48 Black History Month trivia questions

Questions for a class or a February program: Carter G. Woodson's first Negro History Week, the Underground Railroad, the Tuskegee Airmen, the civil rights movement, and firsts in sport, music and space. Each answer links to its source. Play them on the screen, or print a player sheet and the answer key.

48 questions · Black History Month trivia questions · answers included

Updated 26 Oct 2026

Questions 1–20

1
Which historian created Negro History Week in 1926, the start of Black History Month?

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Answer
Carter G. Woodson, with his association for Black history.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_History_Month?oldid=1381307450
2
Whose birthdays fall in the February week Woodson chose?

hard

Answer
Abraham Lincoln, on February 12, and Frederick Douglass, on February 14.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_History_Month?oldid=1381307450
3
At which university was the first Black History Month celebrated, in 1970?

hard

Answer
Kent State, in Ohio.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_History_Month?oldid=1381307450
4
Which president recognized Black History Month in 1976, the nation's bicentennial year?

hard

Answer
Gerald Ford.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_History_Month?oldid=1381307450
5
In which month is Black History Month observed in the United Kingdom and Ireland?

hard

Answer
October, not February.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_History_Month?oldid=1381307450
6
What has Carter G. Woodson been called?

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Answer
The "father of Black history."
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_G._Woodson?oldid=1378574733
7
About how many rescue missions did Harriet Tubman make after escaping slavery?

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Answer
Some 13, freeing about 70 people.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman?oldid=1380244851
8
What was the network of safe houses Tubman used called?

easy

Answer
The Underground Railroad.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman?oldid=1380244851
9
What nickname did people give Harriet Tubman?

easy

Answer
Moses, after the leader in the Bible.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman?oldid=1380244851
10
What did Tubman later say about the people she guided north?

hard

Answer
She "never lost a passenger".
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman?oldid=1380244851
11
Tubman guided which Civil War raid, which freed more than 700 enslaved people?

hard

Answer
The raid at Combahee Ferry, in South Carolina.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman?oldid=1380244851
12
What was the name of the abolitionist newspaper Frederick Douglass started in 1847?

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Answer
The North Star, in Rochester, New York.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass?oldid=1381819247
13
In which year did Douglass publish his first autobiography, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass?

hard

Answer
1845, a bestseller.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass?oldid=1381819247
14
By what title did Sojourner Truth's famous speech on women's rights become known?

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Answer
"Ain't I a Woman?"
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sojourner_Truth?oldid=1380244836
15
Phillis Wheatley is considered the first African-American author of what?

hard

Answer
A published book of poetry, in 1773.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley?oldid=1380246008
16
Benjamin Banneker helped survey the borders of which new federal district?

hard

Answer
The District of Columbia, the new capital.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Banneker?oldid=1380583713
17
What did Banneker build out of wood at about the age of 21?

hard

Answer
A clock, which struck on the hour.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Banneker?oldid=1380583713
18
George Washington Carver urged farmers to grow which crops between plantings of cotton?

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Answer
Sweet potatoes or legumes, such as peanuts, to restore the soil.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver?oldid=1381547163
19
Which food is George Washington Carver often wrongly said to have invented?

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Answer
Peanut butter, which others had made before him.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver?oldid=1381547163
20
Madam C. J. Walker is recorded as the first woman in America to become what?

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Answer
A self-made millionaire, through her hair care business.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_C._J._Walker?oldid=1381575689

Questions 21–40

21
What kind of products did Madam C. J. Walker make her fortune with?

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Answer
Cosmetics and hair care products, for Black women.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_C._J._Walker?oldid=1381575689
22
Matthew Henson was part of the expedition that claimed to reach which place in 1909?

hard

Answer
The geographic North Pole, on April 6.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Henson?oldid=1378739878
23
Bessie Coleman was the first African-American woman to hold what kind of license?

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Answer
A pilot license.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman?oldid=1379664517
24
To which country did Bessie Coleman go to learn to fly?

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Answer
France.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman?oldid=1379664517
25
Where did Marian Anderson sing her famous open-air concert on Easter Sunday, 1939?

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Answer
The Lincoln Memorial steps, in Washington.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Anderson?oldid=1378719973
26
In 1955, Marian Anderson became the first Black American to sing with which company?

hard

Answer
The Metropolitan Opera, in New York.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Anderson?oldid=1378719973
27
Langston Hughes is best known as a leader of which 1920s movement?

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Answer
The Harlem Renaissance.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes?oldid=1376367791
28
How many gold medals did Jesse Owens win at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin?

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Answer
Four, including the 100 meters and the long jump.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens?oldid=1381930115
29
What was Jesse Owens's nickname?

hard

Answer
The Buckeye Bullet, as a college runner.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens?oldid=1381930115
30
On what date did Jackie Robinson break baseball's color line with the Brooklyn Dodgers?

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Answer
April 15, 1947.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson?oldid=1379806187
31
On Jackie Robinson Day, which uniform number does every Major League player wear?

easy

Answer
Number 42, Robinson's number.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson?oldid=1379806187
32
Who were the first African-American military aviators in the US armed forces?

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Answer
The Tuskegee Airmen, trained in Alabama.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen?oldid=1381440916
33
What nickname did the 332nd Fighter Group's pilots earn by painting their planes' tails red?

hard

Answer
Red Tails, or Red-Tail Angels.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen?oldid=1381440916
34
In which city did Rosa Parks refuse to give up her bus seat in 1955?

easy

Answer
Montgomery, Alabama.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks?oldid=1380503550
35
Rosa Parks is sometimes called the mother of what?

easy

Answer
The civil rights movement, for her bus protest.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks?oldid=1380503550
36
How many days did the Montgomery bus boycott last?

hard

Answer
382 days, until December 20, 1956.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_bus_boycott?oldid=1379564469
37
Thurgood Marshall was the first African American to serve on which court?

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Answer
The Supreme Court, as a justice.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurgood_Marshall?oldid=1381597755
38
Which 1954 Supreme Court case did Thurgood Marshall win, which held segregation in public schools unconstitutional?

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Answer
Brown v. Board of Education.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurgood_Marshall?oldid=1381597755
39
In 1960, Ruby Bridges was the first African-American child at which New Orleans school?

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Answer
William Frantz Elementary School.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Bridges?oldid=1378591657
40
How old was Ruby Bridges when she started at William Frantz Elementary?

hard

Answer
Six years old.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Bridges?oldid=1378591657

Questions 41–48

41
Which famous speech did Martin Luther King Jr. give at the March on Washington in 1963?

easy

Answer
"I Have a Dream," at the Lincoln Memorial.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_Washington_for_Jobs_and_Freedom?oldid=1378543622
42
About how many people joined the March on Washington in 1963?

hard

Answer
250,000 people, the most widely cited estimate.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_Washington_for_Jobs_and_Freedom?oldid=1378543622
43
In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to what?

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Answer
The United States Congress.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Chisholm?oldid=1380572118
44
What was Shirley Chisholm's campaign slogan?

hard

Answer
"Unbought and unbossed".
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Chisholm?oldid=1380572118
45
NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson helped calculate the path for which 1969 flight to the Moon?

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Answer
Apollo 11, the first Moon landing.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson?oldid=1371479101
46
Which 2016 film told the story of Katherine Johnson and her NASA colleagues?

easy

Answer
Hidden Figures, based on a book of the same title.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson?oldid=1371479101
47
In 1992, Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman to do what?

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Answer
Travel into space, aboard the shuttle Endeavour.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Jemison?oldid=1380778108
48
What is the title of Maya Angelou's first autobiography, published in 1969?

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Answer
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou?oldid=1379664341

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