[music]
Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. One of the things we usually do during membership drives to make the fundraising weeks a little less painful and a little more fun is a short quiz on the show each day. Get two in a row right, and you'll win a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. Today, it's a 10-question quiz for the end of Black History Month. Who wants to play? 212-433-WNYC. Like with all our quizzes, you don't have to be an expert in the subject to have a chance to win. You just have to have been paying a little attention to the show and to the world. Without giving away any answers, I can tell you that these questions will mostly involve very famous people and places in New York and New Jersey and some clips of some of these famous people that we played this month on the show. Here we go. Rob in Metuchen is first up. Hi, Rob. Ready to play?
Rob: I certainly am. First time, long time.
Brian Lehrer: Last week on the show. Question one. Here in this presidential election year, we did a Black History Month segment about a groundbreaking presidential hopeful. Here's a clip of the person and then see if you can name them.
[audio playback]
Shirley Chisholm: I am not the candidate of Black America, although I am Black and proud. [applause] I am not the candidate of the women's movement of this country, although I am a woman, and I'm equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or fat cats or special interests.
Brian Lehrer: Can you name that one-time presidential hopeful?
Rob: I'm having a senior moment. I know that I told people that I was going to write her in instead of voting for McGovern, but I can't pull up her name. Sorry.
Brian Lehrer: All right. Sorry, Rob. Nice try. We're going to go next to Tina in Harlem. Hi, Tina. You're on WNYC. The answer was Shirley Chisholm to question one. We got you, Tina. Ready to play?
Tina: Oh, [unintelligible 00:02:22] I knew that one. I was hoping you'd ask me.
Brian Lehrer: Question two is in what presidential election in year was that candidacy? The previous caller kind of gave a hint because he said who he was going to vote for in the-
Tina: Yes, McGovern.
Brian Lehrer: -vote for her in the Democratic primary instead of.
Tina: I'm thinking '68 or '72, but I can't-- I think '72.
Brian Lehrer: '72 is right.
Tina: Oh, good.
Brian Lehrer: You get to go on. Also on the show for this Black History Month, question three. We did a segment on the use of comedy in the fight for racial equality and played this clip of an iconic comedian on ABC in 1961. See if you can name the comedian after we play this clip of him.
[audio playback]
Dick Gregory: And we have a lot of racial prejudice up north, but we're so clever with it. Take my hometown, Chicago.
Tina: What's his name?
Dick Gregory: You can't see it just going in there. When Negroes in Chicago move into one large area and it looked like we might control the votes, they don't say anything to us. They have a slum clearance. [laughter] You do the same thing on the West Coast, but you call it freeways.
[laughter]
Brian Lehrer: All right, Tina, do you know that groundbreaking comedian?
Tina: Well, at the last second, I came up with Dick Gregory.
Brian Lehrer: It is Dick Gregory. [fanfare music] Hang on, and we will take your name and address off the air and send you a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. All right, next, Beth on the Lower East Side. Hi, Beth. Ready to play?
Beth: Yes, Brian, I am ready. Thank you.
Brian Lehrer: All right. Actually, hang on, Beth. Hang on, Beth. I'm going to come back to you. You're going to be next. John, in Monmouth County. John, you're on WNYC. You ready to play?
John: Yes, I am, Brian.
Brian Lehrer: All right, what was the last northern state-- Question four in our 10-question quiz-- to officially end slavery. The last northern state.
John: To officially end slavery. This is a tough one. Oh my gosh, they don't teach this in schools but I live in New Jersey, so I'm going to say New Jersey.
Brian Lehrer: New Jersey is right. That's why I went to you, because you are an ex-Jersey caller on the board.
John: Oh, that was the reason, okay. It's shameful but--
Brian Lehrer: Right, and here's a little bit of the background. In 1865, New Jersey's legislature refused to ratify the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery and only ratified it the following year, after the fact, after it had passed with the necessary other states and the Civil War had ended. New Jersey was the last northern state to officially end slavery, and it took till after the Civil War. All right, and while we're in New Jersey, Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson has a place in Black history. Question five. Can you say why?
John: What's it called? Hinchliffe?
Brian Lehrer: Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson has a place in Black history. Why?
John: This is getting bad because I was born in Paterson, but I have no idea.
Brian Lehrer: All right, sorry. The answer is, it was a Negro League baseball stadium before Major League Baseball became integrated. Just last year, and this is why it's in the news, the stadium got renovated and reopened with a Negro League's museum on the premises. Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson. All right, thanks for trying. Now, Beth, we're back to you, Beth, on the Lower East Side. Still there?
Beth: [laughs] I am still here, and thank you for not asking me those two questions.
Brian Lehrer: There was a concert, question six, in Manhattan over the weekend at the space called the Chelsea Factory of a piece by composer Thomas Flippin called The Lost Village of Seneca. Where was The Lost Village of Seneca?
Beth: I actually know this because I know someone who worked on that excavation. It was what is now Central Park on the Upper West Side.
Brian Lehrer: Absolutely. As described on Gothamist leading up to last week's concert, for decades, Seneca Village was a thriving 19th-century community predominantly of Black New Yorkers, until city officials forced the residents out in order to make way for the development of Central Park. All right, so you get question seven, another Black History Month segment from the show this month. We talked about a new miniseries from National Geographic about two civil rights icons and we played this clip of Aaron Pierre playing one of them. Who is he portraying in this soundbite?
Aaron Pierre: Now, I've been to Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago, and even for our southern folks here, Edgewood, the same truth exists up and down this so-called land of the free. We're all still negotiating something that should be ours. So, what's the solution? Pride and dignity within self.
[applause]
Aaron Pierre: Caring about who we are, and when we understand our worth and have pride within it, so too, will everyone else.
Brian Lehrer: All right, who was being portrayed in that clip by Aaron Pierre?
Beth: This is a guess. Was that Malcolm X?
Brian Lehrer: That certainly was Malcolm X as portrayed on the series called Genius: MLK/X. Beth, hang on. We're going to take your address off the air and send you a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. Desiree in Brooklyn is up next. Hi, Desiree, ready to play?
Desiree: Yes, I am.
Brian Lehrer: Question eight, a New Yorker who grew up in the Bronx became the first Black US Secretary of State. Can you name that New Yorker?
Desiree: Eric Holder.
Brian Lehrer: Oh, sorry. That is wrong. It was Colin Powell. Let's go next to Nikki in Harlem. Nikki, ready to play?
Nikki: Yes, I am.
Brian Lehrer: All right. Question nine in our 10-question quiz, there have been just three Black Supreme Court justices in the history of the United States. Because we think they're so well known, can you name all three?
Nikki: Yes. Ketanji Brown Jackson, Thurgood Marshall, and Clarence Thomas.
Brian Lehrer: Correct. Our last question, question number 10. If you get it right, you win a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. With the Oscars coming up in a week and a half, we'll note that only five Black men have won best actor and only one Black woman has ever won best actress, can you name either that one woman or any three of the men?
Nikki: Halle Berry.
Brian: Halle Berry is right [fanfare music] for her role in Monster's Ball in 2002. Hang on Nikki, we're going to take your address off the air and send you a Brian Lehrer Show Baseball cap. The men were, ready? Sidney Poitier, 1964, Lilies of the Field, Denzel Washington, 2002, Training Day, Forest Whitaker, 2007, The Last Dictator playing Idi Amin, Jamie Foxx playing Ray Charles in the movie Ray, 2004, Will Smith for King Richard in 2022. There you go. That's our first 10-question quiz for this winter membership drive. We'll have another one tomorrow for a Leap Day. Our 10-question quiz tomorrow will be about how we measure time special for February 29th. Meanwhile, more of Brian Lehrer Show coming up today. Stay with us.
Copyright © 2024 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.
New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.