1854-1891
Painter and muralist Diego Rivera sought to make art that reflected the lives of the working class and native peoples of Mexico.
1886-1957
1892-1992
1925-1982
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was an iconic African-American tap dancer and actor best known for his Broadway performances and film roles.
1878-1949
1894-1978
French sculptor Auguste Rodin is known for creating several iconic works, including "The Age of Bronze," "The Thinker," "The Kiss" and "The Burghers of Calais."
1840-1917
A stage, film and TV actress, Esther Rolle is best remembered as Florida Evans -- a character she played on two comedy series, Maude and Good Times.
1920-1998
Andy Rooney was an Emmy Award-winning journalist best known for his "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" segments which aired on the CBS news program 60 Minutes.
1919-2011
The wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt changed the role of the first lady through her active participation in American politics.
1884-1962
In 1960, Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games.
1940-1994
Prince Rupert, a 17th century soldier, statesman and scientist, is best known for his talent as a Royalist commander of the English Civil War (1642 - 1651).
1619-1682
Theater and film actress Rosalind Russell costarred in His Girl Friday with Cary Grant, and played Auntie Mame in both the Broadway play and the movie version.
1907-1976
1797-1856
Elsa Schiaparelli was one of the world's leading fashion designers in the 1920s and '30s.
1890-1973
Franz Schubert is considered the last of the classical composers and one of the first romantic ones. Schubert's music is notable for its melody and harmony.
1797-1828
Edie Sedgwick was a socialite and model who became a muse to Andy Warhol in the 1960s.
1943-1971
1856-1950
Serial killer Arthur Shawcross murdered 11 women from 1988 to 1990 in upstate New York, earning the nickname "The Genessee River Killer."
1945-2008
1946-1974
Phil Silvers is an American comedian best known for his portrayal of the fast-talking gambler Sergeant Ernest Bilko in The Phil Silvers Show.
1911-1985
1878-1968
1910-1969
Squanto, also known as Tisquantum, a Native American of the Patuxet tribe, acted as interpreter and guide to the Pilgrims during their first winter in the New World.
1580-1622
During his papacy, St. Leo I strove to suppress heresy and presented a clear doctrine of Christ’s incarnation that successfully promoted orthodoxy.
400-461
Toni "Tomboy" Stone made history in 1953 when she joined the Negro Leagues, making her the first woman ever to play professionally in a men's league.
1921-1996
Novelist William Styron won a Pulitzer Prize for The Confessions of Nat Turner and wrote Sophie’s Choice, the basis of an Academy Award-winning film.
1925-2006
Sundance Kid was an American criminal best known for his train robberies and bank heists with the Wild Bunch gang in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
1867-1908
1907-1982
Art Tatum was a highly influential 20th century jazz pianist known for his radical reinventions of pop standards.
1909-1956
1909-1975
1915-2005
1912-1975
Sean Taylor was the No. 5 NFL draft pick in 2004 and played with the Washington Redskins until he was murdered in 2007.
1983-2007
1909-1974
Maria Theresa was an Austrian archduchess, and Holy Roman Empress of the Habsburg Dynasty from 1740 to 1780. She was also Marie Antoinette’s mother.
1717-1780
Writer Dylan Thomas is best known for the poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," the play "Under Milk Wood," and for his heavy drinking.
1914-1953
1894-1961
1915-2007
Actress Gene Tierney had a rocky start in Hollywood, but is best known for her role as a memorable murder victim in the 1944 film Laura.
1920-1991
Tiny Tim was a singer and musician who had a hit with “Tip Toe Through the Tulips With Me” and guest-starred on shows like Laugh-In and The Tonight Show.
1932-1996
Russian author Leo Tolstoy wrote the acclaimed novels War and Peace, Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and still ranks among the world's top writers.
1828-1910
Irish republican and rebel Wolfe Tone led a French military force to Ireland during the insurrection of 1798.
1763-1798
Sojourner Truth is best known for her extemporaneous speech on racial inequalities, "Ain't I a Woman?", delivered at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in 1851.
1797-1883
Mary Tudor was queen of England from 1553 to 1558. She became known as "Bloody Mary" for her persecution of Protestants.
1516-1558
Nat Turner was the leader of a violent slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831.
1800-1831
1883-1955
20th century Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos’s work, including Bachianas brasileiras, brought Brazilian folk motifs to American classical music.
1887-1959
1881-1946
1915-1998
Henry A. Wallace was the 33rd U.S. vice president during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. He was also a writer and agriculture expert.
1888-1965
Educator Booker T. Washington was one of the foremost African-American leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founding the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now known as Tuskegee University.
1856-1915
Harold Washington became the first African-American mayor of Chicago in 1983.
1922-1987
1907-1985
Mae West started in Vaudeville and on the stage in New York, and later moved to Hollywood to star in films known for their blunt sexuality and steamy settings.
1893-1980
Author Oscar Wilde published several acclaimed works, including The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest.
1854-1900
1933-1998
Henry Wilson was the 18th vice president of the United States, serving from 1873 to 1875 with President Ulysses S. Grant.
1812-1875
During the Civil War, Confederate soldier Henry Wirz commanded the Andersonville Prison, where many Union prisoners-of-war died as a result of poor conditions.
1823-1865
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was lord chancellor during the reign of Henry VIII, becoming a major figure in the king’s administration.
1475-1530
Actress Natalie Wood starred in the films Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean and in West Side Story as Maria. She drowned during a boating trip in 1981.
1938-1981
Pioneering African-American writer Richard Wright is best known for the classic texts Black Boy and Native Son.
1908-1960
1918-1997
1867-1955