Black History Month: Do you know your history?

This has certainly been an era of firsts. But we can't tell you what they all are. That's the point of this Black History Month Quiz, along with reminding you of past achievements. Test your knowledge with these questions. Let's see if you have been notes about these important facts.

-- Bridgette A. Lacy and Kristin Collins, McClatchy Newspapers

Quiz tools

  • 1. Who were the first black coaches to lead teams to the Super Bowl?

    • A. Lovie Smith and Mike Singletary

    • B. Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy

    • C. Tony Dungy and Herm Edwards

    • D. Mike Tomlin and Mike Singletary

  • 2. Who was the first black actress to win an Academy Award for Best Actress?

    • A. Hattie McDaniel

    • B. Dorothy Dandridge

    • C. Whoopie Goldberg

    • D. Halle Berry

  • 3. What religious denomination was founded by blacks who objected to sitting in a separate gallery during church services?

    • A. African Methodist Episcopal

    • B. Church of Scientology

    • C. Colored Methodist Episcopal Church

    • D. Church of God in Christ

  • 4. President Barack Obama talks a lot about his mixed heritage. Choose where his mother and father were born.

    • A. Kansas and Kenya

    • B. Hawaii and Mozambique

    • C. Hawaii and Nigeria

    • D. Kentucky and Kenya

  • 5. What constitutional amendment, ratified in 1868, guaranteed equal protection under the law for all people?

    • A. First Amendment

    • B. 13th Amendment

    • C. 14th Amendment

    • D. 15th Amendment

  • 6. Where was the first sit-in at a segregated lunch counter, staged by four black students in 1960?

    • A. Greensboro, N.C.

    • B. Durham, N.C.

    • C. Oklahoma City, Okla.

    • D. Raleigh, N.C.

  • 7. In 1924, Gwendolyn Brooks was the first black person to win the Pulitzer Prize, winning for poetry. True or False?

    • A. True

    • B. False

  • 8. The movie "Something The Lord Made" is based on the true life of:

    • A. Dr. William Augustus Hinton

    • B. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams

    • C. Mary Eliza Mahoney

    • D. Vivien T. Thomas

  • 9. Choose the black filmmaker who made a documentary about Hurricane Katrina.

    • A. Allen and Albert Hughes

    • B. Orlando Bagwell

    • C. Spike Lee

    • D. Stanley Nelson

  • 10. Charles Waddell Chesnutt, an honoree in the Black Heritage commemorative stamp series issued by the U.S. Postal Service, is considered the first black writer to receive major acclaim. True or False?

    • A. True

    • B. False

  • 11. What Supreme Court case established the "separate but equal" doctrine in 1896, laying the groundwork for Jim Crow laws all over the South?

    • A. Shelley v. Kraemer

    • B. Plessy v. Ferguson

    • C. Dred Scott v. Sanford

    • D. Roe v. Wade

  • 12. What was the Edward P. Jones book that won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize?

    • A. "The Known World"

    • B. "Lost in the City"

    • C. "All Aunt Hagar's Children"

    • D. "Another Africa"

  • 13. Choose the first black and female winners of the Grammy awards.

    • A. Billie Holiday and Nat King Cole

    • B. Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald

    • C. Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald

    • D. Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong

  • 14. What events prompted the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders to warn in 1968, "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal?"

    • A. Sit-ins at lunch counters

    • B. Riots in cities

    • C. Marches on Washington

    • D. Boycotting black-owned businesses

  • 15. Who is Joseph Lowery?

    • A. A Reverand

    • B. A Civil Rights Leader

    • C. Both

    • D. Neither