Black History Month Trivia: Historical Figures

Who was the co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)?

Who was known as the “Godmother of the Women’s Movement”?

What attorney argued the case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) in front of the Supreme Court before becoming an appointed Associate Justice in 1967?

Who was the first African American woman to attend Yale School of Law and became the first African American female judge in the United States?

What preacher and abolitionist helped raise money for gifts for Civil War soldiers; gave rousing, inspirational anti-slavery speeches working with both black and white abolitionists; and helped African Americans relocate to the North?

After being diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951, a sample of this woman’s cancer cells were taken without her consent by a researcher. And though she succumbed to the disease at the age of 31 that same year, her cancer cells became the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research.

What American sparked the “Montgomery Bus Boycott”?

In 1961 groups of Black and White volunteers traveled together on bus trips in the South to test desegregation of buses and restaurants. By what name was this group known?

This American was known as one of the most prominent leaders for African Americans. He secured large donations to uplift the Black community through his contacts and powerful speeches. He mobilized middle-class Blacks, church leaders and White philanthropists to build the economic strength of the African American community by focusing on self-help and schooling. His autobiography Up From Slavery was a bestseller.