When James Brown died on Christmas Day 2006 at age 73, officials at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital Midtown listed his cause of death as congestive heart failure related to pneumonia. More than a decade later, however, at least a dozen people — including Dr. Marvin Crawford, the physician ...
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Biography (75 unread)
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23:16 The Mystery Surrounding James Brown’s Death
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23:16
The Mystery Surrounding James Brown’s Death
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20:27
Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy: The Story Behind Their 1963 Handshake
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20:27
Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy: The Story Behind Their 1963 Handshake
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22:57
Roald Dahl's Eventful Life Before Becoming a Beloved Children's Book Author
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22:57
Roald Dahl's Eventful Life Before Becoming a Beloved Children's Book Author
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22:57
Was Mata Hari a Spy or Scapegoat?
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22:57
Was Mata Hari a Spy or Scapegoat?
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21:52
Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X Only Met Once
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21:52
Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X Only Met Once
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20:34
Why Alexander Hamilton Never Became President
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20:34
Why Alexander Hamilton Never Became President
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22:44
Meet Brian Epstein, the Man Who Discovered The Beatles
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22:44
Tonya Harding & Nancy Kerrigan: A Timeline of Kerrigan's Attack and the Aftermath
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22:59
The Lifelong Feud Between the Sisters Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine
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21:53
Theodore Roosevelt: What His Sagamore Hill Home Reveals About His Personality
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23:12
Amy Winehouse and Ronnie Spector: The Uncanny Parallels Between the Two Singers
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21:35
Inside John F. Kennedy and Frank Sinatra's Powerful Friendship
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22:45
Ike and Tina Turner's Tumultuous Relationship
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3:15
The Day the Music Died: Rock’s Great Tragedy
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22:06
Queen Elizabeth II: 13 Photos of Her Royal Childhood & Life Before Becoming Queen
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21:25
Did William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I Ever Meet?
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23:53
The Final Days of Michael Jackson
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22:32
Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe: Inside Their Surprising Friendship
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19:04
Prince William and Kate Middleton: 9 Photos of the Royal Couple While They Were Dating
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22:06
Stephen Hawking: 10 of the Physicist's Funniest Zingers
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20:58
The Miracles That Made Mother Teresa a Saint
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23:30
How Michael Jackson Bought the Publishing Rights to the Beatles' Song Catalog at the Advice of Paul McCartney
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23:30
Princess Diana: 18 Photos of Her Most Fashionable Moments
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20:14
Why is William Shakespeare’s Life Considered a Mystery?
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23:42
Queen Elizabeth II: 10 Photos of the Monarch's Historical Coronation
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21:43
How a Horrific Bus Accident Changed Frida Kahlo’s Life
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23:55
Will Smith and 9 Other Black Sci-Fi Movie and TV Stars
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23:54
Maya Angelou and 9 Other Best-Selling Black Authors
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18:29
How W.E.B. Du Bois Helped Create the NAACP
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23:02
Elvis Presley: 10 Timeless Photos of the Singer With His Family
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22:25
Katherine Johnson and 9 Other Black Female Pioneers in Science
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22:49
Martin Luther King Jr. and 8 Black Activists Who Lead the Civil Rights Movement
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0:18
Jeffrey Dahmer's Life (and Death) in Prison
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23:34
Nathuram Godse: Learn About the Man Who Assassinated Gandhi
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23:01
How Ulysses S. Grant Earned the Nickname 'Unconditional Surrender Grant'
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23:01
How Ulysses S. Grant Earned the Nickname 'Unconditional Surrender Grant'
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20:11
Meet Bernie Taupin, the Writer Behind Elton John's Biggest Hits
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15:57
How George Washington Carver Went From Slave to Educational Pioneer
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23:15
Oprah Winfrey's Best Talk Show Moments
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20:36
Madam C.J. Walker and 9 Black Inventors Who Changed Your Life
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17:16
Meet Elizabeth Kloepfer, Ted Bundy's Former Girlfriend
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16:44
Carol Channing: 6 Facts About the Broadway Star
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14:27
Carol Channing, Broadway’s Beloved Dolly and Lorelei, Dies at 97
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23:22
George Washington Carver’s Unusual Circle of Friends
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22:01
Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali’s Surprising Secret Friendship
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18:53
Nelson Mandela: 10 Photos of the South African President With Other World Leaders
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23:07
Jackie Robinson Family Album: 9 Photos of the Baseball Player With His Loved Ones
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23:07
Jean-Michel Basquiat and 9 Black Visual Artists Who Broke Barriers
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19:41
Chris Rock and 9 of the Greatest Black Comedians of All Time
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19:40
How Martin Luther King Jr. Took Inspiration From Gandhi on Nonviolence
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19:03
Naomi Campbell and 10 Black Models Who Owned the Runway
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16:43
Jesse Jackson and 6 Black Politicians Who Ran for President of the United States
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23:50
Shirley Chisholm and the 9 Other First Black Women in Congress
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23:49
Oprah Winfrey: All the Ways the First Black Female Billionaire Has Made History
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22:05
George H.W. and Barbara Bush’s Amazing Love Story
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20:27
Muhammad Ali: 8 of the Boxer's Best Fight Moments
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0:03
Malcolm X: 10 Inspiring Quotes From the Minister & Human Rights Activist
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23:37
Aretha Franklin and 11 Other Black Singers Who Got Their Start in Church
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21:45
How George Washington’s Personal and Physical Characteristics Helped Win the Presidency
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22:52
How Franklin Roosevelt’s Heath Affected His Presidency
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18:28
Martin Luther King Jr: 12 Inspiring Quotes From the Civil Rights Activist
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22:40
Sidney Poitier and 9 Other Black Actors and Actresses Who've Won Oscars
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22:27
Elvis Presley: A Timeline of the King of Rock 'n' Roll's Milestones
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20:51
Bessie Coleman and 9 Other Black Pioneers in Aviation
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20:18
Langston Hughes' Impact on the Harlem Renaissance
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20:18
Rosa Parks' Life After the Montgomery Bus Boycott
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21:46
Why Nelson Mandela Was Viewed as a 'Terrorist' by the U.S. Until 2008
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22:14
Michael Jordan's Life Before He Became an NBA Star
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18:19
How Jesse Owens Foiled Hitler's Plans for the Olympics
» Biography
Just 16 years old, Bill Clinton was about to enter his senior year at Hot Springs High School. From a working-class family, Clinton’s biological father had died three months before he was born, and he was raised by his mother and an alcoholic, abusive step-father. Clinton’s life was a world away ...
British author Roald Dahl had enough adventures to last several lifetimes before he found his calling writing children's books. It all started during World War II when Dahl left his oil industry job in Tanzania to enlist in the Royal Air Force in 1939. Despite measuring well over six ...
The spoiled daughter of a wealthy Dutch milliner who went belly-up and abandoned his family, Margaretha Zelle escaped an abusive early marriage to a military officer in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), before moving to Paris, where she became the mistress of several well-connected men. When ...
On March 26, 1964, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. met for the first and only time in Washington, D.C. Less than a year later, Malcolm was dead, the victim of an assassin’s bullet, ending any possibility of a permanent thaw between two of America’s most influential black leaders. The two had ...
Alexander Hamilton was in his early 30s during the debate and passage of the U.S. Constitution and the first presidential election. While Hamilton certainly craved political advancement and fame, he was also the protégé of George Washington, serving as one of his closest aides during the ...
Brian Epstein had a vision: To turn a rough, local musical act called The Beatles into the biggest band in the world. Bigger than Elvis. And he brought that vision to fruition. So essential is Epstein to the history of one the greatest rock ‘n’ roll bands ever that Paul McCartney once remarked: “If ...
On January 6, 1994, Nancy Kerrigan was attacked after practice at the Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan in what would become one of the biggest sports scandals in history. The hitman was Shane Stant, who used a 21-inch collapsible baton to strike Kerrigan's right leg. He, along with his uncle Derrick ...
Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine were born 15 months apart (Joan was younger) and both found success as actresses in Hollywood's Golden Age. But instead of bringing them together, these similarities exacerbated a rivalry that sprang up in childhood and lasted a lifetime. Yet even though they ...
For nearly 30 years, Theodore Roosevelt made his home at Sagamore Hill, near Oyster Bay in Long Island, New York. The home, which became known as the Summer White House during Roosevelt’s presidency, was a remarkable reflection of the hobbies, interests and loves of the 26th president. ...
When Amy Winehouse made a huge splash onto the music scene with Back to Black in 2006, her skintight dresses, bouffant hair and heavily lined eyes all heralded back to one person: Ronnie Spector, lead singer for 1960s girl group the Ronettes. Winehouse was like an updated version of Ronette-era ...
One was on his way to the White House. The other was the king of Hollywood. It was a match made in heaven. In early February 1960, Massachusetts Senator and presidential candidate John F. Kennedy checked in to the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas to catch one of the legendary performances of ...
Born Anna Mae Bullock in 1939, the woman who would become known as Tina Turner had a rough family life. Her parents were poor sharecroppers, who split up and left Turner and her sister to be raised by their grandmother. As a teen, Tina immersed herself in St. Louis' R&B music scene. ...
In the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, three performers — Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson — joined their pilot Roger Peterson for what was supposed to be a flight to their next tour stop. But the passengers and their pilot never made it to their ...
Although Queen Elizabeth II is most famous for her record-breaking reign as queen — ore than six decades — she had quite an exciting, noteworthy life before taking the crown. Born in 1926 in London, England, Elizabeth II was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later known as King ...
In 1702, the playwright and critic John Dennis recounted a charming story. According to Dennis, William Shakespeare’s theater troupe, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, had performed the Henry IV plays at the court of Elizabeth I. So taken was the Queen with the comic and wise character of Falstaff, she ...
It was the comeback that never was. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, was finally ready to reclaim his throne through a series of sold-out concerts. It was to be a performance for the ages, a show that would take the focus off his unusual lifestyle and return it to his music and the creativity that ...
When once asked about her favorite singers, Marilyn Monroe answered, "Well, my very favorite person, and I love her as a person as well as a singer, I think she's the greatest, and that's Ella Fitzgerald." Not only was Monroe a Fitzgerald fan, but she was also a friend who used her status as a ...
These days, Prince William and Kate Middleton — also known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — are known for traipsing around the grounds of Kensington Palace with their three children. But once upon a time, they were just dating. In fact, they dated for almost a decade before William popped the ...
Stephen Hawking was as renowned for his groundbreaking discoveries on black holes as he was for an ability to carve out a distinguished life amid the slow and relentless spread of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Indeed, despite being handed a grim outlook in his early 20s, Hawking never lost his ...
Mother Teresa spent most of her life trying to serve the sick and poor from her base in Calcutta. Following her death on September 5, 1997, many of her admirers and followers clamored for the nun to be named a saint in the Catholic Church. In 1999, Father Brian Kolodiejchuk was appointed as a ...
Offering helpful advice to a friend is often human nature at its best. When that advice comes back to bite the very person who offered it in the first place, well, it can be a cruel twist of fate. Just ask Paul McCartney. The Beatles singer/songwriter found himself to be on the wrong end of the ...
Although Princess Diana was famous for being on the quieter side — her nickname was “Shy Di” — she communicated quite a bit through her fashion choices. The Princess of Wales stunned in colorful suits and matching hats that were perfectly aligned with ‘80s and ‘90s-era style, and her pieces were ...
He was the greatest Western playwright of all time. His plays are still burned in our cultural memory and performed the world over. But William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the man, has remained an elusive figure. He left behind little documentation — no letters, no handwritten manuscripts, ...
Queen Elizabeth II became Queen of England when she was just 25 years old. The year was 1952, and Elizabeth II’s father, King George VI, had just died. Elizabeth was never expected to become queen at all. But when her uncle Prince Edward abdicated the throne amidst a scandal, King George became the ...
Born outside Mexico City in 1907, Frida Kahlo contracted polio at age six. The disease crippled her right leg, which grew shorter than her left and gave her a limp. Her lengthy convalescence, as well as bullying by neighborhood children, left young Kahlo isolated. She became increasingly close to ...
The worlds of science fiction and fantasy, a genre once marginalized, is now decidedly mainstream. The actors and actresses on this list have found success in creating movies and tv shows from these categories, with some even taking on multiple roles while others are more known for a singular ...
“When you know your name, you should hang on to it, for unless it is noted down and remembered, it will die when you do,” Toni Morrison wrote in her Nobel Prize-winning 1977 novel Song of Solomon. The powerful theme she poignantly described, illustrates the power of the pen in both preserving one's ...
In 1901, African-American civil rights activist Mary Talbert was walking through The Pan-American Exposition held in Buffalo, New York. Among the various exhibits, which showcased great American innovation, she stumbled upon a disparaging scene labeled "Old Plantation" to describe life in Africa as ...
Crowned the "King of Rock and Roll," Elvis Presley was most famous for his music. Born in 1935 to Gladys and Vernon Presley in Tulepo, Mississippi, Presley displayed quite a bit of talent from a young age. Elvis played by ear — he never received any formal music training, and he couldn’t read music ...
Throughout history, black women have faced the uphill battles of both racial and gender biases, especially in male-dominated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. Even so, many overcome their adverse circumstances, making invaluable contributions to the scientific ...
The 1865 ratification of the 13th Amendment legally ended slavery in the United States, but, for the victims of the Atlantic slave trade, it also marked the beginning of a new era of oppression. Violence and racism — both blatant and institutional — ran rampant, especially in the South, where the ...
Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer admitted to slaying 17 young men and boys between 1978 and his arrest in 1991. His horrific crimes, which involved attempted lobotomies to create "living zombies," sex with corpses, dismembering his victims, and cannibalizing parts of their bodies, made him a notorious ...
Born Ramachandra Vinayak Godse to a Chitpavan Brahmin family on May 19, 1910, Godse began his life in unusual fashion: Three earlier boys had all died in infancy, so his parents initially raised their fourth as a girl in an attempt to break the "curse." This included the traditional feminine ...
The capture of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, in February 1862 was the first major Union victory of the American Civil War, opening a path into the heart of the Confederacy. Fort Donelson also marked a turning point in the career of Ulysses S. Grant, whose steadfastness and resolve during the battle, ...
Bernie Taupin is one-half of one of the most successful and prolific songwriting duos in the history of popular music. As lyricist to Elton John, Taupin has been writing words for one of music’s greatest showmen for over half a century. Yet to many he is an unknown. Taupin and John are responsible ...
One of the most accomplished and famous people of the 20th century, George Washington Carver overcame nearly every obstacle placed in his path to fulfill his lifelong passion for learning, using his hard-earned education to improve the lives of African Americans, and of people living in the deep ...
Oprah Winfrey is a household name for many reasons. Despite an incredibly difficult childhood in rural Mississippi, Winfrey went on to triumph in adulthood thanks to a few great teachers and a whole lot of courage. Winfrey is perhaps most famous for her 25-season talk show, The Oprah ...
From the time European settlers began forcing Africans into the horrors of slavery in the early 17th-century American colonies, slave owners stole more than just these men and women’s freedom. Over the course of American slavery’s nearly 250-year history, these particular slaveholders also ...
Elizabeth "Liz" Kloepfer, Ted Bundy's longtime girlfriend and former fiancé, disappeared from the public eye nearly 40 years ago. Before she did, she wrote a book, The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy, detailing her turbulent, six-year relationship with the infamous serial killer, ...
Carol Channing spent decades using her wide smile and exuberant voice to entertain audiences. Over her years in show business, she's appeared in everything from Broadway masterpieces to television and film to Super Bowl halftime shows. With such a long life and storied career, it should be no ...
Broadway said “Goodbye, Dolly” to a favorite performer and lost one of its most distinctive personalities when Carol Channing, the original Lorelei Lee and Dolly Levi, passed away from natural causes on January 15, 2019, at her home in Rancho Mirage, California. Channing was the last in a long ...
Born a slave just before the end of the American Civil War, George Washington Carver rose to prominence as a botanist and agricultural pioneer. Although most famous today for his landmark work with peanuts, Carver’s innovations earned him the friendship and respect of some of the most influential ...
In 1961, an athlete named Cassius Clay prepared for a bout with Duke Sabedong in Las Vegas. The 10-round boxing match was the young boxer’s seventh, but his swagger and charm had already gained him admirers. That day, the man who would soon become Muhammad Ali received a telegram from an unexpected ...
As the first black president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela fought for justice. Serving from 1994-1999, he led the anti-apartheid movement and fought against institutional racism, which eventually led to him serving 27 years in prison. Although he was a controversial figure in some ...
Jackie Robinson is a legend in the world of baseball. Born in 1919, Robinson became the first African-American to play Major League Baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, where he had a successful career as a first baseman. After striking out at the 1956 world series, Robinson ...
By working outside of convention in their respective fields, these black artists have defied cultural and professional stereotypes. Collectively, their bodies of work should not only be seen as a narrative of the African-American experience of their time, but also a powerful expression of cultural ...
For decades, African-American performers have often taken incisive looks at major sociopolitical concerns, relationships and life in general. Their platform for such observations and commentary? Stand-up routines. Here’s a look at some of the all-time comedic greats, their professional histories ...
Mahatma Gandhi inspired people all over the world, including one of the United States’ most famous civil rights leaders, Martin Luther King Jr. Though the two men never got a chance to meet (King was 19 when Gandhi was assassinated), King learned about Gandhi through his writing and a trip to ...
The story of African Americans in the modeling world is often one of resilience, with a number of black models forging a path for themselves and their communities in an industry that has often stuck to narrow, limited notions of who should be seen and celebrated. Here are some of the models ...
Before Barack Obama made history as the first black President of the United States, many African-American politicians before him actively sought the hallowed office. Despite their many obstacles, these ambitious and savvy men and women dreamed big, broke barriers and worked for the greater good of ...
As African-American writer and civil rights activist Audre Lorde once said: "Women are powerful and dangerous." Perhaps it wouldn't be far-fetched to say that women are a lot more powerful and dangerous when they decide to throw their hats into the ring of American politics. These 10 ...
Oprah Winfrey is a media mogul who helmed one of the most popular TV shows in U.S. history. She used her platform to do everything from launching her own production company, Harpo (her name spelled backwards), to starting a school for girls in Africa. Winfrey is the first black woman ...
George H.W. and Barbara Bush met and fell in love as teenagers, then married during World War II. Over the course of their life together, the two experienced separations and loss, while maintaining their devotion to one another. “One of the reasons I made the most important decision of my life, to ...
Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Clay in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. When Ali was just 12 years old, he started training to be a boxer at an amateur level, and it was abundantly clear from the very beginning just how much talent he had. He eventually came to be known as one of the best boxers of all ...
Malcolm X is a controversial figure. Born in 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, he lost his father when he was just six, and his mother was in a mental institution by the time he was 13. Left to carve a path for himself, Malcolm X — who was born Malcolm Little — became an active member of Islam. After ...
It's no secret that a legion of R&B singers trace their musical origins to the church, with the aesthetics of spirituals, gospel and the blues forming the bedrock of sounds that have invigorated soul, rock, pop, and other genres. Here are some of the artists whose sounds were formed in ...
On February 4, 1789, 69 representatives from the early American states cast their votes for the first president. Two months later, the results showed that every single one had voted for retired military general George Washington, making him the first (and last) to be elected to the office ...
In the summer of 1921, former Democratic vice-presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt was diagnosed with what was then known as infantile paralysis—the dreaded polio disease. A grueling rehabilitation not only propelled him off his sick bed and back into the spotlight, it set the tone for ...
Few people have changed the course of history quite like Baptist minister and civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. King was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, and as he grew up he became pained by the inequality and injustice he saw in the way black men and women were treated in the United ...
The achievements of African-American actors and actresses in cinema have been a monumental climb. The Academy Awards has only offered 16 acting awards to African Americans, which has prompted social media campaigns like #OscarsSoWhite to give voice to the problem of underrepresentation in Hollywood ...
On January 8, 1935, a future "king" was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. We mapped out a timeline of events that shaped the King of Rock 'n' Roll's life from his humble beginnings and his early hit-making days to the rise and tragic demise as one of pop culture's most influential artists. SIGN UP FOR ...
Despite the odds being stacked against them throughout history, African-American aviators have contributed significantly to flight exploration as well as to the outer edges of space. Whether male or female, these brave and unique individuals achieved many firsts in aviation and continue to be a ...
During the Harlem Renaissance, which took place roughly from the 1920s to the mid-'30s, many black artists flourished as public interest in their work took off. One of the Renaissance's leading lights was poet and author Langston Hughes. Hughes not only made his mark in this artistic movement by ...
In December 1955, Rosa Parks' refusal as a black woman to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, sparked a boycott. That protest came to a successful conclusion a year later when the Supreme Court ruled that buses had to be integrated. Decades would pass before Parks' role in ...
Former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher thought that Nelson Mandela had “rather a closed mind,” according to recently released records at the U.K. National Archives. The prime minister made the comment after a phone call with Mandela in July 1990, only five months after the ...
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Michael Jordan spent his early years in a rollicking house in rural North Carolina, surrounded by generations of family that stretched back to his great-grandfather. Jordan's stable home life remained consistent even after his immediate family moved to the city of ...
In 1933, shortly after assuming power as chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler moved forward with plans to turn the 1936 Summer and Winter Olympics into showcases for his regime. He ordered the construction of a massive new stadium in Berlin and channeled funds toward the completion of an airport to ...