American Philosophical Society

Thurgood Marshall, the most successful civil rights lawyer of all time and America’s first Supreme court Justice, was instrumental in the fight for equality in the United States.

The first Indigenous woman to publish a memoir, Paiute educator and activist Sarah Winnemucca campaigned tirelessly for the rights of Indigenous Americans.

By taking on the US government and winning, Wong Kim Ark ensured that the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution granted citizenship to every American by birth, regardless of their race or ethnicity.

When Black residents moved into one neighborhood in Birmingham, Alabama, White supremacists unleashed a wave of terror against the community.

Native American Code Talkers used their own indigenous dialects to bamboozle enemy code breakers and help Allied forces to win two World Wars.

Deafblind pioneer Helen Keller campaigned for a better America – with the help of a remarkable watch that she didn’t have to see to read.

In the Presidential Election of 1824, five men from one party were up for the job. It was left to the House of Representatives to figure out a winner – and the aftermath led to the modern two-party system.

Benjamin Franklin wasn't just a founder of the United States, he was also a writer, inventor, scientist, statesman, and a huge celebrity in the thirteen colonies.

They’re the shadowy agents who keep the President safe – but what is the Secret Service and why was it formed?

In 1961, a gift from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to President John F. Kennedy, the adorable pooch Pushinka, brought the men closer together. Did puppy diplomacy prevent an all out nuclear war?