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Black History 101

DIRECTIONS: Read each clue. Each clue tells about a famous black American on the list below. Use the list to connect to a short biography of each person. On the line next to each clue, write the name of the person that the clue tells about.
 

1. _____________________ This person started a school in Alabama where black children could learn skills such as shoemaking and farming.

    

2. _____________________ This person started a newspaper called "The North Star."

    

3. _____________________ This person refused to give up a seat on the bus. That led to a 382-day bus boycott by black people in Montgomery, Alabama.

    

4. _____________________ When this person was just a few weeks old, he and his mother were kidnapped. His mother was sold into slavery.

    

5. _____________________ Because this person led so many slaves to freedom, he or she was sometimes called by the nickname Moses.

    

6. _____________________ This person was a doctor who spent two years working with poor people in Africa before she went on to become famous.

    

7. _____________________ One of 13 children, this person's birthname was Isabella Baumfree.

    

8. _____________________ The president named this person to be the first black to hold a seat on the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land.

    

9. _____________________ In 1962, this person became the first black player inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

    

10. _____________________ This person's performance at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games made him famous.

© 2005 by Education World. Permission is granted to teachers to reproduce this skill page for classroom use.

Black History 102

DIRECTIONS: Read each clue. Each clue tells about a famous black American on the list below. Use the list to connect to a short biography of each person. On the line next to each clue, write the name of the person that the clue tells about.
 

1. _____________________ This lay preacher led a Virginia slave revolt in 1831.

    

2. _____________________ This person, who was one of 13 children, died in an airplane crash.

    

3. _____________________ This person, who was a famous writer of piano music, was known as the "king of ragtime."

    

4. _____________________ When first out of college, this person worked as a TV news reporter.

    

5. _____________________ This person, a well-known trumpet player, was known by the nickname "Satchmo."

    

6. _____________________ This person attended the University of California on a tennis scholarship.

    

7. _____________________ This person was a teacher in Mississippi before she became a well-known journalist.

    

8. _____________________ This person was appointed by President George Washington to help survey the land that would become Washington, D.C.

    

9. _____________________ This person was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949.

    

10. _____________________ This person wrote proudly of black people in books, poems, and plays.

Click on a name to  learn about that person.

© 2006 by Education World. Permission is granted to teachers to reproduce this skill page for classroom use.