The Glass Ceiling Trivia Quiz

Answer: Madam CJ Walker

Sarah Breedlove was born in Louisiana on December 23, 1867. She began her hair product line after suffering from a severe scalp problem that left her with hair loss. Before setting up Madam CJ Walker laboratories, she went to different cities and countries promoting her product. With the money she earned, Sarah gave to several charities, including building a YMCA in Indiana.

The name Madam CJ Walker came from her husband's name Charles Joseph Walker. Sarah Breedlove passed away in 1919 while living in New York.

Answer: Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day was born in Texas on March 26, 1930. She was nominated in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan to be a Supreme Court Justice. Sandra graduated Stanford in 1950 with a bachelor's degree in economics and furthered her education by attending Stanford Law School.

In 2006, Sandra Day O'Connor left the Supreme Court to take care of her husband, John Jay O'Connor, who was ill with Alzheimer's Disease. In 2018, Justice O'Connor announced her own Alzheimer's diagnosis to the world.

Answer: Stacey Cunningham

Stacey was born in 1974. She studied industrial engineering at Lehigh University and graduated in 1996. Stacey started out as an intern at the Stock Exchange. Stacey is the sixty-seventh president of the New York Stock Exchange. She said what got her through a male dominated world was never showing any doubt "whether or not I should be there".

Answer: Eliza Jane Nicholson

Eliza Jane Nicholson was born on March 11, 1849 in Mississippi. When she wrote poetry she went by the pseudonym Pearl Rivers. After her husband's death in 1876, Eliza Jane became the owner of the "New Orleans Picayune". In 1884, Eliza became the president of the Women's National Press Association. She died at age forty-six in Louisiana.

Answer: Arabella Mansfield

Arabella Mansfield was born on May 23, 1846 in Iowa. She joined the Iowa bar in 1869. Arabella helped organize the women's suffrage society. She never practiced law, but stayed on to teach at Iowa Wesleyan University. Arabella died in 1911 while living in Illinois.

Answer: Kathryn Bigelow

Kathyrn Bigelow was born in California in 1950. She was inspired to work in the industry by her father who drew cartoons. Kathryn studied art at the San Francisco Art Institute and the Whitney Museum of Art in NYC. Her first movie was 1978's "The Set Up". Bigelow was known for such movies as "Blue Steel" and 1991's "Point Break".

Her Oscar came for the drama, "The Hurt Locker". She directed "Zero Dark Thirty" about the events that led up to the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Answer: Elizabeth Blackwell

Elizabeth Blackwell was born in 1821 in England. She graduated first in her class in medical school in 1849. She moved from her home country of England to the United States in 1832. When an eye infection caused her to go blind on one eye, she lost the chance to become a surgeon. Elizabeth died in 1910 in her home country of England.

Answer: Nancy Lieberman

Nancy was born in 1958. She played basketball at Old Dominion in 1976 and won back to back Association for Intercollegiate Athletic for Women championships. When she left Old Dominion, she was the leader in all team assists and steals. Nancy won gold at the Pan American games and a silver at the Olympics.

In 2009, she became the head coach of the Texas Legends, a Dallas Mavericks affiliate. In 1996, Nancy was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Answer: Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin was born in 1942 in Tennessee. At fourteen, Aretha became a mother at the age of fourteen. She was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2008, she won her 18th Grammy Award. Columbia Records signed Aretha in 1960. Aretha Franklin died in her hometown in 2018.

Answer: Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi was born in 1940 in Maryland. She graduated from Trinity College with a Bachelor's degree in political science. She became speaker of the house in 2007 and left in 2011. Again in 2019, Nancy became speaker of the house. She is the first person in sixty years to serve non-consecutive terms as speaker of the house.

Answer: Megan Brennan

Megan Brennan was born in 1951 in Pennsylvania. She began her career in the post office as a letter carrier. Megan graduated Immaculata University in Pennsylvania and furthered her education as a Sloan Fellow at MIT graduating with an MBA. Before becoming PMG in 2015, Megan was COO and Executive VP of the Postal Service. As PMG, Megan oversees 634,000 employees.

Answer: Sally Ride

Sally Ride was born in California in 1951. She graduated from Stanford with degrees in English and physics. Sally beat out one-thousand people for a spot at NASA. At NASA, Sally was a mission specialist who became the first American woman in space on June 18, 1983.

She was one of many investigators of the Challenger explosion in 1986. After leaving NASA, Sally became director of the California Space Institute in San Diego. She died in 2012 from pancreatic cancer.

Answer: Marie Owens

Marie Owens was born in 1853 in her home country of Canada. She became the first female police officer in Chicago after scoring a 99% on the civil service exam. As a police officer, Marie mainly worked with women fighting for child support and truant children. Marie held the rank of Sergeant Owens until her death in 1927.

Her superior officer in the Chicago PD was quoted, "Give me men like she is a woman and we will have the model detective bureau of the world".

Answer: Junko Tabai

Junko Tabai was born in 1939 in Japan. She graduated Showa Women's University with a degree in English and American Literature and completed her studies at Kyushu University. Junko began her mountain climbing career after she climbed Mount Nasu for the first time.

In 1969, she formed her own mountain climbing club. Junko's first foray up Mount Everest in 1975 made her the first woman to climb all seven summits of Mount Everest. She passed away in 2016.

Answer: Sara Christian

Sara was born in 1918. She competed in the first Nascar race held on June 6, 1949 at Charlotte Speedway. Her best cup position was thirteenth. Her final race was in 1950 at Hamburg Speedway in 1950. Sara ran seven races in two years, but never took a pole position or won a race.

In 2004, Sara Christian was inducted into the Automobile Racing Hall of Fame and made the United States Drivers Association Woman Driver of the Year. She and her husband were the first Nascar couple to race together. Sara died in 1980.