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US history trivia questions are a great way to learn about American history and have some fun at the same time.
To start things off, here is a warm-up question:
Question: What President (elected in 1852) is the only in US History to be denied renomination by his party for a second elected term?
Answer: Franklin Pierce
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1. Civil Rights activist Yuji Ichioka founded the short lived AAPA organization while studying at UC Berkeley in 1968. What two word alliterative name, coined by Ichioka to refer to a particular demographic of people in the USA, did the first two letters of AAPA stand for?
Answer: Asian American
2. Breaking with its usual association with being a "bad" number, what numbered constitutional amendment saw the abolishment of slavery?
Answer: The Thirteenth Amendment
3. Celebrated on the 19th day of the sixth month of the year, what is the newest addition to the US federal holiday calendar, as signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021?
Answer: Juneteenth
4. What California island, notorious for other reasons, was occupied for over a year in 1969 and 1970 by activists associated with the American Indian Movement?
Answer: Alcatraz
5. According to some accounts, what constellation was identified in songs as the "Drinkin' Gourd" by enslaved people who used it to orient themselves along the Underground Railroad?
Answer: The Big Dipper (Ursa Major)
6. "We want an end to the robbery by the capitalists of our Black community" was one of the ten points in the platform of what political organization?
Answer: Black Panther Party
7. In 1965, New York psychiatrist John Oliven authored the book “Sexual Hygiene And Pathology”, which was the first clinical text to use what term for a person who identifies with a different sex than the one they were assigned at birth?
Answer: Transgender
8. San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker designed what symbol of the LGBTQ movement that was unveiled in 1978? It has eight parts, each symbolizing a specific aspect of their lives gay people should be proud of.
Answer: Rainbow flag
9. Sadie Alexander was a civil rights activist of the early-to-mid twentieth century, and the first African-American to receive a PhD in what "E" field of study while in the United States?
Answer: Economics
10. In 2021 Deb Haaland, enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo, became the first Native American in history to lead what U.S. department, which administers the Bureau of Indian Affairs as well as the National Park Service?
Answer: Department of the Interior
11. General Philip Sheridan presented to a joint session of Congress in 1875 to encourage the mass slaughter of what mammal? The General wanted to limit the resources of groups against whom he was fighting.
Answer: American Bison
12. What 20th century gay rights activist founded the Homosexual League Of New York in 1962. His last name is the same as pliable twigs that are woven to make furniture and baskets.
Answer: Randy Wicker
13. Since it was started in 1949, Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in the U.S. during which spring month each year?
Answer: May
14. In 1985, Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to be elected chief of what U.S. tribal nation based in Oklahoma? With over 400,000 enrolled members, it's the second largest tribal nation in the U.S. after the Navajo.
Answer: Cherokee Nation
15. Which government building became one of the first in Washington D.C. to become accessible after changes were made to accommodate Franklin Roosevelt’s wheelchair?
Answer: The White House
16. After remixing his "Si Se Puede" call-to-action as a campaign slogan, what U.S. president declared March 31 a federal commemorative holiday honoring César Chávez?
Answer: Barack Obama
17. Although some individuals could vote earlier, which decade saw women and Native Americans given the right to vote throughout the US thanks to the adoption of the 19th Amendment and the Indian Citizenship Act?
Answer: The 1920s
18. Repealed by President Obama in 2010, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was an official policy for gays and bisexuals serving in the US military. Which President originally issued the policy almost 15 years earlier under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26?
Answer: Bill Clinton
19. Following her death in 2005, civil rights activist Rosa Parks became the first African American woman to "lie in honor" so that people could pay their respects, in the rotunda of which landmark building?
Answer: The United States Capitol
20. The Anasazi Native Americans of the American Southwest used an early form of solar energy in the 1200s, situating their houses to capture sunlight for warmth. The Anasazi are ancestors of what Native American group, who lend their “P” name to adobe houses?
Answer: Pueblo
21. Kate Brown became the first openly bisexual governor in U.S. history when she assumed the role after the resignation of John Kitzhaber in 2015. Of what state is Brown the governor?
Answer: Oregon
22. In April 2023, the House of Representatives of what U.S. state voted to bar trans legislator Zooey Zephyr from the House floor?
Answer: Montana
23. What Native American language is renowned for being used by code talkers from a namesake tribe during World War II?
Answer: Navajo
24. Peggy Flanagan is the 50th person to hold what statewide office in Minnesota? She is the second Native American woman to ever be elected to statewide executive office in U.S. history. The office sounds vaguely militaristic.
Answer: Lieutenant Governor
25. What 19th century reformer, whose first and last name both begin with the letter “D”, successfully lobbied for the first mental asylums in the United States? She was Superintendent of Army Nurses during the U.S. Civil War.
Answer: Dorothea Dix
26. What “M” woman, the 18th-century daughter of an American trader and a Muscogee Creek mother was a key figure in negotiations between Native Americans and settlers in Georgia?
Answer: Mary Musgrove
27. Quanah Parker, who was born to an Anglo-American mother, is often said to be the last chief of which Native American tribe from the Southern Plains?
Answer: Comanche
28. When it was passed in 1920, which act created a federal program to provide financial vocational support to disabled Americans? (Hint: It’s also called the Civilian Vocational Rehabilitation Act).
Answer: Smith-Fess Act
29. Which civil rights organization that advocates for the disabled community was founded in Pennsylvania in 1973 with the slogan, “Nothing About Us Without Us?”
Answer: Disabled in Action
30. A history of the U.S. that considers the perspective of enslaved Americans, The 1619 Project is a creation of what hyphenated New York Times writer?
Answer: Nikole Hannah-Jones
31. Founded in Ohio in 1880, which non-profit in the United States is led by Deaf advocates and is one of the oldest civil rights organizations in the U.S.?
Answer: National Association of the Deaf
32. In 1975, which city in Minnesota became the first in the U.S. to pass a civil rights ordinance that included protections for transgender citizens?
Answer: Minneapolis
33. In 1998, which politician from Wisconsin became the first openly lesbian candidate to be elected to Congress?
Answer: Tammy Baldwin
34. The temperance movement led to a constitutional amendment outlawing alcohol and the dawn of which era in U.S. history (from about 1920 to 1933) that was characterized by bootleggers and speakeasies?
Answer: Prohibition
35. On February 19, 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, resulting in the deportation to internment camps of tens of thousands of American citizens who had ancestry from what country?
Answer: Japan
36. Nebraskan Hazel Abel was the first woman from the state to be elected to which chamber of U.S. Congress?
Answer: Senate
37. What Columbia University political scientist gave his name to an interpretation of the Reconstruction era of U.S. history that favored the viewpoint of conservative southerners and disparaged "Radical Republicans" who supported civil rights?
Answer: William Archibald Dunning
38. In what year did Andrew Jackson succeed in having Congress pass the Indian Removal Act, resulting in, among other things, the Trail of Tears?
Answer: 1830
39. The town of Johnstown in western Pennsylvania is most notable in U.S. history for being the site of what type of disaster in 1889, which killed nearly 2,000?
Answer: Flood
40. What Colorado town briefly changed the spelling of its name to honor the U.S. Vice President (one of the "John C.'s" of 19th century U.S. history) before changing it back during the Civil War?
Answer: Breckenridge (Breckinridge)
41. One of the most memorable, and contentious, elections in U.S. history was a narrow win for Rutherford B. Hayes over what Democrat, then Governor of New York, who had won the electoral college votes?
Answer: Samuel J. Tilden
42. When sovereign states create a political union, usually through a treaty and for the purpose of pursuing a common action, it’s sometimes called a league. But the more common name is what term that U.S. History students will probably associate with the Civil War?
Answer: Confederation
43. On May 17, 2004, Marcia Kadish and Tanya McCloskey became the first legally married same-sex partners in the United States when they were wed in which state (the first to legally recognize same-sex marriage)?
Answer: Massachusetts
44. A 1970 speech given by the Native American activist Frank "Wamsutta" James in Plymouth, Massachusetts marked the inaugural National Day of Mourning demonstration. On what important day in the American calendar does this demonstration take place annually?
Answer: Thanksgiving
45. Which battle led to the bloodiest day (most Americans killed in a single day) in U.S. history? Hint: it's not Gettysburg, but was part of that same war.
Answer: Antietam
46. A specific war in U.S. history is largely credited as cutting off the supply of British goods and thus stimulating American industry in Pittsburgh. Only a few years later, the city was producing large amounts of iron, brass, tin, and glass. What is this war with inadvertent benefits for Pittsburgh's manufacturing?
Answer: War of 1812
47. In 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed the National Mental Health Act. Which government institute—which has become one of the most significant mental health research organizations in the world—was formed as a result of the act?
Answer: National Institute of Mental Health
48. Though the amendment itself was adopted 147 years before same sex marriage was legalised across the US, in 2015 the Supreme Court ruled that what number amendment of the U.S. constitution required all states to grant legal marriages to same sex couples due to its "Equal Protection" clause?
Answer: The Fourteenth Amendment
49. What African-American lawyer founded The Chicago Defender in 1905, one of the most successful Black-owned newspapers in the US? His last name is the same as the last name of Lou Costello’s comedy partner.
Answer: Robert Abbott
50. What “S” convention, held in 1848 in its namesake New York hamlet that presumably had some Falls, featured Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and other women’s rights leaders discussing gender equality, and signing the Declaration of Sentiments, formally agreeing to fight for women’s rights?
Answer: Seneca Falls Convention
51. Benjamin O. Davis Sr, the first African-American man to become a general in the US Army, was a key figure in protecting the interests, morale, and rights of Black soldiers in the US Army during what 20th century conflict?
Answer: World War Two
52. A series of anti-immigrant riots that took place in Los Angeles in 1943 are named for what kind of wide-legged suits, then associated with Mexican and Filipino Angelenos?
Answer: Zoot Suits
53. The Pittsburgh native Edith Spurlock Sampson was a lawyer and judge who served as the first Black U.S. delegate to what body in August 1950?
Answer: United Nations
54. What 1892 event saw fighting between Pinkertons, mercenaries hired by the Carnegie Steel Corporation, and striking steelworkers seeking to unionize at the namesake town's steel mill?
Answer: Homestead Strike
55. Remember student council: Azie Morton was the first African-American to hold what guessable currency-signing Treasury Department position just a couple of rungs below the Secretary of the Treasury?
Answer: Treasurer / Treasurer of the United States
56. In 1893, Ida B. Wells joined Frederick Douglass and other Black leaders for a boycott of the World's Columbian Exposition in what Midwest city?
Answer: Chicago
57. Manassas-born Danica Roem became the first trans person elected to a state legislature in 2018, when she was elected to what state's House of Delegates?
Answer: Virginia
58. Writer Maya Angelou, Cherokee leader Wilma Mankiller, and Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong are three of the women who, in 2022, appeared for the first time where?
Answer: Quarters
59. Who was the President of the United States when the US annexed Texas?
Answer: James K. Polk
60. On February 1, 1960, a group known as the "Greensboro Four" famously staged a sit-in at the lunch counter of the local location of what five-and-dime chain, which would not serve them because they were Black?
Answer: Woolworth's
61. What mixed-race Black and Native American man who escaped slavery is generally regarded to be the first American colonist killed in the Boston Massacre, and thereby the first American to die in the Revolution?
Answer: Crispus Attucks
62. Commonly nicknamed “Black Wall Street” due to the thriving African American business within the area, what district in Tulsa, Oklahoma was burned to the ground during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre?
Answer: Greenwood
63. What activist for gay liberation and drag queen was one of the central figures of the Stonewall uprising in 1969? She was a performer with the Hot Peaches and the Angels Of Light, and was also an AIDS activist.
Answer: Marsha P. Johnson
64. What Asian-American activist was the plaintiff in the landmark case which upheld the constitutionality of the Japanese-American internment during WWII? The decision has been called one of the worst ever made by the Supreme Court.
Answer: Korematsu
65. What is the name of the gift-giving feast practiced by indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States? A similar practice is celebrated by Interior and Subarctic peoples though with less elaborate rituals.
Answer: Potlatch
66. Earning her license in 1921, what American aviator was the first Black woman to hold an international pilot's license?
Answer: Bessie Coleman
67. During one of the most controversial elections in U.S. history, who was chosen by the House of Representatives (per the Constitution) as the 19th POTUS?
Answer: Rutherford B. Hayes
68. What was the name of the six-year old Cuban child who was discovered floating in an inner tube off the coast of Miami in 199, jump-starting an international controversy over custody and immigration?
Answer: Elian Gonzalez
69. What “S” American writer, author of books such as “History Of Woman Suffrage” and “The Woman’s Bible”, was a key figure in the mid-19th century women’s rights movement in the US, helping to organize the Seneca Falls Convention with Susan B. Anthony?
Answer: Elizabeth Cady Stanton
70. What “S” woman opened the first birth control clinic in the United States in 1916, and later founded the American Birth Control League in 1921, the precursor to Planned Parenthood?
Answer: Margaret Sanger
It might be that, as a country, we've been through a lot together – good and bad.
In any case, US history trivia questions are a great way to test your knowledge of the people and events that have shaped our nation.
With that in mind, we've gathered US history trivia questions (and their answers) for you to use however you see fit.
You can use them to test your knowledge, play with friends and family, or even use them as icebreaker questions.
If you're looking for US history trivia questions, Water Cooler Trivia is a great place to start.
Our trivia platform is filled with questions on a variety of topics, including US history.
The list of trivia questions above are just the start.
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Get started with a free four-week trial today!
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We do everything we can to ensure that Water Cooler Trivia's questions are appropriate, relevant, and accurate. Our database has tens of thousands of questions, so we don't always get it right. If you see a question that needs editing, we would love if you let us know here or email quizmaster@watercoolertrivia.com.
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