National Black Herstory Task Force

1. In 1892 what African American woman created the ironing board that is currently used within most households?
A. Sarah Boone
B. Betty Wright
C. Zora Neale Hurston

2. This dedicated public servant was Ohio's first black congresswoman when she died in 2008 from an aneurysm at the age of 58.
A. Mary McCloud Bethune
B. Eleanor Norton Holmes
C. Stephanie Tubbs Jones

3. Who was the first African American grammy award winner?
A. Billy Holiday
B. Nancy Wilson
C. Ella Fitzgerald

4 . Who was the second African-American woman to receive a patent for her invention of 1855, a folding bed?
A. Sarah E. Goode
B. Marilyn Cartwright
C. Connie Briscoe

5. This record-breaking track star was the 20th of 22 children. She not only overcame polio but broke three records in Olympic events.
A. Althea Gibson
B. Wilma Rudolph
C. Jackie Joyner-Kersee

6. Star of stage and screen, this actress was said to have been "blacklisted" for comments made at the White House?
A. Lena Horne
B. Ruby Dee
C. Eartha Kitt

7. After making the case of Stanley Tookie Williams an international movement, this author, activist, manager, and community leader ran for the office of governor of California in 2006.
A. Barbara D. Shaw
B. Barbara Becnel
C. J.E. Hosley

8. Who was the first African-American woman to become a federal judge in 1966?
A. Barbara Jordan
B. Constance Baker Motley
C. Shirley Chisholm

9. After being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, who is the woman who accepted the award on behalf of the people of Africa?
A. Wangari Maathai
B. Winnie Mandela
C. Nguzo Saba

10. As the first African-American female driver in NASCAR, this woman joined her father as co-team owner?
A. Patrice Clarke-Washington
B. Tia Norfleet
C. Marcelite J. Harris

Quiz Answers

FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN

JOSEPHINE BAKER became a French citizen who served as a Red Cross volunteer and underground spy. For this she was the first African-American woman to receive the French Legion of Honor.

RUTH BOWEN was the first African-American woman to open a talent agency in New York City. Wife of Billy Bowen (Ink Spots), she ultimately signed Dinah Washington's press secretary.

ETTA MOTTEN was the first African-America actress to entertain at the White House at the request of Eleanor Roosevelt.

BESSIE COLEMAN was the first African-American woman to obtain an international pilot's license in 1921.

In November 2000 RUTH J. SIMMONS became the first African-American president of an ivy league school--Brown University.

MARION WRIGHT EDELMAN was the first woman African-American woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar.

PHILLIS WHEATLEY cwas the first African-American to publish a book in 1770.

The first African-American to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature was TONI MORRISON.

MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE was the first African-American woman to establish a school that became an accredited four-year college. (Bethune Cookman College).

The first African-American singer to record a blues song was MAMIE SMITH (1920).

REBECCA LEE CRUMPLER was the first African-American woman to earn a medical degree (1864).