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African-American Historical Figures

Based on the clues, name these historically-significant African Americans.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Featured Quiz
Last updated: December 26, 2019
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First submittedOctober 30, 2012
Times taken15,377
Average score45.5%
Rating4.07
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Clue
Person
First black President
Barack Obama
He had a dream
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Broke baseball's color barrier
Jackie Robinson
She refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama
Rosa Parks
Black Muslim who said "It's got to be the ballot or the bullet"
Malcolm X
First President of Tuskegee University
Booker T. Washington
Olympian who stuck it to Hitler by winning 4 gold medals
Jesse Owens
Botanist who studied peanuts
George Washington Carver
TV hostess and billionaire
Oprah Winfrey
First black Secretary of State
Colin Powell
Abolitionist orator who said "What to the slave is the 4th of July?"
Frederick Douglass
NAACP co-founder and first African-American to earn a PhD from Harvard
W.E.B. Du Bois
Abolitionist and gender-equality activist who said "Ain't I a Woman"
Sojourner Truth
First black Supreme Court justice
Thurgood Marshall
Escaped slave who returned 13 times to free 70 more people
Harriet Tubman
First person killed in the Boston Massacre
Crispus Attucks
Cotton Club band leader, called the greatest jazz composer of all-time
Duke Ellington
Jazz singer who sang "Strange Fruit", an anti-lynching protest song
Billie Holiday
First African-American to win an Oscar for Best Actress (2002)
Halle Berry
First African-American to win an Oscar for Best Actor (1964)
Sidney Poitier
Author of "Invisible Man"
Ralph Ellison
Author of "Roots"
Alex Haley
kalbahamut
+4
Level 82
Feb 1, 2013
wow. Halle Berry? I thought maybe it was that woman in Gone With the Wind. Did she win Best Supporting Actress? Hattie McDaniels? I blanked on Harriet Tubman even though I did a report on her in the 5th grade.
buck1017
+1
Level 77
Nov 6, 2013
i tried McDowell, Mc Daniel, McDaniels...i even googled it to make sure i had the right name. I knew that she was best supporting actress, but i wasn't sure if the quiz differentiated. I got Halle Berry on a pure guess as i was going through all of the black actress that i could think of.
LisaChristine369
+2
Level 53
Feb 1, 2016
Ms. McDaniel was the first African American to win an Oscar, but her Oscar was for Best Supporting Actress, not Best Actress...that is the distinction the question is making.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Feb 1, 2016
a supporting actress is still an actress.. maybe if it had said best actress in a leading role..
camus
+7
Level 78
Feb 1, 2016
Best Actress (with capital letters) means Best Leading Actress in Oscar terminology. Understandably, this causes confusion in a quiz.
sierraistheshiz
+1
Level 20
Feb 1, 2013
How could I miss Oprah!!
gettingalife
+1
Level 39
Nov 29, 2014
i know, i had the same thought! still kicking myself...
jmaddog
+1
Level 33
Feb 3, 2013
Sad not to see Dies Drear on here. He was like Harriet Tubman, freed about 50 slaves. Noone remembers him because he died saving slaves. If you want more info, I would reccomend reading/seeing The House of Dies Drear.
TheWombat
+2
Level 74
Jun 12, 2014
Dies Drear was fictional though, wasn't he?
PrinceEric
+1
Level 56
Feb 1, 2016
Yeah, I don't think that was a real person...
ColoHarpare
+2
Level 50
Feb 4, 2016
Not only was Dies Drear fictional, in the book he's described as a WHITE abolitionist! So doesn't fit the puzzle at all!
sillie
+1
Level 77
Nov 14, 2014
I didn't know Colin Powell was black. (I either didn't watch news at the time, or it wasn't something that I felt strongly enough about that I'd remember it.)
Tummykong
+4
Level 66
Feb 3, 2016
I wouldn't admit to that in a comment.
DonTheLamplighter
+2
Level 84
Oct 16, 2017
Why not? That's not a bad thing. If anything, it's good. Do you think that someone who held deep-seated prejudice would fail to detect that Colin Powell may possibly be black? Yeah, didn't think so.
MarcellDAvis
+1
Level 75
Oct 9, 2023
To be fair, Powell has fairly light skin for being "black". But American black/white terminology is confusing anyway when you think about it. There are some Indians (people from India), pacific islanders and Aboriginal Australians with very dark skin who would not be considered "black" while people from many Asian countries such as Japan or Iran often have very light skin but are not considered "white". And then there are people like Obama who are commonly called "black" while, technically, aren't they both? It all makes no sense.
sgtmike83
+1
Level 33
Apr 9, 2015
Hattie McDaniel was the first black actress to win an Oscar, not Halle Berry.
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Apr 9, 2015
Your statement is correct. However, the question asks for "Best Actress". McDaniel won for supporting actress.
ColoHarpare
+1
Level 50
Feb 4, 2016
Did this clue get changed? I would think that the date (2002) would be a tip-off that it wouldn't be Hattie McDaniels (aside from the "Supporting Actress" issue).
lottoid
+2
Level 88
Jun 20, 2015
Quibbles: Sidney Poitier is Bahamanian/Hatian. Not African. Obama is African, but he has no black ancestors from the US.
Quizmaster
+5
Level ∞
Aug 5, 2015
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/african-american
divantilya
+1
Level 37
Mar 7, 2018
Thank you for having Merriam-Webster define ethnicity for us.
kalbahamut
+3
Level 82
May 22, 2019
Merriam-Webster has been defining things for us since the 1800s. I don't think it was Quizmaster's call.
dasubergeek
+1
Level 74
Feb 1, 2016
Quibble: stop pretending there aren't two whole continents and a whole host of islands making up "America".
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Sep 21, 2019
There aren't. But that's beside the point and not why lottoid is wrong. Poitier and Obama are both Americans with African heritage.
divantilya
+3
Level 37
Sep 19, 2019
Lottoid: As a matter of fact, Obama is a perfect example of an African-American. His father was African, while his mother was American.
verdun
+2
Level 71
Sep 15, 2015
Condoleeza Rice?
loganite
+3
Level 88
Feb 1, 2016
I tried her too, but then remembered she followed Colin Powell.
francescafawn
+2
Level 43
Feb 1, 2016
I wish there were more women. 5/22 isn't great! :(
ander217
+1
Level 75
Feb 1, 2016
For some stupid reason I kept trying variations of Sojourner Smith. I knew the right answer, but It just didn't clear the cobwebs in time to reach my typing fingers. Same with Tubman. I tried Tubbs. Sigh. I suppose that's what you get when you cross Tubman with "Call me MISTER Tibbs.'
luxint
+1
Level 65
Feb 1, 2016
from uk got 10 beating 56 per cent of takers? wtf? shocking given the vast majority on here are from usa.
TheNewPotato
+1
Level 49
Feb 1, 2016
There are some smart people in the U.S., contrary to popular belief.
luxint
+2
Level 65
Feb 2, 2016
my point was how low the average scores are for this quiz, which is depressing but maybe not surprising
mpmusic
+1
Level 57
Feb 1, 2016
According to PBS and Harriet Tubman.org, she came back up to nineteen times and saved up to three hundred slaves.
zgold
+2
Level 20
Feb 1, 2016
Lol.... thanks PSATs
Rizzo33
+1
Level 26
Feb 2, 2016
Never heard of Ralph Ellison.
JWatson24
+2
Level 71
Jul 27, 2019
Invisible Man is a really amazing book, I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it
Moon101
+2
Level 38
Feb 5, 2016
I thought people would do better with Harriet Tubman
Marrrco1127
+1
Level 16
Apr 14, 2017
XD he had a dream is kinda stupid. (no offence intended, seriously) everyone has dreams
kalbahamut
+4
Level 82
May 22, 2019
not stupid at all if you know anything about history
PynchonsOverbite
+1
Level 91
Aug 31, 2021
But not all dreams are equal. And King's, as he laid out in his speech, is unusually worth realizing.
DonTheLamplighter
+7
Level 84
Oct 16, 2017
My mom got to meet Jackie Robinson when she was a young girl. She used to go to Ebbets Field with her older brother to see the Dodgers play, and one time they let the kids on the field. So she ran right up to her favorite Dodger, Robinson, and he smiled and shook her hand. Priceless memory for her.
JohnnyYeet
+1
Level 57
May 19, 2020
No Michael Jackson?
Khalifas
+2
Level 68
May 10, 2021
I assume this quiz is meant for people who advanced the African-American race instead of just famous black people.
SonofDixie
+2
Level 83
Jun 16, 2020
Actually, it was FDR who did not honor Owens. As a foreign leader, Hitler had no duty to honor winners from other countries. FDR invited white winners to the white house, but not Owens.
Khalifas
+1
Level 68
May 10, 2021
It was mostly that Hitler believed in the white race's superiority over others, so Jesse Owens defeating Caucasian athletes was a great way to stick it to him.
Yeoryios
+1
Level 73
Dec 21, 2020
Obama wasn't African American, though. He was Kenyan African. Since he's ancestry wasn't of slavery, he knows where he came from and so is not lumped with the other Africans, cause Africa is a diverse place. I've also heard the term American African.
kalbahamut
+5
Level 82
Feb 25, 2021
wtf are you people talking about? Is he American? Does he have ancestors who were in the past couple hundred years African?
Froststar101
+3
Level 74
May 4, 2021
bruh
Khalifas
+1
Level 68
May 10, 2021
Huh, I could've sworn Sidney Poitier was spelled "Sydney". Cost me the 100% :(
Milo74
+1
Level 71
Feb 27, 2023
Got 5 stars, which is surprising seeing that I missed 2. Ellington was nowhere close to being on the tip of my tongue when time ran out, but concerning Holiday, I was thinking of an era when lynching was still prevalent and jazz was big, so that would put it in the 1920s, and I was thinking Josephine Baker, although her name wasn't quite on the tip of my tongue, because I remembered there was one during that time who went to Paris and was sensational there. At least in that case, I was right thinking it was a woman who was contemporaneous with Billie Holiday, the correct answer, who was also a woman, obviously.
InterAlia
+1
Level 75
Mar 31, 2023
I know this is not a comprehensive list of notable figures, but I have to put in a word for James Baldwin.
Saintscat3
+1
Level 46
Oct 2, 2023
robinson didnt break the baseball color barrier just the nba's
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