Pop Quiz: Do you know Black History in NJ? Twenty more questions to test your knowledge
During the 29 days of February this year, it's time in New Jersey - and across the country - to celebrate Black History Month.
How much do you know about the accomplishments of African Americans, famed or unsung, in the Garden State?
For the third year in a row, here are 20 questions to test your knowledge of Black American heritage (Once again: No Googling! Answers are below.)
New Jersey Black History Month 2024 Quiz
1. Streets in Teaneck and Englewood were renamed in 2021 for what legendary musical group?
A. Kool and The Gang
B. The Four Seasons
C. The Isley Brothers
2. In what year did New Jersey become the last Northern state to abolish slavery?
A. 1832
B. 1804
C. 1865
3. Which of these famous performers are not related to Newark native and superstar vocalist Whitney Houston?
A. Leontyne Price
B. Cissy Houston
C. Dionne Warwick
4. From what university did Marion Thompson Wright, born in East Orange and a longtime Montclair resident, receive her doctorate to become the first African American woman in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in history?
A. Columbia University
B. Howard University
C. Rutgers University
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5. Isaac Gordon, a former slave who became a hero during the Civil War, is buried in which Morris County cemetery?
A. Hillside Cemetery
B. Mount Holiness Memorial Park
C. Heavenly Rest Memorial Park
6. Who is the Black astronaut whose name is on a high school in New Jersey's second-largest city, Jersey City?
A. Guion Bluford
B. Mae Jemison
C. Ronald McNair
7. Who is the famous Black historical figure who once lived in Cape May?
A. Paul Robeson
B. Harriet Tubman
C. Martin Luther King, Jr.
8. What year was New Jersey's first Black congressional member, Donald Payne, first elected to office?
A. 1996
B. 1988
C. 1980
9. The Shady Rest Golf and Country Club, the first Black-owned golf club in the United States, opened in Scotch Plains in which year?
A. 1911
B. 1921
C. 1933
10. Hinchcliffe Stadium in Paterson was once the home field for what Negro League baseball team?
A. New York Black Yankees
B. Lincoln Giants
C. Newark Dodgers
11. Who was the Newark resident believed to be the first Black millionaire in that city?
A. Harriet Brown
B. Brenda Moryck
C. Louise Scott
12. The first Black man to cast a vote in the United States, Thomas Mundy Peterson, is buried in a cemetery in what town?
A. Newark
B. Perth Amboy
C. Paramus
13. Thomas Wiggins, aka "Blind Tom," the first African American musician to perform at the White House, died in what city in 1908?
A. Hoboken
B. Teaneck
C. Jersey City
14. What New Jersey borough became the first independent, self-governing Black municipality north of the Mason-Dixon Line?
A. Barrington
B. Lawnside
C. Tavistock
15. Who was the Black Grammy-award-winning musician who lived in Clifton and Montclair during his lifetime?
A. Dizzy Gillespie
B. Willie Smith
C. Wallace Roney
16. Which Black baseball player from New Jersey was the first athlete to win MLB's Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Awards in his career?
A. Willie Banks
B. Larry Doby
C. Don Newcombe
17. Former Newark and Montclair resident Wynona Lipman was the first Black woman to serve in what political office?
A. Mayor of Montclair
B. New Jersey State Senate
C. U.S. House of Representatives
18. What school district became the first in New Jersey to require African American studies as a mandatory course for high schoolers to graduate?
A. Cherry Hill
B. Jersey City
C. Tenafly
19. In 1946, the year before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, he made his professional debut in which New Jersey stadium?
A. Hinchcliffe Stadium
B. Roosevelt Stadium
C. Ruppert Stadium
20. Who was the first African American Grammy winner from New Jersey?
A. Sarah Vaughan
B. Count Basie
C. Wayne Shorter
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Black History Month Quiz Answers
C. Van Arsdale Place, and Van Cortlandt Terrace in Teaneck, and Liberty Road in Englewood were renamed Isley Brothers Way in 2021. Several members of the legendary music group resided in Englewood and Teaneck going back to the late 1950s.
B. The law passed in 1804 to end slavery delayed the practice in the Garden State until the last 16 enslaved Africans in the state were freed in 1866.
Trick question! All the answers are correct. Whitney Houston was related to Cissy Houston (her mother), Dionne Warwick (a cousin), and Leontyne Price (also a cousin).
A. Wright earned her doctorate from Columbia University in 1940 after completing her dissertation, "The Education of Negroes in New Jersey."
A. Isaac Gordon is buried at Hillside Cemetery in Madison. Gordon was a spy for Union forces during the Civil War. He would end up in the company of Colonel Edward E. Potter and followed Potter to Madison, where he was his coachman and servant before he died in 1917.
C. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School in Jersey City is named in honor of the second Black man to fly into space, who was killed during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger in January 1986.
B. Harriet Tubman, the legendary abolitionist, Civil War spy, and suffragist, lived in Cape May in the early 1850s, where she worked as a cook. The city is also where the museum bearing her name exists.
B. Donald Payne, a Newark native, was elected to the House of Representatives in 1988. He served for over two decades until he died in 2012. He was succeeded in office by his son, Donald Jr., who still serves in that seat.
B. The Shady Rest Golf and Country Club in Scotch Plains was established in 1921 by a corporation formed by African American residents and investors. It was once the home of John Shippen, the first African American golfer to compete in the U.S. Open.
A. The New York Black Yankees played in Hinchcliffe Stadium from 1933 to 1938. The stadium in Paterson is one of four still standing that hosted Negro League baseball teams.
C. Louise Scott made a fortune creating beauty products and put her earnings toward purchasing one of the grandest homes in Newark, a 40-room mansion that became known as the Kruger-Scott Mansion.
B. Peterson, a former slave who was born in Metuchen, is buried in the cemetery of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Perth Amboy. He cast his historic vote on March 31, 1870, in an election about the Perth Amboy charter.
A. Thomas Wiggins died in June 1908 at age 59 from a stroke in the Hoboken apartment he shared with his white guardian. A blind Black man originally from Georgia, he earned devoted fans during his life and after his death, including Mark Twain and Elton John.
B. Lawnside in southern New Jersey was developed in 1840 as a community for freed and escaped slaves and was incorporated as a municipality in 1926.
C. The trumpeter Wallace Roney was a protégé of Miles Davis. He died in March 2020 at age 59 from Covid-19. He won a Grammy Award in 1995 for his work on the album "A Tribute to Miles."
C. Don Newcombe was born in Madison and grew up in Elizabeth. Newcombe, a pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, won the National League Rookie of the Year award in 1949. In 1956, he became the first pitcher to win the National League MVP and Cy Young awards in the same season.
B. Wynona Lipman was the first Black woman to serve in the New Jersey State Senate. She served for 27 years until her death in 1999.
A. The Cherry Hill School District, during 2021's Black History Month, announced the mandatory African American history course as a requirement to graduate, starting with the incoming class of 2025.
B. Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City (torn down in 1985) is where Jackie Robinson debuted on April 18, 1946, as a member of the Montreal Royals of the International League, a Dodgers farm club. A statue of Robinson stands in the Journal Square Transportation Center in Jersey City.
B. Legendary jazzman William James "Count" Basie, a native of Red Bank, became the Garden State's first African American Grammy winner in 1959. He won the music industry's highest honor twice in its inaugural year for his album, "Basie (The Atomic Mr. Basie)."
Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration, and culture for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ricardokaul
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Black History Month Quiz 2024: Trivia to test your NJ knowledge
