Notable People in History

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Toussaint L’Ouverture. One of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution which was sparked in part by the French colonization of the West Indies, the plantation system on Saint-Domingue, its brutal slave regime, as well as its colonial social and racial hierarchy.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Pearl S. Buck. Author of over 80 books, she was the first woman to be awarded both the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize in literature and active in American civil rights and women's rights activities.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Genghis Khan. He united Mongol tribes and carved out the largest contiguous land empire in world history, introduced writing to the Mongols, created their first law code, promoted trade and granted religious freedom by permitting all religions to be freely practiced.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Helena Rubinstein. Driven by courage, intelligence, and a will to succeed that would make her neglect her husbands, children and family, Helena Rubinstein built a beauty empire. She was born Chaja Rubinstein, and at the age of 24 set off to Australia aboard the Prinz Regent Luitpol with twelve jars of face cream.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Martin Luther who led the Protestant Movement with the publication of the 95 Theses, criticizing the Catholic church for allowing people to purchase a certificate of pardon for the punishment of their sins.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Mahalia Jackson. Born October 26, 1911 in the Black Pearl section New Orleans, she would perform for kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers and kept going back to sing in churches for the people who loved her voice first.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of one of America’s founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, whose inventions include bifocals, the lightning rod, a library chair, swim fins, a long-reach device, the Franklin stove, and the catheter.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Amelia Simmons. Believed to be the first American cookbook by a European American, titled American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain...

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Charles Strite, credited with the invention of the pop-up toaster. In 1921, he received U.S. patent 1,394,450 for the device, he called it the "Toastmaster."

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Hetty Green, the lone woman among 19th century tycoons such as Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, her holdings ranged from real estate in New York to buildings in downtown Chicago; gold, copper, iron mines out west; diamonds and pearls .

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Reginald Fessenden, considered the “Father of Voice Radio.” On December 23, 1900, he became the first to transmit human speech over radio waves and is best known for discovering AM radio.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of  Lorraine Hansberry. The first African American, the youngest playwright, the fifth woman to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for the best play of the season on April 7, 1959 for her play  A Raisin in the Sun.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, considered to be one of the two top composers of the Classical era. During his lifetime, he composed more than 600 works that include operas, string quartets, piano and violin sonatas, and many concertos.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Mary Anning. Born in 1799, she was a pioneering paleontologist and fossil collector. At the age of 12, she unearthed the first complete ichthyosaur fossil.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Socrates, the Greek philosopher from Athens famous for saying the wrong things at the wrong time and considered to be “famously ugly.”

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Olive Ann Beech. Born in Waverly, Kansas, her career spanned 50 years prior to her retirement in September 1982. She was the first woman to head a major aircraft company.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Frederick Douglass. Born a slave, he learned to read, and became one of the foremost African American leaders of the nineteenth century.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Annie Minerva Turnbo. Considered to be one of the first African American women to become a millionaire, she took an interest in developing a better way to straighten African American hair without damaging it. By 1920, her hair care empire employed 300 people locally and 75,000 agents nationally.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Mahatma Ghandi. Leader of India's non-violent independence movement, he would inspire for civil rights and freedom leaders across the world.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Josephine Baker. She was a world renowned performer, World War II spy, and civil rights advocate who took part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom with 250,000 other civil rights supporters.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Winston Churchill, the politician, artist, bricklayer, historian, soldier, biographer, essayist who led Great Britain through World War II.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet. Ruled in their favor, Mumbet and Brom became the first enslaved African Americans to be freed under the Massachusetts constitution of 1780 in Brom & Bett v. Ashley which was argued before a county court in August 1871.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of civil rights movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the second African American to have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of France’s last queen, Marie Antoinette. She became a widow when her husband, Louis Auguste, was guillotined to death after being tried and convicted of treason in January 1793.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of John D. Rockefeller, the businessman and philanthropist who founded the General Education Board in 1902 with a $1,000,000 donation to “sponsor and support aid to education in the United States without distinction of race, sex or creed.”