My American Figures Book

By: _____________________________________________________
 George Washington
Born:

_________________________

Died:

_________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Pg. 1
 Abraham Lincoln
Born:

_________________________

Died:

_________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Pg. 2
 Harriet Tubman
Born:

_________________________

Died:

_________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Pg. 3
 Susan B. Anthony
Born:

_________________________

Died:

_________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Pg. 4
 George Washington Carver
Born:

_________________________

Died:

_________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Pg. 5
 Martin Luther King, Jr.
Born:

_________________________

Died:

_________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Pg. 6
 George Washington

George Washington was born on his father’s farm on

February 22, 1732. He had 9 brothers and sisters.

He was 57 when he became the president. He was the first

president of the United States.

He was the president for 8 years (two terms).

He is the only president that did not live at the White

House.

He had no children of his own, but his wife had two children
from her first marriage.
His father died when George was 11.
George liked to explore caves.
George Washington - Commander in Chief of Continental
Army during the American Revolution.
George loved horses. Before riding he insisted that the
horse be cleaned from head to hoof. He even had his
helpers brush the horses’ teeth.
He died of a throat infection on December 14, 1799 at the
age of 67.
 Abraham Lincoln

Abe Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Kentucky.

He had less than 1 year of school. Books were very rare

and he would have to walk a long way to borrow them.

He wanted to be a lawyer but could not afford to go to

law school. Instead, he worked several different jobs to
teach him the skills he would need to become a lawyer.
He also went to the courthouse and watched lawyers
work. He took the test to become a layer and passed.

He had 4 sons. Three of them died before he did.

He was the 16th president of the United States.

President Lincoln was responsible for making slavery

illegal.

He died on April 15, 1865 at age 56. He was killed by a

man named John Wilkes Booth because he believed
slavery should be legal.
 Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman is well known for risking her life as a

“conductor” in the Underground Railroad, which led
escaped slaves to freedom in the North.

She was born around 1820 in Bucktown, Maryland.

When Harriet was twelve years old an overseer (person

who watched slaves while they worked) threw an iron
weight at her and struck her in the head because she
stood up for another slave. For the rest of her life she
suffered from blackouts and headaches.

At the age of 30 in 1849, Harriet ran away to the North

and ended up in Philadelphia. She learned about a
movement to abolish slavery (make it illegal) and a group
of people who were dedicated to helping slaves escape
to the North. These people created the Underground
Railroad.

The Underground Railroad wasn’t an actual railroad. It

was a path that slaves traveled at night with the help of
conductors, or people who guided them from safehouse
to safehouse until they had reached the North. The
station masters were the people who lived at the
safehouse. These houses could be identified by the
candles or lanterns that sat in the window.

Harriet made about 13 trips to the South and helped

hundreds of slaves reach the safety of the North.

When the Civil War broke out, Harriet Tubman worked as

a cook, nurse and spy for the Union Army.

She worked for the rights of African Americans until she

died on March 10, 1913, at the age of 93.
 Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony was born February 15, 1820 in

Massachusetts.

While working as a teacher, she learned that male

teachers who worked in her position made 75% more
money than she did. This began her work trying to earn
equal rights for women.

She first worked to help free slaves and then worked to

earn women the right to own property and eventually
the right to vote.

She died 14 years before it became legal for women to

work.

She died of heart disease and pneumonia in her home in

New York on March 13, 1906.
 George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver was born on July 12, 1864 in
Missouri.

His parents were slaves. His father died right before George
was born. While he was still a baby, slave traders kidnapped
him and his mother. Only George was returned to the
plantation.

When he was a baby, he had a disease called whooping cough.

It left him sickly and he couldn't do hard work like the other
slaves. His chores were cooking and sewing. He loved to work in
the garden.

He wanted to get an education. When he was 12 years old, he

left home to attend a black school. There was only one teacher
with 75 children in a small room. While other children played at
recess, he studied. He studied at home before and after he did
his chores. Soon he knew more than his teacher.

He wrote to a college to enroll and they accepted him. When

they found out he was black, they told him he could not attend.

Five years later, when he was 30 years old, he was accepted to

a college in Iowa. He did so well, his teacher helped him to get a
transfer to Iowa State College where he studied botany (the
science of plants and farming). He became the best botany
student in the college.
He did many things to earn money to pay for his expenses. He
sold hominy which he had made, and sometimes he ironed
clothes for his classmates. He found an old stove at the city
dump and brought it home to cook meals for his friends. He
used old wrapping paper for notebooks.

"Don't throw anything away," he would say. "Everything can be

used again."

Carver started studying diseases which were attacking the

farmers’ crops. He did a lot of experimenting to find new ways
to use different plants.
He made more than 300 products from peanuts. He even made
soap and ink from peanuts.
Later in his life, Thomas Edison offered him $100,000 a year to
come and work for him, but he thought he could do more good
teaching.

He was one of the finest scientists the world has ever known.

He died on January 5, 1943 at age 78 from problems he had

after falling down a flight of stairs.
 Martin Luther King, Jr.
He was born in Atlanta, GA on January 15, 1929.

When he was five years old his mother persuaded the first
grade teacher, Miss Dickerson, to make room for him in her
class. Even though he started several weeks after the other
children, he soon caught up with them academically and even
surpassed them before the year was over.

When he was 15 years old he entered Morehouse College.

After two years in school he decided he could best serve others
by becoming a minister. He became assistant minister of the
Ebenezer Baptist church where his father was minister. The
following year he graduated from college. He was only 19 years
old.

On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King and other leaders led a
march into Washington D.C. Over 200,000 people marched
from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. It
was here Dr. King delivered his "I Have a Dream" message.

In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. He

gave the $54,000 prize money to the civil rights groups which
were working to secure the rights blacks deserved.

Dr. King was put in jail 30 times for his resistance. Some people
tried to kill him. Then on April 4, 1968 a gunman did murder
him in Memphis, Tennessee.