Lesser-Known Americans Trivia Quiz

Answer: Founders

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He was from an influential South Carolina family. Initially opposed to a strong federal government, Pinckney became an advocate for just that after his state struggled to defend itself during the Revolutionary War.

He realized that cooperation amongst states was key to the survival of individual states. At the convention Pinckney strongly advocated for slave owners, and opposed any and all efforts to end or restrict the practice.

In 1796, he was named Ambassador to France and was caught up in the XYZ Affair. In both 1804 and 1808, he was the leading losing presidential candidate.

Answer: Founders

William Ellery was a Founding Father from Rhode Island who also helped establish Brown University. He was a fierce abolitionist, although he failed to convince other Founders to abolish the practice. Unlike many other Founding Fathers, Ellery led a relatively quiet life after the conventions.

His signature on the Declaration of Independence is the second most prominent and largest after John Hancock.

Answer: Founders

Mercy Otis Warren was a Massachusetts woman who was heavily influential in the American Revolution. She and her husband James published poems and pamphlets urging their fellow Americans to join in the fight and support the independence of the country.

She is said to have convinced and inspired several Founding Fathers, including Eldridge Gerry, John Adams, and John Hancock. She was known to have written to several prominent early Americans. The extent of her activism wasn't publicly known for over a century after her death when manuscripts were uncovered with her name on them.

Answer: Writers

Mary Roberts Rinehart was a prominent American mystery writer who wrote before Agatha Christie and the other classic authors of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Her first novel was "The Circular Staircase", which was published in 1908. She was the most prominent American mystery writer of her time.

Many of her novels established now classic tropes of the genre, most notably "the butler did it", although Roberts herself never used that phrase.

Answer: Writers

Zitkala-Sa (or Red Bird) was a prominent Yankton Native American author. Under the name, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, she wrote about Native American life and was among the first authors to introduce Native American lifestyles in literature to English speakers. She was also a prominent violinist and activist for Native American rights.

Answer: Writers

Charles W. Chesnutt was a prominent Southern writer who authored novels and short stories about the struggle for civil rights in the South as well as life in the Southern states. Despite appearing white, Chesnutt was considered an African-American because he was only 7/8 white.

His parents were free persons of color. Many of his writings have to do with the complex racial dynamics in the South during the turn of the 20th century and his own struggles with racial identity. He was the first African-American to have works published in "The Atlantic" magazine.

Answer: Artists

Dat So La Lee was a famous Washoe Native American basket weaver. When her craft was discovered by art dealers, baskets became something of a national craze and were suddenly very popular pieces of decoration across the country. Her baskets are in museums across the United States, including the Smithsonian.

Answer: Artists

Charles E. Burchfield is an American painter best known for his watercolor nature scenes. He is one of the most prolific painters in the United States. Although he has paintings in museums across the country, his artistry is felt most notably in his native Buffalo, New York, where the Burchfield Penney Art Center is located.

Answer: Artists

Ruth Asawa was a Japanese-American sculptor. She learned her craft in the 1940s when she and her family were sent to Japanese internment camps. In addition to sculpting, Asawa was also an accomplished weaver and teacher. She advocated for expanding art education in schools as well as for Japanese-American causes and against anti-Asian discrimination.

Answer: Judges

Esther Morris was a Wyoming judge who in 1870 became Justice of the Peace in South Pass City, Wyoming. In doing so, she became the first female judge in the United States. She was also an active suffragette who was influential in Wyoming becoming the first state to give women the right to vote.

Answer: Judges

John Marshall Harlan served on the U.S. Supreme Court. He was known as the Great Dissenter because he was often in the dissent, often alone, of the Court's most prominent and historically important cases, including "Plessy v. Ferguson" and civil rights cases.

His dissents were often fiery and warned of the grave harm the majority's opinions would bring. Although Harlan wound up not being influential to law during his lifetime, his dissents provided the bases for a number of similar civil rights cases nearly a century later as the Supreme Court gradually overturned past precedent. Harlan's dissents were often quoted in the new majority opinions.

Answer: Judges

Learned Hand was a federal judge who served on the Second Circuit. He is widely considered the most influential judge in American history who never served on the Supreme Court. A 2004 study determined Hand is one of the most quoted judge in judicial opinions, often more quoted than many Supreme Court justices. Hand was well respected by jurists of all ideological stripes.

He was mostly a progressive in matters of law but urged judicial restraint, a practice preferred by conservatives.