“BLACKAMOOR” HISTORY Study Guide

Frederick Douglass was the black American who published the first issue of his newspaper, the North Star, in 1847.

It is generally agreed that black history began in America in 1619.

Approximately 10,000 blacks in New York State were impacted by the abolishment of slavery on July 4, 1828.

SNCC stands for: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Maya Angelou became the first black female movie director with the movie Georgia, Georgia.

Benjamin Lawson Hooks became the first black member of the Federal Communication Commission.

Representative Parren Mitchell was the first black congressman to chair the House Committee on Small Business.

Dr. Jerome H. Holland, former U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, was the first black to sit on the board of General Foods.

Zina Garrison was the black female who won the junior tennis title at the 1981 U.S. Open.

Ulysses Grant Dailey, physician and surgeon, in 1926 founded the Dailey Hospital and Sanitarium in Chicago.

Floyd Patterson was the first fighter to lose and then win back the world heavyweight championship title.

After passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, Congress did not pass another piece of civil rights legislation until 1957.

In 1970, Sammie Chess, Jr. became the first black American judge in the history of North Carolina.

"Please, Please, Please" was singer James Brown's first record.

The Count Basie Band was the first American band to play a royal command performance for the Queen of England.

In 1935, Todd Duncan was auditioned by George Gershwin, and received the lead role in the famous Gershwin play "Porgy and Bess".

Eldridge Cleaver wrote "Soul On Ice".

The Supremes are the Motown recording group with the most number one records.

Marian Anderson was denied use of Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. on Easter Sunday in 1939, she sang before 75,000 people assembled at the Lincoln Memorial.

Edward W. Brooke was the first black elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote. He won the general election on November 8, 1966.

Pitcher Vida Blue is the only player to start an all star game for both leagues.

One Way To Heaven is the only novel that Countee Cullen wrote.

Frederick Douglass was the slave abolitionist who escaped from slavery in Maryland in 1838.

The Spingarn Medal is the award given each year by the NAACP to the black American whom they assess to have reached the highest achievement in his/her field of activity.

In 1851, the Slave Trade Act, abolishing slavery, became effective in the District of Columbia.

Eight out of ten black doctors complete their medical studies each year at Howard University or Meharry Medical College (Fisk University).

Mary McLeod Bethune was the woman civil rights activist who repeatedly stated through all her accomplishments "There's no menial work, only menial spirits."

On December 10, 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. became, at the age of 35, the youngest person awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The autobiography, "My Lord, What A Morning", is about Marion Anderson.

James Baldwin wrote the play, "Amen Corner."

Joseph A. Walker was the author of the play "River Niger".

The play, "A Raisin In The Sun," by Lorraine Hansberry was the first Broadway play by a black writer to win the New York Drama Critics Award as best play of the year in 1959.

In 1868, Alabama state statutes made it unlawful to unite Negro and white children in one school.

In January 1966, Harold Robert Perry was elected Bishop of New Orleans, and became the first black Catholic Bishop in the United States since 1875.

George F. Grant was the dentist who invented a device to correct cleft palate.

Arthur W. Mitchell, in 1934, was the first black Democrat ever to sit in the Congress.

During the slavery era, never were marriages and slave family relationships recognized as a legal body.

Dr. Robert Tanner Freeman was the first black American to earn a doctorate in dentistry at Harvard.

Richmond Barthe was the creator of "Flute Boy," the African influenced sculpture that won the 1928 Harmon Award.

Church Minister was the major occupation of most of the people who helped form national and local civil rights organizations.

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin was the black American who was a chief organizer and also served as president of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in 1896.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was the black American to be honored by Time Magazine as "Man of The Year."

The spirituals are creations of black Americans.

Thirty students were enrolled when Booker T. Washington opened Tuskegee Institute in 1881.

The black protest movement of the sixties started in Greensboro, N.C. (Feb. 1, 1960.)

Tuskegee Institute had only one faculty member when it opened in 1881.

In 1940, an Atlanta, Ga. city ordinance required that white drivers carry white passengers, and Negro drivers carry Negro passengers.

In 1982, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of a bill that virtually eliminated bussing for the purpose of racial integration.

Macon B. Allen, in 1845, became the first black lawyer admitted to the bar in the United States.

John H. Johnson is the founder of the magazines Ebony and Jet.

Bethune Cookman College was co-founded by Mary McLeod Bethune.

The New Orleans Tribune was the first black daily newspaper to begin printing bilingual. (French. & English)

William Carney, in 1863, was the first black soldier to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The North Star was the newspaper that was started by Frederick Douglass in an effort to print anti-slavery stories.

Dean Dixon, in 1941, became the first black to conduct the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, in 1893 performed the world's first open heart surgery in Chicago's Provident Hospital..

Josiah Hensen, a slave who escaped from Maryland, became the role model for Uncle Tom in the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.

In January 1971, Rev. Leon H. Sullivan became the first black to be elected to the board of directors of the General Motors auto company.

In 1754, a 22 year old free black named Benjamin Banneker became the first person in North America to build a clock.

The Mennonite Quakers, in 1688, staged the first formal protest against slavery by an organized white group.

Jessie Owens, in the 1936 Olympics, won four gold medals.

Freedom's Journal, in March 1827, was the first black newspaper to be published.

Founded by Marian Wright Edelman, the Children's Defense Fund was established specifically to deal with the civil rights of children.

A "driver" was a slave who worked as the overseer's right hand man.

The "task system" allotted slaves a fixed amount of daily work.

Harold Washington was the first black elected mayor of Chicago, Illinois.

When black demonstrators, led by Ralph Abernathy, built plywood shelters between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, the encampment was given the name "Resurrection City."

William Marshall, a black actor, has been noted as giving the most consistent interpretation of "Othello" in various parts of the world.

Jerry Butler is the singer known as "The Iceman," who recorded the song "For Your Precious Love."

"Fatha" was the nickname given to jazz pianist Earl Hines.

Black Enterprise is the monthly business magazine founded by Earl G. Graves for black men and women.

Dr. Lloyd A. Hall received over 70 patents for his meat curing salt formulas and revolutionized the meat curing industry.

Norval C. Vaughn was the black man who invented the bullet proof vest worn by policemen.

Henry "Box" Brown was the slave who hid in a tiny crate, and then mailed himself to Philadelphia and freedom.

W. C. Handy is responsible for the commercialization of blues that began in 1912.

The actress/singer Pearl Bailey had the title "Ambassador of Love" conferred upon her by President Nixon.

Charles Fuller is the author of the play "A Soldier's Play." Written for a Negro ensemble company, it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982.

Nominated by the Liberty Party in New York in 1855 for Secretary of State of New York, Frederick Douglass became the first black nominated for a state office.

Virginia, in 1671, passed a law that lumped the slaves with sheep, horses, and cattle as property.

In l866, military banks were established in New Orleans, Norfolk, Virginia, and Beaufort, S.C. to safeguard black deposits.

Morris Brown College was founded by John Wesley Gaines. It opened in Atlanta, Ga. in 1855.

Richard Henry Boyd, in 1897, formed the National Baptist Publishing Board, which issued the first series of Negro Baptist literature ever published.

In 1961, Wilson Goode, a graduate of Morgan State College, became the first black mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The permanent body of the NAACP was organized in 1910.

Miles V. Lynk was the founder and publisher of The Medical and Surgical Observer (1892), the first black journal on medicine in the United States.

Pinckney B.S. Pinchback was the only black reconstructionist to serve as a state governor.

Charles Gordone won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for his play "No Place To Be Somebody."

In July, 1981, Lillian Roberts was appointed commissioner and became the first black woman to head the New York State Labor Department.

In 1975, WGPR-TV, the first television station operated by blacks, went on the air in Detroit.

Roscoe Robinson, Jr., a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars, in 1982, became the first black Four-Star General in the U. S. Army.

Dr. David Blackwell became the first black American in any field to be elected to the National Academy of Science.

In 1897, W.J. Jackson invented the railroad switch.

"Scat singing" is the type of singing done by a vocalist imitating a freewheeling jazz instrument through the use of nonsense syllables.

Three constitutional amendments were produced as a result of the Civil War that directly affected blacks.

Inventor of a corn planter and a cotton seed planter, Henry Blair was probably the first black to receive a patent from the U.S. Patent Office.

Carter G. Woodson was the person who inaugurated Black History Week.

Confirmed on January 26, 1977, Andrew Young was named Ambassador to the United Nations by President Carter.

Blanche Kelso Bruce was the first black to serve a full-term as a U.S. Senator. He entered congress in 1875 from Mississippi.

Lewis Latimer solved the problem of transforming electric current cheaply into light through the invention of a durable filament for the electric bulb.

Ohio is the state that can be given primary credit as to where the underground "roads" began.

John Hope Franklin, in 1947, published the book From Slavery to Freedom.

Sarah Vaughan, a jazz singer, won the "Downbeat Female Vocalist Award" from 1946 to 1952.

Georgia, in 1891, became the first state to segregate streetcars.

Alain L. Locke was the first American black to receive a Rhodes Scholarship.

Frederick Douglass served as U.S. Minister to Haiti.

In 1966, James Meredith organized a peace march in Mississippi.

Frank Robinson is the only baseball player to ever win the most valuable player award in both major leagues.

Bob Beeman is the athlete who set a new world record in the broad jump (29ft - 2 1/4in.) During the Olympic games in Mexico City in 1968.

Morehouse College has been referred to as the "Black Oxford of The South."

Duke Ellington composed over 2,000 pieces including "Black, Brown, and Beige" and "Solitude."

Two (2) civil rights acts were passed during the Eisenhower administration.

South Carolina and Georgia were the two southern states that refused to legalize slave enlistment in the Revolutionary War for any reason.

Isaac Hathaway is the black sculptor and ceramist who designed the federal memorial coins of George Washington and George Washington Carver.

Lee Elder was the first black golfer to reach $1 million in winnings.

Arthur Ashe quit playing professional tennis because of a heart attack.

Robert O. Goodman, Jr. was the U.S. Pilot whose release as a hostage in Syria was negotiated by Jesse Jackson in January, 1984.

In 1741, New York City became the scene of the first mass execution of blacks in American history.

The nicknames "queen of the moaners," "Texas nightingale," and "Chicago cyclone" were associated with blues singers in the 1920s.

William T. Strayhorn composed many songs for Duke Ellington of which the most famous composition is "Take The A Train."

Dr. Percy Julian, a black scientist, used the soybean to extract an ingredient to relieve inflammatory arthritis.

"Zoot Suit" was the type of suit which was very popular among blacks and Chicanos in the swing era.

Tina Turner's given name is Annie Mae Bullock.

Vida Blue was the youngest player to win the American League's MVP and Cy Young award.

Marquette Frye was the black man arrested by officer Lee Minikus that sparked the Watt's riots.

William Wells Brown was the first black to publish a drama, a novel, and a travel book.

Henry Blair is believed to be the first black to obtain a patent in the U.S.

William Grant Still is the author of the book Underground Railroad, published in 1872.

Cheyney State College, in Pennsylvania, is the oldest black college in the U.S.

Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America, represented New York State in the Miss America Pageant.

New Orleans is the city generally accepted as the prime breeding ground for jazz music.

England's victory over France in 1713 gave England control over the slave trade.

Herschel Walker was the Heisman Trophy winner who signed with the USFL after his junior year at Georgia.

Booker T. Washington graduated from Hampton Institute in 1875.

Todd Duncan, operatic singer, played the role of Porgy in the 1935 play "Porgy And Bess."

A famous "scat" singer, Ella Fitzgerald is known as "the first lady of song."

George Baker was the given name of black cult leader Father Devine.

John Rock was the first black lawyer admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nominated by the Liberty Party for Secretary of State of New York, Frederick Douglass was the first black nominated for a statewide office in the U.S.

Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes were the two students who, with Vernon Jordan at their side, integrated the University of Georgia.

The National Political Congress at Black women was formed in August 1984.

Martin Luther King, Jr. organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

James Usry is the name of the first black mayor of Atlantic City, NJ.

Major Alexander T. Augusta was the first black to head any hospital in the United States.

Frederick Douglass was the first black to receive a major government appointment in the U.S.

The Brown vs. Board of Education decision was made in 1954.

Blacks have made the most progress in the financial institution of insurance.

Henry McNeal Turner was appointed the first black chaplain in the U.S. Army in 1856.

Rebecca Cole was the first black woman physician in the U.S.

The year 1920 is generally designated as the beginning of the "Harlem Renaissance."

Black history began in the 1600s with the arrival of twenty black indentured servants to Jamestown, Virginia.

The poems of Langston Hughes, a black poet, appeared exclusively in the Crisis, a magazine published by the NAACP, and his work included "Weary Blues."

"Woolworth's" was the name of the store where four black college students from North Carolina A&T sat and were denied services, thus beginning sit-in demonstrations.

Lewis Latimer was the author of the first textbook on the lighting system used by the Edison Company.

Only once did Wilt Chamberlain score 100 points in a game during his professional career.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was founded in 1957.

Thomas Bradley became the first mayor of a predominantly white populated city.

Georgia was the first southern state to segregate its public parks (1905).

Langston Hughes is the author of the book, "Ways of White Folks."

February is designated as "Black History Month."

All of the 13 colonies had slaves by the time of the American Revolution in 1776.

Carl T. Rowan wrote the book, "Just Between Us Blacks."

The type of books published by Benjamin Banneker from 1792 to 1802 were called "Almanac."

Marcus Garvey, the black nationalist, said "Black men you were once great; you shall be great again. Lose not courage, lose not faith, go forward."

The Negro Digest is the name of the first magazine, published in 1942, by John H. Johnson.

During the Harlem Renaissance, white writers became intrigued with blacks and started to use black characters and themes in their writings.

John Brown was hanged for his raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

The Autobiography Of An Ex-Colored Man was written by James Weldon Johnson.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN.

For his successful mediation of the Palestine conflict, on September 22, 1950, Ralph J. Bunche became the first black awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Muhammad Ali was the first heavyweight boxer to be stripped of his title for political reasons.

Charles Richard Drew was an athlete, director of the first American Red Cross blood bank, and a teacher of doctors.

Joe Louis was the boxer who defended his title the most times.

Harriet Tubman is often called "The Moses of the Peop1e."

Daniel Hale Williams was the first black elected a Fellow of The American College of Surgeons.

James Weldon Johnson is the black poet, lyricist, and novelist who served as U.S. Council in Venezuela and Nicaragua.

A. Phillip Randolph served as vice president of the labor organization, AFL-CIO.

Bigger Thomas was the leading character in Richard Wright's book, Native Son.

The Nat Turner Rebellion took place in Virginia.

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was written by the slave, Sarah Hannah Sheppard.

Bessie Coleman was the first black American to receive a pilot's license.

John James Audobon is the black artist whose paintings of birds led to his fame as an early American artist.

Andrew Young resigned as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. when it was revealed that he had an unauthorized meeting with the P.L.O.

Washington D.C. is the first major U.S. city to have more blacks than whites in its population.

UNCF stands for the United Negro College Fund.

The first Liberty ship named for a black was launched in 1943 to carry war cargo to Europe during World War II. The ship was named for George Washington Carver.

The Spingarn Medal Award began in 1914 and is traditionally presented at the annual NAACP convention.

Mobile, Alabama is the city where the last slave ship, Clothilde, delivered its slaves.

NNBL stands for: The National Negro Business League.

Harriett Tubman was the first black woman honored by having her picture on a U.S. postage stamp.

Segregation by color in public schools violates the 14th constitutional amendment.

Arthur Ashe is the first black player to win the U.S. Open tennis title.

"Crazy Blues" was the first song of black America that was made into a recording.

George Norford is the first black producer of network television programs.

Go Tell It On The Mountain was James Baldwin's first novel.

The Dance Theater of Harlem is the first all-black classical ballet company in the U.S.

The "Black Star Line" was the name of the shipping company started by Marcus Garvey for the purpose of carrying blacks back to Africa.

Singer Ella Fitzgerald is widely acclaimed as "The First Lady of Song."

Marian Anderson was the first black American to sing with the Metropolitan Opera.

George Washington Carver was the first black American to have a national monument dedicated to him.

The Johnson Products Company is the first predominantly black-owned corporation to be listed on the American Stock Exchange.

State statutes that required segregation of whites and blacks in public accommodations or vehicles are called "Jim Crow Laws."

Carter G. Woodson established the Association For The Study of Negro Life and History in 1915.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was the youngest man to win the Nobel Peace Prize. (age 35)

Gertrude "Ma" Rainey is generally referred to as the "Mother of The Blues."

Richard Allen was the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first major black institution in America.

Robert Tanner Freeman is the first black American to receive a dental degree from an American medical school.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were the three states that had all black companies during the American Revolutionary War.

Madame E. J. Walker invented the hot iron comb.

Simeon Newson invented the cooker. (oil heater)

"Conductor" was the name given to those who helped slaves escape to freedom on the underground railroad.

Georgia elected the first black to sit in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1870.

Althea Gibson was the first black female tennis player to win the Wimbledon and U.S. Open.

The British "Royal African Company" imported slaves for the English colonies.

Liverpool, England was England's principal home port of slave ships that provided slaves to the West Indies and America.

The National Urban League was founded in 1911.

Gertrude E. Aver was the first black woman to be appointed as a principal in the New York City school system.

A playwright and poet, Lorraine Hansbury's autobiography is called To Be Young, Gifted, and Black.

Numa P.G. Adams, in June 1929, became the first black dean of the Howard Medical School.

Carl B. Stokes, on November 13, 1967, was inaugurated and became the first black mayor of a major city, Cleveland.

John Hope Franklin, a black historian, published the book, From Slavery To Freedom, in 1947.

Dr. Ida Gray was the first Black American woman dentist.

The Supremes were Motown recording artists who had five consecutive records in the number one position on the national record charts.

James Brown is the R&B singer who is known as the "Godfather of Soul."

Billie Holiday is the great blues vocalist that was referred to as "Lady Day."

In 1896, Booker T. Washington was offered an honorary degree at Harvard University.

Black pianist James P. Johnson is credited with making the first jazz piano recording, "Carolina Shout."

By a vote of 408 to 1, Congress will honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by placing a bust of him in the Capital.

In the early development of music by slaves, the fiddle was the primary musical instrument used.

In 1948, Margaret Bush Wilson was the first black woman in Missouri to run for Congress, and in 1975, became the first black woman Chairman of the Board of the NAACP.

Malcolm X made the statement "Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today."

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were the two major leaders assassinated in the 1960s.

Former Ambassador to the U.N., Andrew Young, was elected Mayor of Atlanta.

The black organization represented by the letters SCLC is the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

The Black Theatre Magazine is the first national periodical to devote itself only to black theatre.

The Souls of Black Folk was written by the famous black American, William E.B. DuBois.

Succeeding her husband after his untimely death, Cardiss Collins became the first woman and the first black to chair the House Government Operations Subcommittee on Manpower and Housing in the U.S. Congress.

Dr. Ernest E. Just contributed a greater knowledge and understanding to the science of cell structure and functioning.

In 1967, Robert G. Clark became the first black elected to the Mississippi state legislature in the 20th century.

Marcus Garvey opened the National Convention of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) at Liberty Hall in Harlem in 1920.

Oscar Dunn, ex-slave and captain in the Union Army, was elected Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana in 1868.

George Poage became the first black athlete to compete in the Olympic games in 1904.

As a result of the interracial strife that produced approximately 25 race riots, James Weldon Johnson labeled the summer of 1919 the "Red Summer."

Carver National Monument, the first monument created in honor of a black George Washington Carver, is located in Diamond, Missouri.

The longest running black affairs series in television history is "Tony Brown's Journal."

"BUMP" is the acronym for Black Upwardly Mobile Professional.

New York Amsterdam News is the largest black newspaper in the country, founded in New York by James H. Anderson in 1909.

Singer/Actress Lena Horne has been known as the most beautiful woman in the world and was the first black woman ever to sign a term contract in films. Her recent success on Broadway was called "The Lady and Her Music."

The National Association of Colored Women was founded in Washington D.C. in 1896.

Ragtime, which developed around 1917 represented a blending of West African rhythm and European musical form.

There are more black women college graduates than there are white women college graduates in the national labor force.

Arthur Ashe was denied a visa to compete in the 1970 "South African Open" tennis tournament.

CORE is an acronym for the black organization called the Congress of Racial Equality.

JCPS is an acronym for the black organization known as the Joint Center for Political Studies.

Josephine Baker is the singer who, with a nondiscrimination clause in her contract, is credited with breaking the color barrier for audiences in Miami.

Mae Street Kidd is the Kentucky state legislator whose 1972 efforts resulted in passage of a law establishing an agency to finance low income housing in Kentucky.

Roger M. Yancey is the lawyer who became the first black American judge presiding in a county court in New Jersey in 1960.

Xavier University of Louisiana is the only predominantly black university in the U.S. that is operated by a Catholic religious order.

"Ory's Creole Trombone" and "Society Blues," both recorded in 1921 by jazz band leader Edward "Kid" Ory, are the first known jazz recordings by a black American jazz musician.

Many early white films had blacks perform in separate sequences so it could be edited out when shown in the southern states.

Meadowlark Lemon of the Harlem Globetrotters is featured as "The Clown Prince of Basketball."

Ending segregated seating on buses was not part of the negotiating demands of the Montgomery Improvement Association, which was formed after the Rosa Parks incident which started the bus boycott in Alabama in 1955.

In the 1600s, explorers from Spain brought the first black slaves to America.

Massachusetts created a Fair Employment Practice Commission in 1946.

The expression "the real McCoy" was originated as the result of the inventor Elijah J. McCoy's system of lubricating machinery.

Isaac Hathaway was the designer of the half-dollar issued by the Bureau of the Mint in honor of Booker T. Washington.

In 1954, at the age of 24, Charles C. Diggs upset the Democratic incumbent in a primary victory to win election to the House of Representatives where he served until his resignation in 1980.

Arthur Ashe was the first black man to win the Wimbledon Tennis Championship.

In 1955, the opera singer Marian Anderson, became the first black to sing on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House.

The first black militant newspaper, The Messenger, was published by A. Phillip Randolph.

Nat Turner was permitted to move about and preach among the slaves.

Author James Baldwin wrote "White Americans impress me as being far more irresponsible, far less aware of the terrible black, ugly fact of life than black people can afford to be."

The Harmon Foundation was founded to promote greater opportunities for blacks in the field of Fine Arts.

Author Charles Waddell Chestnut is known primarily for writing "Short Stories."

Lionel Hampton was the first black musician to play at a Presidential Inauguration.

When Frederick Douglass said "I thank God for making me a man simply: but he always thanks him for making him a black man," he was talking about Martin R. Delaney.

The U.S. Congress officially declared Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a national legal holiday in 1983.

There are 123 traditionally and predominantly black colleges and universities in the U.S.

In 1875, Oscar Lewis became the first black jockey to win the Kentucky Derby.

As of 1980, Cicero Murphy was the only black ever to have competed for the world billiards championship.

Formerly the Superintendent of the Oakland, California school system, Dr. Ruth Love became the first black to serve in that position in Chicago in 1981.

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is the television movie for which Cicely Tyson won an Emmy Award.

In 1881, the state of Tennessee enacted the first Jim Crow Law segregating railroad coaches.

Marcus Garvey, the black nationalist and reformer, died in Kensington, England.

Africans unfamiliar with the English language, and confronted with the shock of slavery, expressed themselves generally through music.

Paul Robeson paid his way through Columbia Law School by playing professional football.

In 1865, four companies of the 54th U.S. Colored Troops became the first blacks to participate in the inaugural parade.

George Washington Carver was known as the "Wizard of Tuskegee."

Chuck Willis was known as the "King of the Stroll" in 1950's and recorded the classic song "C.C. Rider."

In 1903, Scott Joplin's opera, "A Guest of Honor," was presented in the city of St. Louis.

"The Harder They Fall" was the first Caribbean movie to become popular in the U.S. and it starred the reggae singer Jimmy Cliff.

Dick Gregory was the first black comedian whose entire nightclub act was composed of social material in the early fifties.

Gordon Parks composed the music for the movie based on the book "The Learning Tree."

"Black Like Me" is the name of the movie in which a white man passes as a black in order to see how blacks live.

New York became the first northern state to prohibit discrimination in union membership.

In April 1965, Joan Murray became the first black newswoman at a major television station, WCBS New York.

In 1913 James Weldon Johnson wrote the poem "Fifty Years" commemorating the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Runaway slaves who came into the Union lines during the Civil War were frequently put to work because they were often considered contraband.

Many blacks in the U.S. reacted indifferently to plans for colonization of blacks back to Africa because they felt that Africa was not their home.

Hank Aaron ended his baseball career with 2202 runs batted in.

The first black player to score a touchdown in the Rose Bowl was Buddy Young for Illinois, January 1, 1947.

The Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity was established under president Kennedy's Administration.

The African Company was the first all-Negro acting troop.

In 1970, Chris Dickerson became the first black man to win the body building title of "Mr. America."

Rosa Parks is known as the "Mother of the Modern Freedom Movement."

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was the first Congressman to sponsor legislation to desegregate the Armed Forces.

Barbara C. Jordan was the first black woman elected to Congress from the south in the 20th Century.

In 1960, Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals in the Olympic games.

In 1966, Carmen De Lavallade became the first black woman to receive the "Dance Magazine Award."

In 1942, Lena Horne made her film debut in "Panama Hattie."

Bill Russell was the first black American to coach a team in the NBA.

The first black woman to serve as a U.S Ambassador was Patricia Roberts Harris.

From 1946 through 1951, Sugar Ray Robinson was the welterweight boxing champion.

After she was refused permission to sing at Constitution Hall in 1939, Marian Anderson performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

In 1859, the last slaves were delivered to the U.S.

For her role in "Carmen Jones," Dorothy Dandridge became the first black woman nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress of the Year in 1955.

Larry Holmes beat Muhammad Ali in his 1980 comeback.

Nate "Tiny" Archibald was the shortest player to ever win an NBA scoring title.

James Baldwin was trained for the ministry profession.

Elbert R. "Doc" Robertson invented the mold in which concrete pillars were made for building foundations.

NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins characterized the concept of "black power" as "a reverse Hitler, a reverse Ku Klux Klan."

In 1901, blacks became the world's lightweight and welterweight boxing champions.

When Thurgood Marshall graduated from Lincoln University, he planned to study dentistry.

In 1967, Robert G. Clark became the first black elected in the 20th Century to the Mississippi state legislature.

Alex Haley wrote the "Autobiography of Malcolm X."

Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's lifetime home run record in 1974.

Black History Week was started in 1926.

Linda Gainer was the first black woman to help ready a space vehicle for launch.

Upset with the policies of President Carter, civil rights activists Ralph Abernathy and Hosea Williams endorsed the candidacy of Ronald Reagan for President in 1980.

In 1983, a black astronaut was picked as part of a crew in a U.S. space mission.

Melvin Van Peebles wrote the two Broadway musicals "Ain't Supposed To Die A Natural Death" and "Don't Play Us Cheap."

James "Cool Papa" Bell regularly stole over one hundred bases per season and is generally acknowledged as the fastest human ever to play baseball.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

The Civil war started in 1861.

Vermont became the first American colony to abolish slavery.

Gwendolyn Brooks, a Pulitzer prize winning black poetess, published her first collection of verse when she was 13.

Major Robert H. Lawrence was the first black astronaut.

Ron Karenga, a black nationalist, is credited with founding Kwanzaa.

In Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831, Nat Turner led the greatest slave rebellion in history.

James Baldwin wrote the novel "Nobody Knows My Name."

As a result of the Fugitive Slave Law Act of 1793, runaway slaves were returned to their masters.

The Underground railroad was a secret organization that helped fugitive Slaves escape safely.

Treating some people differently from others, usually because you like one group better than another is called discrimination.

W. E. B. DuBois was the only black officer of the NAACP when it was first established.

James Weldon Johnson became the first person appointed field secretary and organizer for the NAACP in the South in 1916.

In 1804, the first northern state to enact the "Black Laws" restricting rights of blacks was Ohio.

Actor Canada Lee portrayed Bigger Thomas in the 1941 Orson Wells version of Richard Wright's "Native Son."

As of 1972, Muhammad Speaks, a contemporary black American newspaper, had the largest circulation.

In 1966, there were only three Black Panthers - Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, and Bobby Hutton, who was only 15 years old.

In 1963, dancer/choreographer Katherine Dunham became the first black Choreographer to work at the Metropolitan Opera House, choreographing the dances for a new production of "Aida."

"If We Must Die," a poem written by Claude McKay, was used by Winston Churchill at the conclusion of his speech before Congress imploring the U.S. to join in World War II.

In 1980, of all unemployed black Americans, 70% never received unemployment insurance benefits.

Louis Armstrong's first record, "Hello Dolly," sold a million copies

During the Kennedy Administration, Carl T. Rowan became the first black to head the U.S. Information Agency.

Smallpox was common and deadly to southern black people.

Welterweight boxer Sugar Ray Leonard won the gold medal in boxing at the 1976 Olympics.

Douglass Hospital, named after a famous black leader, was the first hospital founded west of the Mississippi, in 1899, to serve all ethnic groups.

Eldridge Cleaver was the Presidential candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party in 1968.

The death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. signified the end of the nonviolent phase of the civil rights protest movement.

Rather than present Jesse Owens with his medals during the 1936 Olympic games, Adolf Hitler left the stadium.

In 1822, the Bird School, later known as the James Forten school, opened as the first public school for blacks in Philadelphia.

Granville T, Woods began inventing in 1885. He made significant contributions in the field of electricity, steam boilers, and an automatic air brakes.

Jan E. Matzeliger was the inventor of the lasting machine which revolutionized the shoe-making industry.

John H. Johnson is the publisher of The Negro Digest, Ebony, and Jet.

A leader in the "bebop" music era was trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie.

Todd Duncan and Anne Brown played leading roles in "Porgy and Bess."

Richard Wright's novel, Native Son, was published in 1941.

Gwendolyn Brooks won the 1950 Pulitzer prize award for her book, Annie Allen.

Jessie Redmond Fauset, in 1924, published the novel There is Confusion, and Plum Bum in 1929.

World War I ended on November 11, 1918 at 11 a.m.

Matt Henson was the first American to reach the North Pole.

The NAACP was organized on the centennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln February 12, 1909 in New York City.

NAACP stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

James A. Healy, who was consecrated Bishop of Portland, Maine in 1875, was the first black American to become a Roman Catholic bishop.

Blanche K. Bruce was the first black to serve a full term (1975 - 81) in the U.S. Senate.

"Lift Every Voice and Sing" is the Negro National Anthem.

Henry Ossawa Tanner was an outstanding painter in the 19th century. His work includes "The Annunciation," `.me Thankful Poor," and "Abraham's Oak."

Booker T. Washington was born in 1863 in a Virginia slave cabin. After working in West Virginia salt mines, he taught school in an old church then opened Tuskegee Institute in 1881.

Chemist George Washington Carver discovered flew uses for agricultural products such as the peanut.

Ralph Bunche was a diplomat who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of the United Nations. He was the first black man to win the Nobel Prize.

Charles Drew was a doctor who was a pioneer in the study of how to save and store blood. His research helped save many jives in World War II.

W. C. Handy became well known as the "Father of the Blues" The song that made him famous was "St. Louis Blues."

Carter G. Woodson was a historian and writer who started Negro History Week which later was changed to Black History Month. We celebrate it each February.

Jackie Robinson was the first black player in modern major league baseball, He also worked for equal rights for blacks.

Whitney Moore Young was the president of the National Urban League, a group that helps blacks with jobs and housing. He was awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given to a civilian.

Scott Joplin is known as the "King of Ragtime." After his death, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for one of his operas.

Thurgood Marshall is a justice (judge) for the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the first black ever to be appointed to the court.

Mary McLeod Bethune started a school in Daytona Beach, Florida. She had only five pupils and $l.50, It later became Bethune-Cookman College.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was the leader in the struggle for equal rights for blacks, He did not believe in violence. In 1964, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Benjamin Banneker was a well-known astronomer and inventor. He was also considered a mathematical genius.

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a writer who won most of his praise for his poems in dialect.

Born in 1817, Frederick Douglass was a leader in the fight against slavery. He was a great speaker, writer, newspaper editor, and diplomat.

The 1870 Enforcement Act was a measure which imposed criminal sanctions for interference with the right of. blacks to vote - a right granted under the Fifteenth Amendment.

Hiram Rhodes revels of Mississippi was the first black United States Senator (1870 - 71)

Moses `Pap" Singleton, a former slave, was a leading figure in the migration movement to the Midwest.

John Merrick, C.C. Spaulding, and Dr. A.M. Moore were the early management team of the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association, now the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company.

President Benjamin Harrison appointed Frederick Douglass Minister to Haiti in 1889.

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, a pioneer black surgeon, performed the world's first open heart surgery in an early building of Provident Hospital in Chicago.

Will Marion Cook was a major black composer during the post- Reconstruction period.

"Carry Me Back To Old Virginny," which the Virginia House of Delegates adopted in 1940 as the official state song, was written by James Bland.

Isaac Murphy, perhaps the greatest of all black jockeys, rode three Kentucky Derby winners in the 1880s.

Marshall W. "Major" Taylor, a bicycle racer, was the American sprint champion in 1898 when he was twenty years old. He held the title "The Fastest Bicycle Rider in The World" for twelve years.

George A. White of North Carolina was the last black man to sit in congress in the post-Reconstruction period. His term ended in 1901.

Madame C. J. Walker was America's first black woman millionaire.

Mrs. Ida B. Wells Barnette was a militant anti-lynching spokesperson in the post-Reconstruction period.

From 1900 to 1915. l,267 blacks were lynched, according to records kept at Tuskegee Institute.

Marcus Moziah Garvey was born on the northern coast of Jamaica in a little town called St. Anns on August 17, 1887.

In January, 1918, Garvey established The Negro World, a weekly newspaper devoted solely to the interest of the Negro race.

Alain Locke was an essayist, critic, and philosopher of the Harlem Renaissance. In 1925, he published The New Negro, an anthology of Renaissance work.

James Walden Johnson combined brilliantly as writer and executive secretary of the NAACP.

Sterling Brown wrote during the 1920s and was adviser to the Federal Writers. Project during the Depression.

Wallace Thurman wrote fiction (The Blacker The Berry 1929) during the late Renaissance.

Sociologist Charles Johnson edited Opportunity Magazine, featuring Renaissance writers.

Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1916.

Dr. Earnest Everett Just was a biologist and Howard University professor noted for his work on chromosome structure in animals. He was awarded the first Spingarn Medal in l915.

Josephine Baker played in Sissle and Blake’s "Chocolate Dandies" in 1924, went to Paris in 1925, and later starred at the Frolies Bergeres.

A concert singer, Roland Hayes, was awarded the Spingarn Medal in 1924.

Charles Gilpin managed the Lafayette Theater Company in Harlem, and played in "Abraham Lincoln" on Broadway in 1919.

Noble Sissle took a band to Paris in 1929 and teamed with Eubie Blake in writing words and music to such tunes as "Love Will Find A Way" and "I’m Just Wild About Harry."

W.C. Handy was born in 1873 and died in 1953. He composed "The St. Louis Blues."

Mamie Smith made the first blues record, "Crazy Blues," in 1920.

Harlem's famous "Cotton Club" had an all black show - but the audience was lily white. Only black employees were allowed inside.

In 1937, Joe Louis became the first black heavyweight champion since Jack Johnson.

Hattie McDaniel, a character actress, was the first black to win an Academy Award, Best Supporting Actress, for her role in "Gone With The Wind" in 1940.

Thomas "Fats" Waller, a leading jazz pianist and composer, was the son of a minister. He wrote the hits "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose."

Pilot Hubert Julian was one of the first blacks to fly an airplane. Known as the "Black Eagle," he helped train the Ethiopian Air Force.

The nation’s first black general was Benjamin O. Davis, Sr.

Captain Hugh Mulzac, of the Booker T. Washington, was the first black commander in the merchant marines.

Samuel E. Cornish organized the first black Presbyterian Church in New York City in 1821.

Hulan Jack, the first black borough president of Manhattan, was born in St. Lucia, British West Indies.

Hosea Williams and Rev. Ralph Abernathy, in 1980, were the only two civil rights activists who endorsed Ronald Reagan for President.

In 1775, George Washington ordered recruiters to accept free blacks for military service.

Raymond Andrews authored the 1978 novel Appalachee Red and was named the recipient of the first James Baldwin prize given in 1979 by the Dial Press.

The Niagra Movement was founded in order to promote positive images of blacks across the nation and convey the importance or se1f-sufficiency.

In 1941, A. Phillip Randolph organized the first "March on Washington."

In 1939, Mary T. Washington of Mississippi became the first black woman - Certified Public Accountant in America.

Dejure segregation is racial segregation based on law or official action.

The majority of black slaves imported into the western hemisphere came from the nation now known as Ghana.

Edward W. Brooke III was the first black person to be elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.

Wisconsin was the first state in 1858 to pass a "personal liberty" law.

Rosa Parks is a black woman of Montgomery, Alabama, who was arrested for challenging "Jim Crow" laws in 1955 by refusing her bus seat to a white male.

After Rosa parks was arrested, Martin Luther King called for a boycott of the Montgomery buses. Following are three of the demands made by the boycotters,

Courteous treatment by bus drivers, Passenger seating based on a first come-first-serve basis, employment of black bus drivers on predominantly black routes.

The Boycott of 1955 lasted 382 days.

Dr. Martin L. King's policy, nonviolent civil disobedience, was adopted from Mahatma Ghandi, who was the leader of India's independence movement. This man's story has been portrayed in an academy award movie.

The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that Alabama's state and local laws requiring segregation on buses were unconstitutional on November 13, 1956.

School desegregation was ordered by the supreme court in 1955 after years of effort by the NAACP. However the court put no time limit on when desegregation had to be implemented. Many states refused to comply including Georgia, N. And S. Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, and Louisiana.

In 1963, Governor George Wallace of Alabama stood in front of a school house door to prevent 2 black students from entering and desegregating the University of Alabama.

Many college students joined the civil rights movement in the 60s, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was formed in 1960.

In the front ranks of the SNCC were Stokley Carmichael, James Forman, and John Lewis.

Another civil rights organization was founded in 1957; The Southern Christian Leadership Conference or SCLC.

During the civil rights movement, Tent City, was established as a place to house farmers who had been evicted from their land for attempting to register as voters.

The historic M. L. King speech, "I have a dream," was delivered in Washington D.C. in 1963.

Elijah Muhammad was the leader of the Nation of Islam during the sixties, Many oft the black political leaders were Muslims or were heavily influenced by the Muslims, including Malcolm X. Malcolm later split Muhammad and founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

M. L. King received the Nobel peace prize in 1964.

A major civil rights bill was passed and called the civil rights bill of 1964, the major provisions of the bill were: the right to. vote, access to public accom-modations, and federal government authority to sue local municipalities.

In 1965, the Voting Rights Bill of 1965 was passed. The major points of this bill were: eliminated voter qualification tests, allowed federal examiners to register voters, and allowed impounding (hold in legal custody) of ballots until all had voted.

The Black power concept and symbol also arose in the mid-sixties. The concept meant "the amassing by black people of the political, economic, and social power necessary to deal effectively with the problems they faced."

Martin Luther King was killed on April 4,1968 by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee. He was there to lead a march for sanitation workers.

The Black Panthers Organization was founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seal. Four community programs proposed by the black Panthers were

breakfast for needy children,

community watch for police treatment of blacks,

black liberation schools, and

free health clinics.

In 1965, CORE unveiled a 3 part program for the liberation of black people in America which included the following:

community self-determination bill to put the economy of the black community in black hands

representation in policy forming outside the black community, such as police dept. government and schools, and

drafting of a new U.S. constitution

The "Black Manifesto" was a call for reparations (amends for a wrong) for the centuries of oppression.

Judge Irving B. Kaufman, of New York State, is known for his declaring segregated schools in New Rochelle, NY illegal in 1961.

Two methods that were employed to keep blacks from voting before they were overturned by law were the Poll Tax and the Literacy Test.

The chosen party by blacks after reconstruction (late 1800's) was the Democratic party.

Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke was the first elected black senator after Reconstruction.

North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company is the largest black owned insurance company in America.

Johnson Publishing company was founded by John Johnson in 1945. This company produces .Ebony and Jet Magazine. Mr. Johnson now owns several other businesses and is listed among the 400 richest Americans.

In 1945 there were only 3 independent black nations in the world Liberia, Haiti, and Ethiopia. Today there are 51 independent black nations. Most are in Africa. There remains 2 white controlled nations in Africa. They include Namibia and South Africa. In many instances, notably in Angola, Zimbabwe, and Kenya, it took bloody wars for the blacks to free themselves.

The Opportunities Industrialization Centers (OIC) was founded by Leon Sullivan of Philadelphia. The purpose of the center is to train black workers and establish cooperative businesses.

Jesse Owens won 4 gold Olympic medals in the 1936 Olympics. This record was only recently matched in the 1984 games in Los Angeles.

Berry Gordy is the founder of Motown recording company which rocketed many black artists to stardom.

The first black company to be listed on the American Stock Exchange was the Johnson's Products Co. founded by George Johnson.

The history of blacks, humans, and civilization began in Africa. Three major factors obscure this fact:

The vastness of the subject, Africa is a large continent that has been in constant flux. Also, until recently, African history was written solely by Europeans and from a European point of view.

The history is complicated by a predominance of oral history and the massive destruction of libraries and documents by the Europeans as Romans in 45 BC and by Christians in 389 AD.

Most important was the European conquest of Africa which attempted to attribute all important achievements to Caucasians.

Black history contributes to the intellectual and political emancipation of blacks in 5 ways:

As a source of self-understanding

As a source of understanding of society and the world

As a measure of a people's humanity

As a corrective for racist self-indulgent myths

As a source of models to emulate.

Homo Hablis (2 million years old) is classified as the direct ancestor of human beings. 35 million years ago, the Homo Sapiens appeared. About 10,000 years ago, humans began to cultivate land. It is at this time that Egypt and Ethiopia rose and established the basis of habitation and cultivation (farming).

Ethiopia (The Land of Blacks) was the cradle of Egyptian civilization. Egyptians themselves affirmed that their civilization came from the south.

According to the Bible, Egypt was peopled by the offspring of Ham, Father of the Black Race, Mesraim, son of Ham, is the Father of Egypt according to the Bible.

The Egyptians called their land Kemit, which designates "The Land of Blacks."

Egypt was the cradle of civilization for 10,000 years until conquered by the Persians in 525 BC, then the Macedonians under Alexander The Great in 333 BC. The Romans under Julius Caesar in 50 BC, the Arabs in 800 AD the Turks in the l6th century and the French with Napoleon, and the English in the 18th century.

Egypt invented the first calendar in 4241 BC.

The Origin of Civilized Egypt is generally accepted as beginning in 3200 BC when Menes, a black African, united upper (southern) and lower (northern) Egypt. He was the first pharaoh of Egypt and he came from upper Egypt.

The first golden age of Egypt was under Pharaoh Zoser, an Ethiopian who founded the 3rd Dynasty, The Fourth Dynasty later built the Great Pyramid under Pharaoh Cheops. Note that each dynasty had many pharaohs.

The first pyramid was built by Imhotep, Zosers prime minister. Imhotep was an intellectual genius who was an expert in architecture, political administration, priesthood, astronomy, philosophy, and medicine.

Imhotep is called the "Father of Medicine." In his time, Egypt had diagnosed, treated, and catalogued over 200 diseases, were conducting surgery, and knew the circulation of blood.

Under the Old Kingdom, Egypt brought to the world a calendar, mathematics, astronomy, the alphabet, paper, ink pen, geography, literature, art, surgery, and monumental architecture represented in the pyramids.

Egyptian history is divided up into the old kingdom (dynasties 1 - 6) , middle kingdom (dynasties 11 - 14) and the empire (dynasties 18 - 20).

The bottom of the pyramid is a square. Each side is 800 ft (almost three football fields) - It is composed of stones, each at least 30 ft. long and perfectly joined together without the use of cement. The pyramid is two-thirds the height of the Empire State Building.

Other great African pharaohs of Egypt include Amenhotep III, Ramses II, and Piankhy, and Ahmose II.

Ghana emerged as a great state in 300 AD and reached its height in 1100 AD. Ghana fell in 1240 and split into two smaller states giving rise to Mali.

Tuka Menin was a monarch of Ghana who had an army of 200,000 men at a time when the Normandy army that captured England in 1066 had only 15,000 men. Ghana built its wealth in gold and salt.

Mansa Musa was the most illustrious ruler of Mali. He ruled from 1312 to 1332 during which time he built Mali into one of the world's largest empires.

Mansa Musa is best known for his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324. He took 6,000 people and 80 camels of gold to finance the trip. He gave away so much gold while traveling through Egypt that he depressed the price of gold which affected Egypt's economy for 12 years.

Mansa Musa is also known for building the University of Sankore at Timbuktu, one of the greatest intellectual centers of the 1300's which attracted students from all over the Muslim world.

Mali began to decline in 1468 which gave rise to Songhai which became the largest and greatest African Sudanic civilization.

Muhammad Toure was the most illustrious emperor of Songhai as he built the largest empire in the history of west and central Africa. His territory of rule was larger than all of Europe.

Toure was a great supporter of intellectual achievements, as many universities and schools were founded at Gaojent and Timbuktu. The universities taught philosophy, medicine, law, astronomy, math, literature, ethnography, art, and poetry. Scholars from Asia, Africa, and Europe attended the universities.

Ahmad Baba, a famous scholar of Timbuktu, wrote over 40 books on astronomy, ethnography, theology, and Islamic law. His library had 16,000 books.

The Songhai empire came to an end in 1591 when it became divided after war with an army of Spanish Christians.

The Moors were an African people who helped to pull Europe and particularly Spain out of the Dark Ages (500 1000 AD)

The Moors conquered and began civilizing Spain in 711 AD when Tarikh (a Moorish) general defeated King Rederick of Spain.

Moors introduced rice, strawberries, sugar cane, ginger, lemons, and dates to Spain. As engineers, they built Spain's irrigation systems, reservoirs for water supplies, underground silos for grain, lighted paved streets, sidewalks and dams. They mined gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, iron, and alum; and made utensils, pottery, glass, and jewelry.

Moors also introduced the manufacture of gunpowder to Spain. The Moors had never used gunpowder for weapons but had only used it for fireworks and special effects.

When the Moors first came into Spain in the 8th century, Europe was 99% illiterate. In the 10th and 11th centuries, the Moors gave Spain over 70 libraries, 17 universities, and established an astronomical observatory at Seville, Spain. At this time, the rest of Europe had no public libraries and only 2 significant universities.

The Moors were teaching geography with a round globe over 400 years before Magellan's trip in 1519 to show the earth was round. The round earth was known to Africans centuries before Christ.

The Moorish empire of Spain came to an end in 1492 about the same time Columbus sailed for America, a trip made possible by Spanish wealth generated from the presence and influence of the Moors.

Several reasons for the fall of African societies:

All great societies eventually decline

The conquest and colonization of Africa which took over 400 years (1400 1800). Africa was partitioned into European colonies.

Europe began to develop a superior technology base in the 1500's which lead to a monopoly of the gun. Europe also developed ship fleets and developed the capability to mass produce.

Europe refused to share its borrowed and developed technology with Africa which lead to technological arrest in Africa.

The slave trade deprived Africa of development and made security a priority over development.

African societies lost their culture because of European conquest.

Africans in America

Africans did not first come to America on slave ships but on their own ships as early as 700 BC. These Africans landed on the shores of what is now Central America and Mexico carried from the African coast to the Gulf of Mexico by the north and south equatorial currents.

These first Africans of Meso-America (Central America and Mexico) helped to build the Olmec civilization which was the parent civilization for all subsequent civilizations in Meso-America.

The Olmec civilization is known for its magnificent temples and pyramids, ceremonial plazas, hieroglyphic writing (Egyptian/Ethiopian), calendar, and advanced knowledge of astronomy and math.

The most extraordinary monuments of the Olmec civilization are11 colossal stone Africanoid (Negroid) heads, each over 9ft. tall and weighing 15 tons. The stone heads were unearthed in southwest Mexico in 1938.

All of the Olmec stone heads were carved with peculiar close fitting helmets, The helmets were typical at the helmets used by Nubian (old Ethiopia) soldiers of the 25th dynasty Egypt.

The Olmec civilization lasted from about 800 until 400 BC.

Africans are also believed to have come to Meso-America from the Mali empire in 1310. Mali emperor Abubakari sent a fleet of 400 ships into the Atlantic ocean toward America. Only one ship returned but did not know the fate of the others. In 1311, Abubakari himself led a voyage of 2000 ships toward America leaving his brother Mansa Musa over Mali. Abubakari never returned.

Major proofs supporting African presence in Meso-America prior to Columbus:

30 plates found in the Olmec civilization showing African heads, masks, symbols, and shields.

The presence of Egyptian gods Sokar and Aken in Mexico and the practice of mummification.

The presence of stepped pyramids in the Olmec civilization.

Similarities in Mexican and Egyptian words like "RA" for sun.

Presence of African skulls from Olmec sites. The Africans appear to be about 13.5% of the Olmec population in the pre-classic period (800 BC) and only 4.5% in the classic period (400 BC), showing that the Africans were mixing with the native Indian population.

The continental African type, such as found in West Africa was the predominate type of Egypt, until wave after wave of conquerors and successive invasions by the Assyrians, Persians (Iran), Greeks, Romans, and Arabs.

The Ganges, the sacred river of India, is named after an Ethiopian king who conquered Asia as far north as the Ganges River.

Garrett Morgan invented the first automatic stop light and gas mask.

Robert G. Clark was the first black elected to the state legislature in Mississippi in the 20th century.

Aaron Douglas is the 20th century painter known as the "Father of Black American Art."

Edward Bouchet was the first black man elected Phi Beta Kappa.

As of 1985, the only fully black owned soft drink franchise is associated with the Seven-Up soft drink company.

Menes was the founder of The First Egyptian Dynasty.

Ralph Bunche received the Nobel Peace prize for his Palestinian mediation efforts in 1950.

Patrick Francis Healy served as president of Georgetown University from 1873 to 1882.

Bert Williams (1914) was considered to be the first major black star to appear in films.

Marcus Garvey is the founder of the United Negro Improvement Association.

Harold Robert Perry was the first black to become a Roman Catholic Bishop in the U.S. in the 20th century.

Mandinka King Sundiata's victory in the battle of Kirini (1240 AD) is considered the beginning of The Malian Empire.

Shirley Verrett is famous for her performance in opera.

Moneta Sleet was the first black person to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for photography (1969).

"John Henry and Ink Poo" is recognized as the first animated film of Negro folklore to have a Negro hero.

Massinissa, a black warrior, helped Rome defeat Hannibal at Zama in 202 BC

Martin Luther King, Jr. obtained his Ph.D. from Boston University.

Earl "Fatha" Hines was known for his "trumpet style" piano.

W. John patented the mechanical egg beater in 1884.

Prince Hall headed the first "official black" Masonic Order, organized in the U.S. in 1787.

The Cuban Giants, organized in 1885, became the first professional Negro baseball team.

Fats Wailer is considered to be the first jazz musician to use the organ as a serious instrument.

The system of African Socialism practiced in Tanzania is called Ujamaa.

The organization of black members of the U.S. House of Representatives is call the Congressional Black Caucus.

The National Baptist Convention of the U.S.A. is the largest black church organization in America.

Larry Doby was the first black baseball player to lead either of the baseball leagues in home runs.

The Pittsburgh Courier, in the1940s, was the most widely read black newspaper in the country.

Leopold Senghor was the Senegalese leader and poet who wrote about "negritude."

Lewis Temple invented a movable harpoon head which revolutionized the whaling industry.

Canada Lee was the first black to produce a theatrical play on Broadway.

After leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X formed The Organization of African American Unity.

William Dawson was the first black to head a standing committee in congress.

Bill Richmond was the first black American to gain fame as a prizefighter in 1804.

Jan Matzeliger invented the first machine for mass-producing shoes.

Ad "Chuck" Cooper was the first black hired to play in the National Basketball Association.

Lester Young, a jazz great, was known as "The Prez."

Benjamin O. Davis was the first black to command an Army Air Base in the U.S.

Walter Washington was the first black elected mayor of Washington, D.C.

Bert Williams and George Walker are best known for comedy entertainment.

Fritz Pollard, in 1923, was the first black coach in the National Football League.

Ida B. Wells became the first woman president of the Negro Fellowship League in 1812.

The first migration of U.S. blacks to Africa in 1812 was to the country Sierra Leone.

Prior to Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler was the lead singer for the Impressions.

Satchel Paige was the pitcher in the American and Negro League who was famous for his "Hesitation Pitch."

It was rumored that Booker T. Washington invited Marcus Garvey to the United States.

Julian Bond could not accept his nomination for Vice President of the United Slates in 1968 because he was too young.

This black abolitionist was born under the name of Isabella Baumtree in 1797. She later became known as Sojourner Truth.

The Martin Luther King, Jr., birthday is celebrated as a U.S. Federal Holiday the third Monday in January of each year.

Largo, Nigeria is the most popular sub-Saharan African city.

Larry Doby was the first black man to lead the American League in home runs.

Mary Church Terrell is the founder of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896.

Shirley Chisholm became chairperson of the National Politica1 Congress of black Women in 1984.

Jane Matilda Boldin is the first black woman to become a U.S. judge.

James Augustine Healy was the first black Roman Catholic priest in the U.S.

Roy de Caravas is famous for his work in photography.

"Juneteenth" is celebrated on June 19th.

Katherine Dunham in known as "The Mother of African-American Dance."

Tarikh was the name of the African Muslim who captured Spain in 711.

Bob Foster, a Light-Heavyweight boxing champ, defended his title a record 14 times in the 1960s.

Madame C. J. Walker was the first black woman to earn a million dollars in the U.S.

The original names of the Temptations and the Supremes were The Prime and The Primetts."

John McLendon in 1960 became the first black head coach in professional basketball.

Frederick McKinley Jones invented a movable refrigeration unit that revolutionized the food transport business.

Illinois was the first state to declare Martin Luther King's birthday a legal holiday.

Bessie Coleman was best known in the 1920s for her skill as an aviator.

Twenty-four black soldiers were awarded the Congressional Medal at Honor for fighting in the Civil War.

The African wildebeest migrates on the Serengeti plain in huge herds sometimes numbering in the thousands.

Black architect Paul Williams helped design the Los Angeles International Airport.

The Makualomwe is the largest tribal group in Mozambique.

Jimmy Carter appointed Eleanor Holmes Norton to serve as chairperson of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The autobiography of female entertainer Pearl Bailey is entitled, The Raw Pearl.

Roy Innis, a native of St. Croix, was named national director of CORE in 1968.

French is the official language of Benin.

Fats Waller wrote the hit jazz song "Ain't Misbehavin'."

Fritz Pollard was the first black player in professional football.

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s first published book was Stride Toward Freedom. (1958)

Providence Hospital, in Chicago, was the first training school for black nurses in the north.

Charlotte Ray was the first black woman lawyer in the U.S.

Alex Haley's ancestors lived in the African village of Juffure.

The Awa tribe is best known for its carved wooden African masks.

Patricia Harris was the first black woman cabinet member.

NSA coach K. C. Jones coached the Washington Bullets prior to coaching the Boston Celtics.

The great military leader, Hannibal, crossed the Alps with an Army and elephants to conquer northern Italy in 218 BC.

The Atlas Mountains are Africa's largest mountain system.

Madagascar and Tanzania supply most of the world's cloves.

Former NBA player Wilt Chamberlain never fouled out of a single game in his entire career.

Samuel Lee Gravely was the first black admiral in the U.S. Navy.

English is the official language of Sierra Leone.

"Cotton Comes to Harlem" was the first black movie directed by a black.

Wilt Chamberlain was named the NBA's most valuable player four times.

August Wilson wrote the prize-winning hit play, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." (1985)

The Student Non-violent coordinating Committee {SNCC) was founded in 1960 at Shaw University.

Soldier or worker ants were used by primitive Africans to stitch wounds.

Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

South African black nationalist Lillian Ngoyi is known as "The Mother Of Black Resistance."

Cult leader Jim Jones and his mostly black followers committed mass suicide in Guyana in 1978.

The African state of Zambia was formerly called Northern Rhodesia.

Clark College is located in the city of Atlanta, Georgia.

Little Richard's full name is Richard Penniman.

Sugar Ray Leonard was the first fighter to surpass Muhammad Ali in lifetime earnings.

Jean-Bedel Bokassa overthrew president David Dacko and proclaimed himself emperor of the Central African Republic.

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last full length book was entitled, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community." (1968)

"Othello" was the Shakespearean play that portrays a jealous, noble Moor who is tricked into killing his wife.

Patricia Harris served as U.S. Ambassador to the country of Luxembourg.

As of 1985, the Ivory Coast in Africa is the leading producer of cocoa.

Frank Petersen was the first black marine aviator.

Andrew Brimmer was the first black to serve on the Federal Reserve Board.

The Serengeti National Park in Africa is located in Tanzania.

"Amos and Andy" was the first television dramatic series with an all black cast.

Alexander Crummell was the 19th Century essayist famous for his speech "The Black woman of The South."

Suzette Charles was the second Black Miss America.

Rudolph Fisher wrote The City of Refuge which depicted Harlem during the 1920s.

The Harriet Tubman Landmark Home for the Aged is located in Auburn, New York.

Female activist Angela Davis was acquitted of charges stemming from a 1970 courtroom shoot-out in San Raphael, California.

The Schomburq Center For Research in Black Culture is located in Harlem, New York.

Vanessa Williams was the first black to become Miss America.

The former Republic of Biafra attempted to gain its independence from the African Country of Nigeria in 1967.

Lerone Bennett, Jr. is the author of the historical publication "Before The Mayflower." (l962)

Alberta King was fatally shot during church services at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on June 30,1974.

Black female activist Angela Davis published the book "If They Come In the Morning."

Francis Cardozo was the first black elected to a state cabinet office.

The Chagga, a tall agricultural African people, live in the region of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanganyika.

Henry "Box" Brown, a Virginia slave, was shipped to Philadelphia and freedom in a packing crate.

The Igbo (Ibo) people are primarily located in the African country of Nigeria.

Black astrophysicist George Carruthers designed the lunar surface ultraviolet camera used on the Apollo 16 flight to the moon.

Herschel Walker signed to play football for the New Jersey Generals in the USFL.

Leontyne Price was the first black to achieve worldwide superstardom in opera.

Black abstract painter Ronald Joseph is recognized for his work, "Card Players."

Jerome Holland was the first black named to the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange.

Actor Lou Gossett, Jr. won an academy award in the movie "An Officer And a Gentleman."

The Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, and the equator are the three parallel circles of latitude that cross the continent of Africa.

Motown Records was originally established in the city of Detroit.

Liberville is the capital of the country Gabon.

Todd Duncan played the role of Porgy in the 1943 Broadway production of "Porgy And Bess."

Fred Moore became the first black sentry to guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The Swahili people live along the east coast of Africa in Kenya and Tanzania.

Ann Petry wrote the novel entitled The Street. (1946)

The "New Cedi" is the monetary unit used in Ghana.

Benjamin Banneker helped to plan the city of Washington D.C.

Evelyn Ashford won the gold medal in the women's 100 meters at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Detroit Red was the street nickname of Malcolm X.

Montego flay is located on the Caribbean island of Jamaica.

Ishmeel Reed's first book of poetry was entitled Conjure. (1972)

The Museum of African Art is located in Washington D.C.

The National Urban League was originally formed to aid blacks migrating from the south to the north.

Bamako is the capital of the country of Mali.

Black R&B song writer Otis Blackwell wrote "Don't Be Cruel" and "All Shook Up" for Elvis Presley.

Black inventor Granville Woods designed a telegraph system that greatly increased safety on rail traffic by making possible communications between moving trains and station operators.

Walter Payton was the first running back ever to gain 2,000 or more yards receiving and rushing for two consecutive seasons.

Maya Angelou wrote the television play "Sister, Sister."

James Earl Ray was sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Black educator Maria Baldwin's landmark house is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The first anti-slavery magazine was called The Emancipator.

Paul Robeson sang his most famous song, "Ol’ Man River," in the 1928 musical entitled "Showboat."

Vitiligo is the skin disease characterized by loss of pigment.

Wilt Chamberlain played professional volleyball after retiring from professional basketball.

Lawrence Tero is the full name of TV star Mr. T.

A person with 50% Negro blood is called a Mulatto.

The Bible is the world's most widely read book.

The chances of a child having sickle cell anemia if one parent has the sickle cell trait and the other has sickle cell anemia is 50%,

The 10th Cavalry was the all black army that became famous in the Battle of San Juan-Hill.

The first volume of Maya Angelou's autobiography is entitled "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings." (1970)

As of 1985, William Brown, Jr. is the highest ranking general in the Air Force.

The "graveyard shift" is the term given to a working shift that begins at midnight or 2:00 A.M.

Aulana Peters became the first black woman appointed to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Fang is the largest tribal group in Equatorial Guinea.

Jazz musician Dizzie Gillespie is famous for his tilted-bell trumpet.

Chemist James Mitchell is known for his scientific achievements in advancing the accuracy of trace elements analysis.

Daphne Maxwell was the first black woman to appear on the cover of Glamour Magazine.

Samuel David Ferguson was the first Black Protestant Episcopal Bishop in the U.S.

Ida Gray was the first black woman dentist in the U.S., setting up practice in 1890.

Christopher Perry founded the Philadelphia Tribune.

Frederick Douglass was the first black delegate to a national political convention.

Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa, provides most of the world's supply of vanilla.

Former NFL player Billy Johnson was nicknamed "White Shoes."

Frank Marshall Davis wrote the poem "Forty-Seventh Street."

Black Panther party co-founder Bobby Seale ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Oakland.

Kareem Abdul-Jabar went to Power Memorial High School (New York)

Somalia lies in the extreme northeastern corner of Africa, jutting out into the Indian Ocean.

Frederick Davison was the first black to command an army division.

Thomas Jefferson wrote Notes On The State Of Virginia in 1781 which talked about the Negro's supposed inferiority.

Mr. T’s autobiography is titled The Man with The Gold.

Clifton Warton, Jr. became the first black to serve as president of a major public and predominately white university in the 20th century.

Lena Horne is best known for the two musical movies "Cabin in the Sky" and "Stormy Weather."

Salt is the major contributing cause of hypertension and other heart disorders.

Under the rule of Askia Muhammad Toure, the ancient empire of Songhai reached its greatest power.

Arthur Ashe was born in Richmond, Virginia.

Freedom's Journal was the name of the first black newspaper published in the U.S.

The first Black History Week was celebrated February, 1926.

Arthur Mitchell founded the Dance Theater of Harlem.

Sobhuza II was the last reigning monarch in Africa.

Morehouse College is located in Atlanta, Georgia.

Muhammad Ali's forced exile from boxing lasted 3 1/2 years.

Malcolm X once said "Power respects only power."

The Mau Mau African tribe sought to end white domination in Kenya by staging a rebellion in 1952.

"The Theresa," a famous black hotel in Harlem, was once called "The Waldorf of Harlem."

Benjamin Davis, Jr., was the first black to head an armed forces base in the U.S.

Hiram Revels was the first black U.S. Senator.

The sugar hill residential district is located in Harlem.

The biography of Frederick Douglass is covered in Shirley Graham's book, There Once Was A slave. (1948).

The title of Nikki Giovanni's first book of poetry was "Black Feelings, Black Talk."

Frank Wills was the black security guard who discovered the break in at the Watergate Hotel.

The first black veterans hospital was established in 1923 in Tuskegee, Alabama

Ralph Abernathy succeeded Martin Luther King, Jr. as leader of the Civil Rights Movement.

Female performer Donna Summer is known as the "Disco Queen."

Gwendolyn Brooks was the first black writer to win a Pulitzer Prize.

The Underground Railroad was the organized network that helped slaves escape to freedom.

Tenant farmers who work the land and pay the landowner with a share of the harvested crops are called sharecroppers.

The Chicago Daily Defender is the largest black newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois.

Otis Milton Smith was the first black elected to a state cabinet office in the 20th century.

The University of Nairobi is located in Kenya.

Berry Gordy, Jr. is the founder of Motown records.

The largest institution for higher learning established for blacks in the immediate post war period was Howard University.

Andrew Beard invented the Jenny Coupler for railroad cars.

NFL running back Walter Payton’s nickname is "Sweetness."

Black choreographer Alvin Alley won the Spingarn Medal in 1976.

Comer Cottrell founded the Pro-Line Corporation.

The setting for black opera "Porgy And Bess" took place in Charleston, South Carolina.

Hank Aaron holds the record in Major League Baseball for most career home runs.

Muhammad Ali Boulevard is located in Louisville.

Robert Duncanson was the first black American studio artist.

Marcus Garvey founded the United Negro Improvement Association in 1914.

Niamey is the capital of Niger.

Pitcher Dwight Gooden holds the modern major league record for most strike-outs in a season as a rookie.

The role of Bess in the 1943 Broadway production of "Porgy and Bess" was played by Anne Brown.

Edward Bouchet was the first black to receive a Ph.D. from an American university,

Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm are the co-editors of the first black newspaper, Freedom's Journal.

Carter G. Woodson organized the first Black History Week in 1926.

The Congo River is the world's second largest river.

Howard University has the only black-operated human organ transplant facility in the world.

Bessie Coleman was the worlds first licensed black female pilot.

Berea college is located in Kentucky.

Black Theatre Magazine was the first national magazine that devoted itself entirely to the black theatre.

The letters P.U.S.H. Stand for "People United to Save Humanity."

Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia.

Lewis Temple invented the Toggle Harpoon which enabled whalers to double their catch.

The line "life for me ain't been no crystal stair" is found in the poem "Mother To Son" written be Langston Hughes.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

Moslems are forbidden to eat pork meat.

The Italian word for Negro is Moor.

Black activist Rosina Tucker helped found "The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters."

A person with 100% Negro blood is called an African.

Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote the poem "We Wear The Mask."

Equatorial Guinea is Africa's only Spanish-speaking nation.

Little Rock's Central High School in Arkansas gained national attention in 1957 with the integration of nine black teenagers.

The autobiography of Langston Hughes is entitled I Wonder As I Wander. (1956)

Liberia was Africa's first proclaimed republic.

Dean Dixon in 1941 became the first black to conduct the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Frederick Douglass served as Foreign Minister to the country of Haiti.

Edward Thomas Demley was the first bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Black composer Scott Joplin's Ragtime themes were used in the movie "The Sting."

John Rock was the first black man admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Robert Duncanson was the first black painter to achieve international recognition.

Maynard Jackson was the first black mayor of a major southern city.

Louis Gossett, Jr. played Fiddler in the movie "Roots."

Most African countries use olive oil for cooking purposes instead of butter or animal fats.

Joseph Hatchett became the first black Supreme Court Justice in the south.

The Dinka tribes are primarily located in the African country, Sudan.

Alice coachman was the first black woman ever to win an Olympic gold medal.

An African hunting or photographic expedition is called a Safari.

W. E. B. DuBois wrote Suppression of The African Slave Trade.

Frank's Restaurant is the largest black-owned restaurant in Harlem.

Bessie Smith was the most famous female protege and emulator of Ma Rainey.

Nat Turner led the only effective, sustained slave revolt in U.S. history.

Vermont was the first American colony to abolish slavery in 1777.

The first black to be nominated for Vice-President was Julian Bond.

Robert Lawrence was the first black to be selected for the NASA space program.

Daley Thompson was the black athlete from Great Britain that won the Decathlon in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics.

Mauritius Island is located in the Indian Ocean.

The hereditary disease related to hemoglobin 5 in the blood cells is Sickle Cell Anemia.

For being the premiere male college basketball player in the U.S. Michael Jordan was awarded the Nasmith Trophy.

The first executive secretary of the NAACP was James Walden Johnson.

Ida Lewis was the founder and editor of Encore Magazine.

Africa is the second largest continent in the world.

The Jefferson's TV Series was a spin-off from "All In The Family."

The Ashanti Kingdom began in Ghana.

In 1876 Edward Bouchet was the first to receive a Ph.D. degree in Physics.

The Fabulous Harlem Magicians was the name of the comedy touring basketball team founded by Marques Haynes.

Count Basie Street is located in Kansas City, Missouri.

Cracklin Bread is the same as Wheat Bread.

The water clock was invented in Egypt.

James Baldwin, the noted black writer, was born in Harlem, New York.

The Ten Commandments are listed in Bible book of Exodus.

Katherine Dunham, noted black female choreographer, is also an anthropologist specializing in Voodoo.

The name for a person having 12.5 or 1/8 Negro blood is Octoroon.

Langston was the first all black town established in Oklahoma.

In African art, the sun is symbolized by a circle.

Somalia is Ethiopia's eastern neighbor.

The first published blues song was "Memphis Blues."

Man is the only natural enemy to the elephant.

Kinshasa is the largest city in Zaire.

Big Joe Turner recorded the R&B hit single, "Shake, Rattle and Roll."

Zebu is the name of the domesticated species of cattle commonly found in Africa & Asia.

Edward Waters College was the first institution of higher learning in Florida.

WGPR-TV was the first black owned and operated TV Station in the U.S.

The first Pan African Congress was held in 1900 in London, England.

The Vhangi tribe of the Congo is famous for the "Platter Mouth Women."

The essential mineral calcium is found in dairy products and fish products.

Arthur Schomburg donated these two things to the New York public Library (1926). His entire collection of black art and literature.

The Johnson Publishing Company sponsors the American Black Achievement Awards.

The African people of Ethiopia claim to be the spiritual fathers of ancient Egypt.

Ras Hafuri, Somalia is the furthermost point in the Eastern direction in Africa.

Paul "Tank" Younger was the first player from a predominantly black college to play in the NFL.

The African emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa was known as the "Black Napoleon of Africa."

John Thompson, coach of Georgetown Basketball team, played on NBA championship team, The Boston Celtics.

Earl Graves is the founder of business magazine Black Enterprise.

Sonny Liston was beaten by Cassius Clay in 1964 for the Heavyweight Boxing Championship.

Frying is the least preferred method for low-fat cooking.

Jackie Robinson crossed the color line into major league baseball in l946.

Black inventor Otis Boykin developed electronic resistors used in all guided missiles and IBM Computers.

Sojourner Truth is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery Battle Creek, Michigan.

New York City had the largest black population in 1985.

Hypertension is called the silent killer.

Where did Wilt Chamberlain go to high school? (Philadelphia Overbrook High School).

Legendary female blues star, known as "Big Mama," real name is Willie Mae Thornton.

Benedict College was founded in 1970 to educate newly freed slaves.

Quincy Jones won a Grammy award for producer of the year for the album "Thriller."

The Atlanta Daily World is the name of the major black daily newspaper published in Atlanta, Georgia.

Wyomia Tyus was the first sprinter to win gold medals in two consecutive Olympics in the 100 meter dash.

The frontier Indians called the black soldiers, "Buffalo Soldiers."

Digestion first begins in the mouth.

Rosa Parks is famous for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

"Please Mr. Postman" was the first hit of the Marvelettes.

George Poage was the first black to ever compete in the Olympics.

James Forman wrote the Black Manifesto, a book demanding the whites to repay blacks $500 million for past abuses.

Joseph Cinque, an African captain, led the slave mutiny aboard the ship "Amistad."

As of l985, there were 51 independent countries in Africa.

"Facing the rising son of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won," are lyrics to "Lift Every Voice & Sing."

The 1926 play "Porgy" was written by Dubose and Dorothy Heyward.

Jamestown, Virginia was the first landing site of blacks in America.

Richard Hatcher was the first black mayor of Gary, Indiana.

Type "O" blood is considered the universal donor.

Marvin Hagler's legal first name is "Marvelous."

Name two of the four black recipients of the Nobel peace prize as of 1985. (Martin Luther King, Ralph Bunche, Desmond Tutu, Albert Luthuli.)

Revelations is the last book of the Bible.

Does it take more muscles to smile or frown? (Frown).

Jambalaya is the name of a Creole dish of rice, tomatoes, herbs, seafood, and or poultry.

Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest point on the African continent.

Susan Taylor is the editor-in-chief of Essence Magazine.

Daniel Hale Williams performed the first successful surgery on the heart.

Langston Hughes wrote the poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."

Black Boy is the title of Richard Wright's autobiography.

Benjamin Banneker wrote the famous "Letter to Thomas Jefferson" pleading for racial justice in 1791.

Vitamin A comes from the butterfat, eggs, liver, carrots, and leafy vegetables.

Brown vs. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court Case of 1954, outlawed segregated schools.

Mickie Grant wrote the award winning black musical "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope."

The Child of a Mulatto and a Caucasian is called a Quadroora.

"The Great Sphinx at Giza," the ancient man-made structure, stands at the entrance of Egypt’s Nile Valley.

Sassafras, Cypress & Indigo is the title of Ntozake Shange’s first novel.

According to black folklore, May is the unluckiest month to be married in.

What was the name of Florida Evans' second husband on the TV series "Good Times" (Carl Dixon)

"Got a Job" was the first hit of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

Black female poet Nikki Giovanni on the 1960s accompanied her readings with soul and gospel music.

Morgan State College is located in the city at Baltimore.

Professional basketball player Manute Bol is from the African country of Sudan.

Marques Haynes of the Harlem Globetrotters was called the world's greatest dribbler.

Entomologist Charles Turner was the first to prove that cockroaches learn by trial and error.

Gordon parks directed all or the "Shaft" movies.

Benjamin Davis, Sr. was the first Black general in the U.S. Army.

Diane Carroll played Clara in the 1959 movie, Porgy and Bess.

The book Why Blacks Kill Blacks (1972) was written by Alvin Poussaint.

Coretta Scott King is the founder of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community and Memorial Center for Non-Violent Social Change.

O.J. Simpson holds the NFL all time record for most 200-yard rushing games for a career as of 1985.

Farmer Olympic track star Jesse Owens was known as "The Ebony Antelope."

George Washington Carver's epitaph reads "He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world."

French is the official language of Haiti.

The Organization of African Unity was founded in 1963 to promote unity and cooperation among African states,

Spelman Seminary was the first train4ng school for black nurses established in the U.S.

Singer James Brown's backup group was called "The Famous Flames."

Lawrence Joel was the first black medical corpsman to win the Congressional Medal of Honor in Vietnam.

Oliver Lewis was the black jockey who won the first Kentucky Derby.

W.E.B. DuBois was the first black admitted to the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

Kingston is the capital. of Jamaica.

George Grant invented the golf tee.

Chad is often called "The Heart of Africa."

Wallace Thurman's first novel, The Blacker The Berry, (1929) dealt with the discrimination of light-skinned blacks.

Copper and diamonds are the two most important mineral deposits in Namibia.

Black actress Hilda Simms was the star of the 1944 Broadway hit play, "Anna Lucasta."

The "St. Louis Blues," was W.C. Handy’s most famous blues song.

The "Queen Booking Agency" is the largest black owned entertainment agency.

Henry O. Tanner painted the "Thankful Poor."

Novelist Frank Yerby wrote A Rose For Ana Marie (1976).

Cairo is the capital of Egypt.

Collard greens are eaten most often by Afro-Americans.

Black pioneer, George William Bush established one of the first settlements in the Oregon Territory.

"The Voice of Mission" is published monthly by the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

W. E. B. DuBois’ full name is William Edward Burghardt DuBois.

Sidney Poitier is the second most frequent person to appear on the cover of Ebony magazine.

The famous black owned restaurant, "Frank's Restaurant," is located in New York City's Harlem.

Harry Belafonte's biggest hit single was entitled "Banana Boat."

Joe Louis held the heavyweight. boxing championship title for eleven years.

The first incidence of sickle cell anemia was reported in Africa.

The autobiography of Langston Hughes, titled The Big sea, was written in 1940.

Twenty blacks landed in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619.

Ernest Gaines wrote the novel The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1969)

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.’s expulsion from the House of Representatives was ruled unconstitutional. by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967.

William H. Hastie serve as the first black governor of The Virgin Islands.

Black athlete Reggie Jackson had a candy bar marketed in his name in 1978.

Lewis Latimer was the only black member of the Edison Pioneers, a group of distinguished scientist and inventors who worked with Thomas Edison.

W.E.B. DuBois was the first black to graduate with the distinction at cum laude from Harvard.

Physician and abolitionist Martin Delany was the first to reach the rank of major in the Civil war.

Bill Russell was the first black selected as Most Valuable Player in the NBA.

"Washington" is the most common black surname in the U.S.

Charles Houston was the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review.

The Baptist hymn, "We Shall Overcome," became the anthem of the civil rights movement.

Negroes were the group of people who harvested the first wheat crop in the New World.

The dance called "The Fox Trot" was created by a black bandleader. It broke puritanical restraints and encouraged bodily contact in dancing.

The first school house for blacks was built in the District of Columbia in 1807.

Dionne Warwick sang the title song in the movie "Alfie."

Female vocalist Chaka Kahn's real name is Yvette Marie Stevens.

Author Mildred Taylor generally wrote books for children.

Jazz. artist Louis Armstrong appeared in the movie "Pennies From Heaven" with Bing Crosby.

Sidney Poitier played the male leading role in both the movie and the Broadway show version of "Raisin In The Sun."

On the question of Negro suffrage: Frederick Douglass once said "If he knows enough to be hanged, he knows enough to vote."

Scientist Percy Julian developed the drug "Physostigime" in 1935 which is used in the treatment of Glaucoma.

Dr. Hallie Tanner Johnson was the first black woman to practice medicine in the state of Alabama.

Martin Luther King, Jr. led an interracial group from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery.

In 1900, New York State passed legislation providing that no one be denied public education because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

James A. Bland composed "Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny," the official state song of Virginia.

Satchel Paige was the first black pitcher in major league baseball.

In 1932, Thomas Dorsey opened the first black publishing house for Gospel music.

Author James Baldwin was born in Harlem, New York.

Emmett Ashford became the first black baseball umpire in the major leagues.

Jesse Owens attended Ohio State College.

O. J. Simpson never played in a Super Bowl Game.

From 1944 to 1946 Ernest J, Wilkins, Jr. served as a physicist on the Manhattan Project - the development of the first atomic bomb.

Bobby Seale is the author of the book Seize the Time.

"Lucille" is the property of B.B King. "Lucille" is his guitar.

Beverly Johnson was the first black model to appear on the cover of Vogue Magazine.

Bessie Smith was called "Empress of the Blues"

Natalie Cole is the daughter of Nat "King" Cole.

The Negro Baptist church of St. Louis was founded in 1827.

Entertainer Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis, Missouri.

The James Baldwin play, "Amen Corner," was first produced at Harvard University in 1954.

The first order of black nuns in the United States was established in 1827 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Recording star Stevie Wonder was instrumental in making Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday.

Ray Charles recorded an album of Country and Western songs in 1962 when it was not popular to be associated with country music.

The song, "I'm Just Wild About Harry," written by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, was a big hit for Peggy Lee, a white singer.

W.E.B. DuBois received his BA degree from Fisk University.

In the beginning of the Civil War, President Lincoln was in favor of using blacks as laborers, as opposed to soldiers.

Alain Locke published the "New Negro: An interpretation" in 1925.

Richard Wright is the author of Uncle Tom's children.

Malcolm X College is the current name of Crane College of Chicago, Illinois.

In 1957, the Montgomery Improvement Association became a part of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Representing black American women, Mary Church Terrell, in 1904, addressed the International Congress of Women in Berlin, speaking in German, English, and French.

Harriet Tubman abolitionist and social reformer often uttered the words `Live North or die here."

A "tenant farmer" is paid with a share of the crop in exchange for his labor.

In l926, Violette M. Anderson became the first black woman lawyer to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Presbyterians, in the 1700's were in the forefront in making education directly available to blacks.

The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) started on Shaw University.

The famous boycott at 1955 began in Montgomery, Alabama.

George Washington Carver and W.E.B. DuBois were both orphans.

A horse was used to buy back George Washington Carver when he was kidnapped at the age of six weeks.

Boxer Leon Spinks held the heavyweight title for the shortest period of time (212 days).

Sculptress Leila Usher created the best known likeness of Booker T. Washington.

In 1896 Mary Church Terrell organized the National Association of Colored Women.

The nation’s largest black Protestant congregation is in the Abyssinian Church located in Harlem.

Former heavyweight boxing champion George Forman retired to become a minister.

Tuskegee Institute publishes the Campus Digest.

Morehouse College was formerly known as Atlanta Baptist College and Seminary.

The Urban League Review is the name of the Urban League's publication.

The meaty part of the hog's cheeks are called "Hog jowls."

The True Reformers Bank was established in Richmond, Virginia.

The Black Panther leader Huey Newton's autobiography is entitled Revolutionary Suicide.

The college campus of Morgan State is the site of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Statue.

Elijah Muhammad succeeded Master Wali D. Fard as the leader of the Black Nation of Islam.

Winston-Salem State College is located in North Carolina.

The Black Panther Party was founded by Bobby Seals and Huey P. Newton.

James Anderson, Jr. was the first black marine awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Black opera star Marian Anderson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon Johnson.

The bottom number of (diastolic) in a blood pressure reading measures the blood pressure when the heart relaxes.

Shaw University is located in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Black film director/author Gordon Parks wrote the novel The Learning Tree.

President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The play "The Black Nativity," written by Langston Hughes, depicts the birth of Christ.

The skin disorder known as systemic lupus erythematosus primarily affects black women.

The congressional Black Caucus is composed of black members of congress to promote the interest of blacks.

South Africa is the world's leading gold producer.

Arthur Ashe became the first black American male to be introduced into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Simon was the black man from Cyrene that helped carry the cross at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

NBA star Akeem Olajuwon is nicknamed "The Dream."

The Shoehorn was invented by Andrew Washington.

The Memphis Free Speech was the name of Ida B. Wells' newspaper.

Ghana, Mali. and Songhai emerged as the wealthiest and most powerful African states during the eighth century.

The Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. was founded in 1920 at Howard University.

Johnny Ace, a popular singer of the 1950s, accidentally shot himself playing Russian Roulette.

Black Enterprise Magazine is known for its annual featured top black 100 companies.

Garland Anderson wrote the first full-length Broadway drama.

The first black republic in the world was established in Haiti.

Eleven states made up the Confederate South.

Black researcher Charles Drew was called upon to set up the first blood bank in England.

Roland Hayes was the first black to give a recital in Boston’s Symphony Hall.

Fedco Food Corporation is the largest black-owned supermarket company in the U.S. as of 1984.

Cincinnati is the historic homesite of Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Joseph Dickinson received a patent in 1899 for the musical instrument called the pianola.

Jim Beckwourth discovered the original pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The city of Casablanca is located in Morocco.

Margaret Walder wrote the novel Jubilee (l966)

The Amistad was the scene of America's most famous slave mutiny in .1839.

The Caribbean island named Trinidad in English means trinity.

George Schuyler wrote the novel, Black No More (1931).

Andrew Young was the first black congressman from the deep south in the 20th century.

Four black girls were killed in a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.

The color red in the Black National Flag represents bloodshed.

Yes I Can (l966) is the title of Sammy Davis, Jr.'s autobiography.

Red, B1ack, and Green are the three colors of the Black National Flag.

The landmark house of black historian, Carter G. Woodson, is located in Washington, D.C.

Black leader Malcolm X once said "We are all black, different shades of black."

Charles Rengel was the first black to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee.

The San Bushmen formerly of South Africa were virtually exterminated by the end of the 19th century.

Jacob Lawrence painted a series of tempera panels entitled "The Life of Frederick Douglass."

The novel, Shaka, written by Thomas Mafolo tells the story of a Zulu chieftain.

Hobart Taylor was appointed as the first black on the board of directors of the Export-Import bank.

Zaire was the world's leading producer of industrial diamonds in 1985.

Leontyne Kelly became the first black woman bishop in the United Methodist Church.

Charles Gordone wrote the play, "No Place To Be Somebody."

Prince Hall was the first black Mason in the U.S.

The word, "Swahili," in English means "Coast People."

The painting, "Resurrection of Lazarus," by Henry Ossawa Tanner, was the first by a black artist to win a major prize in the famous Paris Salon.

William Hastie was the first black ever to serve as a federal judge.

Harry Belafonte was once known as the "Calypso King."

Defacto is the legal term for segregation based upon economic social and other custom determinants.

Black chemist Percy Julian discovered an inexpensive and efficient method of extracting sterols from the Soya bean oil.

John Standard invented the refrigerator in 1891.

Emien Tunnell was the first black elected to the NFL Hall of Fame.

The life story of actor Paul Robeson in entitled Here I Stand (1971).

The religious group called "The Quakers" were the leading activist for abolishing slavery prior to the Civil War.

The monument that Theodore Roosevelt dedicated to Frederick Douglass is located in Rochester, New York.

SNCC stands for "The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee."

Astronomer Benjamin Banneker predicted the solar eclipse of 1789.

Lennox Avenue in Harlem is the street most often written about in black literature.

George Washington Carver pioneered the science of chemurgy.

Bourbon Street in New Orleans is well known for its jazz and Mardi Gras entertainment.

Inventor Otis Boykin is credited with devising the control unit used in artificial heart stimulators.

The Schomburg Center in Harlem contains one of the world's most extensive black research materials.

South Africa is known throughout the world for its racist policy of "apartheid."

Author Alexandre Dumas wrote The Three Musketeers (1884) and The Count or Monte Cristo (1845).

Paul Cuffe sought to establish a black American colony in Sierre Leone in 1811.

The African nation of Sierra Leone was settled by freed black slaves from Europe.

Magic is the title of Earvin Johnson's autobiography.

Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute in 1881.

Eunice Kathleen Waymon is better known as Nina Simone.

Paul Laurence Dunbar gained national fame in 1896 for his poem "Lyrics of a Lowly Life."

Ghana was the first British colony in tropical Africa to achieve independence.

Richard Allen became the first black Methodist bishop in the U.S.

"Say It Loud, I'm Black and I’m Proud" was James Brown's 1968 anthem of black pride.

Shirley Graham wrote a biography of Phyllis Wheatley in 1949.

The Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and History is located in Harlem.

Mary Mahoney was the first black graduate nurse in the U.S.

The New Orleans Tribune was the first black daily newspaper in the U.S.

Runaway slaves in the West Indies were called Maroons.

Micki Grant wrote the award winning black musical, "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope."

Uranium is the principal mineral export of Niger.

Black Boy is the title of Richard Wright's autobiography.

John Hope Franklin was awarded America's most prestigious honor in education in 1984, The Jefferson Medal.

Samuel Gravely was the first black to command a U.S. warship.

Victoria Falls is the most spectacular water fall in Africa.

Xavier University is located in New Orleans.

Francois "Pappa Doc" Duvalier, former president of Haiti, consolidated control over the island and established an oppressive dictator form of government.

Wilt Chamberlain is the only player to lead the NBA in both scoring and rebounding in a single season.

The autobiography of black physician and medical educator Miles V. Lynk is entitled Sixty Years of Medicine.

Sudan is the largest county in Africa.

Diamond is the hardest natural substance known to man.

O. J. Simpson won the Heisman Trophy in 1968.

There are 150 books of Psalms in the Bible.

Frederick Branch was the first black commissioned officer in the Marine Corps Reserves.

The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed the requirement of the poll tax in federal elections.

Gail Fisher was the first black to have a speaking part in a national TV commercial.

Black artist Henry Tanner received the Medal of Honor at the Paris exposition in 1900.

"Blackface" minstrel Dan Rice popularized the words "Jim Crow" which became synonymous for legal racial segregation.

Clarence Cooper became the first black since Reconstruction to sit on the Georgia State Supreme Court.

Richard Wright wrote the novel, "Lawd Today".

NAACP stands far National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Dr. Percy Julian synthesized the drug pysostigmine from soybeans.

The color black in the Black National Flag represents pride.

Mogadishu is the capital of Somalia.

Eldridge Cleaver sought political asylum in the African country of Algeria in 1968.

Janet Collins was the first black dancer to appear in a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera.

Paul Robeson starred in the title role of "Othello," the longest Shakespearean drama to run on Broadway in 1945.

Black architect Paul Williams designed the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel.

40% of Africa is covered by desert.

A woman who assists women in childbirth is called a "midwife."

The Consolidated Bank and Trust Co. is the oldest operating black-owned bank in the U.S.

The Harriet-Beecher Stowe Museum is located in Cincinnati.

Lamu, a town near Kenya, is regarded as the center of Swahili art and literature.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt formed the black cabinet.

"The Letter From the Birmingham Jail," written by Martin Luther King, in 1963, received national attention.

Cleveland has a black residential section called the Hough District.

The Countee Cullen Public Library is located in Harlem, New York.

Jerusalem, Virginia is the place where Nat Turner met his death.

Chubby Checker popularized the song and dance called "The Twist."

Ida Wells authored the three-year statistical record of black lynching entitled "A Red Record" (1895)

The crypt of Martin Luther King, Jr. reads "Free At Last, Free At Last, Thank God Almighty, I'm Free At Last.

Lincoln Park, Washington D.C. is the site of the Emancipation Statue that was erected as a memorial to Abraham Lincoln by freed slaves.

Kenneth Gibson was elected the first black president of the U.S. conference of Mayors.

The city of Memphis, Tennessee was named after the first capital of ancient Egypt.

George Washington Carver was the first black to have a national monument erected in his honor.

Mahogany is the tree grown in Africa primarily for furniture making.

Stephanie Mills achieved stardom in the Broadway production "The WIZ."

"Peace! It's Truly Wonderful" was Father Divine’s famous slogan.

Charles Fuller won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for the drama, "A Soldier's Play."

Tennessee State University is located in Nashville, Tennessee.

Ebony is the largest circulated black magazine in the world.

Eatonville, Florida is the oldest black town founded in the U.S.

Dr. Charles Drew played a major role in helping to establish the American Red Cross.

Booker T. Washington founded the National Negro Business League.

William Grant Still is acclaimed as the "Dean of Black Composers."

The "Omega Psi Phi Fraternity" was founded in 1911 at Howard University.

Rebecca Cole is believed to be the first black woman physician in the U.S.

Martin Luther King. Jr. was the first black ever to have his sculptured bust placed in the nation's capital.

Daniel "Chappie" James was the first black to become a tour star general in all of the armed forces.

The "Clothilde" was the last slave ship to land at an American port in 1859.

Vinnette Carroll wrote the Broadway hit gospel musical, "Your Arms Too Short to Box with God."

Booker T. Washington was the first president at the National Negro Business League.

Morphine is a legal medicine produced from the opium poppy.

Sculptor Augusta Savage did a symbolic grouping entitled Lift Every Voice and Sing."

Headcheese or souse is a jellied seasoned meat made from parts at the head and feet of hogs.

Entomologist Leon Roody is considered an international authority on the spider.

James Waldon Johnson wrote the poem "Lift Every Voice and Sing."

James Baldwin's first novel was Go Te1l It On The Mountain (1953).

Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman nominated for president.

Black inventor Lewis Latimer made an electric light practical for home use in 1789 by developing a light bulb that used a cotton thread filament.

Resurrection city was the encampment erected for participants in the 1968 Poor People's March.

O.J. Simpson’s nickname is "The Juice."

Eubie Blake composed the music for the 1928 black musical "Blackbirds."

What Manner of Man (1968) is the title of Lerone Bennetts biography of Martin Luther King.

Bethune-Cookman college is located at Daytona Beach, Florida.

The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History is located in Washington D.C.

Early native Africans used seasonal rains to determine the passing of a year.

George Washington Carver was the first black scientist to have a postage stamp issued in his memory.

Arthur Mitchell became the first black male classical ballet star.

Sadie Alexander was the first black woman to receive a Ph.D. degree.

The mouth of the Niger River is located in Nigeria.

W. E. B. DuBois served as the head of the Department of History and Economics at Atlanta University.

The Atlantic Ocean bounds the western border of Africa.

Leon Higginbotham, Jr. became the first black man to serve on the Federal Trade Commission.

Hampton Institute is located in Virginia.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott occurred between December 5, 1955 and December 21, 1956.

The science of Paleontology deals with the study of ancient life.

The Harlem Globetrotters has its uniform on display at the Smithsonian Institute.

The "Pygmy" is the name of the dwarf tribe that lives in Central Africa.

Morehouse college was originally called Augusta Institute.

The African language of Swahili has the largest vocabulary.

George Washington Carver was the first agricultural scientist to experiment with soybeans in the production of paint.

The Electrophoresis Test is used to distinguish between persons carrying the sickle cell trait and those having the sickle cell disease.

Under the rule of Askia Muhammad Toure, the ancient empire of Songhai reached its greatest power.

The Congo River is the longest river in Central Africa.

Arna Bontemps received the 1926 Alexander Puskin Award for his book, Golgotha is a Mountain.

Muhammad Ali has appeared most often on the cover of Ebony Magazine.

Marion Starkey wrote Striving to Make It Home: The Story of Americans from Africa. (1964).

Gaines Meredith was the first black to integrate the University of Mississippi in 1962.

Prince Hall founded the first black Masonic lodge.

The Aswan High Dam harnesses the Nile River to provide hydropower to Egypt.

The recording group "The Commodores" attended Tuskegee Institute when the group was formed.

Frank Yerby wrote the best seller entitled The Foxes of Harrow (1976).

Gambia is the smallest nation on the African continent.

Samuel R. Ward wrote The Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro (1855).

Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver both taught at Tuskegee Institute.

White abolitionist William L. Garrison was known as "The Great Liberator."

Thousands of freed slaves migrated to Kansas after slavery was outlawed.

The black wood called "Ebony" is extensively used for piano keys and in cabinetmaking.

The play, "The Amen Corner," is based on the youth experience of James Baldwin.

James Brown was born in Augusta, Georgia.

Brown University in Rhode Island was founded with profits made from the slave trade.

David Ruggles was the editor at the first black magazine, Mirror of Liberty.

"We Shall Overcome" became the national hymn of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's.

The Colored American (1865) was the first black newspaper in the south.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was the keynote speaker at the 1963 March On Washington.

Mary McLeod Bethune's homesite is located on the campus of Bethune-Cookman College.

Robert Shurney is the black engineer that designed the tires used on the moon buggy "Falcon."

A "fetish" is a type of wooden sculpture, commonly made by people in Central Africa, and is believed to be endowed with magical properties that protect its owner.

In 1807, Congress officially abolished slave trade in the U.S.

Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia, was once called "the richest Negro street in the world."

The Scottsboro Case was the famous Alabama trial that began in 1931 that involved nine young black boys and aroused world-wide protest.

Rafer Johnson was the black track star who won the silver medal in the 1956 Olympic Decathlon and the gold in the same 1960 Olympic event.

Phyllis Wheatley is the first black author and poet whose book was published in 1773.

Lucius Amerson was the first black sheriff in the south in the 20th century.

Meharry Medical School was originally established as a Branch in central Tennessee.

Howard Thurman is the black religious author who wrote Disciplines of the Spirit.

Benjamin Hooks succeeded Roy Wilkins as Executive Director of the NAACP.

Blacks are called Zambos in Venezuela.

Phyllis Wheatley wrote a tribute poem for George Washington for which she received personal thanks.

Virginia Randolph was appointed as the first supervisor of the Anna Jeanes Fund.

Jesse Owens, the legendary black track star, won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics.

Cubism is the abstract form of art that was originally embodied in African art. This art form was widely adopted by European and western artists in the early 20th century.

John Anderson, the noted black architect, taught at Tuskegee Institute.

The first issue of Ebony magazine cost 25 cents.

Lemuel Haynes was the first black minister certified as a pastor of a predominantly white church in 1780.

The Shaw Memorial Monument, a monument to a black civil war regiment, is located on Beacon Street in Boston, Massachusetts.

Reese "Goose" Tatum, a former Harlem Globetrotter, played first base for Indianapolis and Birmingham in the Negro Leagues.

Whitney Young, a national black leader in the 1960's, advocated a "domestic marshal plan" for revitalizing the urban areas.

Crozer Seminary is where Martin Luther King, Jr. received his divinity degree.

The Black Athletes Hall of Fame is located in Las Vegas.

Mahalia Jackson first received national fame for her gospel recording "Move On Up A Little Higher."

Donald McHenry succeeded Andrew Young as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Nathan Francis Mossell founded the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital in 1895 in Philadelphia.

Spain was the European country to first bring large numbers of slaves to North and South America.

Thomas Paine said "Slavery was no less immoral than murder, robbery, lewdness, and barbarity."

The largest Civil Rights demonstration in American history was at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Marian Anderson was the first black signed by the Metropolitan Opera.

Robert Russa Moton succeeded Booker T. Washington as president of Tuskegee Institute.

Alexander Augusta was placed in charge of the Freedmen’s Hospital, making him the first black to head any hospital in the U.S.

Albert Luthuli was the first African to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Free African. Society was founded in Philadelphia, Pa.

Mary McLeod Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935.

The capital of Madagascar is Antananarivo.

The first black woman governor in U.S. history is Barbara Jordan.

Dillard University is located in New Orleans, La.

Eddie Robinson, a black college coach, has sent more players into the NFL than any other black coach.

Atlanta University was founded in 1929 by John Hope, a civil rights leader and educator.

Cairo is the largest African city of the following: Cairo, Lagos, or Johannesburg.

The cheetah, an African animal, can reach a speed of 45mph in two seconds from a standstill position.

Charles Young was the highest ranking black officer in WW1.

The Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery.

The native African fruit that contains over 93% water is the watermelon.

Soul City was established in Warren County, North Carolina by Floyd McKissick.

Joshua Johnson was the first recorded black artist in America.

Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order eliminating discrimination in the defense industry in WWII.

The first black model to appear in TV commercials is Naomi Sims

Griots are Africans trained to be living archives of their tribe's oral history.

Somalia is the African country called the "Land of Aromatics."

The first medical school established in the 20th century intended solely to train blacks to become doctors is Morehouse.

Edward Bannister was the landscape artist that was one of the founders of the Providence Art Club which later became known as the Rhode Island School of Design.

Constance Baker Motley was the first black woman to serve as a federal judge.

The Mason and Dixon Line was the boundary that divided the free northern states from the southern slave states.

The first American black to receive a doctorate in chemistry is St. Elmo Brady.

Crisis is the monthly magazine published by the NAACP.

Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute is now known as Grambling University.

The Ashanti is the West African tribe noted for its goldwork and colorful Kente cloth.

Sugar Ray Robinson has been often called "the greatest fighter pound for pound" of all time.

Jim Crow was the nickname given to racially restrictive laws used throughout the south to promote segregation.

The chief language of southern Nigeria is Yoruba.

Josh Gibson of the Negro League Baseball has reputedly hit more career home runs than Hank Aaron.

James Baldwin wrote "The Fire Next Time" (1963), a powerful protest against racism.

Angie Elizabeth Brooks was the first African woman to preside over the United Nations General Assembly.

Nigeria was the scene of the bloodiest military coup of any black African nation.

Bill Cosby created the animated cartoon series, Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids."

Sickle Cell is the blood disorder trait that is found in many blacks. This disorder does not cause symptoms normally associated with the disease.

In the book The Long Shadow Of Little Rock, Daisy Bates relives her integration experiences.

Edward G. Gardner founded Soft Sheen Products Company.

The American Negro League was organized by Cum Posey.

Booker T. Washington said "You can’t hold a man down without staying down with him."

Jean-Bedel Bokassa, an African emperor, reputedly spent $22 million for his own coronation.

The first black physician to specialize in genitourinary diseases was Milton Francis.

Charlotte Bass was the first black woman to run for vice president of the U.S. in 1952.

Henry Blair invented the corn harvester, a farm device which made him the first black to receive a patent for his invention in 1834.

Chris Dickerson was the first black man to win the "Mr. America" title.

Robert Mix, Jr. was the first black Chief Justice of a state supreme court.

The original Mason And Dixon Line was originally established as a boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania -

Henry Tanner was the first black elected to the National Academy of Design.

Whitney Young met his accidental death in 1971 in Lagos, Nigeria.

David Ruggles, a black abolitionist who helped Frederick Douglass escape from slavery, also wrote Used Up (1834)

The first black news correspondent for the White House was Harry McAlphin.

The Zulus are African people of the Natal Region in southeast Africa and are well known for their elaborate ceremonial dances and costumes.

Althea Gibson won both the French and Italian women’s Tennis Championships in 1956.

The first chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was John Lewis.

William R. Tolber, Jr. was the president of Liberia when he was assassinated in 1980.

The Earl Of Dunmore was a British loyalist who recruited the first all black regiment to fight for the British in the Revolutionary War.

The first black woman pilot in the U.S. armed forces was Marcella Hayes.

Noted black composer Will Marion cook was born in Washington, D.C.

The first black man to play opposite a white woman on the American stage was Paul Robeson.

The first black woman to receive a bachelors degree was Mary Jane Patterson.

Satchel Page was the oldest person to play in major league baseball.

Sidney Poitier became the first black male to win an Oscar for the movie "Lillies of the Field."

Ex-slave James Still was known as the "black doctor" and "doctor of the pines" He was a self taught healer.

Jesse Owens' real name is James Cleveland Owens.

Mount Kilimanjaro is located in the African country of Tanzania.

Edwin Moses won the 400 meter hurdles at both the 1976 and 1984 Summer Olympics.

Alice Walker wrote "In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women" in 1973.

The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. was founded in 1908 at Howard University.

The National Urban League was founded in 1911 Booker T. Washington.

The first intercollegiate black college football bowl game was played in 1929 between Prairie View College and Atlanta University.

The Apollo Theater is located in Harlem, New York.

The buffalo is Africa's only wild representative of the cattle family.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most comprehensive law in support of racial equality ever enacted by Congress.

There is only one star on Somalia's flag.

The Makere people in Zaire believe they are descendants of the chimpanzee.

Ernie Davis was the first black to win the Heisman Trophy.

Ebony magazine contains a regular feature called "Strictly For Laughs."

Black author James Baldwin once said "Be careful what you set your heart upon for it will surely be yours."

Emperor Haile Selassie ruled Ethiopia Forty-four years.

The African country of Liberia is often called "The Land of the Free."

Martin Luther King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa.

John Burr invented the lawn mower in 1899.

The line "My Soul has grown deep like the rivers" comes from the Langston Hughes poem entitled "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."

Charles Duke founded the National Technical Association, a professional organization for black engineers.

William E. B. DuBois was the first black to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard.

The coffee plant originated in Ethiopia.

The Nile river in Africa is the world longest river.

Middleton "Spike" Harris wrote A history Tour of Manhattan.

Paul Robeson's landmark residence is located in New York City.

Former major league baseball star, Jackie Robinson, was the 1940 Pacific Coast basketball player scoring champ at UCLA.

Alice Childress wrote a hero ain't nothing but a sandwich.

Dick Tiger was the Nigerian champion that won both the world middle and light-heavyweight titles.

Phillip Michael Thomas played the role of the black undercover cop Ricardo Tubbs on Miami Vice.

S. Howard Woodson was the first black house speaker of the 20th century.

Jazz great J.J Johnson became famous for playing the trombone.

The 24th Infantry Regiment was the black military unit that won the Korean War.

The James Baldwin Prize is the award presented annually by the Dial Press to distinguish black novelists.

Oscar Robertson holds the NBA's all-time record for most free throws made in a career.

Up from nigger is the title of the sequel to Dick Gregory's autobiography, nigger.

Blanche Bruce was the first black to head a congressional committee.

Charles Sifford was the noted golfer that won the Negro national golf title six times.

Swahili is the major African language spoken in sub-Saharan countries.

Solomon Burke was the black male performer was once known as" The Wonder-Boy Preacher."

Jayne Kennedy was the black woman that once served as a co-host on CBS-TVs "The NFL Today Show".

The Marveletts was Motown's first and only real girl group.

H. Rap Brown succeeded Stokely Carmicheal as head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Edmonia Lewis was regarded as the first black woman artist to head predominately white districts.

Prince Taylor and James Thomas were the first two black Methodist bishops to head predominately white districts.

The black Crackers, was the name of Atlanta's baseball team in the Negro League.

The Fontages Legion was the name of the black Haitian military unit that aided the American cause during the revolutionary War.

Edith Wilson was the female blues singer that was known as "Aunt Jemima".

Jackie Robinson was the first black enshrined in major league baseball's Hall of Fame.

The ife was the Nigerian tribe that is noted for its skill in brass casting.

King Farouk I was the ruling monarch in Egypt before he was overthrown in 1952.

Etosha Pan, the largest salt bed in Africa is located in Northern Namibia.

The Lulua, an African tribe of Zaire, is well-known for its sculptured figures which depict scarifications over the whole body.

Libya is the country in North Africa that has the highest per capita income as of 1985.

Isaac Hayes won an Academy Award in 1971 for composing the theme for the movie Shaft.

Earnest Thomas played Roger on what’s Happening.

The Savoy Big Five was the name that the Harlem Globetrotters first played under in the 1920's.

Benjamin Hooks was the first black man to serve on the federal communications commission.

Blue, Yellow, and Red are the three colors on the Chadian flag.

The college that Maurice Stokes played basketball for was St. Francis.

American Negro Academy is the organization that was formed by black scholars in 1897 to refute claims of black intellectual inferiority.

Jackie Wilson was the R&B singer once known as "Mr. Electric".

Willie McCovey was the former black major league baseball star that hit more grand slam homeruns than any other black player.

Paul Williams, an original member of the Temptations, committed suicide in 1973.

The African Meeting house, the oldest existing black church in the U.S. is located in Boston.

Time magazine and The Ladies' Home Journal both named Barbara Jordan as Woman of the Year.

The first World Festival of Negro Art held in 1966 was in Dakar Senegal.

Ernest Just first recipient of the NAACP Spingarn Award for biology research in 1915.

The Harlem Globetrotters are the famous black team that tours the world playing comedy basketball.

Archie Moore played the role of Jim in the 1960 movie, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The Manumission Society founded the Free African Schools of New York in 1787.

Hazel Scott was the first black woman to host a TV network series.

The noted black sculptor that designed the memorial coin in honor of George Washington Carver was Isaac Hathaway.

The oldest black church building still standing in the U.S. is the African Meeting House.

Matthew Bones Hooks established the first school for blacks in Amarillo Texas.

Muddy Waters was the blues great that was best known for his Mississippi Delta music.

The American League team that Larry Doby managed was The Chicago White Sox.

George Washington Williams was the minister. journalist, lawyer, and politician that wrote A history of the Negro Troops in the War of Rebellion (1888)

Valerie Brisco Hooks equaled Wilma Rodolph's 1960 feat by winning three gold medals at the1984 Olympics.

The hit song "Disco Lady" by Johnny Taylor was the first R&B platinum single.

James Herrick discovered the disease sickle cell anemia.

Rob Hayes set a world's record of 9.1 seconds for the 100 yard dash in 1963.

The West African people that are well known for carving their ceremonial wooden masks in the likeness of a dead person or animal are the Dogon.

Sadie Alexander became the first black woman to obtain a Ph.D. degree in Economics, in 1921.

Dominique Wilkins was born in Paris France.

T. Thomas Fortune was the black journalist that was responsible for introducing the term "Afro-American" for "Negro".

Little was Malcolm X’s surname.

The coast of Africa that most slaves came from was the West.

Howard was the first black university in the U.S. to establish undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools.

The Orange Free State was the province of South Africa that blacks were forced to relocate.

The Raelettes was the name of Ray Charles' female backup group.

The musical group that featured Sammy Davis Jr., father, and uncle was The Will Mastin Trio.

The only black member of the living all-time major league baseball team selected in 1969 by the Baseball Writers Assn. of America was Willie Mays.

Tony Brown organized the first annual Black College Day in 1980.

The black female gospel singer at the time of her death who had a larger white than black following was Mahalia Jackson.

The former heavyweight champion Jersey Joe Walcott's real name is Arnold Cream.

Larry Doby was the first black baseball player in the American League.

Alexander Crummell was the first president of the American Negro Academy.

Jersey Joe Walcott lost his heavyweight boxing title to Rocky Marciano in 1952.

The full name of the woman who co-starred in the film "Purple Rain" is Apollonia Kotero.

Robert Katlff was the noted black enzymologist that discovered a technique for gluing genes together.

The name of the black musical version of The Wizard of Oz is the Wiz.

Atlanta Compromise is the famous speech that Booker T. Washington delivered before the 1895 Cotton Exposition.

The People of Madagascar that are descendants of the Indonesians are The Malagasy.

Kenny Washington was the first black to play for the Los Angeles Rams.

The largest collection of works by the well known black sculptor, William Artis are located at Atlanta University.

Khartoum is the capitol of Sudan.

Percy Julian is the black chemist that invented a new product called "Aero-Foam" that is used to put out gasoline and oil fires.

Wale Soyinka is the Nigerian author that described his prison term during the Nigerian Civil War in the novel, The Man Who Died.

The Mosque of Mohammad is located in Medina ,Saudi Arabia.

Oscar Robertson's nickname during his NBA playing days was The Big O.

Ben Vereen received a Tony Award for his Broadway role in Pippin.

Diamonds were discovered in Africa in 1866.

Alonzo Herndon founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company.

Las Vegas is the city that has a street named Duke Ellington Way.

William Levi Dawson composed the orchestral composition the Negro Folk Symphony.

The South Carolina slave that gained his freedom for developing a medicinal remedy to cure the bite of a rattlesnake is Cesar.

Jacob Lawrence painted a series of tempera panels entitled The Life of Harriet Tubman. (1939)

John Mercer Langston was the first black elected official in the U.S.

The black British actor that was known as "The British Paul Robeson" is Robert Adams.

The team that Elston Howard played for in the Negro League was The Kansas City Monarchs.

"Honky Tonk l&2" was Bill Doggett's biggest all-time selling record.

Jane Schiesel wrote The Otis Redding Story for children.

A. Phillip Randolph Square is located in the city of New York.

Thomas Bradley was the first black mayor of Los Angeles.

Nat King Cole was born in Montgomery, Alabama.

The Harlem Renaissance was the term used to characterize the emergence of black artistic and literary talents of the 1920's.

Billie Holidays real name was Eleanor Fagan.

Duke Ellington was born in Washington, D.C.

Pam Johnson was the first black female publisher in the U.S.

Mervyn Dyrmally and George Brown were the first two black lieutenant governors in the 20th century.

Leon Roddy was the black entomologist that became known as "The Spider Man."

Lewis Latimer was employed by Alexander Graham Bell to make the patent drawings for the first telephone.

Man Evans was the black woman that wrote a children's book called J. D.

The Capital Savings Bank of Washington, D. C. was the first black bank established in the U. S.

The Pointer Sisters won the American Music Award in 1985 as the favorite black group and video group.

The Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company was the first largest black-owned business established in the North.

"The Railroad Porter"(1912) was the first black movie produced by blacks.

Cortisone a drug commonly used in the treatment of arthritis was originally found in the bile of oxen.

Rube Foster is called the "Father of Negro Baseball."

"Shuffle Along" was the first black Broadway musical with a romantic theme.

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton first recorded the song "Hound Dog" that was later made famous by Elvis Presley.

Catnip is the herb that is often called "nature's Alka Seltzer."

Roberto Clemente was the major league baseball player that achieved his 3,000th base hit with the final hit of his career.

Toni Cade Bambara was the black woman that wrote the novel The Salt Eaters (1980).

The Fifth Dimensions are the well-known pop singing group formerly called the "Versatile."

William Purvis a black inventor, devised a machine for making paper bags in 1884.

Cape Town, South Africa is Africa's southernmost national capital.

Gwendolyn Brooks wrote the book of poems called Street in Bronzeville.

Walter Payton played football for Jackson State College.

Anwar Sadat was the first Egyptian president to go to Israel on a peace mission.

"A Change Is Gonna Come" was Sam Cooke's last big hit single.

Louis Wright was the noted black surgeon that originated a method of operating on fractures of the knee joint.

The Drum was the instrument widely used throughout Africa as a means of communicating.

Ghana was the earliest known kingdom of the Sudan in the eighth century.

The Lobi the African tribe of Upper Volta that is well-known for its protective figures used to stand in front of, inside, and over houses.

Harlem's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is named in honor of Arthur Schomburg.

"Appearances" (l925) was the first full-length drama written by a black playwright to reach Broadway.

Patrick Francis Healy was the first black to receive a Ph.D. degree.

The Corn husking machine was invented by Wade Washington.

Joe Greene, Dwight White, L. C. Greenwood, and Ernie Holmes were the four black defensive linemen that made up the Pittsburgh Steelers' famed "Steel Curtain" in the 1970s.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 repealed the Missouri Compromise and opened the North Territory to slavery.

Cab Calloway is known as the "King of Hi-Di-Ho."

Arthur Mitchell was the first black performer to become a principal dancer with the New York Ballet.

Dillard University was named for James Hardy Dillard.

Paule Marshall won the 1984 American Book Award for her book, Praisesong for the Widow.

Granville Woods invented the Synchronous Multiplex Railroad Telegraph.

Rob Beamon holds the world and Olympic long jump record of 8.90 meters as of 1985.

Maya Angelou, a female writer, was nominated for an Emmy for portraying Nyo Soto in Roots.

Naomi Sim's was the first black to appear on the cover of the Ladies Home Journal magazine.

Martin Luther King. Jr. wrote the book Why We Can't Wait in 1964 as a response to whites who said Negroes should be patient.

Fredrick Patterson was the chief organizer of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF)

Muhammad Ali was the Vietnam draft resistor that said "No Viet Cong ever called me a Nigger."

Ham Hocks and Black-Eyed peas is the traditional Afro-American New Year's dish for good luck

James Cleveland is known as the King of Gospel.

Eartha Kitt's autobiography is entitled "Thursday's Child."

Albert Cleague was the leader of the Black Messiah movement when it was established during the1960s.

The Chattanooga Black Lookouts was the first team in the Negro League that Satchel Paige played for.

The Revlon Company hired the black makeup artist William Pinkney to develop a line of black cosmetics.

Marcus Allen won the Heisman Trophy in 1981.

Joseph Henry was the first black National Dental Board Examiner.

Nikki Giovanni's autobiography is entitled Gemani.

George Benson recorded the hit jazz album, Weekend in LA

Nat King Cole was the first black to host his own network radio show.

The Douglass Hospital, Kansas City, Kansas was the first black hospital established west of the Mississippi.

The Bambara Empire originated from the African country of Niger.

Roland Scott founded the Howard University Center for Sickle Cell Anemia.

Elgin Baylor was the first rookie ever to be named Most Valuable Player in an NBA All Star Game.

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 outlawed discrimination in the sale or rental of housing.

Yannick Noah was the black French tennis player discovered by Arthur Ashe.

The Edwin Hawkins Singers made the national hit song "Oh Happy Day."

"The Ivy Leaf" is published quarterly by the AKA Sorority.

"Dejure" is the legal term for intentional segregation by law.

Kenneth Gibson was the first black head coach at the University of Mississippi

Edward Brooke and Roy Wilkins served on the 1967 Kerner Commission.

Twenty black players have been elected into the NFL Hall of Fame as of l985.

B. B. King "King of the Blues," averages 300 concert dates a year.

Ford Motor Company becomes the first major multinational company to elect an African American to its board of directors. Dr. Leon Howard Sullivan in 1971.

African Americans began to sell new cars in the United States in 1940.

The Ford Foundation in 1969 awarded $100 million to black colleges and universities.