Take Our Black History Month Literature Quiz!

By Courtney Suciu

Learning about and researching African American literature provides an inspiring and unique avenue for exploring social change and the potent power of language in our lives.

In honor of Black History Month, we’re sharing articles that demonstrate some of the fascinating insights and information that can be uncovered by taking a closer look at the lives and work of some of our favorite African American writers.

Take our quiz and follow the links to see how much you know. Did any of the answers surprise you? We hope these articles will inspire you to do research onthe wide-spanning influence of African American writers.

1. 1. Which author and activist’s FBI file contained a whopping 1,884 pages – the biggest file the U.S. federal agency ever compiled on any writer?
   2. Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison told radio interviewer Terry Gross in 1996 that writing which novel “felt like a radical act” because it featured an African American girl at its center?
   3. The play Mule Bone, written in 1930 to serve as a new kind of theater intended for African American audiences, was unpublished until 1984 due to a rift between which two authors?
   4. The 925-line satirical poem “The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise” (1856) by pastor E.P. Roger pays tribute to which well-known educator and writer who escaped enslavement?
   5. Which writer, anthropologist and ethnographer’s work often focused on the people, social structure, rituals, speaking patterns and folklore of her hometown, Eatonville, Florida?
   6. Maya Angelou was the first poet since Robert Frost to give a reading at the inauguration of a U.S. President. What is the name of the Grammy Award-winning work she read at the 1993 ceremony for Bill Clinton?
   7. Abolitionist and human rights champion Frederick Douglass was memorialized in two poems, “Freedom Plow” and “Frederick Douglass: 1817-1895” by which iconic artist of the Harlem Renaissance?
   8. Who was the “Phenomenal Woman” that responded “I am alive. That in itself is an inspiration” when asked during a television interview about what motivated her to write?
   9. Which novelist’s debut The Bluest Eye subverted the wholesome, mainstream image of the Midwest in 1940s by focusing on suburban African American community in Lorain, Ohio?

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Courtney Suciu is ProQuest’s lead blog writer. Her loves include libraries, literacy and researching extraordinary stories related to the arts and humanities. She has a Master’s Degree in English literature and a background in teaching, journalism and marketing. Follow her @QuirkySuciu