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Quiz

African American History Month Quiz I

1. Who told the Senate Armed Services Committee in 1948 that he would urge black youths to resist the draft unless discrimination was banned?

2. What was the only Southern state to permit slave enlistments in the military in 1780?

3. What was the first Black-owned company to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange?

4. Who was the first African American car manufacturer in 1916?

5. What was the first all-Black religious denomination in the United States?

6. Which European nation was the first to stop trading African slaves to the United States in 1794?

7. Who organized the 1941 exhibition, "Afro-American Art on Both Continents," which included the works of Romare Bearden and the Delaney Brothers?

8. Name the author who wrote The Third Life of Grange Copeland, published in 1970?

9. Who was the three time Super Bowl champion player who returned to his Florida alma mater to receive his bachelor's degree in 1996?

10. Who wrote the script for the 1975 hit, Cooley High?

11. Denzel Washington played in what 1981 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Charles Fuller?

12. Who was the only other black actress to win the Academy Award's Best Supporting Actress Oscar since Hattie McDaniel in 1939?

13. Who sang Martin Luther King, Jr.'s favorite gospel song, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand," after his funeral procession in 1968?


14. When did James Del Rio become the first African American mortgage banker? 1953?  1976?  1989?  1947?

15. In 1990 the Mystery Writers of America nominated this novel, written by Walter Mosley, as best of the year.

16. By the eighteenth century, what colony was the leader in the slave trade?

17. In what year did Harriet Tubman escape from slavery?

18.  Name an African American enterprise that you patronize.

19. During the nineteenth century, how many states had laws prohibiting interracial marriage?

20. Which state east of the Mississippi was the first to give African American women the right to vote, in 1913?

Inventions & Discoveries Fact #1 Elijah McCoy (1843 - 1929) invented an automatic lubricator for oiling steam engines in 1872. The term "the real McCoy" is believed to be a reference about the reliability of Elijah McCoy's invention. Fact #2 Garrett Augustus Morgan (1877 - 1963) invented, among many other things, a 3-way automatic stop sign, which he sold to General Electric. It was used in the U.S. until the 3-light traffic sign was developed. Fact #3 Otis Boykin (1920 -1982) invented electronic control devices for guided missiles, IBM computers, and the control unit for a pacemaker. Fact #4 George Carruthers (1939 - ) invented the far ultraviolet electrographic camera, used in the 1972 Apollo 16 mission. This invention revealed new features of Earth's far-outer atmosphere and deep-space objects from the perspective of the lunar surface. Carruthers was inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame in 2003. Fact #5 James West's (1931 - ) research in sound technology led to the development of foil-electret transducers used in 90% of all microphones built today and in most new telephones being manufactured. West holds 47 U.S. and more than 200 foreign patents on microphones and techniques for making polymer foil-electrets. He was inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame in 1999. Fact #6 Mark Dean (1957 - ) along with his co-inventor Dennis Moelle created a microcomputer system with bus control means for peripheral processing devices. This invention allows the use of computer plug-ins like disk drives, speakers, scanners, etc... Fact #7 George T. Sampson invented a clothes dryer that used heat from a stove in 1892. Fact #8 Frederick Jones (1892 - 1961) held over 60 patents with most of them pertaining to refrigeration. His portable air conditioner was used in World War II to preserve medicine and blood serum. Fact #9 Granville Woods (1856 - 1910) invented numerous devices relating to the railroad including a system of overhead electric conducting lines, air brakes and a telegraph system that allowed communication between moving trains. Fact #10 Lewis Temple (1800 - 1854) revolutionized the whaling industry with his invention of the toggle harpoon in 1848. Fact #11 Dr. Charles Drew (1904 - 1950) discovered techniques to store blood and developed blood banks. Fact #12 Thomas J. Martin patented a fire extinguisher in 1872. Fact #13 Jan Ernst Matzeliger (1852 - 1889) invented the Shoe Lasting machine, which connected the upper part of the shoe to the sole, a painstaking process that was usually done by hand. This invention revolutionized the shoe making industry. Fact #14 Lewis Howard Latimer invented the carbon filament for light bulbs in 1881. Fact #15 Joseph Winters invented a fire escape ladder in 1878. Fact #16 Lonnie G. Johnson (1949 - ), an engineer who performed spacecraft system design for NASA, invented the Super Soaker water gun - the number one selling toy in America in 1991. Fact #17 Alexander Miles of Duluth, Minnesota patented an electric elevator in 1887 with automatic doors that would close off the shaft way, thus making elevators safer. Fact #18 Andrew Jackson Beard (1849 - 1921) invented the "Jenny Coupler" which allowed train cars to hook themselves together when they are bumped into one another. The device is still used today. Fact #19 John Love invented the pencil sharpener in 1897. Fact #20 Sarah E. Goode (1850 - ? ) invented a bed that folded up into a cabinet in 1885. Contrary to popular belief, she was not the first African-American woman to receive a patent, but the second. Fact #21 C.B. Brooks invented the street sweeper in 1896. It was a truck equipped with brooms. Fact #22 L.P. Ray invented the dustpan in 1897. Fact #23 Henry Brown created what is now known as a "strongbox", a metal container to store money and important papers that could be locked with a key in 1886. Fact #24 Joseph Lee (1849 - 1905) invented a bread-making machine that mixed the ingredients and kneaded the dough in 1895. Fact #25 Henry Blair (1807 - 1860), the second African-American to receive a patent, invented a corn seed planter in 1834 and a cotton planter in 1836. Blair could not read or write and signed his patent with an X. Fact #26 David Crosthwait Jr. (1898 - 1979) an expert on heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, holds 39 U.S. patents and 80 international patents pertaining to heating, refrigeration and temperature regulating systems. Crosthwait created the heating system for New York City's Radio City Music Hall.

Obama elected 44th president 'Change has come to America,' first African-American leader tells country By Alex Johnson Reporter msnbc.com updated 2:10 p.m. CT, Wed., Nov. 5, 2008 Barack Obama, a 47-year-old first-term senator from Illinois, shattered more than 200 years of history Tuesday night by winning election as the first African-American president of the United States. A crowd of nearly a quarter-million jammed Grant Park and the surrounding area in Chicago, where Obama addressed the nation for the first time as its president-elect at midnight ET. Hundreds of thousands more Mayor Richard Daley said he would not be surprised if a million Chicagoans jammed the streets watched on a large television screen outside the park. "If there is anyone out there who doubts that America is a place where anything is possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," Obama declared. "Young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans have sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of red states and blue states," he said. "We have been and always will be the United States of America. "It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America," he said to a long roar. McCain notes history in the making Obama congratulated his opponent, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, for his "unimaginable" service to the United States, first as a prisoner of war for 5 years in North Vietnam and then for nearly three decades in Congress. McCain called Obama to offer his congratulations at 11 p.m. ET, Obama's chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, told NBC News. Obama thanked McCain for his "class and honor" during the campaign and said he was eager to sit down and talk about how the two of them could work together. "The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly," McCain told supporters in Phoenix, saying that he "recognized the special significance" Obama's victory had for African-Americans. "We both recognize that though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation's reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still have the power to wound," McCain said. "Let there be no reason for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth," said McCain, who pledged his support and help for the new president. President Bush called to congratulate Obama and promise a smooth transition of power on Jan. 20, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "Mr. President-elect, congratulations to you. What an awesome night for you, your family and your supporters," said Bush, who invited Obama and his family to visit the White House as soon as it was convenient. The president also called McCain to say that he was proud of the senator's efforts and that he was "sorry it didn't work out." "You didn't leave anything on the playing field," Bush said. Broad, deep victory Campaigning as a technocratic agent of change and not a pathbreaking civil rights figure, Obama swept to victory over McCain, whose running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was seeking to become the nation's first female vice president. Obama beat McCain by 52 percent to 46 percent, and he could realistically claim a mandate with nearly two-thirds of the Electoral College. As of Wednesday afternoon, he had 349 electoral votes compared to 173 for McCain, with only North Carolina and Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District left to declare. And Obama should have a strongly supportive Congress to work with. Not since 1993 has an incoming president had such strong majorities in both houses of Congress. Democrats will hold 258 of the 435 seats in the House and at least 54 of the 100 seats in the Senate, where t wo independents also caucus with the party. Four seats remained undecided, meaning the party mathematically could reach a procedurally important "supermajority" of 60 or more votes in the Senate, but NBC News projected that it would not reach that threshold. Surveys of voters as they left polling places nationwide encapsulated the historic nature of the victory by Obama, the son of a Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas. As expected, he won overwhelmingly among African-American voters, but he also won among women and Latino voters. And he won by more than 2-to-1 among voters of all races 30 years old and younger. That dynamic was telling in Ohio and in Pennsylvania, where McCain poured in millions of dollars of scarce resources. Obama won both, along with Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and New York, all states with hefty electoral vote hauls, NBC News projected. McCain countered with Texas and numerous smaller states, primarily in the South and the Great Plains. In interviews with NBC News, aides to McCain said they were proud that they had put up a good fight in "historically difficult times." A senior adviser said McCain himself was "fine" but that he felt "he let his staff and supporters down." 'Transformation of America' In the end, Florida, the scene of electoral chaos in recent votes, had little impact. The state had been watched closely, but results there and in some other closely contested states were delayed until after Obama clinched his victory, as record numbers of voters flocked to polling stations, energized by an election in which they would select either the nation's first black president or its first female vice president. The percentage of Americans who voted was unmatched in at least a generation and perhaps since 1908, according to election experts. Secretaries of state estimated turnouts approaching 90 percent in Virginia and Colorado and 80 percent or more in big states like Ohio, California, Texas, Virginia, Missouri and Maryland. Voters were lured to the polls by the historic nature of an election that held the potential to yield an African-American president and reject the party of an unpopular president. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a legend of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, said he was "overwhelmed" and had broken down in tears. "I never imagined, I never even had any idea I would live to see an African-American president of the United States," Lewis said in an interview on MSNBC. "We have witnessed tonight in America a revolution of values, a revolution of ideals," Lewis said. "There's been a transformation of America, and it will have unbelievable influence on the world." Ellora Lyons, 81, of Peoria, Ill., recalled boarding a train to Oklahoma with her two oldest boys in 1948. Her brother had been killed in an accident, and they were going to his funeral. "There was a sign on this train that said, 'n-----s to the back,'" she said. "And we couldn't drink out of the same water fountain." "I remember my mom and my dad talking about black folks being not able to vote," Lyons said. "I never thought that I would see a black man [in the White House], but I was hoping that one day that a black man would run for president." All told, election experts said nearly 140 million Americans voted, many of them minority, immigrant and younger Americans who were casting their ballots for the first time. Maria Reyes, who immigrated from El Salvador and was sworn in as a citizen in August, was one of them. She cast her ballot with help from her daughter, Elvia. "It's wonderful time for our country right now Obama!" Reyes said as she waved a small American flag. In the Little Saigon section of Los Angeles, Timothy Ngo, a Vietnamese immigrant, turned out to support McCain. "I came here as a refugee, so Mr. McCain and I grew up and fought in the same war in Vietnam," Ngo said. Obama, McCain cast their ballots Obama and his wife, Michelle, voted with their young daughters at their sides at Beulah Shoesmith Elementary School in Hyde Park, Ill. The family was ushered inside ahead of a line of their neighbors that wrapped around the block. Fellow voters watched in silence and snapped cell-phone pictures. They cheered when Obama held up his validation slip with a smile and said, "I voted." "The journey ends, but voting with my daughters, that was a big deal," he told reporters later. Obama's final days of campaigning were bittersweet: He was mourning the loss of his grandmother Madelyn Dunham, who helped raise him but died of cancer Sunday night and never got to see the results of the historic election. In Delaware, Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, went to the polls with his elderly mother. Speaking to reporters on his plane, Biden said he had made a deal with his wife, Jill. "If you get the vice presidency and get elected, you can get a dog," Biden said his wife told him. "I know what kind I want, [but] I don't know what kind I'm going to get yet. We're not there yet. The deal's not closed yet." McCain, meanwhile, cast his ballot early Tuesday at a church near his home in central Phoenix. A small crowd cheered "Go, John, go!" and "We love you!" as he stepped out of a sport utility vehicle with his wife, Cindy. One person carried a sign that read, "Use your brain, vote McCain!" Palin returned to where her political career began to cast her vote in the snow-dusted, two-story Wasilla City Hall where she once presided as a small-town mayor. Palin, accompanied by her husband, Todd, voted just after 7 a.m. Tuesday, pushing aside a red, white and blue curtain on a voting booth and handing her white paper ballot to a clerk. With Tom Curry of msnbc.com and Athena Jones, Steve Handelsman and George Lewis of NBC News and wire services. The following NBC stations contributed to this report: KPNX of Phoenix; WAFF of Huntsville, Ala.; WEEK of Peoria, Ill.; and WTMJ of Milwaukee. URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27531033/ MSN Privacy . Legal 2008 MSNBC.com

Four Tops frontman Levi Stubbs dies at 72 By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER - 3 hours ago DETROIT (AP) Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs, who possessed one of the most dynamic and emotive voices of all the Motown singers, died Friday at 72. He had been ill recently and died in his sleep at the Detroit house he shared with his wife, said Dana Meah, the wife of a grandson. The Wayne County medical examiner's office also confirmed the death. With Stubbs in the lead, the Four Tops sold millions of records, including such hits as "Baby I Need Your Loving," "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" and "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)." The group performed for more than four decades without a change in personnel. Stubbs' death leaves one surviving member of the original group: Abdul "Duke" Fakir. Stubbs "fits right up there with all the icons of Motown," said Audley Smith, chief operating officer of the Motown Historical Museum. "His voice was as unique as Marvin's or as Smokey's or as Stevie's." The Four Tops began singing together in 1953 under the group name the Four Aims and signed a deal with Chess Records. They later changed their names to the Four Tops to avoid being confused with the Ames Brothers. They also recorded for Red Top, Riverside and Columbia Records and toured supper clubs. The Four Tops signed with Motown Records in 1963 and produced 20 Top-40 hits over the next 10 years, making music history with the other acts in Berry Gordy's Motown stable. Their biggest hits were recorded between 1964 and 1967 with the in-house songwriting and production team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland. Both 1965's "I Can't Help Myself" and 1966's "Reach Out" went to No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. Other hits included "Shake Me, Wake Me" (1966); "Bernadette" and "Standing in the Shadows of Love" (both 1967). They toured for decades afterward and reached the charts as late as 1988 with "Indestructible" on Arista Records. In 1986, Stubbs provided the voice for Audrey II the man-eating plant in the film "Little Shop of Horrors." The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Original Top Lawrence Payton died of liver cancer in 1997. Renaldo "Obie" Benson died of lung cancer in 2005. Stubbs was born in 1936 in Detroit and attended Pershing High School, where he sang with Fakir. They met fellow Detroiters Payton and Benson while singing at a mutual friend's birthday party, then decided to form a group. "These are four of the greatest people I have ever known. They were major pros even before they came to Motown," Gordy said when the Four Tops' star was unveiled in Hollywood. Stubbs is survived by his wife, five children and 11 grandchildren. Associated Press writer Jim Irwin contributed to this report.

Obama taps Biden to be running mate By LIZ SIDOTI and NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writers Sat Aug 23, 3:25 AM ET Barack Obama named Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his vice presidential running mate early Saturday, balancing his ticket with a seasoned congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues. Obama announced the pick on his Web site with a photo of the two men and an appeal for donations. A text message went out shortly afterward that said, "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee." Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator. Across more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at various times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation, Supreme Court nominees and Constitutional issues. In selecting Biden, Obama passed over several other potential running mates, none more prominent than former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, his tenacious rival in dozens of primaries and caucuses. Obama's campaign arranged a debut for the newly minted ticket on Saturday outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill. Obama's decision leaked to the media several hours before his aides planned to send a text message announcing the running mate, negating a promise that people who turned over their phone numbers would be the first to know who Obama had chosen. The campaign scrambled to send the text message after the leak, sending phones buzzing at the inconvenient time of just after 3 a.m. on the East coast. Hundreds of miles to the west, carpenters, electricians, sound stage gurus and others transformed the Pepsi Center in Denver into a made-for-television convention venue. Tucked away in one corner were thousands of lightweight rolled cardboard tubes, ready-made handles for signs bearing the names of the Democratic ticket once the identity of Obama's running mate was known. While Obama decided against adding Clinton to his ticket, he has gone to great lengths to gain the confidence of her primary voters, agreeing to allow her name to be placed in nomination at the convention and permitting a roll call vote that threatens to expose lingering divisions within the party. Biden slowly emerged as Obama's choice across a long day and night of political suspense as other contenders gradually fell away. First Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine let it be known that he had been ruled out. Then came word that Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana had also been passed over. Several aides to Clinton said the Obama campaign had never requested financial or other records from her. Other finalists in the veep sweepstakes were Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Texas Rep. Chet Edwards. Among those on the short list, Biden brought the most experience in defense or foreign policy areas in which Obama fares relatively poorly in the polls compared with Republican Sen. John McCain. While the war in Iraq has been supplanted as the campaign's top issues by the economy in recent months, the recent Russian invasion of Georgia has returned foreign policy to the forefront. In addition to foreign policy experience, Biden, a native of Scranton, Pa., has working-class roots that could benefit Obama, who lost the blue-collar vote to Clinton during their competition for the presidential nomination. Biden was elected to the Senate at the age of 29 in 1972, but personal tragedy struck before he could take office. His wife and their 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, were killed when a tractor-trailer broad-sided her station wagon. Biden took his oath of office for his first term at the hospital bedside of one of his sons. On Friday, he spent the day at his home in Delaware with friends and family. The normally loquacious lawmaker maintained a low profile as associates said they believed but did not know he would be tapped. They added they had been asked to stand by in case their help was needed. No sooner had word spread of his selection than McCain's campaign unleashed its first attack. Spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement that Biden had "denounced Barack Obama's poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing that Barack Obama is not ready to be president." As evidence, Republicans cited an ABC interview from August 2007, in which Biden said he would stand by an earlier statement that Obama was not ready to serve as president. Biden is seeking a new Senate term in the fall. there was no immediate word whether he intended to change plans as he reaches for national office. Michael Silberman, a partner at online communications firm EchoDitto, said the campaign gambled when they made such a high-stakes promise and find themselves in a precarious situation where they could risk a great deal of trust with supporters. "For Obama supporters, this is like finding out from your neighbor instead of your sister that she's engaged not how you want or expect the news to be delivered," Silberman said. Biden dropped out of the 2008 race for the Democratic presidential nomination after a poor finish in the Iowa caucuses, but not before he talked dismissively of joining someone else's ticket. "I am not running for vice president," he said in a Fox interview. "I would not accept it if anyone offered it to me. The fact of the matter is I'd rather stay as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee than be vice president." He had stumbled on his first day in the race, apologizing for having described Obama as "clean." Months later, Obama spoke up on Biden's defense, praising him during a campaign debate for having worked for racial equality. It was Biden's second try for the White House. The first ended badly in 1988 when he was caught lifting lines from a speech by British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock. In the decades since, he become a power in the Senate, presiding over confirmation proceedings for Supreme Court nominees as well as convening hearings to criticize President Bush's handling of the Iraq War. Biden voted to authorize the war, but long ago became one of the Senate's surest critics of the conflict. Ironically, perhaps, his son, Beau, attorney general of Delaware, is due to spend a tour of duty in Iraq beginning this fall with his National Guard unit. Obama worked to keep his choice secret, although he addressed the issue broadly during the day in an interview. "Obviously, the most important question is: Is this person ready to be president?" Obama told "The Early Show" on CBS. Second, he said, was: "Can this person help me govern? Are they going to be an effective partner in creating the kind of economic opportunity here at home and guiding us through some dangerous waters internationally?" And, he added: "I want somebody who is going to be able to challenge my thinking and not simply be a yes person when it comes to policymaking. ___ Associated Press writers David Espo in Denver, Angela K. Brown in Waco, Texas, Glen Johnson in Boston, Randall Chase in Greenville, Del., Bob Lewis in Richmond, Va., John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., Scott Lindlaw in San Francisco and Jesse Holland in Washington contributed to this report. Pickler reported from Chicago.

CNN invites you to share your stories, and reactions to our groundbreaking documentary television series and online event, Black in America. Tune in tonight 9 p.m. ET, then upload your photos, videos and thoughts right here. We want to hear reactions from all races. What did you think of the documentary? What does it mean to be Black in America? Your thoughts, comments and reactions could be part of a special CNN.com/Live show Thursday, Noon ET. You'll also have a chance to join the conversation with the producers of Black in America. Tags: black_in_america Link: http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=9773