Bessie Coleman was the first African American to earn an international pilot's license. She dazzled crowds with her stunts at air shows and refused to be slowed by racism (a dislike or disrespect of a person based on their race).
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a major poet of the English Romantic period, a literary movement characterized by imagination, passion, and the supernatural. He is also noted for his works on literature, religion, and the organization of society.
Schoolteacher Marva Collins founded Chicago's Westside Preparatory School in 1975. The success of the school and her teaching methods brought her media attention and inspired a made-for-TV film.
The Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins was a founder of the Irish Free State. Much of his work helped to secure independence from Great Britain for most of Ireland.
The Chinese teacher and philosopher Confucius was the founder of the school of philosophy known as the Ju or Confucianism, which is still very influential in China.
From humble beginnings as a school dropout, Sean Connery became a major movie star at the age of thirty-two, when he was cast as the sophisticated secret agent James Bond. Connery went on to distinguish himself in a number of major motion pictures, including his Oscar-winning performance in The Untouchables.
Polish-born English novelist Joseph Conrad is one of the great modern writers of England. His novels reflect his concerns with the complex individual, and how sympathy and imagination can blur clear judgment—which is essential to life.
The Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was the founder of the heliocentric ordering of the planets, which at the time was a revolutionary idea that stated the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun.
Aaron Copland was one of the most important figures in American music during the second quarter of the twentieth century, both as a composer (a writer of music) and as a spokesman who was concerned about making Americans aware of the importance of music. He won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1945.
Francis Ford Coppola was born in Detroit, Michigan, on April 7, 1939. His father, Carmine, was a musician who played with Arturo Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra.
An entertainer for many decades, Bill Cosby has starred in live performances and films, recorded albums, written books, and created television shows. His long-running, hugely popular The Cosby Show was in the top of the television ratings from its debut in 1984 through 1992.
Jacques Cousteau was an undersea explorer, a photographer, an inventor of diving devices, and a writer. Most important was his work that he produced and wrote for television, which enlightened audiences around the world on the subjects of the ocean's natural treasures and the effects of pollution.
The English playwright, actor, and composer Noel Coward was known for his likable sophistication and sharp sense of humor. Although he wrote some of the most popular plays of his time, he was also known for his entertaining personality and his abilities as a witty storyteller.
John Michael Crichton was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised on Long Island in New York. His father was a journalist, and Crichton has said that his own broad knowledge may have come from his father's wide interests.
Davy Crockett, American frontiersman and politician, became a folk hero during his own lifetime. Crockett grew up on the frontier and later used his knowledge of it in his political campaigns.
The English statesman and general Oliver Cromwell won decisive battles in the English civil war. He then established himself and his army as the ruling force in England and later took the title Lord Protector of Great Britain and Ireland.
Walter Cronkite is an American journalist and radio and television news broadcaster who became one of an outstanding group of correspondents and commentators that the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) News developed after World War II (1939–45; a war in which Germany, Italy, and Japan fought against Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States).
The American poet E. E.
The Polish-born French physicist Marie Curie invented the term "radioactivity" and discovered two elements, radium and polonium. Curie was not only the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, but when she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, she became the first person ever to win the Nobel Prize twice.
A writer of both children's fiction and short stories for adults, Roald Dahl is best known as the author of the 1964 children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (he also wrote the script for the 1971 movie version). Dahl has been described as a master of story construction with a remarkable ability to weave a tale.
The Dalai Lama is the fourteenth leader in a line of Buddhist spiritual and political leaders of Tibet. Buddhists are followers of Gautama Buddha (c.
The Spanish painter Salvador Dali was one of the best-known surrealist artists (artists who seek to express the contents of the unconscious mind). Blessed with an enormous talent for drawing, he painted his dreams and bizarre moods in a precise way.
As an American labor lawyer and as a criminal lawyer, Clarence Darrow participated in debates about the path of American industrial growth and the treatment of individuals in conflict with the law.
In The Origin of Species the English naturalist Charles Darwin outlined the theory of natural selection, or "survival of the fittest," as the explanation for the changing of living beings over time.
Bette Davis was one of Hollywood's greatest actresses. In her sixty-year career in films she won two Best Actress Academy Awards and was a finalist for eight others.
A jazz trumpeter, composer, and small-band leader, Miles Davis was the leading jazz musician for more than two decades. His legend continued to grow even after poor health and diminished creativity removed him from jazz royalty.
Ossie Davis is a leading African American playwright, actor, director, and television and movie star. He was a part of the civil rights movement and helped lead the way for a new generation of African American film directors.
American entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. had a career that spanned more than five decades.