Black History Trivia Bowl Questions

Along the Gulf Coats of Louisiana, what type of music is played with the accordion?

Zydeco

Who wrote “Their Eyes Were Watching God?”

Zora Neale Hurston

Which one of the composer/pianist Anthony Davis’ operas premiered in the Philadelphia in 1985 and was preformed by the NY city Opera in 1986?

X: The Life and Times of Malcom X

Since 1987, who has held the position of director of jazz at Lincoln Center for the Preforming Arts in New York City?

Wynton Marsalis

What profession were Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Countee Cullen?

Writers

Who wrote Cotel, or The President’s Daughter, the first published novel by a Black American in 1833?

William Wells Brown

Who published The Escape, the first play written by a Black American?

William Wells Brown

What is the given name of blues great W.C Handy?

(William) Christopher Handy

What aspiring fiction writer and Hopkinsville native served as editor of three African American weeklies?

(William) Alexander Chambers

Nat Love wrote what kinds of stories?

Westerns

In 1993 she became the first black to be honored with the Nobel Prize for Literature for six novels. She is a two-time winner for the Pulitzer prize for Beloved which became a motion picture and in 1993 for Jazz. Name her.

Toni Morrison

What pianist and arranger formed his own jazz band and recorded the albums, Your Daddy’s Dogin’s Around and Blues for the Red Boy?

Todd Washington Rhodes

Trumpeter Wynton Maraslis is the spokesperson for what group, representing a younger generation of jazz musicians?

The Young Lions

This is the first Gloria Naylor novel consisted of tales from 7 black women who wound up on a dead-end street in a ghetto in the North. What was the name of the novel?

The Women of Brewster Place

What New York library houses rare collections of Black culture?

The Schomburg Center

Which group started as a male gospel ensemble but added female voices in 1940s?

The Roberta Martin Singers

What was the name of Charles W. Chestnut’s final novel?

The Quarry

For what work did August Wilson win two Pulitzer Prizes for drama?

The Pittsburgh Cycle

Sallie Martin was the “mother of gospel music.” She and Thomas A. Dorsey founded what group in 1933?

The National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses

The first known slave narrative was A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Suprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon, A Negro Man. In what year was it published?

1760

How old was Langston Hughes when his poetry was first published?

19 years old

How many operas did the composer Scott Joplin write?

2 operas

Miles Davids was a trumpeter of cool, modal, and rock jazz. He served as a bandleader for how many classic quintets in his career?

2

Dwight Smith and Clem Haskins became the first two AfricanAmerican basketball players at what university?

Western Kentucky University

At the age of 29, Bernie Bickerstaff became the youngest assistant coach in NBA history when he joined what team now known as the Washington Wizards?

Washington Bullets

This athlete was a running back for the Chicago Bears. He ran 1,852 yards to help the team reach the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. What was his name?

Walter Payton

What running back surpassed Jim Brown’s rushing record of 12,312 yards?

Walter Payton

What was boxing great Sugar Ray Robinson’s real name?

Walker Smith Jr

Who was the first Black American pitcher to win the Cy Young award in the American Leauge?

Vida Blue

These two sisters are champions of major tennis tournaments. Name them.

Venus and Serena Williams

Who was the first Black American to play in the National Hockey Leauge?

Val James

NBA superstar Micheal Jordan played college basketball at what university?

University of NC at Chapel Hill

Where did Derek Bryant, the first African American baseball player, play?

University of Kentucky

The men’s basketball team won a Gold Medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, what was the team known as?

The Dream Team

Jim Kelly, martial artist and movie star currently practices what other profession?

Tennis coach

In 1956 Althea Gibson became the first African American woman to win a Grand Slam title in what sport?

Tennis

During the Rome Olympics in 1960, Wilma Rudolph became the fastest woman on earth. What was she called?

Tennessee Tornado

In 1992, what prestigious award did Arthur Ashe receive, making him the first person to attain this honor after retiring from a professional sport?

Sportsman of the Year

Who did Muhammad Ali defeat on Feb. 25th, 1964 to win the heavyweight title?

Sonny Liston

Who did Floyd Patterson lose his boxing title to in 1962?

Sonny Liston

She led Texas Tech to the national championship by scoring 47 points in a final game? Who is she?

Sheryl Swoopes

The first African American NBA head coach from Kentucky, Bernie Bickerstaff, coached what team from 1985-1990.

Seattle SuperSonics

Before being christened the Harlem Globetrotters, what was this basketball team’s name?

Savoy Big Five

Lewis Laitmer prepared the drawings for what invention patented by Alexander Graham Bell?

The telephone

What did Benjamin Banneker’s bok Almanac examine?

The sun, moon, and planets

What happened to Dr Ronald McNair (a black astronaut) and his crew members on Jan. 28th, 1986?

It exploded after takeoff in Cape Canaveral, Flordia

What did Elijah Mcy patent in 1872 that drastically improved the speed and efficiency of industrial machinery?

The lubricator cup

What was Leonard Julien’s sugar cane planter invention called?

The Julien Planter

Who invented the common dust mop?

T.W Steward

In 1872, what inventor received a patent for an apparatus for detaching horses for carriages?

T.J Boyd

Dr. William Hinton is credited with developing a test to detect what disease?

Syphillis

What did George Washington Carver use to develop postage stamp glue?

Sweet potatoes

Who was the first black american to enter the medical profession?

Susan McKinney

What was the first war in which blacks served in every branch of the U.S armed forces?

World War II

President Jimmy Carter honored the 761st Tank Battalion, an all black unit, for fighting in what war?

World War II

In May 1941, the 758th Tank Battalion was the first African American tank Battalion to fight in which war?

World War II

After his service in what war was Christian Count native Elder Watson Diggs instrumental in having the Indiana constitution amended to permit Negro enlistment in the Indiana National Guard?

World War I

What war led Colin Powell to conclude that an army should not enter into combat unless it had a clear objective?

Vietnam War

In 1942, which branch of the U.S armed forces became the last to admit blacks?

U.S Marine Corps

Inducted in the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights Hall of Fame in 2005, Robert Coleman was a veteran of what branch of the U.S armed services?

U.S Air Force

Many civil rights leaders were opposed to the war in Vietnam for what reason?

They were distress over the high casualties among the black troops.

The NAACP pressured President Woodrow Wilson’s administration to establish what officer’s training school for blacks at Fort Dodge, in Des Moises, Iowa

The Colored Officers Training Camp (COTC)

What was the only African American military women’s unit to go overseas during World War II?

The 6888th Postal Unit

Commissioned in 1943, what first group of black naval officers were known as what?

The Golden Thirteen

What did Pompey Lamb do to help aid the American Revolutionary War Effort?

Spy

William H. Carney received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his participation in what war?

The Spanish American War

Who was the first Black American admiral in the US Navy?

Samuel L Gravely Jr

During the civil war, he was the black pilot who sailed a Confederate steamer out of Charleston and delivered it to the Union Navy in 1862

Robert Smalls

Born in Kentucky, who was the first African American to die in World War II, during the bombing of Clark Field in the Philippines?

Robert H. Brooks

Who was the only accredited Black American war correspondent in World War I?

Ralph Waldo Tyler

The last units of U.S troops came home from Vietnam in the spring of 1973. Who was the president of the United States at the time?

Richard Nixon

Born in 1900, for how many years did Hopkinsville native J. Daniel Massie serve as a magistrate of the First Magisterial District in Christian County?

27 years

For how many years did F.E Whitney serve as member of Hopkinsville City Council?

21 years

Bernice Dickerson, the oldest elected and serving official in Kentucky, won how many city council elections?

11

For how many terms was the T.H Moore elected to serve as magistrate of the First Magisterial District in Christian County

3 terms

Who invented a patent for his invention of a mass release mechanism for satellites?

Wilson Hull

In 1803 the Lewis Clark expedition explored the Louisiana Territory. Which of the two brought along his slave? Name the slave.

Willaim Clark brought his slave, York

What scientist experimented with injections of Vitamin C in cats and dogs to find a cure for epilepsy?

Wendell Belfield

What system did Robert Shurney develop that was used aboard a Skylab space mission?

A waste management system

Who invented the riding saddle for horses?

W.D David

What Black American physician was referred to as “The principal historian of the Negro in medicine” in 1970?

W. Montague Cobb

What did William L. Still organize in 1880 for Black youth?

YMCA

Who was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s executive assistant?

Wyatt Tee Walker

Where did the “sit-in” movement begin?

Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, NC

How did Denmark Vessey gain his freedom in 1799?

He won money in a lottery and purchased his freedom

This slave narrator was also an antislavery lecturer, novelist, dramatist, and historian. Name him.

William Wells Brown

Who was the first Black born in colonial America at Jamestown Virginia?

William Tucker

Who helped form the “American Moral Reform Society” which helped Blacks acquire farms and aided runaway slaves in their escape to Canada?

William S. Whipper

Who was honored as the pioneer of nonviolent protest?

William S. Whipper

The modern Pentecost movement originated from the Azusa Street Revival held in Los Angeles in 1906 under the leadership of the black holiness preacher?

William J. Seymour

What organization formed in 1914 by Marcus Garvey promoted racial pride and self improvement?

Universal Negro Improvement and Association and African Communities Leauge

What was the name of the network of hiding places which helped slaves escape to freedom?

The Underground Railroad

The 1890s was called the “women’s era” in black History because of the rise of the black women’s clubs and movement. For what reasons were these clubs and associations formed?

To provide social services and promote racial gender equality for woman in their communities.

What attorney argued the case Abbington v. Board of Education of Louisville?

Thurgood Marshall

Who were the Exodusters?

They were black people who left the South after Reconstruction who settled in Kansas in 1879

In February 1960 four students sat at a whites-only lunch counter and asked to be served. What happened after the waitress refused?

They waited and left at the end of the day. The next two days students from the college and white students from a local college formed a sit-in. Since then many sit-ins were organized throughout the South to protest segregated seating.

What was the first serious uprising among slaves took place in 1739 and resulted in passage of the Negro Act, which placed restrictions on the ability of slaves in SC to assemble and move freely?

The Stono Rebellion

In the early 18th century many slaves were converted to Christianity during this national religious revival during 1790-1830 that occurred throughout the plantations of the South.

The Second Great Awakening