More African American Firsts Trivia Quiz

Answer: Colin Powell

General Colin Powell served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from January 20, 2001 until January 26, 2005, in the administration of President George W. Bush.
Powell became the highest ranking African American in the executive branch of the government, and was the highest ranking African American in the history of the United States military. As a four-star general in the United States Army, Powell also served as National Security Adviser (1987-1989) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 until 1993.

Answer: Ralph J. Bunche

Bunche was a political scientist and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation in Palestine in the late 1940s that lead to an armistice agreement between the Jews and Arabs in the region.
Bunche was also instrumental in the preliminary planning of the United Nations in 1944. He was also an adviser to the U.S. delegation for the "Charter Conference" of the United Nations held in 1948.

Answer: Daniel Hale Williams

A graduate of Chicago Medical School in 1883, Williams, with the assistance of five other surgeons, successfully repaired the torn pericardium of James Cornish, who had suffered a knife wound to the heart in 1893.

Answer: Edward A. Bouchet

Born on September 15, 1852 in New Haven, Connecticut, Bouchet was admitted in 1868 into Hopkins Grammar School, a private institution that prepared young men for Yale University. He graduated first in his class from Hopkins. He entered Yale University in 1870. Four years later, he became the first ever African American to graduate from Yale.

He ranked sixth in a class of 124. In the fall of 1874, Bouchet returned to Yale University. In 1876, he successfully completed his dissertation on the new subject of geometrical optics, becoming the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from an American university as well as the sixth American of any race to earn a Ph.D. in physics.

Answer: Marian Anderson

Best known for her contralto singing voice (a voice range somewhere between a tenor and a mezzo soprano) Anderson debuted at the New York Philharmonic on August 26, 1925, and scored an immediate success both with the audience and with the critics. In 1928, she sang for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Anderson's singing career was marred several time with race-based refusals for his to perform at certain prominent venues in the USA. On January 7, 1955, she became the first African American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera.

Answer: Hattie McDaniel

For her performance as the maid character, Mammy, in the epic classic film, "Gone With the Wind" in 1939, McDaniels was awarded the 1940 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
McDaniel also became the first African American to attend the Academy Awards ceremony as a guest, and not a servant.

Answer: Willie Thrower

Backup Chicago Bears quarterback Willie Thrower become the first African American quarterback to solely play quarterback in an NFL game on October 18, 1953 against the San Francisco 49ers.
Thrower, a native of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, had already been the first African American quarterback in the "Big 10 Conference", playing for Michigan State from 1950 to 1952, helping them to win the National Championship in 1952.

Answer: Tiger Woods

Eldrick "Tiger" Woods' (born December 30, 1975) accomplishments ranked him among the most successful golfers of all time. In 2006, at the age of 30, he won his 11th and 12th professional major golf championships. Among his championship wins were The Masters in 1997, 2001, 2002, and 2005, U.S. Open in 2000 and 2002, British Open in 2000 and 2005, and the PGA Championshipin 2006.

Answer: Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856-November 14, 1915) was honored with a stamp a quarter century after his death. His ten cent stamp went on sale in 1940 at Tuskegee Institute, which he founded when he was only 25 years of age. In 1946, Washington also became the first African American with his image on a coin, a 50 cent piece.

Answer: Matthew Henson

Matthew Alexander Henson (August 6, 1866 - March 4, 1955) was an American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary on the expedition to the North Pole in 1909. Due to his being African American and his status as Peary's employee, he never reached the same fame as Peary in an America where racist views were still common.

His contributions largely went unrecognized until decades later. On April 29, 1909, six men made a mad dash for the North Pole. They were (in order from first to last) Matthew Henson, followed by four Eskimos pulling Robert Peary (who was suffering from frost bite to the feet) on a sled.

Henson outran them all, becoming the first man in the world to reach the North Pole. Peary handed him the American Flag, which he planted at the site in the snow.

Answer: Althea Gibson

In 1957, she won two or the world's most prestiges tournaments, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Nationals. She was the first African American to win either of these events. She went on the repeat both accomplishments the following year ... In 1957 and 1958, she was voted the Associate Press as "Female Athlete of the Year", the first African American to receive this honor.

Answer: P.B.S. Pinchback

Pinchback was appointed and served as governor of the State of Louisiana from December 9, 1872 through January 13, 1873, during the impeachment proceedings against the elected governor.

Answer: Robert C. Weaver

Weaver served from 1966 until 1969 as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Answer: William H. Carney

Sgt. William H. Carney was awarded the medal for bravery during the Civil War. He received his Congressional Medal of Valor in 1900.
Sgt. Carney served with the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and took part in the July 18, 1863 assault on Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. He received his medal for saving the American flag and planting it on the parapet and holding it while the troops charged, He was wounded four times, but recognizing that Federal troops had to retreat, under fire, he struggled back across the battlefield returning the flag to Union lines.
With the primitive communications of the time, the flag was an important visual contact for the troops, and many Civil War medals were awarded for protecting and displaying the flag under fire.

Answer: Eugene Jacques Bullard

Born in Columbus, Georgia on October 9, 1895, Ballard was denied entry into the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1917 because of his race. He served throughout World War I in the French Flying Corps. Assigned to the 93 Spad Squadron, he flew over 20 missions and is believed to have shot down two enemy aircraft.

He received the Legion of Honor, France's highest honor among many other decorations. On August 23, 1994, thirty-three years after his death and seventy-seven years to the day after his rejection for U.S. military service, Eugene Bullard was posthumously commissioned as a second lieutenant on the U.S. Air Force.