Historic Figures



Close-up of wet blades of grass

Revising Himself: Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass

Source: Library of Congress

This companion website to a 2005 Library of Congress exhibit provides glimpses of the items that were displayed as well as background information on Whitman’s life, career, and legacy. Take a look at the “Leaves of Grass” section to learn more about the history surrounding one of America’s most influential books of poetry.






Old sailing ship in the ocean

500-year-old mystery: Wreck off Haiti may be Columbus’ flagship Santa Maria

Source: CNN

A shipwreck found off the coast of Haiti may be the Santa Maria, one of the three ships Christopher Columbus used to sail across the Atlantic in 1492. Learn about how the importance of the Santa Maria, and why one explorer thinks the wreck is Columbus’s long-lost ship.


Close up of pecan on branch

Holocaust Remembrance Day Grows Roots: Anne Frank & the Sapling Project

Source: Biography

Anne Frank saw the chestnut tree that stood outside of her window as a symbol of beauty, despite the ugliness that pervaded the world around it. Read about how the Anne Frank Center USA’s Sapling Project is giving new life to this special tree and all it stands for.


Abraham Lincoln statue at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC

150 Years Later, Newspaper Retracts Gettysburg Address Diss

Source: NPR

President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is one of the most influential speeches in our nation’s history. It’s hard to believe, but when it was first delivered in 1863, one newspaper wrote that the speech was nothing more than “silly remarks.” Now, more than 150 years later, the paper has apologized for its dismissive words.