Tammy Wynette, Country Music’s First Lady

By the age of 20, Tammy Wynette was divorced with three children, and working two jobs. At the time, the singer performed just to...

Barbie, Doll of 1,000 Careers and Outfits

It's been more than 50 years since the blond-haired, blue-eyed, impossibly proportioned Barbie doll hit the market. She's held many jobs, lived in many...

Cornel West, Author, Professor and Hip-Hop Artist

Cornel West, a popular professor of religion at Princeton University, has received widespread notoriety for both his intellectual abilities and his knack for sparking...

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer of “Swan Lake” and “The Nutcracker”

Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky has given the world many classical music compositions, including the famous holiday staple “The Nutcracker,” and other memorable pieces like “1812...

Henry VIII, King of England

Henry VIII was larger than life, famous for his seemingly insatiable appetite for women, war, hunting and food. Henry’s Early Days Henry VIII was born on...

Sidney Poitier, Pioneering African-American Actor

Sidney Poitier was the child of tomato farmers in the Bahamas. He moved to New York as a teenager and worked as a dishwasher...

Marian Wright Edelman, Children’s Defense Fund Founder

Crowned by Harper’s Bazaar as “America’s Universal Mother,” and a winner of the Library of Congress Living Legend award, Marian Wright Edelman has dedicated...

Marshall McLuhan, Canadian Philosopher

As a prolific lecturer, author and communication theorist, Marshall McLuhan explored the implications of technology on society, encouraging people to reconsider their relationship with...

Carole King, Chart-Topping Singer-Songwriter

Carole King started playing the piano at age 4 and hasn’t stopped since. Out of college in the 1960s King was writing some of...

Samuel Johnson, Dictionary Writer and Biographer

Not only did Samuel Johnson’s work define the literature of the 18th century, his dictionary defined the language. Sometimes called “the great convulsionary” for...