70 Juneteenth Trivia Questions and Answers (2024)
These great Juneteenth trivia questions and answers will get you talking and learning. See what you know about our newest federal holiday!
Easy Juneteenth Trivia Questions
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1. Which two words is Juneteenth a combination of?
June and nineteenth.
2. Is Juneteenth a federal holiday?
Yes.
3. In 2021, who signed a bill making Juneteenth a national holiday?
President Joe Biden
4. What is celebrated on Juneteenth?
The end of slavery in the United States
5. What does Juneteenth symbolize?
Freedom. And the ongoing struggle for equality in the United States. People reflect and remember the sacrifices of the past and look forward to a better future for all.
6. What is the name of the war that brought the end to slavery?
Civil War
7. Do you know another name for Juneteenth?
Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Cel-Liberation Day, Black Independence Day
8. Where did the holiday originate?
Texas
9. Which US president signed the Emancipation Proclamation, putting an end to slavery?
Abraham Lincoln
10.
Red, white, and blue
11. What day is Juneteenth celebrated on?
June 19th
12. What symbol is on the Juneteenth flag?
A star
13. What does the star represent?
Texas (the Lone Star State), as well as the freedom of enslaved people in all 50 states.
14. What do the red white and blue colors on the Juneteenth flag represent?
That the formerly enslaved were and are Americans.
15. Why would someone wear red on Juneteenth?
To symbolize the bloodshed and resiliency of their ancestors.
Related: June Trivia Quiz
Juneteenth History Trivia Quiz
16. In what city is the oldest known Juneteenth celebration held (celebrated since 1867)?
Austin, Texas
17. Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when this general announced that enslaved people in Texas were free.
Union General Gordon Granger
18. What city in Texas was the general in when he made this announcement?
Galveston, Texas
19. How long after the Emancipation Proclamation was this Juneteenth announcement made?
2 and a half years later.
20. What was the Emancipation Proclamation?
A proclamation declaring that all slaves shall be free as of January 1, 1863.
21. In what year was the Emancipation Proclamation signed?
1862
22. Why did it take so long for the Emancipation Proclamation to be enforced in Texas?
Because it could not be enforced in the Confederate States until after the civil war.
23. Before President Joe Biden made Juneteenth an official holiday, what was the last national holiday to be made in the US?
Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983
24.
Frederick Douglass
25. The first captives brought to America for slavery were brought to which colony?
Jamestown
26. How many African American soldiers won Congressional Medals of Honor for their bravery during the Civil War?
26
27. On what date did the Civil War end?
April 9, 1865
28. After Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and the events of Juneteenth, which Amendment in the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in America?
Thirteenth Amendment
29. Which two Union border states still practiced slavery until 1865 and the 13th Amendment?
Delaware and Kentucky
30. Who was known as the “Moses of her people.” She escaped her own slavery and then helped hundreds of slaves escape to freedom. She also served as a scout, spy, guerilla soldier, and nurse during the Civil War.
Harriet Tubman (source)
31. In what year did Harriet Tubman escape and gain her own freedom from slavery?
1849
32. What is the name of the famous network of routes and safe houses that she used to aid slaves escaping to free states?
The Underground Railroad
33. Approximately how many former slaves fought in the American Civil War?
Around 179,000 black men (10% of the Union Army) served as soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 served in the Navy (Nationalarchives.gov)
34. What was the last northern state to end slavery?
New Jersey
35. What was the first state to abolish slavery?
Vermont was the first colony to abolish slavery in 1777 (source)
*More Trivia You’ll Love:
Multiple Choice & True False Trivia For Juneteenth
36. What is the period called that occurred after the announcement by General Gordon Granger, when former slaves left Texas for other states?
a. The Freedom Run
b. The Scatter
c. Independence Day
Answer: B. The Scatter
37. What is the name of the official order given by General Gordon Granger announcing that slavery had ended?
a. General order number 3
b. General order number 9
c. The Emancipation Order
d. The 13th Amendment
Answer: A. General order number 3
38.
Answer: D. Approximately 100,000 (source)
39. How many states made up the Union in the Civil War?
a. 17
b. 20
c. 25
d. 30
Answer: C. 25 States (Five of these were border states whose citizens fought both sides, and 2 states were added during the war)
40. The Confederate States of America was made up of how many states?
a. 11
b. 15
c. 6
d. 9
Answer: A. 11 (history.com)
41. What was the name of the Confederate general who surrendered to Union forces, thereby ending the civil war?
Robert E. Lee
42. True or false: Sojourner Truth is the name of the American abolitionist who was born into slavery but escaped with her infant daughter in 1826. She preached equal rights for all.
True
43. True or false: Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, West Virginia, and New Hampshire were the five border states in the Civil War.
False: Maryland was the fifth border state – not New Hampshire
44. Nat Turner was the slave who incited and was then hanged for the rebellion known as the Southhampton Insurrection.
True.
45. True or False: Approximately 900,000 people were slaves in the United States in 1860.
False. Approximately 4 million people were slaves. (source)
46. True or False: The Jim Crow Laws were the name of the state and local laws that enforced racial segregation after slavery ended.
True.
47. True or False: General Gordon Granger came to Texas alone to announce the freedom of slaves.
False: He arrived with around 2,000 Union Troops
48. True or False: Juneteenth was originally called Jubilee Day or Freedom Day.
True.
49. Part of General Order No. 3 encouraged the newly freed people to remain with their past owners.
True. (source)
50. True or False: The time period after the Civil War is known as The Great Depression.
False: It is known as “The Reconstruction.” It was a time of great uncertainty, hope, and struggle as formerly enslaved people sought to unify families and integrate socially, politically, and in the workforce.
*More family activities to check out:
Hard Juneteenth Trivia Questions And Answers
51. Juneteenth celebrations often include which song, also known as the Black National Anthem?
Lift Every Voice and Sing
52. What year did Texas make the holiday official in their state?
1980
53. Before it became a national holiday, Juneteenth was commemorated in how many states?
49 (Hawaii signed a day before it became a federal holiday)
54. Which was the last state to officially recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday?
South Dakota in February 2022
55. Who introduced the first legislation recognizing Juneteenth Independence Day in the U.S. House of Representatives?
Barbara-Rose Collins
56. Do people get the day off for this holiday?
It depends on where you live and who you work for. Big companies such as Nike, Target, Mastercard, Netflix, and Twitter are giving employees the day off. And, as the time of this article, 18 states observe it as a paid holiday.
57. What type of food do people eat on Juneteenth?
Barbecue and red foods such as punch, hibiscus tea, red velvet cake, red beans and rice, strawberry, watermelon, and hot sauce.
58. What was the first Union regiment made up entirely of African American soldiers called?
The 54th Massachusetts Regiment
59. How many enslaved people were estimated to be living in Texas in 1865?
More than 250,000
60. What year was the Juneteenth flag created?
1997
61.
Activist Ben Haith
62. In what year was the date “June 19, 1865” added to the Juneteenth flag?
2007
63. Who is the African American author of the novel “Juneteenth”? It was published after his death.
Ralph Ellison
64. What is the name of the former slave who became the first person of color to graduate from the “United States Military Academy” at West Point?
Henry Flipper
65. What was the name of the 10 acres of land purchased by former slaves to celebrate Juneteenth in the 1870s?
Emancipation Park
66. Which city is the park located in?
Houston, Texas. (It is the oldest park in Texas)
67. Who was the first African American to serve in the senate?
Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first African American senator in 1870.
68. Who put forward the bill that made Texas the first state to make Juneteenth an official state holiday?
Al Edwards
70. Can you put the events of the Civil War, The Emancipation Proclamation, Juneteenth, and the 13th Amendment in order?
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
– General Orders, No. 3
Related: More Holiday Trivia With Anwers
To Consider With This Game
We hope you had fun playing this Juneteenth trivia, but also learned a lot about our nation’s historical moments, struggles, and symbols.
Do you celebrate Juneteenth? What do your celebrations look like? Leave a comment and let us know!
Thank you for this! We are holding a end-of-school-year party and will be celebrating Juneteenth along with Pride and summer. We’ll have a Juneteenth trivia table and this page is going to be so helpful in building that out.
I’m so glad you found this helpful Stacey! Thanks for sharing!