Black History Month Primer Trivia Quiz

Answer: James Baldwin

Baldwin wrote in many literary genres: novels, plays and poetry, often using fictionalized stories to discuss personal as well as social issues. "Notes of a Native Son", which was published in 1955, is a collection of ten of his essays regarding black life in America and Europe and the characterizations of black protagonists in literature, going all the way back to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Answer: W.E.B. Du Bois

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in Massachusetts in 1868, in relatively comfortable surroundings. When he was of college-age the congregation of the church he attended donated the money for his tuition and expenses. He later received a doctorate from Harvard University, the first African-American to do so.

In 1905, du Bois and others formed the Niagara Movement, a black civil rights group founded to oppose segregation and voter disqualification. In 1910 he was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Answer: Ralph Ellison

Ellison was one of several authors in the mid-20th century who questioned a racially divided society. "Invisible Man" was about a college-educated black man trying to survive in a white-dominated society. The novel won the 1953 U.S. National Book Award; Ellison was the first African-American to win it.

Answer: The Sound and the Fury

Faulkner's novel can be difficult for casual readers; it has a nonlinear structure and uses stream of consciousness and confusing typography. Dilsey Gibson is a black housekeeper and child caretaker of the Compson family, old-line white Southerners. She is the most stable character in the novel, a contrast to the chaos and moral disarray of the whites.

Answer: Song of Solomon

Macon "Milkman" Dead III was a black character in search of his family history and some maturity. (He acquired the nickname "Milkman" because his mother breastfed him well past infancy.) The novel takes us from his self-absorbed youth to a compassionate adult.

Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford) came from a middle-class background, not being exposed to much racial segregation until she lived in Washington, D.C., while attending Howard University. "Song of Solomon" was her third novel and won her national acclaim.

Answer: Ntozake Shange

Ntozake Shange (born Paulette Williams) was a playwright, poet and black feminist. When she was eight her family moved from New Jersey to St. Louis, Missouri; in the schools there she was subjected to overt racism, which would have a strong influence on her literary works.

"for colored girls" is a series of poetic monologues accompanied by dance and music; she coined the term "choreopoem) (choreographed poem) to describe her form of performance art. Seven women who have suffered from racism and oppression are portrayed in the work; much of which was based on Shange's own life.

Answer: Woody Strode

"Sergeant Rutledge" was a 1960 film which detailed a fictional court-marshal of Sgt. Braxton Rutledge, a black sergeant in the U.S. Cavalry in 1881. He was accused of raping and murdering a white girl, then killing her father, who was also Rutledge's commanding officer. The story unfolded in a series of flashbacks.

Director John Ford specifically wanted Strode to play the role of Rutledge because Ford thought Strode could bring something to the role that other black actors couldn't. The film is credited as being one of the first to treat racism in a frank manner.

Answer: Sally Hemings

Sally Hemings was a slave on Jefferson's estate. She was biracial and a half-sister to Jefferson's wife, Martha, who died in 1782. She lived with Jefferson and one of his daughters in Paris from 1784 to 1789. While there Hemings was a paid servant, slavery being illegal in Frence.

After returning to America they apparently entered into a relationship that produced six children, four of whom survived. She only agreed to return and reenter slavery if Jefferson would emancipate any children they produced together when they turned to adults. Jefferson kept this agreement.

Some DNA testing in the late 20th century seemed to confirm that Jefferson was indeed the father to Hemings's children (and some didn't).

Answer: The Lorraine Motel

King was the acknowledged leader of the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He participated in or led several marches and demonstrations during that time including the 1966 March on Washington, attended by over 200,000 people.

In March 1968, King went to Memphis, Tennessee to support a strike by black sanitary public works employees. On April 4, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel he was shot by James Earl Ray and died the next day.

Answer: Jim

The book has been controversial from its 1885 publication (1884 in the United Kingdom). Author Mark Twain's (Samuel Clemens) use of coarse language, local slang (and phonetic spellings) among people who lived along the Mississippi River and frequent use of a derogatory term for black people made some people question the book's value.

The story is about Huckleberry Finn, a white boy who wants to escape what he considers a boring life and sets off down the river. He meets Jim, a runaway slave, and the two join forces with both having some mistrust of the other but becoming reliant on each other as the story progresses.