Frederick Douglass Biography (1818-1895)

Frederick Douglass was a former slave who became one of the great American anti-slavery leaders of the 1800s. Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland but in 1838, at age 20, he escaped to freedom in New York. A few years later he went to work for abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, travelling and speaking on behalf of Garrison’s paper…

Shaun Alexander Biography 1977-

(born Aug. 30, 1977, Florence, Ky., U.S.) American professional gridiron football player who was one of the most prolific touchdown scorers in National Football League (NFL) history.

Named a high-school All-American by Parade magazine and USA Today in 1995, Alexander earned the nickname “Mr. Touchdown” early in his career. He went on to star at the University of Alabama…

Larry Bird Biography (1956-)

Larry Bird rose from modest small-town origins in French Lick and West Baden, Indiana, to lead Indiana State University to the 1979 college basketball finals, then went on to a stellar professional career with the Boston Celtics (1979-1992). His five-year 1979 contract for $3.25 million made him, at the time, the highest-paid rookie in the history of sports. Ungainly…

Wayne Gretzky Biography (1961-)

Wayne Gretzky was named the greatest player in National Hockey League history by The Hockey News in 1998. Among his accomplishments: he was the NHL’s all-time leading scorer, he was named league MVP nine times and he led the Edmonton Oilers to four Stanley Cups in five years (1984-88). Gretzky made hockey somewhat of a Hollywood fad when he…

Walt Whitman Biography (1819-1892)

Walt Whitman was a 19th century writer whose life’s work, Leaves of Grass, made him one of the first American poets to gain international attention. Whitman spent most of his young life in Brooklyn, where he worked as a printer and newspaper journalist through the 1850s. The first edition of Leaves of Grass was privately printed in 1855 and…

Robert Frost Biography (1874-1963)

(born March 26, 1874, San Francisco, California, U.S.—died January 29, 1963, Boston, Massachusetts) American poet who was much admired for his depictions of the rural life of New England, his command of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people in everyday situations. Life

Frost’s father, William Prescott Frost, Jr., was a journalist with ambitions of establishing a career…

Maya Angelou Biography (1928-)

Writer, dancer, African-American activist. Born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Angelou spent her difficult formative years moving back and forth between her mother’s and grandmother’s. At age eight, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, who was subsequently killed by her uncles. The event caused the young girl to go mute for nearly six…

Hope Solo Biography (1981-)

Hope Solo is the fiery and athletic goalkeeper who led the U.S. National Soccer team to the finals of the Women’s World Cup in 2011. Hope Solo was a forward in her youth soccer days, scoring 109 goals in her high school career, but she switched to goalie for good at the University of Washington. She was a…

Joan Baez Biography (1941-)

Joan Baez is a popular American folk singer who has been a social activist since the 1960s, when her version of “We Shall Overcome” became an unofficial anthem for civil rights advocates. She began her career in Boston coffeehouses while a student, and made a splash at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. A unique soprano, Baez sang traditional…

Melissa Satta Biography (1986-)

Melissa Satta was born on February 7, 1986, in Boston, Massachusetts. Her Italian parents were in the U.S. for business purposes because her dad, Enzo Satta, was working as an architect. As such, Melissa spent a lot of her early years on planes, flying back and forth between the U.S. and Sardinia.

Even with all the traveling, Melissa kept…

Kevin Federline Biography (1978-)

Singer, dancer, model. Born Kevin Earl Federline on March 21, 1978 in Fresno, California. Best known for his marriage to superstar Britney Spears in 2004, Federline has performed as a backup dancer for such pop stars as Justin Timberlake, Pink and Michael Jackson. In 2005, he co-starred with Spears in the short-lived reality TV show Britney and Kevin:…