Quiz bowl tests teams' black knowledge

In the Final Jeopardy round, three remaining teams were faced with one question — and a big gamble. 

By identifying Ghana as the African nation led by Kwame Nkrumah, the Black Student Union team won the final round to take home the prize at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center’s annual Black Knowledge Bowl.

BSU team member and freshman Amber Hammond said the win felt good, especially because the team came together only a few weeks before the competition.

“We were the underdogs,” Hammond said.

From heavyweights and quarterbacks to filmmaker Spike Lee and IU’s first black graduate Marcellus Neal, the Bowl quizzed students on African-American history, popular culture and arts in a Jeopardy-style format.

Five teams, representing organizations like the BSU and Phi Beta Sigma as well as unaffiliated individuals, competed for the top prize of $500, a trophy and a plaque hung in the Center.

Center director Audrey McCluskey said the Jeopardy format may be new, but the competition is not. It has existed in some form for at least three decades, McCluskey said, and gives students of every background a chance to test their knowledge.

“It’s a way to extend the idea that black history is U.S. history,” McCluskey said.