NYT had a quiz: we'll show you pics of 16 famous people, let's see how many you can name
of the 16, 3 were black. They were the 3 lowest recognized figures of the 16. And not to give it away, but one of the 3 is a very famous Bruin who was both a Civil Rights icon and a world class athlete.
Now, who took this quiz? I have no idea how to categorize the population. The NYT subscriber base (if this quiz was limited to NYT subscribers) is, I imagine, global in nature. Physical borders mean nothing for a digital publication. But maybe people in Russia, China, North Korea, etc. are precluded. Bottom line, yes, I imagine the majority of NYT subs are Americans, but not 100%. 80%? 90%? 50%? I don't have any idea.
if a big chunk of the people taking the quiz were non-Americans, that might help explain that certain Bruins' low recognizability rate. Otherwise, what's the explanation? Some implicit bias that prevents people from recalling a barrier breakers name, a barrier that some regret was ever broken? (Make America White Again)