Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries
Filterable archive covering centuries of intellectual, artistic, and moral contributions to the human story.
Mary Church Terrell
(Mary Eliza Church Terrell)
Pioneering civil rights and women's suffrage champion who served as the first national president of the National Association of Colored Women, co-founded the NAACP, and won the landmark 1953 Supreme Court case desegregating restaurants in Washington, D.C.
Wilm Hosenfeld
(Wilhelm Adalbert Hosenfeld)
German Army officer in Warsaw who covertly sheltered and saved Polish Jews, including pianist Wลadysลaw Szpilman, recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.
Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori
(Maria Montessori)
Mรฉdecin et pรฉdagogue italienne de renommรฉe mondiale, crรฉatrice de la mรฉthode Montessori et inlassable apรดtre de l'รฉducation pour la paix universelle.
Pixley ka Isaka Seme
(Pixley ka Isaka Seme)
Visionary lawyer and intellectual who delivered the famous 1906 'Regeneration of Africa' address at Columbia University and conceived the founding of the ANC.
Charles Gates Dawes
(Charles Gates Dawes)
Charles Gates Dawes was an American banker, general, diplomat, and 30th Vice President of the United States (1925โ1929). As head of the Allied Reparations Committee in 1924, he drafted the 'Dawes Plan', which ended the hyperinflation crisis in Weimar Germany, stabilized European finances, and prompted the French withdrawal from the Ruhr, earning the 1925 Nobel Peace Prize.
Evangeline Cory Booth
(Evangeline Booth)
Premiรจre femme Gรฉnรฉrale de l'Armรฉe du Salut ร l'รฉchelle mondiale (1934-1939), organisatrice des secours aux soldats durant la Premiรจre Guerre mondiale et crรฉatrice des ยซ Donut Girls ยป.
Charles Richard Drew
(Charles R. Drew)
Chirurgien et chercheur afro-amรฉricain, pรจre des banques de sang modernes et directeur du projet ยซ Blood for Britain ยป, qui dรฉmissionna pour protester contre la sรฉgrรฉgation du sang.
John Heinrich Detlef Rabe
(John Heinrich Detlef Rabe)
John Rabe was a German businessman and Siemens director who led the establishment of the Nanking Safety Zone during the 1937 Nanking Massacre. Using his status as a Nazi Party member and his swastika armband to confront rampaging Imperial Japanese troops, Rabe and his committee provided food, shelter, and medical sanctuary that saved more than 250,000 Chinese civilians from slaughter.
Maud Ballington Booth (nรฉe Charlesworth)
(Maud Ballington Booth)
Cofondatrice des Volunteers of America surnommรฉe ยซ la Petite Mรจre des prisons ยป, crรฉatrice de la Volunteer Prison League rรฉhabilitant des dizaines de milliers de dรฉtenus.
Sophonisba Breckinridge
(Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge)
Pioneering American legal scholar and social scientist who became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in political science and a J.D. from the University of Chicago, co-founding its School of Social Service Administration.
Elsa Brandstrom
(Elsa Brandstrom)
Swedish nurse and humanitarian celebrated across Europe as the 'Angel of Siberia' for single-handedly organizing medical relief, food, and salvation for hundreds of thousands of German and Austrian prisoners of war in Siberian camps during World War I.
Nicholas Murray Butler
(Nicholas Murray Butler)
Nicholas Murray Butler was an American philosopher, educator, and political advisor who served as President of Columbia University for forty-three years (1902โ1945). As the trusted confidant of Andrew Carnegie, he was the founding trustee and longtime President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, sharing the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize with Jane Addams.
Mabel Thorp Boardman
(Mabel Thorp Boardman)
Mabel Thorp Boardman was an American philanthropist and civic organizer who led the total administrative reorganization of the American Red Cross under a federal congressional charter in 1905. Serving as the organization's de facto executive leader for over four decades, she transformed the Red Cross from a small volunteer group into a massive, professionally funded national disaster relief agency.
John Langalibalele Dube
(John Langalibalele Dube)
Educator, editor, and the founding first president of the South African Native National Congress (later the ANC) in 1912.
Harry Lloyd Hopkins
(Harry Hopkins)
Travailleur social amรฉricain devenu le bras droit de Franklin D. Roosevelt, directeur de la WPA procurant un emploi et la dignitรฉ ร plus de 8 millions de chรดmeurs dรฉmunis.
Bienheureux Marcel Callo
(Marcel Callo)
Typographe et militant jociste breton, dรฉportรฉ au STO puis au camp de Mauthausen pour avoir soutenu spirituellement et soignรฉ ses camarades ouvriers dรฉportรฉs.
Tsunesaburo Makiguchi
(็งๅฃ ๅธธไธ้)
Pรฉdagogue et philosophe humaniste japonais, fondateur de la Soka Kyoiku Gakkai, mort martyr en prison pour son refus du militarisme shinto d'รtat.
Henri Marie La Fontaine
(Henri Marie La Fontaine)
Henri La Fontaine was an eminent Belgian international jurist, senator, and bibliographer who served as President of the International Peace Bureau from 1907 to 1943. Co-founder of the International Institute of Bibliography and creator of the Mundaneum with Paul Otlet, he was awarded the 1913 Nobel Peace Prize for his organizational leadership of the global peace movement.