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John Calvin Biography

The French religious reformer John Calvin created a strict version of Protestantism, which originally arose in opposition to the Catholic Church. He is known for his belief in predestination (meaning God has already chosen who will and will not be saved) and his view of the state as enforcer of church laws.

Ben Nighthorse Campbell Biography

As a result of his election on November 3, 1992, Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado became the first Native American to serve in the U.S. Senate in more than sixty years.

Albert Camus Biography

The French novelist, essayist, and playwright Albert Camus was the literary spokesman for his generation. His obsession with the philosophical problems of the meaning of life and man's search for value made him well loved by readers, resulting in his award of the Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of forty-four.

Al Capone Biography

Al "Scarface" Capone was an American gangster who rose to power during the Prohibition era (1920–33), when the United States banned the production and sale of liquor. His vicious career illustrated the power and influence of organized crime in the United States.

Truman Capote Biography

Truman Capote is one of the most famous and controversial writers in contemporary American literature. He is best known for In Cold Blood, a nonfiction novel about the murder of an American family.

Frank Capra Biography

Filmmaker Frank Capra was Hollywood's top director in the 1930s. He created several immensely popular movies that captured the mood of the Depression-era United States, and he earned more Academy Award nominations than any of his contemporaries.

Lázaro Cárdenas Biography

Lázaro Cárdenas was a Mexican revolutionary leader and president. During his administration he carried out major land reforms that benefited the Mexican people and brought the country's oil industry back under Mexican control, thus restoring the people's faith in the revolution.

Stokely Carmichael Biography

Stokely Carmichael was a civil rights activist during the turbulent 1960s. He soared to fame by popularizing the phrase "Black Power." Carmichael championed civil rights for African Americans in a rapidly changing world.

Andrew Carnegie Biography

The Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was the leader of the American steel industry from 1873 to 1901. He donated large sums of his fortune to educational, cultural, and scientific institutions.

Lewis Carroll Biography

The English church official Lewis Carroll was the author of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, famous adventure stories for children that adults also enjoy. He was also a noted mathematician and photographer.

Johnny Carson Biography

Johnny Carson has been called the "King of Late Night Television." He became a pioneer in television as host of The Tonight Show for thirty years. His interviewing and comic techniques won over a huge audience and produced numerous imitators.

Kit Carson Biography

Kit Carson (1809–1868) was a frontiersman, western guide, and trapper. He first gained fame as a distinguished guide for explorers in the western frontier, when America had a love affair with the untamed land west of the Mississippi River.

Rachel Carson Biography

Rachel Carson was an American biologist and writer whose book Silent Spring awakened the public to the dangers of pollution and its impact on the environment. Because of her work, she is considered a pioneer in the modern environmental movement.

Jimmy Carter Biography

Jimmy Carter was a state senator, governor, and the first U.S. president to be elected from the deep South in 132 years, serving one term (1977–81).

George Washington Carver Biography

George Washington Carver started his life as a slave and worked his way to becoming a respected and world-renowned agricultural chemist. He helped develop agricultural techniques used around the world.

Pablo Casals Biography

Pablo Casals was regarded as one of the greatest cello players and composers (writers of music) of the twentieth century. He was also an active protester against oppressive governments (those that misuse their power and mistreat citizens), including that of the Spanish tyrant Francisco Franco (1892–1975).

Mary Cassatt Biography

American painter Mary Cassatt is considered a member of the French impressionists, a nineteenth-century style that emphasized impressions of scenes or objects. Best known for her series of paintings of a mother and child, she also portrayed fashionable society.

Vernon Castle and Irene Biography

Ballroom dancers Vernon and Irene Castle led the craze for ragtime and Broadway routines adopted as social dances in the years before World War I (1914–18).

Fidel Castro Biography

Fidel Castro is the Cuban prime minister and first secretary of the Communist party of Cuba. A lawyer by training, Castro led the Cuban Revolution and transformed the island into the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere.

Willa Cather Biography

The American author Willa Cather is noted for her strong and thoughtful descriptions of prairie life in the last years of the midwestern frontier. Her poetic style was greatly different from other kinds of writing at the time.

Catherine of Aragon Biography

Catherine of Aragon was to represent a political union between a strong and powerful Spain and the upand-coming England. Instead she became a model of excellence during a stormy period in European history.

Catherine the Great Biography

The Russian empress Catherine II, known as Catherine the Great, reigned from 1762 to 1796. She expanded the Russian Empire, improved administration, and energetically pursued the policy of Westernization (the process of changing to western ideas and traditions).