Friday, February 13, 2009

Thanks Howard Stern


I'm not sure how the conversation got started but it ended with black history month.

He was trying to tell me that having a black history month was insulting to black people. His theory, that he claims he got from Morgan Freeman on the Howard Stern Show, is that by setting aside one month means that it's OK to ignore black history the rest of the year.
Sure, I understand where Morgan was coming from but did my friend? My friend, who is seriously a good guy, thinks all black clubs or organizations are racist.
So here is my question to you all... or rather question"S".

Tell you what, as soon as someone can answer 1/2 of these questions without using google i will agree that we don't need a black history month.

1.What was the #1 best selling book in the 1800’s?
2.In one sentence, what was the cause of the civil war?
3.What was the Missouri compromise?
4.What did slavery have to do with the Alamo?
5.What was the compromise of 1877?
6.What percent of the U.S. population in 1776 was black?
7.Who founded Liberia? When?
8.What is the 15th Amendment and when was it passed?
9.What was a Dixiecrat?
10.What was the Kerner Commission?
11.Who was Crispus Attucks?
12.What was the Tuskegee study?
13.How many black men were lynched from 1880-1951?
14.Who was York?
15.Who was the first man on the North Pole?
16.What year did Georgia incorporate the Confederate battle flag into it’s State flag?
First one who answers them all right gets the prize! If you do it without Google, I'll call you on three way so you can laugh while I call my buddy back to tell him he was right.

27 comments:

Uche said...

1.What was the #1 best selling book in the 1800’s?
-Uncle Tom's Cabin (?)
2.In one sentence, what was the cause of the civil war?
-The cause of the civil war was that the Union wanted to abolish slavery, but the South felt that was a violation of states' rights...so, the reason for the civil war was slavery.
3.What was the Missouri compromise?
-When Congress decided that blacks would count as 3/5 of the population, rather than a whole person (at least I THINK so...)
4.What did slavery have to do with the Alamo?
-Mexico, who owned Texas, didn't allow slavery; however, new American settlers wanted to continue slavery in Texas, so they fought for their "independence" so they could own slaves.
5.What was the compromise of 1877?
-I don't remember...maybe I mixed the answer up with the other compromise up there.
6.What percent of the U.S. population in 1776 was black?
-I don't know.
7.Who founded Liberia? When?
-Former slaves who decided to go back to Africa, rather than be free in America (I believe.) I don't recall when.
8.What is the 15th Amendment and when was it passed?
-Sadly, I don't remember.
9.What was a Dixiecrat?
-A political party in the South that wanted to continue segregation.
10.What was the Kerner Commission?
-I have no idea.
11.Who was Crispus Attucks?
-I'm gonna say that he was the first person to get shot in the American Revolution; he was black.
12.What was the Tuskegee study?
-Umm, I think this is when there were tests/"experiments" that were conducted with black men as the "lab rats."
13.How many black men were lynched from 1880-1951?
-A lot?
14.Who was York?
-I don't know.
15.Who was the first man on the North Pole?
-I REALLY don't know, lol
16.What year did Georgia incorporate the Confederate battle flag into it’s State flag?
-Probably sometime recently.

~Now, the only reason I could answer these many questions is because I'm a history major, lol. I must say, I don't agree with your friend. Black history is definitely ignored, Black History Month or not. But if the month wasn't present, then there would be an even GREATER ignorance of black history.

brohammas said...

Che Che was first in!
you got #'s 1,2,4,7,9,11,12 right, 3 wrong, and 1/2 of 7 right.
7 1/2 points for you plus a bonus for being first.

Che Che wrote:
~Now, the only reason I could answer these many questions is because I'm a history major, lol. I must say, I don't agree with your friend. Black history is definitely ignored, Black History Month or not. But if the month wasn't present, then there would be an even GREATER ignorance of black history.

Amberlynn said...

I only know one answer without looking things up, but that's 'cause we knew him personally. Oh, but you probably mean the REAL York, who crossed with Lewis & Clark, not Michael Toomer.

uglyblackjohn said...

As long as it relates real stories as opposed to G.W. Carver inventing peanut butter - Che Che has it about right.

JDR said...

#1) I have no Idea, but if I had to guess and it has something to do with black history month, I would Say Uncle Tom's Cabin, I'm not sure though, don't know many books from that era

#2) I would argue that the root cause of the civil war was states rights.

#3) The Missouri compromise was the compromise made by Henry Clay I think that made Maine a free state while Missouri was a slave state.

#4) No Idea

#5) The Compromise of 1877 ended reconstruction and forced Hayes to make put someone of the other party in his cabinet or something like that.

#6) No Idea, all I know is the 3/5ths rule, so I want to say 3/5, but I don't know.

#7) It was during Monroe's presidency, all I know

#8) That was the right to vote amendment that the perfect constitution forget to have

#9) A Dixiecrat was the term used to describe the split in the democratic party when Truman ran. The first Dixiecrat Strom Thurmund and you can argue that the last was Byrd. They were eventually absorbed into the Republican party. They were pro-segregation.

#10) No Idea

#11) Crispus Attucks was born in a shitty little town called Framingham, MA. He was one of the people shot in the Boston Massacre.

#12) No Idea, I know Tuskegee is a school

#13) No Idea on the actual numbers, A lot though

#14) Didn't know this one either

#15) I know this one, which I ironically learned on black history month back in middle school. His name was Henson.

#16) No Idea, I would guess after 1860, lol


I think I got at least 7 right, but I shouldn't count, because I don't forget many things, I mean I play Jeopardy against the TV and I usually get about 50% of the questions.

brohammas said...

JDR got 1(good guess), 1/2 of#2, 3, 1/2 of #5, 1/4 of #7, 8, 9, 11, 15.
you get a bonuus for your editorial on #11. thats 8 and 1/4 points and almost the lead!

Jenna said...

Maybe I should remain silent in my ignorance, but I could not answer one question. Time to go to the library & start looking up answers.

I learned the most about the civil war from a children's book called Lincoln: A Photobiography.

Uche said...

yay for being first in!=o)

brohammas said...

so uh....
JAke, Ally Lou, Corbie, Dallas, Lyric, Tristan, Siditty, Claudia, Josh, Soila...
None of you have a guess?
Are you afraid or has my point been proven?

Corbie said...

I believe you just called me out when you knew me to be on a rugby trip to San Diego. A) That is bad form and B) I should win the whole thing (even without guessing) just for going on yet another rugby trip.

brohammas said...

being on a rugby trip is great form. ME not being on a rugby trip makes me angry and a touch resentful.
when listing commenters I couldn't leave you out, ignoring your absence would have been the worst form.

Anonymous said...

Dang it man! You had me rattling a whole bunch of stuff in this head of mind. Hope you don't mind that I sent this to my family to test their aptitude?

Way to go!

Corbie said...

You make a good point - leaving me out would have also gotten some kind of snarky comment from me so you erred on the safest side.

That said, I am now back home and ready to put in my two (or less) cents worth on this topic.

Without consulting Google or Wikipedia or any other fountains of knowledge, I solidly knew the answers to numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14 (though I would argue that a true answer to #2 cannot be achieved in one sentence unless it is a serious run-on sentence) and I have a vague notion of #12. Like Che Che, however, I can chalk even this small amount of knowledge up to the fact that I was a political science major with an emphasis on American History (which actually means I probably should have scored better).

However, I would argue that I would do roughly the same on a Caucasian-centric American History quiz. My point is that I do think that we need Black History Month but not for the reasons you mentioned. Some people are storers of facts - some aren't. Some are history and political science majors - some aren't. Some people don't know these questions because they are ignorant of the African-American struggle and some don't know these questions because they are ignorant of facts and literature and history in general. In my opinion, knowing or not knowing these things is not indicative of a need for Black History Month.

What is indicative of a need for Black History Month is that well-known figures in the media can call talented, respectable, beautiful young women 'Nappy Headed Ho's' and it has to be explained to people why this is offensive.

We need Black History Month because since 1976 (we are not talking in the 1800s here) blacks have accounted for a disproportionate 43% of total capital punishment cases and comprise 55% of those currently awaiting execution.

We need Black History Month because currently blacks have less access to health care, less quality educational opportunities (a sort of educational apartheid), and less likelihood of earning equal pay even with an equal resume.

So, in my opinion, we do need Black History Month but not because of these 16 questions or the likelihood that few know the answers. I think we need it because today, right now, people are living separate (and very unequal) existences in this 'one' America.

JDR said...

I ended up looking these up later and was just horrified by #12. What a sick and disgusting thing to do.

brohammas said...

I chose these for a reason.
All of these things are hugely significant to American history in general, no matter your color, but are constantly skipped over. These things do affect today.

Now sure most of us don't know history period, which makes what IS taught even more important. If more of us understood these random 16 items we would better understand both our govt and culture today.

Corbie, I would argue that #2 could actually be boiled down to one word, let alone one sentence. All the miriad of reasons we are taught and then argue about are just extensions of one simple underlying root cause. Slavery.

There ya go everyone, a gimme.

? said...

People don't know much about the most important parts of American History at all.

1. What were the real causes of the American Revolution?

2. What was the importance of the Seven years War on the colonies and on the Native Americans?

3. Why was George Washington the lynch pin of the revolution?

4. Who were the Regulators/ why were they important?

5. Why did the discarding of the Articles of Confederation, and their replacement by the constitution, have a profound effect on the future of American governance?

6. The biggest slave rebellions/desertions were during the revolution

7. More slaves fought/aided England than they did the colonists.

8. What was the main reason behind the 3/5 compromise?

SOILA. said...

Brohammas: "so uh....
JAke, Ally Lou, Corbie, Dallas, Lyric, Tristan, Siditty, Claudia, Josh, Soila...
None of you have a guess?
Are you afraid or has my point been proven?"


Ha! Why did you have to call us out like that???

I only knew answers to #s 7,8 and 9 so I decided to keep my mouth shut. I will for sure read up on the rest though.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

@ Corbie, you attended the Sevens? I'm green with jealousy...

Corbie said...

Brohammas: I stand by my statement on question #2. I do not worry that this makes me racist nor ignorant...it makes my (also reasonably well-studied) opinion different from yours.

SOILA: I wish I was at the tournament. I drew the short stick and took the kids to Legoland while my husband, arguably the world's most obsessive rugby player and fan, attended the matches. Still, the feeling of rugby was in the air all around San Diego and I always love that general vibe.

brohammas said...

Corbie,
How boring would the world be if we couldn't argue amicably?
I'm sure this dissagreement (in general not personal terms) will the subject of a post yet to come but my time spent living in the SOuth has given me some practice on the subject so I will give you some time to refine your arguments.
I give you 2 points for strait up dissagreeing with me and minus 2 points for being wrong.

Soila gets 10 points and the lead for knowing there was a 7's tourney in San Diego this weekend.
(no Corbie you do not get these points because you went but did not attend and while allowing your husband to go is worth points beyond belief, he is not me and I was not there...again I'm angry about that... the latter part that is).

SOILA. said...

Ok, I dont intend to take this much needed educational post off it's course but;
@ Corbie: Not even one match? And you were in Sunny D? No? Not one match? Meehhn!!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Brohammas: "Soila gets 10 points and the lead for knowing there was a 7's tourney in San Diego this weekend."

I'll take the points, Thanks very much. But, your still mean for putting us on blast :)

Corbie said...

SOILA: I know - it's some kind of rugby sacrelige. However, I can assure you that I have seen more rugby than any other wife on the planet (my husband's entire team would back me up on this), in more states than most people can name, and I also should give the disclaimer that all three of my kids birthdays are in the same week (the 7's week) so I was 'taking one for the team' by letting the hubby skip the birthdays and do the rugby thing. That, in and of itself, should count for the win here.

SOILA. said...

Corbie: "and I also should give the disclaimer that all three of my kids birthdays are in the same week (the 7's week) so I was 'taking one for the team' by letting the hubby skip the birthdays and do the rugby thing. That, in and of itself, should count for the win here."

Ok, ok, ok. My bad. I see why you had to take one for the team :)
Your kids have to come first... Rugby can take the back seat in this case :)

brohammas said...

Che Che, congratulations. You get the win. Mostly for being first.

All of these things are not just significant to black history but were events or issues that plotted the course of the entire country. Sadly they are most always ignored or skipped over.
A few answers:

#2. slavery. the "state rights" in question were the rights to own slaves. the economic difference between north and south was due to slave labor. It always comes back to slavery with this war.
#3. the Missouri compromise overrode the law that there were to be no slaves in the Louisiana purchase. Missouri was made a slave state while California was free. This opened the door for contesting all new state’s status as free or slave and sparked mini wars in places like Kansas. This consumed politics and many people died.
#4. Mexico outlawed slavery and many Texans wanted to grow cotton with slave labor. So they rebelled against Mexico (this was not the only reason but a reason none-the-less).
#5. Reconstruction, which was essentially the military occupation of the south, which was needed to protect the rights and lives of black people. The Presidential Election of 1876 was inconclusive, so a “gentlemen’s” agreement was struck by Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, that he would take office as president if he ended reconstruction.
He ended reconstruction and the rights of freed slaves were quickly revoked by those who assumed power (by force) in the void left by federal troops.
#6. over 20%... not just in the south, but the entire country.
#10. The Kerner commission was a study ordered by LBJ in 1967 to investigate the causes of the times recent race riots. Their conclusion pointed directly at the oppression suffered under Jim Crow and the United States government.
#13. 3,437
#15. Come on people, Matthew Henson was one of my posts.
#16. Georgia did not have the confederate battle flag on their state flag till 1956. It was placed there to make a statement about the civil rights movement and legislation…. Go ahead and tell me that flag isn’t racist. They knew it was then, when did it change?

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I didn't get to read the post until after you posted some answers. And I must admit sometimes I don't read the post because I might have to use more than the 2% of my brain it takes to look at the pretty pictures and check out flickr.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I am way behind the times on this, but thanks for calling me out. I knew a lot more than I thought I did ~75%, but I agreed with your opinion from the start. I enjoy black history month. I actually spent a couple hours this past saturday listening to a radio program about the contribution of black athletes to the sport of wrestling. There was a lot I didn't know, and that is my area of expertise, so your point is well proven.

Anonymous said...

My fathers' father was part of the Tuskegee study. I found out about it after reading an Ebony article on that back in the '60's. I showed it to my father, who then told me about his dad. I do remember that their was some kind of money available for survivors and/or kin of those black men who were subjected to those horrible tests.

nathalia said...

I'm late coming upon this, but I enjoyed the challenge and it made me appreciate learning history in high school a lot more (yes, sadly, that's the last time I studied history!).

The ones I got right: 1, 2, 3, 1/2 of 4, 7, 8, and 12 right.

Less than half. And I know all about the Tuskegee study because I'm a public health student. Clinton gave a formal government apology to African Americans over the Tuskegee study near the end of his presidency.