| A | B |
|---|
| Cabeza Vaca | first person to cross both americas barefoot; began with 300 men ended with 3 surviors |
| Nina Otera | first spanish speaking woment ot obtain prominence in public sevice; her lifes work was devoted to securing human rights and preserving the heritage of the spanish settelers and indians who settled in new mexico |
| William Bradford | Govener of the plymoth colony for 33 years; is known as the father of american history |
| Jean de Crevecoeur | his letters from an american farmer described america to europeans |
| Olaudah Equiano | kidnapped beino bought to virginia sold to a phylidelphian who sent him to work in the west indies |
| Alex Haley | the work on the saga of his family took 12 years; the coast guards first full time journalist |
| Ambrose Bierce | fought with the union army in some of the civil war's fiercest battles; often used surprise endings; believed to have died at age of 71 while covering the war in mexico; fiction expresses the irony and futility of the war |
| Fredrick Douglass | instrumental in recruting the first black troops for the civil war; founder of the north star; protested segregation by sitting in a train car reserved for whites |
| Sojourner Truth | first african american woman to speak out punblicly against savery; real name was isabella baumfree |
| Mark Twain | in river boat jargon his name means "two fathoms deep"; pen name of samuel clemens; both his birth and death were marked by an apperance of haley;s comet; his works are characterized by a love of fun, a commitment to democracy, and a hatred of injustice and self-importance; author of "adventures of hucklybarry finn" the adventures of tom sawyer and life on the mississippi |
| Stephan Crane | author of red badge of courage; died or tuberculosis at the age of 28' subject of his firs novel "maggie" a firl of the streets was so shocking no one published it |
| James Agee | won a pultizer prize for a death in the family; was one of america's finest film critics; wrote the screenplay for the african queen |
| Walt Whitman | his 400 poems are gathered into what is concidered the greatest influently book of poetry in american literature; his leaves of grass was printed at his own expense. |
| Henry David Theroew | spent a night in jail for not paying a tax which supported the mexican war; resigned his teahing position rather than beat his students; ghandi and marin luther king jr. were both influenced by his essay called civil disobendence |
| Rlaph Waldo Emerson | he expressed the principles of transcendentalism in his first book natur; he has been callled the father of american transcendentalism |
| Edgar Allen Poe | credited with shaping and defining the short story form; the father of the modern detective story; inventor of the horror tale; married his first cousin |
| Nathaniel Hawthorn | a decendent of a judge at the salem wich trials; after college lived in saclusion for 12 years; gained an international reputation with the scarlet letter |
| Bob Greene | a sindicated columinist for the chicago tribune; his column american beat appeard in eswquire magazine |
| Howard Fast | best known for his historical novels; member of coumist party untio 1957 |
| Thomas Jefferson | author of the virginia law on religous freedon; served as ambassador to france, secratary of state and vice president before becoming president; died july 4, 1826 the 50th anniversary of the decleration of independence |
| Patrick Henry | led the movement to add the bill of rights to the constitiution; first govener of west virginia |
| Steven Unicet Benet | won a pultizer prize for "john brown's baby"; in world war 2 he was a radio and film propagandust |
| Ben Franklin | did not patten any of his inventions; fonded the univ. of penn; publisher of "poor richards almanac" |
| Jonathan Edwards | tried to convience his congrigation of their need for god; was the son of a puritan minister entered yale at 13 |
| Emily Dickensen | a recluse who only wore white; wrote over1800 poems most were not published until 70 years after her death |
