Who was the first Black U.S. Secretary of Commerce?
1. Robert Weaver
2. James Cleveland
3. Ron Brown
4. Carl Stokes
Ron Brown
Ronald Harmon "Ron" Brown, serving under President Bill Clinton, was the first African-American United States Secretary of Commerce. He was killed in a 1996 plane crash in Croatia.
In 1975, what actor, comedian and author was appointed special U.S. representative at the United Nations?
1. Red Fox
2. Mom’s Mabley
3. Dick Gregory
4. Pearl Bailey
Pearl Bailey
In 1975 Pearl Bailey was appointed special ambassador to the United Nations by President Gerald Ford.
Who served as the highest ranking American at the United Nations in 1949 and in 1950 won the Nobel Peace Prize?
1. A. Philip Randolph
2. Ralph Johnson Bunch
3. Marcus Garvey
4. W.E.B.DuBois
Ralph Johnson Bunch
In 1944, Ralph Johnson Bunche took part in planning for the United Nations and served as the highest ranking American at the United Nations in 1949. In 1950, Bunch became the first African-American to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation in Israel.
Who was the first African-American elected as governor of Virginia?
1. Andrew Young
2. David Dinkins
3. Julian Bond
4. L. Douglas Wilder
L. Douglas Wilder
Serving as the 66th Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994, L. Douglas Wilder became the first African-American governor in the U.S. since Reconstruction.
Who was the first Black person to serve in the Cabinet of the President of the U.S.?
1. Robert Weaver
2. Fannie Lou Hamer
3. Patricia Harris
4. David Dinkens
Robert Weaver
Robert C. Weaver was the first African-American to be appointed to a US cabinet-level position, serving as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (H.U.D.) from 1966 to 1968. This new agency was established in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Frederick Douglass served as Minister Resident and Consul General to what country?
1. Cuba
2. Haiti
3. Jamaica
4. Ghana
Haiti
In 1889 Frederick Douglass was appointed by the President Benjamin Harrison administration as Minister Resident and Consul General to Haiti.
In what year was the first Voting Rights Act signed into law?
1. 1965
2. 1945
3. 1952
4. 1921
1965
After years of civil unrest, in 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, permanently barring barriers to political participation by racial and ethnic minorities.
Who was the first Black mayor of a major city?
1. David Dinkins
2. Sharon Pratt Kelly
3. Carl Stokes
4. Maynard Jackson
Carl Stokes
Carl Stokes was elected on November 7, 1967, and took office on January 1, 1968 as mayor of Cleveland Ohio, becoming the first Black elected mayor of a major city. Although he was elected after Richard G. Hatcher of Gary, Indiana, he took office first.
Who was the first Black person elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction?
1. Carl Stokes
2. Robert Weaver
3. A. Philip Randolph
4. Edward W. Brooks
Edward W. Brooks
Edward W. Brooks was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1966 and became the first Black American from Massachusetts to serve in Congress. His election ended an 85-year absence of African-Americans in the Senate since the era of Reconstruction.
How many African-Americans were elected to the U.S. Senate before the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution?
1. 3
2. 1
3. 4
4. 0
0
Before the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870, which granted African-American men the right to vote, there were no African-Americans elected to the U.S. Senate.
Who was the first Black woman to serve in the California General Assembly and subsequently the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress from California?
1. Patricia Harris
2. Carole Moseley Braun
3. Constance Baker Motley
4. Yvonne Braithwaite Burke
Yvonne Braithwaite Burke
In 1966 Yvonne Braithwaite Burke served on the California General Assembly. Additionally, she was elected to Congress as the first African-American woman from California and served from 1973-1978. In 1973, she became the first member of Congress to give birth and be granted maternity leave.
Fannie Lou Hamer helped found what organization?
1. Southern Democratic Black Women
2. Universal Association of Black Women
3. Southern Democratic Black Women
4. Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
Civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer led voter registration efforts in Mississippi and in 1964 co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
Who was the first Black person to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals?
1. Ralph Bunche
2. William Hastie
3. William Slow
4. Adam Clayton Powell
William Hastie
In 1950, under President Truman, William Hastie was confirmed as Judge of the Third United States Circuit Court of Appeals, which at the time was the highest judicial position ever held by an African-American.
What was the period (1863-1877) called after slavery when Blacks were given equal political opportunities to whites?
1. Reconstruction
2. Restitution
3. Reparations
4. Reclamation
Reconstruction
After the Civil War and the Union’s victory, the country went through the difficult period of rebuilding the South; which was called The Reconstruction period which lasted from December 8, 1863 – March 31, 1877.
Who was the first Black woman to serve in Congress?
1. Shirley Chisholm
2. Shirley Black
3. Shirley Franklin
4. Patricia Harris
Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Chisholm was not only the first Black woman to be elected to Congress, she was also the first Black person, man or woman, to seek a major party’s nomination for the United States presidency.
Who was the first Black woman to serve as mayor of a major American city?
1. Shirley Franklin
2. Shirley Chisholm
3. Sharon Pratt Kelly
4. Brenda Stephens
Sharon Pratt Kelly
Serving as the third mayor of the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1995, Sharon Pratt Kelly was the first African-American woman to serve as mayor of a major American city.
Who was the first Black governor in the U.S.?
1. Ron Brown
2. L. Douglas Wilder
3. Ralph Bunche
4. P.B.S. Pinchback
P.B.S. Pinchback
During Reconstruction, the son of a white planter and an enslaved woman, Pinckney Benton Stewart (P.B.S.) Pinchback, briefly became the first Black Governor of Louisiana and of any state in the U.S.
In 1968 which African-American was named candidate for vice president, but withdrew because he was too young?
1. Jesse Jackson
2. Andrew Young
3. Maynard Jackson
4. Julian Bond
Julian Bond
In 1968, Julian Bond led a challenge delegation from Georgia to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and was the first African-American nominated as Vice President of the United States. He withdrew his name from the ballot because he was too young to serve.
To what country did Sidney Poitier serve as the Bahama’s Ambassador?
1. Japan
2. U.S.
3. Germany
4. England
Japan
From 1997 to 2007, Sidney Poitier served as the non-resident Bahamian ambassador to Japan.
Dick Gregory ran for what public office in 1968?
1. U.S. Senator
2. Mayor, Washington D.C.
3. U.S. Congressman
4. U.S. President
U.S. President
In 1968, Dick Gregory ran for President under the Freedom & Peace Party, an independent party that emerged out of the civil rights and anti-war movements.
Who was the fifth African-American U.S. senator?
1. Barack Obama
2. Carol Moseley Braun
3. Edward Brooks
4. Roland Burris
Barack Obama
The fifth African-American elected to the U.S. Senate achieved this feat in 2004; it was Barack Obama who, four years later was elected as the first African-American president of the U.S.
From what state did Hiram R. Revels serve as the first Black U.S. Senator in 1870?
1. Georgia
2. Ohio
3. Michigan
4. Mississippi
Mississippi
Hiram R. Revels became the first African-American Senator when he was elected to represent Mississippi in 1870 and 1871 during the Reconstruction era.
Who was the first Black mayor of New York City?
1. Andrew Young
2. Julian Bond
3. David Dinkins
4. L. Douglas Wilder
David Dinkins
As the first, and, to date, only African-American to serve as Mayor of New York City, David Dinkins was the 106th Mayor from 1990 to 1993.
Which decision handed down by the Supreme Court determined that Congress had no constitutional power to deprive persons of their property rights when dealing with enslaved persons in the territories and essentially declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional?
1. Plessy v Ferguson
2. Brown v Board of Education
3. Loving v Virginia
4. Scott v Sanford
Scott v Sanford
In 1857, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in the Scott v Sanford case affirming the right of slave owners to take their enslaved persons into the Western territories; this case is popularly called The Dred Scott Decision.
