanna Howard (Source: Ohio State University: 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: Which Black country singer made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 1967 and joined its cast in 1993?
  Answer: Charley Pride (Sources: Grand Ole Opry, Grand Ole Opry: DeFord Bailey)
• 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: Which media mogul hosted The Oprah Winfrey Show and famously gave every studio audience member a car?
  Answer: Oprah Winfrey (Sources: Oprah Daily, Oprah Daily: Car Giveaway)
• 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 Major League Baseball’s modern-era color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947?
  Answer: Jackie Robinson (Sources: Baseball Hall of Fame, MLB)
• Question: Which gymnast had won 30 World Championships medals by the end of 2023?
  Answer: Simone Biles (Source: USA Gymnastics)
• 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 to win an individual Olympic swimming gold medal in 2016?
  Answer: Simone Manuel (Sources: Smithsonian, International Olympic Committee)
• 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 physician became Johns Hopkins’ first Black woman neurosurgery resident in 2017?
  Answer: Nancy Abu-Bonsrah (Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine)
• 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 NASA astronaut flew to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX Crew-8 in 2024 after an earlier Starliner assignment?
  Answer: Jeanette Epps (Sources: NASA: Crew-8, NASA: 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 piloted Artemis II during its April 2026 journey around the Moon?
  Answer: Victor Glover (Sources: NASA: Artemis II, NASA: 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.

About this quiz

Site editor: Ellie Simons. Read our Trivia Methodology to learn how questions are researched and updated. Page last updated: September 26, 2026. Report an error.