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Quiz about Great American Women
Quiz about Great American Women

Great American Women Trivia Quiz


Women are amazing! There is so much we have done over the centuries and little of it is given much credit. I have attempted to put together a quiz on Great American Women. I have tried to stay away from the common leaders.

A multiple-choice quiz by promise2try. Estimated time: 7 mins.
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Author
promise2try
Time
7 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
94,921
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
15
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
10 / 15
Plays
5107
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 15
1. This woman was the first woman to hold a cabinet post (Secretary of Labor for FDR). She held this post for 12 years and helped enact the Social Security Act of 1935 and the 1938 Fair Labor Standards. Hint


Question 2 of 15
2. This woman was the first African-American woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar. She founded the Children's Defense Fund in 1973 to focus on children's need for safe homes, nutritious meals and decent education. Hint


Question 3 of 15
3. This senior was so upset with being forced to retire at 65 that she started the Gray Panthers in 1971. She helped create awareness of ageism and to rewrite mandatory retirement laws. Hint


Question 4 of 15
4. Firmly believing that liberating women would also liberate men, this journalist was a leader of the women's movement in the 70s. She popularised the phrase, "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." Hint


Question 5 of 15
5. This woman wrote "The Feminine Mystique" in 1963. In it she labeled suburbia "a bedroom and kitchen sexual ghetto", in which "fulfillment had only one definition: the housewife mother." She also co-founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966. Hint


Question 6 of 15
6. This writer and scientist could be said to have started the environmental movement. She wrote several books that lay people were able to understand and absorb while still adding to scientific literature; including "Silent Spring" in 1962 about the deadly effects of chemical pesticides on fish, birds and humans. Hint


Question 7 of 15
7. A pioneer in the field of genetics, this woman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1983 for a discovery she had made 40 years earlier. She did genetic research on corn and found that genetic elements moved around on chromosomes and was not fixed as earlier though. This movement altered the genetic material from one generation to the next. Hint


Question 8 of 15
8. This woman was one of the first 50 licensed anesthesiologists in the country. She developed the first test in 1952 to access the condition of newborns shortly after birth; prior to this time newborns were taken to the nursery before any tests were performed. Hint


Question 9 of 15
9. This technology pioneer helped produce the Mark I (an early prototype of the electronic computer) in 1944. She was involved in the creation of UNIVAC, the first all purpose, all electronic digital computer. She invented the first computer compiler and co-developed COBOL (an early computer language that was the first to use both words and numbers). She also earned the first Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale. Hint


Question 10 of 15
10. This African-American contralto had to leave America in 1930 to sing in Europe because the concert halls would not allow her to perform because of her color. She was back five years later. In 1939 she was banned from singing at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. This caused first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to resign from the DAR and arrange for this woman to sing at the Lincoln Memorial. The Easter Sunday concert drew 75,000 supporters and millions more via radio. Hint


Question 11 of 15
11. This woman was a staff photographer at Fortune magazine when she caught the nation's eye with her photos of the "Dust Bowl" in 1934. Her work was on the first ever issue of LIFE magazine in 1936. With LIFE she created the photo essay. She was also the first woman accredited to work in battle zones during World War II. Hint


Question 12 of 15
12. This woman was the first woman to swim the 21 mile English Channel. She disproved the conventional wisdom that a woman was physically incapable. At the time she was only 19 years old. She also won three medals in the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. Hint


Question 13 of 15
13. This woman was an advocate for the mentally ill and better prison conditions. She became the Union's superintendent of nurses (in charge of all nurses in army hospitals) during the Civil War. She convinced skeptical military officials to allow women nurses and recruited heavily. After the war was over she went back to her advocacy and succeeded in opening the first state run mental asylum. (Previously the mentally ill had been kept in inhumane conditions, often in poor houses or prisons.) Hint


Question 14 of 15
14. This nurse and midwife coined the phrase "birth control" around 1914. She strongly advocated the availability of contraceptive information to women. At the time it was illegal to distribute such information through the mail. She later was sent to jail for opening a clinic and educating woman about reproduction. She was the founder of what became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Hint


Question 15 of 15
15. This woman excelled in all sports that she attempted including basketball, diving, tennis, track and field and golf. She was restricted to three events in the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. She won a gold in hurdles and javelin. Even though she jumped the highest in high jump she was awarded the silver because of her "unusual head first" technique (now the standard method.) She set more records, won more medals and tournaments than any athlete of her era, male or female. Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 21 2024 : DCW2: 13/15
Feb 26 2024 : FastEd8: 12/15

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. This woman was the first woman to hold a cabinet post (Secretary of Labor for FDR). She held this post for 12 years and helped enact the Social Security Act of 1935 and the 1938 Fair Labor Standards.

Answer: Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins (1880-1965) most likely secured more benefits for the American worker than anyone before or after her. The Fair Labor Standards that she enacted created the 40 hour work week and set up the minimum wage.
2. This woman was the first African-American woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar. She founded the Children's Defense Fund in 1973 to focus on children's need for safe homes, nutritious meals and decent education.

Answer: Marian Wright Edelman

Marian Wright Edelman was a leading advocate against infant mortality, child abuse, teenage pregnancy and for day care.
3. This senior was so upset with being forced to retire at 65 that she started the Gray Panthers in 1971. She helped create awareness of ageism and to rewrite mandatory retirement laws.

Answer: Maggie Kuhn

Maggie Kuhn (1905-1995) also fought for other causes such as national health care and against war. She was able to gain supporters from all age categories.
4. Firmly believing that liberating women would also liberate men, this journalist was a leader of the women's movement in the 70s. She popularised the phrase, "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle."

Answer: Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem also founded "Ms. Magazine." Although it is often stated that Steinem coined the phrase "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle", it is believed to have been coined by Australian writer, Irina Dunn.
5. This woman wrote "The Feminine Mystique" in 1963. In it she labeled suburbia "a bedroom and kitchen sexual ghetto", in which "fulfillment had only one definition: the housewife mother." She also co-founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966.

Answer: Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan also was the organizer and director of the First Women's Bank in New York.
6. This writer and scientist could be said to have started the environmental movement. She wrote several books that lay people were able to understand and absorb while still adding to scientific literature; including "Silent Spring" in 1962 about the deadly effects of chemical pesticides on fish, birds and humans.

Answer: Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was a government marine biologist as well as a popular writer. She didn't advocate outright banning of chemicals (except for extremely dangerous ones such as DDT) but felt that they should be extensively studies in controlled environments for possible hazards before use.
7. A pioneer in the field of genetics, this woman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1983 for a discovery she had made 40 years earlier. She did genetic research on corn and found that genetic elements moved around on chromosomes and was not fixed as earlier though. This movement altered the genetic material from one generation to the next.

Answer: Barbara McClintock

Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) was given a job offer by the Carnegie Institute in 1941 to do nothing but research which she then did for the next 50 years of her life.
8. This woman was one of the first 50 licensed anesthesiologists in the country. She developed the first test in 1952 to access the condition of newborns shortly after birth; prior to this time newborns were taken to the nursery before any tests were performed.

Answer: Virginia Apgar

Virginia Apgar (1909-1974) developed the Apgar test. This test measured babies on 5 vital functions: heart rate, respiration, reflex irritability, muscle tone and skin color. It is administered 60 seconds and again four minutes after birth.
9. This technology pioneer helped produce the Mark I (an early prototype of the electronic computer) in 1944. She was involved in the creation of UNIVAC, the first all purpose, all electronic digital computer. She invented the first computer compiler and co-developed COBOL (an early computer language that was the first to use both words and numbers). She also earned the first Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale.

Answer: Grace Hopper

Grace Hopper (1906-1992) also coined the phrase computer bug to describe a computer glitch. She was working with a room sized computer when it stopped working. She found a moth trapped in the machine. She put the moth in a logbook with the note, "first actual case of bug being found". The term stuck.
10. This African-American contralto had to leave America in 1930 to sing in Europe because the concert halls would not allow her to perform because of her color. She was back five years later. In 1939 she was banned from singing at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. This caused first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to resign from the DAR and arrange for this woman to sing at the Lincoln Memorial. The Easter Sunday concert drew 75,000 supporters and millions more via radio.

Answer: Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson (1902-1993) was also the first African-American woman to sing with the New York Metropolitan Opera.
11. This woman was a staff photographer at Fortune magazine when she caught the nation's eye with her photos of the "Dust Bowl" in 1934. Her work was on the first ever issue of LIFE magazine in 1936. With LIFE she created the photo essay. She was also the first woman accredited to work in battle zones during World War II.

Answer: Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) produced dramatic images of the Nazi camps when she was on hand for some of their liberations in 1945.
12. This woman was the first woman to swim the 21 mile English Channel. She disproved the conventional wisdom that a woman was physically incapable. At the time she was only 19 years old. She also won three medals in the 1924 Paris Olympic Games.

Answer: Gertrude Ederle

Gertrude Ederle swam the channel in 14 hours and 30 minutes. She was the sixth person to complete it (the first five were men) and she shaved two hours off the previous record!
13. This woman was an advocate for the mentally ill and better prison conditions. She became the Union's superintendent of nurses (in charge of all nurses in army hospitals) during the Civil War. She convinced skeptical military officials to allow women nurses and recruited heavily. After the war was over she went back to her advocacy and succeeded in opening the first state run mental asylum. (Previously the mentally ill had been kept in inhumane conditions, often in poor houses or prisons.)

Answer: Dorothea Dix

Dorothea Dix (1802-1887) served as superintendent of nurses throughout the war, all without any pay!
14. This nurse and midwife coined the phrase "birth control" around 1914. She strongly advocated the availability of contraceptive information to women. At the time it was illegal to distribute such information through the mail. She later was sent to jail for opening a clinic and educating woman about reproduction. She was the founder of what became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Answer: Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger (1883-1966) also persuaded a friend to subsidize research for a female controlled oral contraceptive.
15. This woman excelled in all sports that she attempted including basketball, diving, tennis, track and field and golf. She was restricted to three events in the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. She won a gold in hurdles and javelin. Even though she jumped the highest in high jump she was awarded the silver because of her "unusual head first" technique (now the standard method.) She set more records, won more medals and tournaments than any athlete of her era, male or female.

Answer: Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1914-1956) won 5 out of 8 events she entered at the NAAU Track and field event in 1932. Her score was double that of the next closest TEAM!
Source: Author promise2try

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