Historical People

Been given an assignment to read a book for U.S. History class and you haven't a clue as to what to read about? Then try the following list of suggested topics. This list contains prominent americans of the past an about how many books the Library has on each.

Notable Americans to 1877

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. Christopher Columbus.	1451-1506	Founder of Western hemisphere	3	17
2. John Smith	1580-1631	Leader of Jamestown	3	5
3. Daniel Boone	1734-1820	Blazed a trail to Kentucky in the 1760’s. Founded a settlement	0	5
4. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark	1774-1809 1770-1838	Sent by Thomas Jefferson to explore the West. Their expedition went to the Pacific Coast in 1804-1806	2	11
5. John C. Fremont	1813-1890	Military explorer and candidate for president in 1856	1	7
6. Zebulon Pike	1779-1813	Explorer of the west	3	1

Political Leaders

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. John Winthrop.	1588-1649	Governor of Plymouth Colony	0	2
2. John Winthrop Jr.	1606-1676	Governor of Mass Bay Colony	0	2
3. Samuel Adams	1722-1803	Patriot	0	6
4 .Benjamin Franklin	1706-1790	Patriot; ambassador; diplomat; scientist	9	25
5. George Washington	1732-1799	First President of the U.S. and military leader of the revolution	0	40
6. Patrick Henry	1736-1799	Leader in the Revolution	0	6
7. Paul Revere	1735-1818	Patriot	0	3
8. John Adams	1735-1826	2nd President of the United States	0	6
9. Thomas Jefferson	1743-1803	3rd President of the U.S.	0	6
10. James Madison	1751-1836	4th President of the United States	0	10
11. Alexander Hamilton	1757-1804	Political Leader and first Secretary of the Treasury	0	20
12. Andrew Jackson	1767-1845	7th President of the United States	0	20
13. Daniel Webster	1782-1852	Leader in government 1812-1850	0	8
14. Henry Clay	1777-1852	Leader in government, 1812-1850	0	6
15. John C. Calhoun	1782-1850	Leader in government, 1812-1850	3	8
16. John Quincy Adams	1767-1848	6th President of the United States	1	7
17. Zachary Taylor	1784-1850	12th President of the United States and military leader in the Mexican-American War	0	3
18. Jefferson Davis	1808-1899	President of the Confederate States of America	0	17
19.Abraham Lincoln	1809-1865	16th President of the United States	9	90

Religious Leaders

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. Roger Williams.	1604?-1683	Founder of Rhode Island	0	4
2. William Penn	1644-1718	Quaker Leader, founder of Philadelphia	1	4
3. Cotton Mather	1663-1728	Puritan preacher and philosopher in Massachusetts	2	4
4. Jonathan Edwards	1703-1758	Religious leader	1	5
5. Joseph Smith	1805-1844	Founder of Mormonism	1	2
6. Brigham Young	1801-1877	Mormon Church President	0	4

Military Leaders

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. Benedict Arnold.	1741-1801	Military Leader and traitor pf the Revolutionary War	0	5
2. William Henry Harrison	1773-1841	Military leader from the War of 1812 and 9th President of the United States	0	1
3. Davy Crockett	1786-1836	Congressman from Tennessee, leader at the Battle of the Alamo	1	4
4. Winfield Scott	1786-1866	Military leader of the Mexican-American War	0	1
5. Robert E. Lee	1807-1870	Military leader of the Confederacy	4	15
6. Ulysses S. Grant	1822-1885	Military leader of the Union Armies in the Civil War. 18th President of the United States	5	23
7. George E. Pickett	1825-1875	Military leader of the Confederacy	0	2
8. James Longstreet	1821-1904	Military leader of the Confederacy	1	0
9. Stonewall Jackson	1824-1863	Military Leader of the Confederacy	1	10
10. Crazy Horse	1849-1877	Indian Chief and military Leader	0	5
11. Sitting Bull	1834?-1890	Indian Chief and military leader	1	9
12. Chief Joseph	1840-1904	Indian Chief and Military leader	2	10
13. George Armstrong Custer.	1839-1876	Civil War and Indian War Leader	1	16
14. Sequoyah	1770-1843	Cherokee Leader	0	3
15. Geronimo	1829-1909	Apache Chief	0	7
16. Tecumseh	1768-1813	Shawnee Chief	2	11

Business Leaders

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. John Jacob Astor.	1763-1848	Founder of the American Fur Company	0	2
2. Cornelius Vanderbilt	1794-1877	American Industrialist and Financier	0	1
3. Wild Bill Hickok	1837-1876	Wild West Show	0	3

Bad Guys and Gals

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. John Wilkes Booth.	1838-1865	Assassinated Abraham Lincoln	2	0
2. John Brown	1800-1859	Led Slave Revolt at Harpers Ferry in 1859	0	9

Reformers, Political Wives, WRiters

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. Thomas Paine.	1737-1809	Wrote *Common Sense and* other writings favorable to the Revolution	7	6
2. Abigail Adams	1744-1818	Wife of John Adams, 2nd President of the U.S.	1	2
3. Dolly Madison	1768-1849	Wife of James Madison, 4th President of the U.S.	0	3
4. Frederick Douglass	1817?-1895	Former Slave who became a leader of Blacks and was an abolitionist before the Civil War	3	5
5. Emily Dickinson	1830-1886	Poet	10	30
6. Harriet Beecher Stowe	1811-1896	Writer. Wrote *Uncle Tom's Cabin*	0	10
7. Clara Barton.	1821-1912	Founder of the American Red Cross	1	4
8. Mary Todd Lincoln	1818-1882	Wife of President Abraham Lincoln	0	2
9. Sacajawea	1786-1884	Native American Woman who helped Lewis and Clark in their expedition to the Pacific Coast	0	2
10. Henry David Thoreau	1817-1862	Philosopher; thinker; writer	30	25
11. Ralph Waldo Emerson	1803-1882	Writer; poet	24	25
12. Stephen Foster	1826-1864	American Songwriter	0	2

Topics: U.S. History to 1876

Event	When	Regular Books
First Thanksgiving	1621	1
Bacon’s Rebellion	1676	2
Salem Witch Trials	1692	5
Peter Zenger Trial	1735	1
Stamp Act	1765	1
Boston Tea Party	Dec 1773	3
Battle of Lexington and Concord	April 1775	2
Valley Forge	1777-1778	5
The Articles of Confederation	1783-1787	3
The Drafting of the Constitution	1787	25
The Hamilton-Burr Duel	1803	25
The War of 1812	1812-1815	25
The Trail of Tears	1834	11
Texas Independence—Alamo	1836	1
The Mexican-American War	1846-1848	4
The Compromise of 1850	1850	3
The Dred Scott Decision	1857	1
Slavery in Oklahoma	1830’s-1861	3
The Firing of Ft. Sumter	Apr 1861	6
Battle of Gettysburg	July 1863	10
The Transcontinental Railroad	1863-1869	2
San Francisco earthquake	1906	3
Loyalists (American Revolution)	1766-1776	8
Treaty of Paris	1783	3
Apache Indians	1880's	9
Gold mines and mining (gold rush)	1849	10
Underground Railroad	1800-1860	5

Notable Americans from 1877 to the Present
Political Leaders

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. Grover Cleveland.	1837-1908	22nd and 24th President of the United States	0	6
2. William Jennings Bryan	1860-1925	Three time presidential candidate: 1896, 1900, 1908	3	8
3. Marcus A. Hanna	1837-1904	Political president-maker; helped get William McKinley get elected	0	1
4. Theodore Roosevelt	1858-1919	26th President of the United States	17	25
5. Woodrow Wilson	1856-1924	28th President of the United States	12	47
6. Franklin D. Roosevelt	1882-1945	32nd President of the United States	14	25
7. Harry S. Truman.	1884-1972	33rd President of the United States	10	25
8. Huey P. Long	1893-1935	Governor of Louisiana	0	5
9. Joseph R. McCarthy	1908-1957	Senator from Wisconsin who searched for communists in the U.S. Government after WWII	0	12
10. Dwight D. Eisenhower	1890-1969	34th President of the United States and Military leader in World War II	7	25
11. John F. Kennedy	1917-1963	35th President of the United States	15	25
12. Lyndon B. Johnson	1908-1973	36th President of the United States	4	27
13. Richard M. Nixon.	1913-1994	37th President of the United States	11	3
14. Jimmy Carter	1924-	39th President of the United States	12	13
15. Ronald Reagan	1911-	40th President of the United States	3	25

Military Leaders

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. Chuck Yeager.	1923-	Test Pilot who broke the sound barrier	1	0
2. George Patton	1885-1945	World War II General	0	3
3. Douglas MacArthur	1880-1964	World War II General of the Pacific Theater	4	11
4. Eddie Rickenbacker	1890-1973	World War I Ace	0	2
5. John J. Pershing	1860-1948	Leader of American troops in World War I	1	3
6. Omar Bradley	1893-1981	U.S. World War II General	1	2

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. Thomas Paine.	1737-1809	Wrote *Common Sense and* other writings favorable to the Revolution	7	6
2. Abigail Adams	1744-1818	Wife of John Adams, 2nd President of the U.S.	1	2
3. Dolly Madison	1768-1849	Wife of James Madison, 4th President of the U.S.	0	3
4. Frederick Douglass	1817?-1895	Former Slave who became a leader of Blacks and was an abolitionist before the Civil War	3	5
5. Emily Dickinson	1830-1886	Poet	10	30
6. Harriet Beecher Stowe	1811-1896	Writer. Wrote *Uncle Tom's Cabin*	0	10
7. Clara Barton.	1821-1912	Founder of the American Red Cross	1	4
8. Mary Todd Lincoln	1818-1882	Wife of President Abraham Lincoln	0	2
9. Sacajawea	1786-1884	Native American Woman who helped Lewis and Clark in their expedition to the Pacific Coast	0	2
10. Henry David Thoreau	1817-1862	Philosopher; thinker; writer	30	25
11. Ralph Waldo Emerson	1803-1882	Writer; poet	24	25
12. Stephen Foster	1826-1864	American Songwriter	0	2

Religious Leaders

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. Billy Sunday.	1862-1935	Evangelist; religious leader	0	1
2. Charles Coughlin	1891-1979	"Radio Priest"	0	1
3. Gordon B. Hinkley	1910-	Leader of the Mormon church.	1	1
4. Billy Graham	1918-	Christian Evangelist	7	5

Business Leaders

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. John Pierpont Morgan.	1837-1913	Financial leader in the late 19th century	0	4
2. Andrew Carnegie	1835-1919	Leader in the steel industry in the late 19th century.	0	3
3. John D. Rockefeller	1839-1937	Leader of the oil industry in the U.S.	0	1
4. Henry Ford	1863-1947	Automobile inventor	0	13
5. Jay Gould	1836-1892	Businessman	0	2
6. Lee Iacocca	1924-	Automobile industry leader	1	1

Reformers/Political Wives/Writers

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. Mark Twain.	1835-1910	Writer, humorist	25	25
2. Susan B. Anthony	1820-1906	Reformer; activist for women's rights.	1	6
3. Elizabeth Cady Stanton	1815-1902	Women's Suffragist	2	2
4. Eugene V. Debs	1855-1926	socialist leader and presidential candidate in the late 19th and early 20th centuries	1	3
5. Booker T. Washington	1856-1915	Black leader and educator	6	11
6. W.E.B. DuBois	1868-1963	Black Educator	20	6
7. Clarence Darrow	1857-1938	Socialist candidate for President	1	3
8. Helen Keller	1880-1968	Handicapped author and lecturer	3	2
9. Eleanor Roosevelt	1884-1962	wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt; humanitarian	11	15
10. Diane Fossey; Jane Goodall	1932-1985 1934-	Research on primates	0	1
11. Jane Addams	1860-1935	reformer; Founder of Hull House	4	2
12. Julia Ward Howe	1819-1910	Reformer and author	0	1
13. Ida Tarbell.	1857-1944	muckracker, writer	4	1
14. William Randolph Hearst	1863-1951	Journalist	1	6
15. Joseph Pulitzer	1847-1911	Journalist	0	2
16. Martin Luther King	1929-1968	Civil Rights Leader	7	14

Sports/Entertainment/Leisure

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. Walt Disney	1901-1966	Animated Film producer	0	2
2. Babe Ruth	1895-1948	Baseball star; home run champ	0	3
3. Jack Johnson	1878-1946	Black heavyweight boxing champion 1908-1915	1	1
4. Jackie Robinson	1919-1972	First black baseball player in the major leagues	2	3
5. Jackson Pollock	1912-1956	Painter	0	3
6. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein	1902- 1895-1960	Broadway playwrights	7	1
7. John Phillip Sousa.	1854-1932	American Bandleader and composer	0	1
8. Jerome Kern	1885-1945	Composer	0	1
9. Jim Thorpe	1887-1953	Native American Athlete	0	2
10. Will Rogers	1879-1935	humorist	24	1
11. Jack Dempsey	1895-1983	Prize fighter	0	1
12. Howard Hughes	1905-1976	Reclusive billionaire; built"Spruce Goose" the largest airplane of its time	0	3
13. Amelia Earhart	1897-1937	Pioneer of aviation	0	4
14. Charles Lindbergh	1902-1974	First to fly solo from New York to Paris	4	12
15. P.T. Barnum	1810-1891	Circus owner	0	4

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. George Washington Carver.	1864-1943	Black Scientist	0	1
2. Orville Wright Wilbur Wright	1871-1948 1867-1912	Invented the airplane	0	7
3. Bill Gates	1955-	mastermind behind the microsoft empire and world's richest man	2	3
4. Thomas Edison	1847-1931	Inventor of the light bulb, phonograph and hundreds of other inventions	1	7
5. Alexander Graham Bell	1847-1922	Inventor of the telephone	0	3
6. Albert Einstein	1879-1955	Scientist who postulated the theory of relativity and lived the last twenty years of his life in the United States	4	0
7. Robert Oppenheimer	1904-1967	leader of the atomic bomb project	0	3

Bad Guys & Gals

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. Jesse James	1847-1882	Banker robber	0	5
2. Lizzie Borden	1860-1927	alleged murderer	0	1
3. Al Capone	1899-1947	gangster in Chicago in the 1920's	0	1
4. Belle Starr	1848-1889	Western outlaw	0	3
5. John Dillinger	1903-1934	Outlaw	0	1
6. Wyatt Earp	1848-1929	U.S. Marshall>	0	3

Explorers

Name	Lived	What they did	Books by	Books about
1. Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.	1930-	Astronaut--1960's and 1970's	0	1
2. Michael Collins	1930-	Astronaut--1960's and 1970's.	0	2
3. Neil Armstrong	1930--	First man on the moon.	0	2
4. Jim Lovell	1928-	Astronaut--1960's and 1970's	0	1
5. Walter M. Schirra	1923-	Astronnaut--1960's and 1970's	0	1

Topics- U.S. History Since 1877

Event	When	Regular Books
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson	1868	2
Hayes-Tilden Election	1876	1
Reconstruction	1865-1877	14
Industrial Revolution	1865-1900	2
The Transcontinental Railroad	1865-1869	2
Custer’s Last Stand	June 1876	12
The Battle of Wounded Knee	1890	5
The Pullman Strike	1894	1
T.R. and the Bull Moose Party	1912	1
The sinking of the Titanic	April 1912	7
The sinking of the Lusitania	May 1915	3
League of Nations	1919-1940	25
Prohibition	1920-1933	19
The Teapot Dome Scandal	1923	2
The Sacco-Vanzetti Case	1927	2
Motion Picture History	1900-pres	7
Pearl Harbor	Dec 7, 1941	25
The Manhattan Project	1941-1945	4
Japanese internment camps	1942-1945	4
Decision to drop the Atomic bomb	1945	2
The Korean War	1950-1953	72
The Fall of Gen MacArthur	1951	2
The McCarthy Hearings	1952-1954	1
U.S. Space Program	1957-present	25
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy	Nov 22, 1963	22
The 1960’s	1960-1969	9
Tet Offensive	1968	2
My Lai Massacre	1968	2
Vietnam War Draft Resistance	1968-1973	0
Apollo 11 Mission	July 1969	2
The Kent State Riot	1970	2
Watergate Scandal	1972-1974	34
Three Mile Island	1979	2
American cowboy		40
Circus		5
Voting		16
Federal Bureau of Investigation		5
Immigrants		40
NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People		2
United States Supreme Court		10

Historians

Catton, Bruce	1899-1978	12
Franklin, John Hope		8
Morison, Samuel E.		22
Hersh, Seymour		4
Manchester, William	1922--	12
Salinger, Pierre		5
Hershey, John	----	3
Nevins, Allan	1890-1971	23
Beard, Charles Austin	1874-1948	19
Tuchman, Barbara		8
Schlesinger, Arthur	1917-	30
Woodward, C. Vann	1908-	6
White, Theodore Harold	1915-1986	5

Last Updated: June 23, 2008