Joseph Lee, Father of the Playground Movement

Joseph Lee dedicated his life to promoting recreation and play for children and adults alike, and is best known for transforming a fledgling playground...

Walter Cronkite, CBS News Anchor

To his colleagues, he was “Old Iron Pants,” and to everyone else, he was “The Most Trusted Man in America.” For more than half...

Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize-Winning Author

Toni Morrison grew up in a house of African-American storytellers and developed a love for books. After earning a masters degree in English and...

Mark Spitz, Swimming Legend

Mark Spitz was a brash swimming prodigy who overcame disappointment in the 1968 Olympics to win seven gold medals in 1972, setting a record...

Katharine Hepburn, Legendary Actress

For more than six decades, Katharine Hepburn mesmerized audiences with her regal accent, classic beauty and exceptional acting. Her fiercely independent, unconventional persona and...

Meriwether Lewis, Western Explorer

Along with William Clark, Meriwether Lewis led the first expedition through the territory of the Louisiana Purchase, revealing the landscape and nature of the...

W.S. Gilbert, Operetta Librettist for “The Pirates of Penzance”

William Schwenck Gilbert, one half of the successful Gilbert and Sullivan duo, had a knack for satire and an eye for staging, producing comic...

Alan Haskvitz, Celebrated American Educator

Alan Haskvitz is one of America’s most honored teachers. During his career taught almost every grade level and core subject. He has written books...

Albert Einstein, Physicist Who Developed Theory of Relativity

Albert Einstein grew up in Munich, Germany and spent much of his life as a scholar in Berlin. He wrote several monumental papers that...

Nadine Gordimer, 1991 Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature

Writer Nadine Gordimer has devoted her life to fighting for the rights and health of the less fortunate and oppressed. She won the Nobel...