Biography
Eleanor Roosevelt - U.S. First Lady | Mini Bio | BIO
Born in 1884 in New York City, Eleanor Roosevelt was the niece of one U.S. president, Theodore Roosevelt, and married a man who would become another, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Redefining the role of the first lady, she advocated for human...
Biography
Oscar Wilde - Leading a Double Life | Biography
Born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin, author, playwright and poet Oscar Wilde was a popular literary figure in late Victorian England, known for his brilliant wit, flamboyant style and infamous imprisonment for homosexuality. After...
Biography
Toni Morrison - Writer & Playwright | Mini Bio | BIO
Born on February 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio, Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, editor and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, exquisite language and richly detailed African-American...
Biography
Bette Davis - Broadway to Hollywood | Biography
American actress Bette Davis was born on April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts. After a brief theater career, she became one of the biggest stars in the Hollywood studio system, appearing in nearly 100 films before her death in 1989....
Biography
J.K. Rowling - Author | Mini Bio | BIO
Joanne Rowling (born July 31, 1965), who goes by the pen name J.K. Rowling, is a British author and screenwriter best known for her seven-book Harry Potter children's book series. J.K. Rowling was living in Edinburgh, Scotland, and...
Biography
Catherine The Great - A Powerful Woman | Biography
Catherine II, often called Catherine the Great, was born in Prussia in 1729 and married into the Russian royal family in 1745. Shortly after her husband ascended to the throne as Peter III, Catherine orchestrated a coup to become empress...
Biography
Bea Arthur - It All Changed When... | Biography
Bea Arthur was born on May 13, 1922, in New York City. A Tony Award-winning actress, she appeared on All the in Family, and her character Maude received a spin-off show which dealt with topics like women's rights and abortion. In 1985,...
Biography
Anthony Hopkins: Film Actor | Biography
Born on December 31, 1937, in Port Talbot, Wales, Anthony Hopkins pursued a stage career before working in film in the late '60s. Known for a variety of projects ranging from The Dawning to The Remains of the Day to Amistad, Hopkins has...
Biography
Medgar Evers - Civil Rights Activist | Mini Bio | BIO
Civil rights activist Medgar Evers was born on July 2, 1925, in Decatur, Mississippi. In 1954, he became the first state field secretary of the NAACP in Mississippi. As such, he organized voter-registration efforts and economic boycotts,...
Biography
Mae C. Jemison - Astronaut | Mini Bio | BIO
Mae C. Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American astronaut and physician who, on June 4, 1987, became the first African-American woman to be admitted into NASA’s astronaut training program. On September 12, 1992, Jemison finally...
Biography
Duke Ellington - Pianist & Songwriter | Mini Bio | BIO
Duke Ellington was born April 29, 1899, in Washington, D.C. A major figure in the history of jazz music, his career spanned more than half a century, during which time he composed thousands of songs for the stage, screen and contemporary...
Biography
Muhammad Ali - Boxer | Mini Bio | BIO
Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay) was a boxer, philanthropist and social activist who is universally regarded as one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. Ali became an Olympic gold medalist in 1960 and the world heavyweight...
Biography
Malcolm X - Civil Rights Activist | Mini Bio | BIO
Malcolm X (May 19, 1925 to February 21, 1965) was a minister, human rights activist and prominent black nationalist leader who served as a spokesman for the Nation of Islam during the 1950s and 1960s. Due largely to his efforts, the...
Biography
Sidney Poitier - Filmmaker | Mini Bio | BIO
Sidney Poitier was born on February 20, 1927, in Miami, Florida. After a delinquency-filled youth and a short stint in the U.S. Army, Poitier moved to New York to pursue an acting career. He joined the American Negro Theater and later...
Biography
Ma Rainey - Singer | Mini Bio | BIO
Born Gertrude Pridgett on April 26, 1886, in Columbus, Georgia, Ma Rainey became the first popular stage entertainer to incorporate authentic blues into her song repertoire. She performed during the first three decades of the 20th...
Biography
Janet Jackson - Singer & Songwriter | Mini Bio | BIO
Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 15, 1894. She began to sing at a young age and in 1923 signed a contract with Columbia Records. Soon she was among the highest-paid black performers of her time with hits like...
Biography
Ray Charles - Musician | Mini Bio | BIO
Born in Georgia in 1930, Ray Charles was a legendary musician who pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s. Often called the "Father of Soul," Charles combined blues, gospel and jazz to create groundbreaking hits such as...
Biography
Lee Krasner - Painter | Mini Bio | BIO
Lee Krasner was born October 27, 1908, in Brooklyn, New York. In 1934, the WPA hired her to paint murals. From 1937 to 1940, she studied under Hans Hoffmann. She married fellow artist Jackson Pollock in 1945. In the 1950s, she created...
Biography
Annie Oakley - Folk Hero | Biography
Born Phoebe Ann Moses (or Mosey) on August 13, 1860, in Darke County, Ohio, the woman who would be known as Annie Oakley developed her superb marksmanship abilities as a teen, earning enough to pay off the mortgage for her mother's home....
Biography
Joan Of Arc - Dressed As A Man | Biography
Martyr, saint and military leader Joan of Arc, acting under divine guidance, led the French army to victory over the English during the Hundred Years' War. #Biography Subscribe for more Biography: http://aetv.us/2AsWMPH Delve deeper into...
Biography
Bruce Lee - Film Actor & Martial Arts Expert | Mini Bio | BIO
Bruce Lee was born on November 27, 1940, in San Francisco, California. He was a child actor in Hong Kong who later returned to the U.S. and taught martial arts. He starred in the TV series The Green Hornet (1966-67) and became a major...
Biography
Jimi Hendrix - Guitarist & Songwriter | Mini Bio | BIO
Born in 1942, in Seattle, Washington, Jimi Hendrix learned to play guitar as a teenager and grew up to become a rock legend who excited audiences in the 1960s with his innovative electric guitar playing. One of his most memorable...
Biography
Sigmund Freud - Psychiatrist & Scholar | Biography
Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 to September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist who developed psychoanalysis, a method through which an analyst unpacks unconscious conflicts based on the free associations, dreams and fantasies of the...
Biography
Frank Lucas - Drug Dealer | Mini Bio | BIO
Born September 9, 1930, in La Grange, North Carolina, Frank Lucas moved to Harlem in 1946 where he entered the world of street crime. By the 1960s, he had constructed an international drug empire that spanned from New York to South East...