50 Fun Facts About Black Holiday

The 2007 film This Christmas is named after a 1970 song by which soul singer?

Loretta Devine plays matriarch Ma'Dere, with Idris Elba and Regina King among her six children.

Which singer plays 'Baby' Whitfield, the youngest sibling with a secret singing talent?

The Whitfields run a family dry-cleaning business that becomes the source of the film's arguments.

Who wrote and directed The Best Man Holiday, the 2013 sequel to The Best Man?

It made $72.8 million on a $17 million budget with the entire original cast returning.

The Best Man Holiday was shot in which city in 2013?

Morris Chestnut and Terrence Howard both earned NAACP Image Award nominations for it.

Almost Christmas (2016) stars Danny Glover as a widower hosting his family. Who wrote and directed it?

Talbert later made the Netflix musical Jingle Jangle.

In Almost Christmas, Danny Glover's Walter Meyers is a retired what?

He gathers his four grown children for their first holiday since his wife Grace died.

The Preacher's Wife (1996) remakes a 1947 Cary Grant film about an angel helping which clergyman?

Denzel Washington plays the angel Dudley opposite Whitney Houston and Courtney B. Vance.

Who directed The Preacher's Wife?

The Laverne & Shirley star had already directed Big and A League of Their Own.

Roughly how many copies has Whitney Houston's The Preacher's Wife soundtrack, the best-selling gospel album, sold?

Houston was paid $10 million for the role, then a record for a Black actress.

In Last Holiday (2006), Queen Latifah's Georgia Byrd works in which department of a New Orleans store?

The role was originally written for John Candy before his death.

Which TV chef's recipes does Georgia Byrd lovingly recreate in Last Holiday?

She keeps a scrapbook of dreams labelled 'Possibilities'.

In Friday After Next, a robber dressed as whom breaks into Craig and Day-Day's apartment?

He makes off with the presents and the rent money owed to landlady Ms. Pearly.

What jobs do Craig and Day-Day take on Christmas Eve in Friday After Next?

Ice Cube wrote the film, the third in the Friday trilogy; Mike Epps plays two roles.

Netflix's 2020 musical Jingle Jangle stars Forest Whitaker as which toymaker?

The film earned 10 NAACP Image Award nominations, tying the record then held by Black Panther and The Best Man.

Which network premiered A Diva's Christmas Carol (2000), with Vanessa L. Williams as Ebony Scrooge?

Chilli from TLC and Kathy Griffin co-star; Ebony was once part of a 1980s trio called Desire.

Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas (2013) sends Madea to a fictional town in which state?

Bucktussle's Christmas is threatened by financial trouble over a new dam; Larry the Cable Guy co-stars.

The 2013 film Black Nativity, with Forest Whitaker and Angela Bassett, is based on a 1961 play by whom?

Kasi Lemmons directed; Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige and Nas are also in the cast.

Which rapper-actor plays J-Jizzy in The Perfect Holiday (2007), narrated by Queen Latifah?

Morris Chestnut plays a songwriter trying to get his Christmas album to the rapper.

Who plays the drag queen title role in Showtime's Holiday Heart (2000)?

Alfre Woodard earned a Golden Globe nomination as the struggling mother Wanda.

'This Christmas' was co-written by its singer and which lyricist?

Guitarist Phil Upchurch called it 'absolutely the premiere holiday song written by an African American'.

In which city was 'This Christmas' recorded in the autumn of 1970?

It only became a standard after its 1991 inclusion on the reissued Soul Christmas compilation.

Run-DMC's 1987 holiday single first appeared on which charity compilation?

The album benefited the Special Olympics; the group initially refused until publicist Bill Adler suggested the song idea.

'Christmas in Hollis' samples 'Back Door Santa', a 1968 holiday song by which soul singer?

Hollis is the Queens neighbourhood where the group grew up.

Stevie Wonder's first Christmas album, Someday at Christmas, was released in which year?

The title track had come out as a single a year earlier and reached number 24 on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart.

Which blues singer and pianist wrote and recorded 'Please Come Home for Christmas' in 1960?

It topped Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in 1972; the Eagles' 1978 cover reached the Hot 100 top 20.

Johnny Moore's Three Blazers recorded the 1947 original of which R&B holiday standard?

The Blazers' pianist-vocalist later wrote 'Please Come Home for Christmas' as a solo artist.

Eartha Kitt's 'Santa Baby' was the best-selling Christmas song of which year?

Kitt famously disliked Madonna's later cover of it.

Nat King Cole first recorded 'The Christmas Song' in which year?

His 1961 stereo version is considered definitive and is in the National Recording Registry.

'The Christmas Song' was written during a heatwave in July 1945 by Robert Wells and which singer?

They wrote it in about 40 minutes trying to 'stay cool by thinking cool'.

Which single was released from The Jackson 5 Christmas Album (1970)?

Holiday albums were barred from the main Billboard 200 between 1963 and 1973.

Which Motown team wrote the Jackson 5's "Give Love on Christmas Day", "I Want You Back" and "ABC"?

Freddie Perren, Fonce Mizell and Deke Richards were members alongside the label's founder.

The Temptations' Christmas Card was released on which Motown imprint?

Ebony later listed it among Motown's best-selling Christmas albums.

Boyz II Men's 1993 album Christmas Interpretations was written mostly with which labelmate?

Apart from 'Silent Night', every track was an original.

Whitney Houston's only Christmas album, One Wish: The Holiday Album (2003), features a duet with whom?

Its title single was a cover of Freddie Jackson's 'One Wish (for Christmas)'.

Which Whitney Houston recording from a 1987 charity album has made Billboard's gospel charts every year since 2011?

She got a special Dove Award in the late 1990s for bringing gospel to the mainstream.

Destiny's Child's only holiday album, released in 2001, is titled what?

Beyoncé said the title track had been written two years earlier during a studio session.

Kanye West's 2010 track 'Christmas in Harlem' was produced by whom?

It samples two Marvin Gaye songs and Shuggie Otis's 'Strawberry Letter 23'.

How many weeks had 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' topped the Hot 100 by January 2026?

It took 25 years to first reach the top spot in the US; its 22 non-consecutive weeks set the record.

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by which activist?

He drew on African first-fruits harvest festivals and created it in the aftermath of the Watts riots.

The name Kwanzaa comes from a phrase meaning 'first fruits' in which language?

An extra 'a' was added so the name would have a symbolic seven letters.

What is the first of Kwanzaa's seven principles, celebrated on December 26?

The seven principles were developed in 1965, a year before the holiday itself.

What is the Kwanzaa candle holder, which holds seven candles, called?

The seven candles themselves are the Mishumaa Saba; the mat beneath is the Mkeka.

Kwanzaa culminates in a communal feast, usually on the sixth night, called what?

The daily greeting is 'Habari Gani?', meaning 'How are you?'

In which year was the first US Kwanzaa stamp issued, the same year as Clinton's first presidential Kwanzaa message?

Artist Synthia Saint James designed it.

In which state did Gordon Granger enforce the Emancipation Proclamation on June 19, 1865?

Texas was also the first state to recognise the holiday, by proclamation in 1938.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, the first new one since which holiday was adopted in 1983?

Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.

Which colour of food and drink, like strawberry soda, is traditional at Juneteenth gatherings?

The colour is meant to represent resilience and joy, and red velvet cake is another staple of the table.

Which 'grandmother of Juneteenth' stood beside President Biden as he signed the 2021 holiday bill?

At 89 she led a symbolic walk from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., to press for federal recognition.

What does Imani, the seventh and final principle of Kwanzaa, mean?

The seven Swahili-named principles were developed in 1965, a year before the holiday itself, as part of the Kawaida philosophy.

What is the Houston park Black leaders bought for $1,000 in 1872 for Juneteenth called?

Segregation barred Black Texans from many public parks, so communities pooled money to buy land of their own for the annual gatherings.