BIPOC in Question Sets

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Stained Diviner
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BIPOC in Question Sets

Post by Stained Diviner »

Because it has been a long time since I have done this, I decided to revisit the issue of African Americans in question sets. This effort is not connected to the Panel discussion on inclusion and racism in quizbowl, but let me take this opportunity to encourage you to attend the Panel discussion on inclusion and racism in quizbowl this Saturday.

This time I looked at two sets from 2019 and saw how they mentioned black and native people in the Western Hemisphere, which admittedly is somewhat arbitrary criteria. Unlike my previous effort, I looked at the actual questions rather than just the answerlines. I included real and fictional people, and I also included issues that clearly addressed race. You can see below what I counted. Some of the close calls I left out were Anansi (African), To Kill A Mockingbird (question referenced only whites), sickle reference in a red blood cells question, and a history tossup on cotton that didn't clearly mention slavery. To be clear, that's my judgment over whether to include those questions in this list, but that's not my judgment that the questions are bad. There were probably also some questions I left out due to my own ignorance. Maybe somebody else would have included some of these, but I did all the work and made those perhaps arbitrary decisions.

I am not going to add a lot of commentary to this. I'd love for other people to do so. If I provide the raw data and you provide the commentary, that's fine with me. I am going to name the question sets this time because I don't think they have anything to be ashamed of, and I don't see this turning into a finger pointing exercise. As you can see below, there were a number of references made and they varied by category. I found more than I expected to find.
2019 HFT wrote:Tossup on affirmative action
Gordon Ramsay tossup mentions Momma Cherri
Slavery tossup mentions Middle Passage and from Africa
Bonus part on Jamaica mentions Mary Seacole
Bonus part on soul mentions Aretha Franklin
Zombie tossup refers to Flatbush Zombies
Wall Street tossup mentions Native American incursions
Bonus parts on Muisca and Atahualpa
Bonus part on Bayard Rustin
Sound and the Fury tossup mentions Reverend Shegog and Luster
Bonus part on Barack Obama
Cities tossup mentions redlining
Lady Gaga tossup mentions Beyonce
USA tossup mentions Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Virginia bonus part mentions the blackface scandal
Pierre Trudeau tossup mentions Jody Wilson-Raybould
Housing tossup mentions Pruitt-Igoe
LDS bonus part mentions Paiute Native Americans, and Brigham Young bonus part mentions banning of African American priests
New England Patriots tossup mentions David Tyree
Voting tossup mentions the Bradley effect
Eisenhower tossup mentions actions against Orval Faubus
Superbad bonus mentions Kanye West
Rags tossup mentions Scott Jopin
Chicago tossup mentions Richard Wright and his works
Bonus part on Mesoamerican ballgame
Bonus part on Africa using Phyllis Wheatley clue and bonus part on Derek Walcott
IM Pei tossup mentions Anasazi dwellings
Bonus part on Miles Davis, and bonus part on piano mentions Duke Ellington
Bonus part on point guards mentions Chris Paul, and a bonus part on Steph Curry
Antietam tossup mentions Emancipation Proclamation
Bonus on Sioux
Hillary Clinton tossup mentions Elijah Cummings
James Polk tossup mentions gag rule on slavery petitions
Mexico bonus mentions Aztecs and Machu Picchu
Bass tossup mentions Esperanza Spalding, Ron Carter, and Charles Mingus
Florida tossup mentions Seminoles
Tax tossup mentions Jim Crow laws
Bones tossup mentions Quetzalcoatl
Mexico bonus part mentions Olmecs and Aztecs
Tom Sawyer tossup mentions Injun Joe
James Cook tossup mentions Hawaiian natives
Charles Darwin tossup mentions “savage races”
Ouija bonus mentions characters from Karen Russell’s Swamplandia
Bonus on Mayans/Zapotecs/Aztecs
Bonus part on Charlie parker and a part that references African American spirituals
Tossup on Toni Morrison
Tossup on Machu Picchu
Bonus on Aztec mythology
Bonus part on Queequeg
Bonus part on Dred Scott
Bonus part on dreams quotes Langston Hughes
Bonus on Nicki Manaj, Kanye West, and Teyana Taylor
Bonus on Olmecs
Bonus on Santeria
2019 BLAST wrote:Tossup on Ilhan Omar
Tossup on Toni Morrison
Tossup on Sacagawea
Tossup on Aztec Empire
Thanksgiving tossup mentions Indian corn and Native Americans
FDR tossup mentions minorities
Bonus part on Suriname describing its creole language
Bonus on French and Indian War
Tossup on Kate Chopin mentions Armand being part black in Desiree’s Baby
Bonus part on boxing mentions Floyd Patterson
USA tossup mentions Chamorro people
Panama tossup mentions Inca
Brazil tossup mentions maroons and slavery
Guitar tossup mentions Miles Davis’s Sketches of Spain
Orange tossup refers to Tommy Orange
Hayes tossup refers to Reconstruction
Bonus on Eugenia Charles that mentions Marcus Garvey
Chicago bonus part mentions race riots
Graffiti tossup mentions Jean-Michel Basquiat and Charlie Parker
Rainbows tossup mentions Lenape
Canada tossup mentions Mi’kmaq
Glorieta Pass bonus part mentions Sand Creek massacre
Massachusetts tossup mentions Ayanna Pressley
Africa tossup mentions Derek Walcott
Bonus parts on Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman, mention of Art Tatum
Bonus on Langston Hughes
Tossup on Their Eyes Were Watching God
JMW Turner bonus part mentions The Slave Ship
Bonus on Aztec mythology
Rabbit tossup mentions Aztec mythology
Bonus on Voodoo
Bonus part on Fences
Charles I bonus part mentions Aztecs and Incas
North Carolina tossup mentions A&T University and Shaw University
Bonus part on The Confessions of Nat Turner
Florida tossup mentions racial slurs
Wagons tossup mentions Red Cloud’s War
Boats tossup mentions Caleuche
Francisco Pizarro tossup mentions Atahualpa and Incan Empire
Presidential portrait tossup mentions Kehinde Wiley and Barack Obama
Geography bonus describes states based on Native American populations
Washington tossup mentions the chef Hercules
Tossup on A Raisin in the Sun
Bonus part on Kevin Durant
Bonus part on Octavia Estelle Butler
Bonus parts on Alice Walker and The Color Purple
Bonus part on Seminoles
Bonus part on Native Americans that mentions Hiawatha within a bonus on Remington
Grand Canyon tossup mentions Hualapai
Chicken tossup mentions Florida law banning Santeria practice
Tossup on Miles Davis
Mountains tossup mentions Navaho and Incan myth
Amazons tossup mentions Piraha
Paz tossup mentions the Aztec calendar
Yucatan Peninsula tossup mentions native goddesses and Chaac
David Reinstein
Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo, Masonics, and IESA; TD for Scobol Solo and Reinstein Varsity; IHSSBCA Board Member; IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014); PACE President (2016-2018)
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