African-American Role Models - #1 Quiz

Answer: Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington, born a slave in April, 1856, worked his way through what is now Hampton University and, after graduating, returned to Hampton as a teacher where the President of the school, and former Union general, recommended him to become president of what would become Tuskegee University. At that time it was only a dream of Lewis Adams, a former slave, and George Campbell, a former slaveholder who both wanted to see education for the black people. The first classes Washington held were in a run-down church. The following year he bought a former plantation, and as part of the work-study program of the students, the new campus buildings began to be erected. Washington not only trained teachers, but also taught classes that would be needed for his students to work in the rural south, such as farming and related trades. Eventually, Tuskegee attracted notable scholars to its employment, such as George Washington Carver who became a professor there and whose work on peanuts helped the South after the boll weevil decimated its agriculture.

Washington and NAACP leader W.E.B. DuBois did not see eye-to-eye since DuBois wanted a more militant protest. Washington replied that DuBois' way would simply lead to disaster and that the only possible way was to cooperate with supportive whites, of whom there were quite a few, and many of them were wealthy.

Because of Booker T. Washington's moderate stance on segregation and other similar issues, he was able to convince many wealthy white donors to contribute to Tuskegee. At his death, in 1915, it had an endowment of over $1.5 million. By 2011 it had reached over $76 million. Tuskegee is the only historically black college with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program that is fully accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Answer: Ice cream scoop

Alfred L. Cralle, born in September, 1866 in Kenbridge, Virginia, later became a businessman and inventor in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While working as a porter at a drug store he noticed how hard ice cream, a popular treat, was to serve, taking at least two hands and two spoons. So, he invented the ice cream scoop, for which he received patent #576395 in February, 1897.

Cralle named his device the "Ice Cream Mold and Disher" and it was so practical that now, over 100 years later, it is still in use. It can be shaped in various ways, and contains a mechanical device to force the ice cream out of the spoon. It was strong, durable and inexpensive and did a good job, so it was, naturally, a great success. Mr. Cralle became famous for his invention.

Answer: Chicago

Oscar Stanton de Priest was born in March, 1871, in Florence, Alabama. In 1889 he left Salina, Kansas, where he was attending school, for Chicago, Illinois where he became a successful contractor and real estate broker, while building a fotune in the stock market as well as in real estate.

In 1928 the mayor, William Thompson, chose de Priest to run on the ballot that the deceased Martin Madden was to have done. Mr. de Priest won. He was a Republican who served three consecutive terms as a Congressman. He introduced at least three anti-segregation bills, two of which were passed.

By the early thirties his star was waning because he opposed higher taxes on the rich and fought Depression-era federal relief programs. In 1934 he was defeated by another African-American and went home to Chicago where he again became an alderman, until 1947.

Answer: Lincoln Memorial

Marian Anderson, a contralto, was born in 1897 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She performed everything from concert pieces, to operatic arias, to lieders, as well as traditional American songs and spirituals. In 1939 the Daughters of the American Revolution refused her the opportunity to perform to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall. Thankfully, Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband, the President, stepped in and Anderson performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939. It was an acclaimed open-air concert before a crowd of 75,000 people, with millions listening on the radio.

She later became the first black person, American or otherwise, to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. Normally she would not sing in an opera because she felt she had no acting experience and would, therefore, not do well. However, in January 1955, she sang the role of Ulrica in Verdi's "Un Ballo en Maschera", thus breaking another barrier for black artists in the USA.

Anderson sang for the soldiers in both World War II and the Korean War in both the bases and in hospitals. She also sang for the inaugurations of both Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. She traveled as a "goodwill ambassador" of the US State Department and later, because of that, she was appointed an official delegate to the United Nations. She supported the Civil Rights Movement by giving benefit concerts and was eventually given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She retired after singing at Carnegie Hall in April of 1965, after a year of international touring which began at, of all places, Constitution Hall.

She was not only a gifted singer, she was an author. In 1956 she wrote her autobiography called "My Lord, What a Morning", the name of a traditional spiritual from the 17th - 18th century, which was a best seller. (You can hear her sing that on youtube.com, as well as later people such as Harry Belafonte, The Kingston Trio, Mahalia Jackson, Joan Baez and many, many others.) She also released an album which included short stories and songs about her black cat that she so loved. It was called "Snoopycat: The Adventures of Marian Anderson's Cat Snoopy".

Marian Anderson died in 1993 at the home of her nephew in Portland, Oregon, of congestive heart failure. She was 96.

Answer: Benjamin O. Davis

Benjamin O. Davis was born in Washington, DC, in July 1877. However, his biographer has shown birth papers proving he was actually born in 1880 and lied about his age so he could enlist in the Army without his parents' consent at the start of the war with Spain. (The earlier date is what is on his grave at Arlington National Cemetery, though.) He had been attending Howard University before enlisting and entered as a temporary first lieutenant. In March of 1889 he was mustered out and turned right around and joined up again as a private in one of the original Buffalo Soldier regiments. He rose through the ranks and in February, 1901, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Cavalry.

In 1905 he was attached for four years to a university in Ohio as a Professor of Military Science and Tactics. Over the years he was transferred to various locales, twice going back to Ohio to teach, as well as to Tuskegee for six years. In 1938 he took command of the 369th Regiment of the NY National Guard, and finally in 1940 he was promoted to brigadier general, the first African-American to become a general in the US Army.

After that he had various assignments, many of them involving inspection tours of African-American troops. He was also sent back to Liberia (where he had been the US military attache in 1910-11), this time as a representative of the US for Liberia's centennial. At that time, he was a Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army. The following year, after 50 years in the military, he retired. President Harry Truman presided over the ceremony.

Not only was Benjamin O. Davis a model for African-Americans, so was his son, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., who became a brigadier general in the Air Force in 1954, and in 1998 was advanced to a 4-star general. While serving he was the commanding officer of the Tuskegee Airmen. President Clinton pinned on his general's insignia.

Answer: Harry S. Truman

President Harry S. Truman desegregrated the military in February, 1948, or at least he tried to do so by sending a special message to Congress. In July he followed that up with Executive Order 9980 and 9981 requiring equal treatment and equality in not only the military but all federal employment.

All the branches of the military did not rush to follow these orders. In fact, it wasn't until September, 1954, that it was announced that all black units had been abolished. The military finally, 15 years to the day from when President Truman's original orders were signed, the Department of Defense published a directive eliminating any on- or off-base discrimination detrimental to the military effectiveness of African-American servicemen, as well as their families.

In the meantime, Kenneth C. Royall, who had been Secretary of the Army since 1947, was forced to retire in 1949 because he refused to follow President Truman's order to desegregate the Army.

President Truman was a good leader in so many ways.

Answer: 1964

In the late 1800's the Poll Tax was instituted in some southern states as a way to circumvent the 15th Amendment, which allowed males of all races to vote. It ensured that African-Americans, Native Americans and poor whites could not vote because, for the most part, they did not have the money to pay the Poll Tax. That law, along with discriminatorily given literacy tests and outright intimidation effectively disenfranchised those three groups.

When finally brought before the Supreme Court in 1937, the Court originally upheld the law. Eventually, the 24th Amendment, which was ratified in 1964, abolished the use of the Poll Tax, or any other tax, as a condition to vote in Federal elections. However, it did not address State elections. In 1966 the Supreme Court righted that oversight by overruling its own 1937 decision and extended the prohibition of Poll Taxes to State elections, too. The last four states to have Poll Taxes were Alabama, Virginia, Texas and Mississippi and all were declared unconstitutional by April, 1966, with Mississippi being the last.

Answer: Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall, born in July, 1908, in Baltimore, Maryland, was the great-grandson of a slave who had been born in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His grandfather was also a slave, born in the US. His mother was a teacher who taught him a great appreciation for the Constitution of the US as well as for the rule of law. (As an aside, his birth name was "Thoroughgood" but he shortened it. His parents obviously knew he would become a great, good man.)

Marshall graduated from Howard University School of Law in 1933, where he was first in his class. Three years later he represented a client who brought suit against the University of Maryland Law School's segregation policy and won. It was an interesting case and victory for him because he had originally wanted to attend the University of Maryland but couldn't because of the segregation policy.

In August 1961, he became Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, having been nominated by President John F. Kennedy. In August 1965 he became the 32nd US Solictor General, appointed by President Lyndon Johnson. Then, in August 1967, nominated by President Johnson, he became an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, the first African-American to hold that position, one that he held for the next 24 years. While in that position, one of his law clerks was Elena Kagan, who in the meantime has become a Supreme Court Justice.

Answer: Shirley A. Chisholm

Shirley A. Chisholm was born in November, 1924, in Richmond, Virginia, of immigrant parents. When she was three, she was sent to Barbados to live with her maternal grandmother for seven years. Chisholm feels that she was given a great gift in getting her early education in the strict, traditional, British-type schools in Barbados. She feels that the early schooling is what makes her able to speak and write easily and well. She eventually received her MA from Columbia University in elementary education.

In 1968 Chisholm ran as the Democratic candidate from New York's 12th District and won, becoming the first black woman to be elected to the US Congress. In 1971 she became one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus. She was assigned by Hale Boggs to the Education and Labor committee, which was her choice because of her college major. Upon her retirement from Congress she was the third highest ranking member of that committee.

In 1972, against all odds, she made a bid for the Democratic nomination for President. She survived three attempts on her life during that campaign. She realized the odds against her winning were virtually hopeless, but she wanted to show her sheer will and her unwillingness to accept the status quo. She was vocally against the draft and military spending and equally staunch for more spending on education and social services. Mrs. Chisholm announced her retirement in 1982.

Shirley Chisholm wrote two autobiographical books, "Unbought and Unbossed" and "The Good Fight". "Unbought and Unbossed" was made into a documentary that was shown at Sundance in 2004 and in 2006 it received a Peabody Award. In 1975 she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Smith College and in 1993 she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. She died on New Year's Day, 2005.

Answer: George W. Bush

Colin L. Powell, born April, 1937, in New York City of Jamaican immigrants with some Scottish ancestry, received his BS in Geology from the City College of New York in 1958. In 1971, after a second tour in Vietnam, he earned his MBA from George Wshington University. He joined the ROTC in college and upon his graduation was inducted as a second lieutenant in the Army. He made the military his career for 35 years, rising to the rank of 4-star general in April, 1989. He retired in 1993.

While still in the military, in November of 1987, he became the National Security Advisor under President Ronald Reagan. Later, in October of 1989, under Presidents George H. W. Bush and William Clinton, he became the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He capped off his service to his country from January 2001 to January 2005 by being appointed the 65th Secretary of State by George W. Bush, following in Madeleine Albright's shoes, and was unanimously voted in by the US Senate.

Unfortunately, he was given erroneous information about the biological weapons and other weapons of mass destruction held by Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and used that erroneous information in an attempt to garner multi-national support for the invasion of Iraq, as he was tasked to do. When Barbara Walters, in 2005, asked him about his stance, and his speech before the UN Security Council, he replied that it was a "blot" on his record. According to Wikipedia he further said, "It will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It is painful now." Powell announced his resignation in November, 2004.

Since leaving public service he has kept busy with many different causes. The man is never without something to do, including his hobby of restoring old Volvo and Saab cars.