Who's on First? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Margaret Sanger

Margaret Higgins Sanger (1879-1966) was a nurse and an activist. She coined the term "birth control", and set up America's first birth control clinic in October 1916. The clinic was located in Brownsville, New York, but was permanently shut down a month later, with Sanger charged with creating a public nuisance. In February 1917, she was sentenced to thirty days in jail. At that same time, the first issue of her journal "The Birth Control Review" was published. We owe her a great debt for her persistence and her heroism in the face of ignorance.

Answer: Jeannette Rankin

Jeannette Pickering Rankin (1880-1973) was a "suffragist", a pacifist and a women's rights advocate. She was elected to the House of Representatives from Montana in 1916, making her the first woman to hold national office in the United States. As a congresswoman, she fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment, i.e., giving women the right to vote. The 19th Amendment was passed in 1920. After her election she said "I may be the first woman in Congress, but I won't be the last".

Answer: Edith Wharton

Born into a society where women were discouraged from pursuing activities outside the home, Edith Newbold Jones Wharton (1862-1937) continued to write novels and short stories. Her career spanned over forty years, with thirty-eight books. She was born into a 'privileged family', and her novels included both humor and psychological insights. Wharton was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times, i.e., in 1927, 1928 and 1930. Her 1920 novel, "Age of Innocence", won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921.

Answer: Valentina Tereshkova

Our list of women's firsts would not be complete without the inclusion of Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, born in Russia in 1937. On June 16, 1963, she became the world's first female cosmonaut, piloting Vostok 6. She was selected from over 400 applicants. Valentina orbited the earth forty eight times in a three day period. During the Cold War she served as a spokesperson and propaganda piece for the U.S.S.R.

Answer: Jerrie Mock

You probably know the names Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, but what about Jerrie Mock? Geraldine Fredritz Mock (1925-2014) was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by plane solo, in 1964. She accomplished this amazing feat in a single engine plane called "The Spirit of Columbus", named after her birthplace (which was actually Newark, just 33 miles from Columbus) in Ohio.

The flight began on March 19th in Columbus, Ohio, and took 29 days to complete, ending on April 17, 1964.

Answer: Janet Guthrie

Racing enthusiasts probably know about Danica Patrick, but how many remember Janet Guthrie? Janet was born in Iowa in 1938. She was the first woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500. Guthrie originally trained to be an aerospace engineer, but began racing in 1963. In 1976, she was the first woman to compete in a Winston Cup superspeedway race. The following year, 1977, she qualified and competed in the Indianapolis 500, finishing 29th (but because of engine trouble, not lack of skill).

Answer: Joan Benoit

The year was 1984; the setting was Los Angeles, California. The event was the running of the first Women's Olympic Marathon in the Summer Olympics. On
August 5th, Joan Benoit became the first winner of this event. Joan Benoit Samuelson was born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine in 1957. What is more remarkable is that, in 1983, just two years earlier, she had had surgery on her Achilles tendon, and yet went on to set the Olympic record with her time of 2:24:52.

Answer: Mona Van Duyn

How many people even know that the United States has a poet laureate? In 1992, poet Mona Van Duyn (1921-2004) was appointed 'Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress'. Born and raised in Iowa, she won The National Book Award and the Bollingen Prize (both in 1971), the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize in 1989, and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1991 for "Near Changes". She was U.S. Poet Laureate between 1992 and 1993.

Answer: Madeleine Albright

It took the United States until 1997 for a woman to be appointed Secretary of State. That woman was Madeleine Korbel Albright, a tiny lady who was born in Prague, Czech Republic, in 1937. Her family emigrated to the United States in 1948. In 1993 she became American ambassador to the United Nations. Just three years after, on January 23, 1997, under the Clinton administration, she was appointed Secretary of State, a position she held until 2001.

Answer: Kathryn Bigelow

The film "The Hurt Locker" was the vehicle for which Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director. Actually Bigelow, born in San Carlos, California in 1951, started out as a painter, studying at the San Francisco Art Institute. She later earned a scholarship to study film at Columbia University School of Arts, graduating in 1979. In 2010, she won the Oscar for Best Achievement in Directing. Her other directorial efforts include: "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012), "Point Break" (1991) and "Strange Days" (1995).