Biographies Story Briefs

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.

The story of America's first-published African-American poet takes us to Long Island during a time of slavery.

Justice Felix Frankfurter, an immigrant from Austria, became a Supreme Court Justice who fought against racial discrimination in schools.

Kate Adams Keller, twenty years younger than her husband, was his second wife.  She was a tall woman, with blue eyes, and had two daughters (Hele...

When she was just a child, Katharina von Bora was sent to live in a convent (at Brehna, north of Leipzig) after her mother died. She later became the ...

Katherine Parr, who was the last wife of King Henry VIII, was one of his few queens who kept their heads.

Apollo 13 Command Module Pilot Thomas K. Mattingly never made the Apollo 13 Mission because he was exposed to German Measles. That actually turned out...

John Lackland, the English King who agrees to the Magna Carta, acknowledges that Kings and Queens are subject to the rule of law just like everyone el...

Klaus Barbie, who headed the Gestapo in Lyon, France (between 1942-1944), is also known as the "Butcher of Lyon.

Kobie Coetsee, in charge of South Africa's prisons in the mid-80s, began a dialogue with Mandela which eventually freed the prisoner from his life sen...

In this clip, we see Germany's much-feared rockets - the V-2/A-4 - during launch.

The youngest of three boys, Lee Harvey Oswald never knew his father and rarely saw his mother since she had to work long hours to support the family.

Thomas Rogers, one of the "Pilgrim Fathers" who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower, lived in this house in Leiden, The Netherlands.

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