Before and After Americana Trivia Quiz

Answer: Louis

St. Louis and Louis Armstrong

St. Louis, the "Gateway to the West", is a large city in Missouri, located on the Mississippi River. Originally part of the French territory in North America, the city was named for Louis IX of France.

Louis Armstrong, a native of New Orleans, was a jazz trumpeter and singer known for his versions of "Hello Dolly" and "What a Wonderful World".

Answer: America

North America and America the Beautiful

The third largest continent in area after Asia and Africa, North America includes not only Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, but also the countries of Central America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda. Greenland is also technically part of North America.

Written by Katharine Lee Bates and Samuel A. Ward, "America the Beautiful" was originally composed as a poem. A popular patriotic song in the U.S., the song has also appeared on the U.S. charts several times, including a version by Ray Charles that reached 98 on the R & B charts and one by Charlie Pride that reached 22 on the country charts. Both were in 1976 during the U.S. bicentennial.

Answer: Hoover

Herbert Hoover and Hoover Dam

Herbert Hoover was the 31st President of the U.S., serving from 1929 to 1933. The Great Depression began during the first year of his presidency, and that and his support for prohibition led to his defeat in the next election by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Opened in 1936 as Boulder Dam, Hoover Dam was renamed in honor of President Herbert Hoover in 1947. Located on the border of Arizona and Nevada, the dam controls the Colorado River and provides hydroelectric power to Arizona, California, and Nevada.

Answer: Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright and Wright Brothers

Wisconsin native Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the most famous architects of all time. Some of his famous designs include the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Fallingwater house in Pennsylvania, the Robie house in Chicago, and Taliesin West, his home and studio in Arizona.

The Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were credited with building and flying the first successful fixed-wing airplane in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, although others have also made claim to the title. Their success was due to their development of aircraft controls which allowed the plane to be steered and maintain equilibrium.

Answer: Beach

Miami Beach and Beach Boys

Miami Beach is a city in southern Florida located on barrier islands. It is famous for its neighborhood of South Beach and its Art Deco district.

The Beach Boys were formed in 1961 in southern California and became the most famous of the surfer bands of the 1960s. They later expanded beyond surfer music starting with their 1966 album "Pet Sounds". They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

Answer: Robinson

Jackie Robinson and Robinson Jeffers

Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play major league baseball during the modern era. In 1947, he made his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the team with which he would spend his entire 10-year career. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, and in 1997, his number "42" was retired by every major league baseball team.

Born in Pennsylvania, Robinson Jeffers' poetry was mainly associated with the central California coast where he lived most of his life. His work was focused on nature and human interaction with the environment, particularly with the philosophy of "inhumanism", which he described as man's indifference to the "astonishing beauty of things".

Answer: Cleveland

Grover Cleveland and Cleveland, Ohio

Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, winning the elections of 1884 and 1892. He also won the popular vote in the election of 1888, but Benjamin Harrison picked up the election in the Electoral College.

Cleveland, Ohio, is a large city located on the southern banks of Lake Erie. It was established in 1796, so it wasn't named for President Cleveland but rather for General Moses Cleaveland, and it was originally called Cleaveland. It is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Answer: Forest

Redwood forest and Forest Whitaker

The Redwood forest consists of giant trees that can be found on the west coast of northern California in several locations such as the Redwood National and State Parks, Muir Woods National Monument, and Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Redwoods are different from their relatives, the sequoias, and are actually taller, reaching heights of 370 feet, but sequoias are larger and live longer.

Texas native Forest Whitaker is an Academy Award-winning actor, picking up the Oscar for his 2006 portrayal of Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland". Whitaker first showed up on film in 1982 in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High".

Answer: Clark

Lewis and Clark and Clark Gable

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were Army officers who were selected to lead the Corps of Discovery to explore the western portion of what is now the U.S. The Lewis and Clark expedition began in May, 1804 in St. Louis and reached the Pacific Ocean in Oregon in November, 1805. They returned to St. Louis in September of 1806.

The King of Hollywood, Ohio-born Clark Gable started his acting career on stage and in silent films. He won an Academy Award for his performance in 1934's "It Happened One Night" and picked up nominations for "Mutiny on the Bounty" and "Gone with the Wind", the role with which he is probably most associated.

Answer: Franklin

Benjamin Franklin and Franklin Roosevelt

Born in Boston in 1706, Benjamin Franklin was a renaissance man known for his literary works and his inventions, but he was also a politician, a diplomat, a musician, and a printer, among other occupations. He earned the title "The First American" for his work as a founding father of the nation.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the 32nd President of the U.S. and the longest-serving president. He took office during the Great Depression and led the country through most of World War II. During his administration, many public works and infrastructure programs were established to help get the country out of the Depression, as was the social security system.