Charles Rangel was born in New York City in 1930. After dropping out of high school, he found a series of low paying jobs to be unfulfilling, and in 1948, joined the US Army. Rangel …
David Susskind – From Campus to Combat
David Susskind was raised in a Jewish family. He graduated from Brookline High School in Massachusetts and entered the University of Wisconsin at Madison. During WWII, he joined the US Navy and was assigned as …
Edward M. Kennedy – Private First Class
Edward Moore ‘Ted’ Kennedy was born into what would become one of America’s most storied and enduring political families in American history. His grandfather, John Fitzgerald, was Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts. His father, Joseph P. …
Mel Brooks – War Is No Laughing Matter
Mel Brooks would carve out a place in American entertainment history as one of the most successful directors of comedy films, and would also be one of the few people to win an Oscar, a …
Profile in Black History – The Hammer
It has been said that one of the most difficult feats to perform in sports is to hit a pitched baseball with a bat. One athlete was so adept at this task that he was …
Black History Month Profile – Putting His Own Stamp on It
Georg Olden was a graphic designer who would become the first African-American to design a stamp for the US Postal Service. The stamp was unveiled at a ceremony in the White House by John F. …
Black History Month Profile – Up From Slavery
In 1856, Booker T. Washington was born a slave in Virginia. He was freed from slavery upon the arrival of Federal troops in his region. Throughout his life, Mr. Washington would work to build a …
Black History Month Profile – Jazz Royalty
Duke Ellington was one of the most remarkable figures in the history of American music. He was a prolific composer with an immense legacy of over 1,500 copyrighted pieces. His career was to span 6 …
Remember Pearl Harbor
On 7 December, 1941, America experienced one of the most humiliating military catastrophes in its history. Japanese air and naval forces would destroy over 300 American aircraft, as well as 20 vessels, and over 2,500 …
Relentless Revolutionary
12 November marks the day that Sun Yat-Sen was born in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China, in 1866. His steadfast determination to modernize China and free it from dynastic and warlord rule earned …