Biographies Chapters

We may know about a famous person's accomplishments, but what do we know about THEM? What is the human-interest story in THEIR lives? This biography collection features the stories behind the lives of some famous (and not-so-famous) individuals.

In 1810, King Kamehameha the Great unites the Hawaiian Islands and creates the Kingdom of Hawaii.

The Wright brothers win the race to develop the first heavier-than-air powered flying machine.

General Kuribayashi, believing that he will die on Iwo Jima, writes farewell letters to his wife; he allegedly commits suicide rather than surrenderin...

The Japanese capture Zamp and Phil after 47 days. They are beaten and treated worse than animals. Zamp and Phil transfer to another prisoner of war ca...

There are ultimately 38 American pilots in the Lafayette Flying Corps who fly for France in WWI.

When slavery ends, many former slaves face incredible obstacles.

The Challenger Disaster could have been avoided on January 28, 1986. Cold weather worsens O-ring failure possibilities. Engineers ask NASA to delay th...

Read testimony from Robert "Red" Manley who drops Elizabeth Short at the Biltmore Hotel and is the last to see her alive.

With his second wife, the white woman Helen Pitts Douglass, "The Old Man Eloquent" continues to live at Cedar Hill.

Laura Brown, a character in the novel "The Hours," begins to blur the world of Mrs. Dalloway with the reality of her own life.

Read a poem about the life of Lauren Ashley McCain, a 20 year-old freshman in International Studies.

Politics are changing when Edgardo Mortara is removed from his family, and the event makes world news.

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