Famous people of America

POCAHONTAS (1595-1617)

In 1607, a group of white people came and settled in what is now the state of Virginia. This land belonged to an Indian tribe. Their leader became known to Europeans as Chief Powhatan.

Chief Powhatan had a young daughter named Pocahontas. Her name means "the playful one". She was trusting and curious about the white people. She often visited them, and soon the settlers knew her well and liked her. She learned a few words of English, and Chief Powhatan and his people hoped that she would be able to help keep peace with the whites. Pocahontas carried messages between the settlers and the Indians.

As more and more whites came to the settlement of the Europeans, the Indians were getting angry: the whites were gradually taking away the Indians land. In anger, the Indians captured Captain John Smith, the leader of the white settlement. According to a story that was told later, 12-year-old Pocahontas saved Captain Smith's life by begging her father not to kill him. After this event, the English trusted her even more.

When she was about 17, Pocahontas fell in love with an Englishman named John Rolfe. She became a Christian and married Rolfe in 1614. Their marriage marked the beginning of a period of peace between the colonists and the Indians.

Later Pocahontas and Rolfe had a son. They visited England, where Pocahontas met the King and Queen. Unfortunately, just before the family was to return to the colonies, Pocahontas fell ill with smallpox. She died in 1617.

In spite of her short life, Pocahontas is remembered as a symbol of friendship between the whites and the American Indians.

GEORGE WASHINGTON (1732-1799)

George Washington was born in the family of a Virginian planter. When he was 20 years old, he was appointed major of Virginia militia5, and three years later he was made colonel and commander of all Virginia's forces. He took part in the French and Indian War in 1754-1763 and distinguished himself by capturing Fort Duquesne. After 1770 getting independence from Britain became the major problem in the American colonies. In 1774 George Washington was chosen one of Virginia's delegates to the First, and in 1775 to the Second Continental Congress. When the War for Independence began, Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of all the colonial forces.

Washington clearly understood the difficulty of fighting a powerful enemy with a badly equipped and poorly trained army. The colonists were not accustomed to taking orders, and Washington faced great difficulties in his efforts to establish strict discipline.

Part of Washington's greatness lay in the fact that commanding this new kind of army, he appreciated its qualities and realized its needs. He insisted that it was necessary to impress upon the mind of every soldier the importance of the cause they were fighting for.

Washington's fidelity to the Revolution inspired others, and by 1781 he had managed to build up a strong army, which won a victory in the war.

On April 6, 1789, George Washington was unanimously elected President of the United States of America and served two terms (1789-1797).

George Washington died in 1799. In honour of the first President, the newly-built capital of the country was named Washington.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

(1743-1826)

Thomas Jefferson was an outstanding American revolutionary democrat, the author of the immortal "Declaration of Independence".

He was born in the family of a Virginian planter, and received a very good education at the College of William and Mary, a prominent institution of higher learning in the American colonies. Before he was 30 years old, he had studied half a dozen languages, law, mathematics, philosophy and science. A self-taught architect, he designed some of the most beautiful houses in the world. He created the American system of money. Jefferson had the reputation of one of the best-educated people of that time.

In 1775 Jefferson was sent as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, where he wrote the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration was adopted on July 4, 1776.

In 1783 Jefferson was sent on a diplomatic mission to France, and in 1786 he took part in concluding a peace treaty with Britain. In 1789 President Washington appointed him Secretary of State. In 1796 Jefferson was elected vice-president, and in 1801 — President of the United States of America. He became the third President and served two terms, until 1809.

Jefferson's greatest achievement as President was in expanding the area of the United States westward. Believing that the future of the United States lay in the West, Jefferson sent his diplomats to Paris with an offer to buy the Louisiana Territory lying to the west of the Mississippi River which belonged to France. Napoleon, who needed a lot of money for waging his wars, agreed to sell Louisiana for 15 million dollars. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States and extended its boundaries beyond the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. It was also Jefferson's idea to send the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific.

In 1809, when his second term was over, Jefferson retired to his estate, but to his last days he kept in touch with public affairs through a large correspondence. He died on July 4, 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

(1706-1790)

In the 1700's Philadelphia, like New York and Boston, was one of the three largest and most modern cities in the colonies. One of the leading citizens of Philadelphia was Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was a man of amazing energy and curiosity. There are few people in American history who have accomplished as much as he. Benjamin Franklin was an author, a scientist, an inventor, and a public figure.

Born in Boston, he later moved to Philadelphia. There he opened a printing house and published a newspaper called the Pennsylvania Gazette, which was read throughout the colonies. He also published an almanac, that is a book which comes out every year and gives a list of the days of the year, together with information about the times of sunrise and sunset, changes in the moon, weather, etc. Franklin always included a few of his own short sayings in the almanac. Here are two of them:

A penny saved is a penny earned. Little strokes fell great oaks.

He worked hard and was very successful. The first fire department1 in the colonies was started by Franklin in Philadelphia.

Franklin built the first library and the first hospital. He also built a school, which later became the University of Pennsylvania.

Franklin is the inventor of the lightning-rod. In June 1752, he risked his life and the life of his son William, who helped him in his experiment. They made a kite of silk on a wooden frame with a string of metal wire. Standing in the open doorway of their house, they flew their kite during a thunderstorm. Sparks jumping off the end of the string proved that lightning is an electric discharge. Benjamin Franklin's lightning-rod is now used all over the world.

Franklin invented some scientific terms, which are still used (battery, semiconductor, etc.).

By the end of the 1750's Benjamin Franklin was rich and famous. Being an active public figure, he gave much of his time, attention and money to helping people. He lived a long life, and all his life he served the people and helped in forming a new nation — the United States of America.

FENIMORE COOPER

(1789-1851)

Fenimore Cooper is the first well-known American novelist. Readers everywhere in the world connect his name with his books about the Indians, though he wrote other novels, some of them historical and some about travelling. The son of a rich landowner, Fenimore Cooper was brought up on the family estate, Cooperstown, in New Jersey. When he was only 13 years old, he entered Yale University. In his third year he failed in his examinations and had to leave the university.

At the age of 17 he went to sea and spent six years as a sailor and later as an officer. He loved the sea and was ready to spend all his life at sea. He left the ship only when he got married.

For several years he lived 'on his estate, and it was there that he started writing novels. His novel "The Spy" was written during that period. It is a historical novel about the days of the War for Independence.

In 1826 Fenimore Cooper went to Europe. He wanted to give his children a good European education. While his children were studying, he and his wife travelled a lot and visited many countries. He wrote many books about his travels.

When Fenimore Cooper returned to the United States, he began writing his famous Leather-Stocking novels: "The Pioneers" (1823), "The Last of the Mohicans" (1826), "The Pathfinder" (1840) and some others. These novels are his best works; they are all about American Indians, whom the writer describes with much warmth and understanding.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

(1807-1882)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is an outstanding American poet and humanist of the 19th century. He was born in Portland in the family of a rich lawyer. The poet's ancestors had come to America in 1620 on the Mayflower and built the first village in New England. His grandfather took part in the War for Independence. His uncle, a sailor, was killed on a war-ship. The family traditions helped the poet to understand the history of his country. When Longfellow was 19 years old, his father sent him to Europe. The young man lived in France, Italy, Spain and Germany, where he studied foreign languages and literature. He was preparing to be a college professor of foreign languages.

When Longfellow returned from Europe, he became a teacher at the college from which he had graduated. He tried to make his lessons in foreign languages as interesting as possible, and the students liked their young professor. Longfellow delivered lectures on literature and wrote poems and articles. He translated the works of European poets into English.

In 1836 Longfellow was invited to deliver lectures on literature at Harvard1, the oldest university of the United States. In 1838 his first book of poems was published. The next book of poems, "Voices of the Night", published in 1839, made him famous.

The poet was greatly interested in old American legends and Indian folklore. His best work is a long poem called "The Song of Hiawatha" (1855), which is based on old Indian legends. Readers and critics liked the poem, and it was translated into many languages. Now, a century and a half after its appearance, it is still popular.

SAMUEL HOUSTON

(1793-1863)

Samuel Houston1 was a man of many talents and experiences. He was a frontiersman teacher, a friend of the American Indians, a Congressman, a senator, a governor of two state, general and president of a country!

Sam Houston was born in Virginia. As a teenager he moved to the Tennessee frontier with his family. At the age of 15 Houston left home and lived with Indians for three years. Houston fought for the Indians' rights all his life.

When he returned to Tennessee, Houston became a teacher in a country school. During the war of 1812, he joined the army and fought bravely. After the war he became a lawyer and a political figure. He served in Tennessee Congress and later became governor of Tennessee in 1827.

In 1829 he resigned and went to Texas, where he was drawn into the Texans' fight for independence of Mexico. He formed and led the Texas army.

In 1836 Houston commanded the Texans in their war against the Mexicans. The Texans defeated the Mexican army and gained their independence. Houston became the first president of the Republic of Texas. In 1845, when Texas joined the United States and became a state, he was one of its first senators.

Today Houston is remembered as one of the heroes of Texas. The city of Houston, Texas, is named after this founder of the Lone Star Republic, as the Republic of Texas was called.

SOJOURNER TRUTH

(1797-1883)

"I can't read a book, but I can read people," said Sojourner Truth one day. When she said that she could "read" people, she meant that she understood how others felt. Truth used this ability to convince people that slavery was wrong and that women should have more rights.

The woman who became known as Sojourner Truth, was born a slave in New York in the late 1700's. Her mother named her Isabelle and taught her to believe in God, to obey her owner and to be truthful. New York State outlawed slavery in 1827 and Isabelle became a free woman. But other states still allowed slavery. Isabelle decided to help the people

who were still slaves.

In 1843, Isabelle changed her name to Sojourner Truth. She believed that she had heard a command from God to go out into the world and preach. "Sojourner" means "traveller". So her name meant that she was a traveller who preached the truth.

Although she never went to school, Sojourner Truth was a powerful speaker. While preaching, she often sang to her audience. People who heard her said that her singing would silence the noisiest

crowd.

Sojourner Truth travelled throughout the eastern and Midwestern states. Everywhere she went, she spoke and sang songs for the freedom of black people and the rights of women.

Sojourner Truth feared no opponent. Once an angry man said to her: "I don't care any more for you than I do for the bite of a flea". She replied: "Perhaps not. But... I'll keep you scratching!"

Sojourner Truth died in 1883. Today, over a century after her death, this self-taught former slave is remembered as a woman who lived up to her name3. She was a proud but gentle fighter for the truth.

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

(1811-1896)

Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in the state of Connecticut in the north of the United States in the family of a poor clergyman. The Beechers were a large and hard-working family.

At that time the family lived in a small town on the Ohio River. The town was situated not far from the part of the South where the life of the slaves was especially hard. Runaway slaves often crossed the Ohio River on their way to Canada. Harriet heard stories of slave markets, of broken Negro families, of the cruelties of masters.

In 1836 she married Calvin Stowe, a professor of theology. They were not rich, and Harriet had much work to do in the house, as well as looking after her children. She had four sons and three daughters. When she had time, she attended a literary club and tried to write short stories.

Harriet's father organized an anti-slavery society. Harriet was an active member of the society. She knew the conditions of life on the plantations and wrote articles for the newspaper published by the society. The articles described facts of the cruel treatment of Negroes by slave-owners.

In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin"1. The book had a great influence on the anti-slavery movement. All over the country people discussed the novel. The book convinced many people that slavery was an evil that had to end.

Some American critics attacked the book, saying that the facts described in the novel were not true. Then Harriet Beecher Stowe published another book, "Key to 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'"2 (1853). It was a collection of the documents used in her novel.

During the Civil War between the North and the South, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote leaflets to the soldiers of the North. She was proud of her son, who was a soldier in the army of the North. In 1862 Abraham Lincoln, President of the USA, received her at the White House and said: "So, you are the little woman that provoked the great war".

When Harriet Beecher Stowe died, many flowers were laid on her grave, with these words: "From Uncle Tom's children".

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

(1809-1865)

Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin on a small farm in Kentucky, in the family of a wandering labourer. The family was constantly on the move, and so Abraham did not get any regular education. But the boy loved to read books, and usually, after finishing the day's chores, he read late into the night by candlelight.

When Lincoln was a young man, he moved with his family to Illinois, where he spent six years, working in a shop, acting as a local postmaster,

doing other jobs, and all the while studying grammar, law, reading newspapers, thus laying the foundation for his future success.

In 1836 Lincoln began practicing law. In 1837 he moved to Springfield, which by that time had become the capital of the state. In 1846 he was elected to the United States Congress.

With time, Lincoln's name became associated with abolitionist movement. Lincoln was a quiet, gentle person. In arguing with others about slavery, he never became angry with those who disagreed with him. He simply said that slavery was wrong. "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong,"

he used to say.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected sixteenth President of the United States. Now the country was clearly split into two opposing camps: the free-from-slavery Northern states and the slave-owning Southern states. This fact led to the movement of secession of Southern states and the Civil War, one of the saddest periods in the history of the United States.

When the war began, the greatness of Lincoln's mind and heart were unexcelled. As long as he lived and ruled the people of the North, there could be ho turning back. A true champion of freedom, he wrote: "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master3. This expresses my idea of democracy." Lincoln’s determination soon began to be widely felt and appreciated by common people. The belief that he could be trusted spread quickly. "Honest Abe" was his nickname.

In 1864, Abraham Lincoln was unanimously re-elected President.

But this great man had ruthless enemies. On April 14, 1865, during a theatrical performance in Washington, Lincoln was mortally wounded by a southern conspirator. Early the next morning he died.

WALT WHITMAN

(819-1892)

The poet Walt Whitman1 was born in a small country place on Long Island, not far from New York City. His father was a poor farmer and a carpenter. All his life Walt Whitman was proud of being "one of the people", as he said.

When Whitman was 11 years old, he had to leave school and start working to help his family. He became an office-boy at a lawyer's office. Later he worked for a small newspaper, where he learned printing.

At the age of 17 he became unemployed. He could not find a job in town. He went to the country and worked as a school teacher for some time. People said that Whitman was unpractical, as he was not interested in making" money or getting a place in society.

Whitman understood that his education was very poor, and whenever he had time, he studied literature and history. He tried to write and wrote poems, short stories and newspaper articles. He wrote about the common people and of their hard life. He loved the common people whose life he knew very well. His collection of poems, named "Leaves of Grass", was first published in 1855.

Whitman sympathized with the abolitionist movement. During the Civil War he served in the Northern army and continued writing poems. At the beginning of the Civil War he was a romantic, but the war made him a realist.

Whitman knew America and Americans better than any poet before him. He wrote with understanding about the farmer in the field, the teacher in the classroom, the clerk in the office, the publisher at his desk, and the carpenter in his workshop.

Walt Whitman occupies a special place in American literature. He seldom used rhymes in his poems and his poems are written in everyday language: they are more like prose than poetry. But he showed America as no one ever had done it before him.

MARK TWAIN

(1835-1910)

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known to the world as Mark Twain, was the son of a small-town lawyer in the State of Missouri. When the boy was 5 years old, he was sent., to school. Little Samuel did not like school, but he had many friends and was their leader. In summer, when school was over, the boys spent many happy hours on the Missouri River.

As Mark Twain said later, many events in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"1 really took place and the characters were taken from real life. Tom Sawyer was very often a portrait of the writer; Huckleberry Finn was his friend Tom Blankenship; Aunt Polly was his mother; Tom's brother Sid was like Mark Twain's brother Henry.

When Samuel was 11 years old, his father died, leaving" nothing" to his wife and four children. Samuel had to leave school and look for work. His elder brother was working as a printer and he helped Samuel to learn printing. For some years Samuel worked as a printer for the town newspaper and later for his brother, who at the time had started a small newspaper. The two young men published it themselves. Samuel wrote short humorous stories for their newspaper.

In 1853 Samuel decided to leave home. He went first to St. Louis, then to New York, then to Philadelphia, where he worked as a printer. At the age of 20 he found a job on a boat travelling up and down the Mississippi. On that boat he learned the work of a pilot. The pilot had to know the river very well when he took a ship along it. Depths on the river were marked by signs called "mark one", "mark two", etc. "Mark Twain" was the way sailors pronounced "mark two". Young Samuel Clemens liked this word combination and later used it as his pen-name.

like many other Americans at that time, Samuel Clemens went to California and worked on gold-mines for a year. There he began writing humorous stories, which he sent to newspapers under the name of Mark Twain. The publishers liked his stories, and he was invited to work as a journalist for a newspaper.

The many professions that he had tried gave Mark Twain a knowledge of life and people and helped him to find his true profession — the profession of a writer.

In 1870 he got married, and a new and happy life began for him. He had one son and three daughters whom he loved very much and was the happiest man when they were with him.

In 1876 Mark Twain published "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and in 1884 "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". These are the novels that are now known to children and grown-ups all over the world. The writer showed boys and girls in the novels with such sympathy and understanding, that readers always see themselves in these characters. Ernest Hemingway, who appreciated Mark Twain, once wrote these words: "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn."

O.HENRY

(1862-1910)

The real name of the writer was WUHatn Sydney Porter. He was born in the State of North Carolina in the family of a doctor. He was brought up by his aunt, because his mother had died when he was a little boy. After finishing' school at the age of 15, he worked as a clerk in his uncle's chemist's shop for five years. Then he went to Texas, because he wanted to see new places. In Texas he saw cowboys, prairies and mustangs, but he could not find a job. He tried working on farms, some time later he found the job of a clerk at an office, at last he got a job at a small bank. During this period h'e studied languages and became interested in literature.

Soon he got married, and when a daughter was born, he was a happy husband and father. But his happiness did not last long.

One day a thousand dollars was stolen from the bank where he worked. He was afraid of being suspected of theft. He left the town and went to Central America, where he stayed for some time. But when he heard that his wife was very ill, he returned home and was put into prison for three years.

While he was in prison, his wife died. His little daughter was taken by relatives, who told her that her father had gone very far away and would not return soon. Porter always thought about his daughter. He felt very unhappy at the thought that she would not receive a Christmas present from her father. To get some money for a present, he decided to write a story and send it to one of the magazines. He signed the story "O.Henry"1, the first name that came into his head. His story was published in 1899. He got money for it, and his daughter received a Christmas present.

In 1901 O.Henry was released from prison. He settled in New York and continued writing short stones for different magazines. Very soon he became one of the most popular short-story writers in America.

During the short period of his literary activity, O.Henry wrote 273 short stories and one novel, "Cabbages and Kings". In his stories he described amusing incidents of everyday life in large cities, on farms, and on the roads of America. His stories won great popularity and have been translated into many languages, most of them have unexpected endings, and the reader is always taken by surprise.

THOMAS ALVA EDISON

(1847-1931)

Thomas Alva Edison was an American hero in his own time. Edison was a self-made man. He taught himself most of what he knew. And his inventions made life easier for people everywhere.

As a boy, he was full of curiosity. He never stopped asking questions about how different things were made or how they worked. For every question, he made experiments to find the answer. By the time he was 12, he was an expert in chemistry and physics.

Thomas Edison may have been the world's greatest inventor. He was granted more than one thousand patents. His inventions and improvements on other people's inventions made possible many of the thing's which we take for granted1 in modern life.

Edison invented an electric bulb for home and office use. The electric bulb was much easier to use and gave much more light than gas lights or kerosene lamps.

Edison improved early models of the telegraph, telephone and film camera and projector. His most unusual invention, however, was the phonograph. The first words which Edison recorded to be played back on his machine were "Mary had a httle lamb" — the beginning of a popular nursery rhyme which every English and American child knows by heart. The people who heard the phonograph for the first time in 1877 were amazed. They could not believe that a machine could "speak".

Edison was interested in many subjects. Throughout his life he studied literature, medicine and music, as well as science.

Once somebody asked Edison how it felt to be a genius. He answered: "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration".

CASEY JONES

(1863-1900)

Casey Jones was an American railway engine-driver, who died doing1 his duty.

He was the engine-driver of the train called Cannon-ball, which ran between Tennessee and Mississippi. Casey was skilful and brave, and he always brought his train to the place of destination on time. He was also skilful with the locomotive whistle. He had a special way of blowing the whistle: beginning" very low, then rising to a shriek, and finally gradually dying away. His whistle always woke people at night as the train passed by their houses. "There goes Casey", they would say. On the night of April 29, 1900, when Casey had just finished his work and brought the Cannon-ball into the town on time, as usual, he learned that the engine-driver of another locomotive was Ш and could not make his Journey according to the time-table. Casey offered to work instead of his friend. He started the big locomotive and left the station at 11 p.m., which was already one hour and thirty-five minutes

late.

Casey wanted to make up for the lost time1 so he worked very hard at the engine and moved very

fast.

By four o'clock in the morning he had made up for most of the time. Suddenly, as he came round a curve, he saw a goods train standing on the rails in front of him.

"Jump off, Sim!" he cried to his fireman.

The fireman jumped off the locomotive. He lived to tell the story of Casey Jones's heroic deed.

Casey's body was found with one hand still on the whistle and the other on the brake.

There is a monument to Casey Jones in his home town in Kentucky. In 1950 the United States government put out a three-cent postage stamp in honour of American railway engine-drivers. This stamp has the portrait of Casey Jones.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

(1879-1955)

Albert Einstein1 was born in a middle-class Jewish family in Germany. When he was 15, his family had to leave Germany and emigrate to Switzerland because of money difficulties.

In Switzerland Einstein continued his scientific education at the Polytechnic Academy in Zurich3. After graduation he got a job in a patent office. He used his spare time for intensive study of philosophy, science and mathematics. In 1914 he returned to Germany and worked as a professor of Berlin1 University.

In 1933, as a sign of protest against fascism, Einstein left Germany and moved to the United States. In 1934 the nazi government of Germany deprived him of his German citizenship and confiscated his property.

Albert Einstein found his new motherland in the United States of America.

Albert Einstein was a rare scientist who became a hero of science during his life-time.

Einstein's discoveries in physics go back to 1905 when he formulated the Special Theory of Relativity. The basic principle of relativity is: any motion is relative. A familiar illustration of this principle is a moving train. A person sitting in a train carriage with darkened windows will have no idea of speed or direction, or perhaps even that the train is moving at all. On a greater scale, the movement of the earth cannot be detected if there are no heavenly bodies for comparison/ Nowhere on the earth or in the universe is there anything absolutely at rest: motion is the natural state of all things, and each body's movement is relative to the movement of another body.

Einstein's second hypothesis was that the velocity of light is independent of the motion of its source. The speed of light — 300,000 km per second — is always the same anywhere in the universe, regardless of place, time or direction. For instance, in a moving train light travels at exactly the same speed as it does outside the train. No force can make it go faster or slower.

In the General Theory of Relativity1, published in 1915, Einstein studied the force that guides the movements of the stars, comets, meteors and galaxies. He proved that the space around a planet or another celestial body is a gravitational field, similar to the magnetic field around a magnet.

Such bodies as the sun or stars are surrounded by enormous gravitational fields.

Einstein's Photoelectric Law explaining the photoelectric effect, paved the way for the coming of television. For this discovery Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1922.

In his later years, Einstein worked on the Unified Field Theory3, attempting to demonstrate the harmony and uniformity of nature. According to his views, physical laws for the minute4 atom should be equally applicable to immense celestial bodies.

Einstein's contributions to science have been innumerable. But primarily, his fame rests5 upon the Theory of Relativity.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY

(1899-1961)

Ernest Hemingway was one of the greatest American writers of his time.

He was born in Illinois, in the family of a doctor. His father was fond of hunting and fishing, and in his school days the future writer became an excellent sportsman. At school he was a successful pupil. He wrote poetry and prose for the school literary magazine and edited the school newspaper.

In 1917, when the United States entered World War I, Hemingway joined the army and was given the job of driving American Red Cross ambulances on the Italian front. Two months later he was bad* wounded in the leg. He was taken to a hospital ir Milan, where he underwent twelve operations. AT-ter a period of time, he returned to the army. Hemingway was awarded a silver medal by the Italian government. His war experience influenced his life and literary activities.

In 1920 Hemingway returned to the United States and began to work as a foreign correspondent of a newspaper.

Now he was earning enough to support himself by his pen, and he began writing stories. His dream was to become a novelist. To get the material for his stories, he travelled all over the world. He visited Spain, Switzerland, Germany and other countries. His masterpiece, the novel "A Farewell to Arms"1, which is a protest against war, was published in 1929 and made him famous. Hemingway spent the last years of his life in Cuba, visiting the United States and Spain from time to time. His last work, "The Old Man and the Sea"1, (1952), a story about an old fisherman who was fighting a big fish and the sea for many hours and won a victory over them, is a story glorifying the strength and courage of man. In 1954 Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, and "The Old Man and the Sea" was mentioned as one of his best works.

When the Civil War in Spain began in 1936, Hemingway went to Spain. He took part in the war as an anti-fascist correspondent. In Spain Hemingway met many progressive people — fighters of the international brigades.

After the end of the Civil War in Spain Hemingway wrote one of his best novels — "For Whom the Bell Tolls"2, devoted to the Americans who died in the fight for Spain.

During World War П Hemingway was a war correspondent. He took part in air raids over Germany and fought against the fascists together with French partisans.

MARTIN LUTHER KING

(1929-1968)

The relationship between the black and white races has been one of the most central problems in American life for at least a hundred years. Many discrimination rules and laws have been abolished, but some of them remained until recent times. In some states there was a law, according to which blacks riding1 in buses were allowed to occupy seats only in the back part of a bus. The front seats were for whites. In 1955, a black woman Rosa Parks1, riding1 on a bus in Montgomery1, the capital of the State of Alabama, occupied a seat in the front part of the bus and refused to get up. She was arrested.

In protest, the blacks of the city refused to ride city buses, as a result of which the bus company lost TO percent of their income.

The bus boycott was led by Dr. Martin Luther King, a 26-year old black pastor.

Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia3, in the family of a black pastor. He received his education at Boston University, where he earned a doctor's degree in theology in 1955. King was appointed pastor of a Baptist church in Montgomery, which was a stronghold of racism. Its 42,000 blacks (one-third of the city's population) lived in the conditions of strict segregation in all aspects of daily life.

King believed in non-violent, or peaceful, protest, when blacks were denied their rights. The blacks of the city followed Dr. King's advice. They held "sit-ins" at segregated restaurants: they sat at the restaurant tables or counters and demanded the same service as white customers. They would remain sitting for hours, until they were served.

Many blacks who took part in the «sit-ins» were arrested. Newspapers and television programmes showed pictures of black protestors being beaten by the police. These shocking scenes upset both blacks and whites. Many more people joined the movement for civil rights. In 1963 Martin Luther King organized a march in Washington D. C, in which 250,000 America^ took part. King made a speech there, which he finished with his famous words: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation1 where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin".

Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated by a white man in 1968. The whole nation was shocked and deeply mourned his death.

Martin Luther King was a simple and modest man in his private life, but he recognized his political significance and his mission. He said; "History has I thrust me into this position. It would be both immoral and a sign of ingratitude if I did not face my moral responsibility to do what I can in this struggle."

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

(1884-1962)

All over the world, Eleanor Roosevelt was known as a dedicated worker for human rights. As a public figure and as a speaker and writer, she worked for social causes all her life.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in 1884. Her parents died when she was young and she was brought up by her grandmother.

As a young girl, she became interested in helping people. She worked in an organization which helped immigrants.

When she was 21, she married Franklin D. Roosevelt, who later became President of the Unit-ed States.

Eleanor Roosevelt always supported the career of her husband. When in 1921 Franklin Roosevelt was paralyzed by polio, Eleanor Roosevelt helped to keep him interested in politics by attending meetings and telling him what she heard and saw. By the time her husband became governor of New York in 1928, Eleanor Roosevelt had become a public figure herself.

She was known as a leader in the field of rights for working women and in the field of education.

During the twelve years of her husband's presidency (1933-1945) Eleanor Roosevelt travelled widely, finding out for the President ho people lived and what they needed. She wrote books and articles about her life in the White House.

After her husband's death, Eleanor Roosevelt worked for international human rights. Until her death in 1962, she continued to work for the causes she believed in. Her tireless fight for human rights won the respect of people around the world.

MICHAEL COLLINS

(1930-)

Throughout his life, Michael Collins has held many different jobs. But he is best known for the job he did in 1969. Collins was a pilot for Apollo II. That was the first space mission to land people

on the moon.

Michael Collins's best subject at school was mathematics. After school he studied at West Point Military Academy and graduated in 1952. In I960 Collins became a test pilot. When he learned about the nation's space programme, he applied to be an astronaut. He was chosen to be a pilot for the Gemini programme, which sent two astronauts at a time into orbit around the earth. In July 1966, Collins and astronaut John Young-orbited the earth for three days in Gemini 10.

When the crew of the moon mission, Apollo 11, was chosen, Collins was included. He was to be the pilot of the Columbia, the spaceship that would remain in space above the moon surface. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin3 would land on the moon. Apollo 11 took off on July 16, 1969. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first men to land on the moon. Meanwhile, Collins stayed in the main spaceship and orbited the moon 30 times. After the Apollo 11 mission, Collins left the space programme to spend more time with his family. In 1971 he became director of the National Air and Space Museum4 of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Through his many jobs, Michael Collins has always shown his courage and his love of adventure.

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