Upton Sinclair
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair — Biograph...
Category: snapshot biographies
Our collection of historical short story biographies about people who have worked to help others and bring social change.
Robert Gould Shaw
Biography In his early years, Robert Gould Shaw lived within the privileges of a wealthy family in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was born in 1837. As he enter...
Jesse Owens
“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.”...
Inez Milholland Boissevain
“I am prepared to sacrifice every so-called privilege I possess in order to have a few rights.” — Inez Milholland Boissevain was a courageous ...
Adelina Patti: “sweetest singer of the age”
Adelina Patti awed audiences for much of the latter half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th with her beautiful voice, impeccable technique and dr...
John Mercer Langston: a snapshot biography
John Mercer Langston would become a man of many firsts. But before his accomplishments, he was born in Virginia in 1829. John was born to a mixed-race couple. H...
Frederick Douglass: a snapshot biography.
Upbringing & Early Years “I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and m...
Sissieretta Jones: a snapshot biography.
Sissieretta Jones Biography “I have a voice and I am striving to win the favor of the public by honest merit and hard work.” – Sissieretta Jon...
Ernest Everett Just: a snapshot biography.
Ernest Everett Just Biography The years of his life were often experienced with unkind treatment, as he faced much discrimination for being black. But through t...
Edmonia Lewis: sculptor and equality advocate
— Most people didn’t know her age; she kept those details a mystery. But no one questioned her remarkable talent. For as a sculptor, Edmonia Lewis w...