Black History Quiz - Athletes, Writers, & Activists

Question 1

Leader of the Nation of Islam ("Black Muslims") during the mid-twentieth century.

Accepted Answer

Elijah Muhammad

Question 2

From SC, first black tennis player to win the the French, Wimbledon, & US Open championships

Accepted Answer

Althea Gibson

Question 3

Born Cassius Clay, he was a Olympic & World Champion Boxer with very strong political beliefs.

Accepted Answer

Muhammad Ali

Question 4

A basketball player named Lew Alcindor (Won 3 titles with UCLA & 6 MVP awards with the Lakers)

Accepted Answer

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Question 5

Journalist & activist; leader of the NAACP 1955-77; key figure of the Civil Rights Movement

Accepted Answer

Roy Wilkins

Question 6

Celebrated author of Roots (1976) - a book that was made into a TV movie.

Accepted Answer

Alex Haley

Question 7

First black student to attend the University of Mississippi in 1962.

Accepted Answer

James Meredith

Question 8

Investigated lynchings & worked to end segregation; was the NAACP's executive secretary 1931-55

Accepted Answer

Walter White

Question 9

Civil rights activist, leader of US black nationalism (1960s) & creator of slogan “black power"

Accepted Answer

Stokley Carmichael

Question 10

Playwright who wrote A Raisin in the Sun, a play about a struggling black family.

Accepted Answer

Lorraine Hansberry

Question 11

Activist & black nationalist leader; spokesman for Nation of Islam (50s & 60s). Assassinated.

Accepted Answer

Malcolm X

Question 12

Novelist& short-story writer; protested white treatment of blacks; wrote Native Son & Black Boy

Accepted Answer

Richard Wright

Question 13

From Jamaica;Leader of Black Nationalism & Pan-African movements; inspired the Nation of Islam.

Accepted Answer

Marcus Garvey

Question 14

Famous writer; published his bestselling, acclaimed first novel "Invisible Man" in 1952

Accepted Answer

Ralph Ellison

Question 15

Famous writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Her most famous work is the novel Beloved

Accepted Answer

Toni Morrison

Question 16

Nicknamed "the Stilt", this 7'1" basketball player holds NBA scoring record (100 pts in 1 game)

Accepted Answer

Wilt Chamberlain

Question 17

Famous American poet & writer who was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance

Accepted Answer

Langston Hughes

Question 18

Famous baseball player who played for the Atlanta Braves & hit a career total of 755 home runs.

Accepted Answer

Hank Aaron

Question 19

A famous civil rights activist & author who famously wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God

Accepted Answer

Zora Neale Hurston

Question 20

Famous criminal mystery fiction writer.

Accepted Answer

Walter Mosley

Question 21

Teenager whose brutal murder in Mississippi was the trigger for the civil rights movement.

Accepted Answer

Emmett Till

Question 22

1 of the best basketball players of all time; pt guard for LA Lakers til 1991; real name Earvin

Accepted Answer

Magic Johnson

Question 23

Civil rights activist; served as NAACP leader in Mississippi until his assassination in 1963.

Accepted Answer

Medgar Evers

Question 24

First black male tennis player to win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon; he died of AIDS.

Accepted Answer

Arthur Ashe

Question 25

Basketball player (power forward called the Round Mound of Rebound); he is now a TV personality

Accepted Answer

Charles Barkley

Question 26

Journalist & activist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s.

Accepted Answer

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Question 27

Champion Olympic & professional welterweight boxer. He retired from the sport in 1997.

Accepted Answer

Sugar Ray Leonard

Question 28

1 of the best basketball players ever; pt guard for Chicago Bulls; won 6 NBA championships

Accepted Answer

Michael Jordan

Question 29

Author, & activist; Created the NAACP; wrote The Souls of Black Folk (1903). Went to Harvard

Accepted Answer

W.E.B. DuBois

Question 30

Led the US civil rights movement; Assassinated in '68. Advocated non-violent protests.

Accepted Answer

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Question 31

Boxing heavyweight champion in the 1930s. Nicknamed the "Brown Bomber".

Accepted Answer

Joe Louis

Question 32

Famous track & field athlete who won gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, angering Hitler.

Accepted Answer

Jesse Owens

Question 33

1st black athlete to play Major League Baseball. He joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

Accepted Answer

Jackie Robinson

Question 34

Author, poet, singer, & civil rights activist. She wrote I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Accepted Answer

Maya Angelou

Question 35

Civil rights leader who helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with MLK

Accepted Answer

Ella Baker

Question 36

Famous black golfer who has 80 PGA wins, 4 Masters wins & many other championship victories

Accepted Answer

Tiger Woods

Question 37

Famous track and field athlete. She won 3 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze in 4 Olympic games.

Accepted Answer

Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Question 38

Won 3 World Series & MVP Award w/ Oakland A's; one of baseball's premier sluggers w/ NY Yankees

Accepted Answer

Reggie Jackson

Question 39

Baptist Minister who was one of the top leaders of the Civil Rights Movement; worked with MLK.

Accepted Answer

Fred Shuttlesworth

Black History Quiz - Athletes, Writers, & Activists

Questions 39

Black History Quiz - Athletes, Writers, & Activists

Questions 39