This latest online release adds 27 entries to American National Biography Online, covering a period of over 300 years. One of the earlier entries looks at the life of Jared Ingersoll, a signatory of the U.S. constitution, which sought to speak for "the People of the United States." Other subjects included in this update spoke on behalf of a different people, in a different way. Métis leader Gabriel Dumont sought redress for the grievances of his people with petitions, delegations and rebellion, while Native American Alex Posey later gave accounts of his own culture in his journalism and poetry. Ernest Hogan played a major role in bringing African American musical styles to Broadway in a career that spanned minstrelsy, vaudeville, and musical theater. Butterfly McQueen made a name for African American women in cinema with roles in such iconic films as Gone with the Wind and Mildred Pierce.
In addition, many of the later lives in this release shaped, or were shaped by, the civil rights movement. Daisy Bates made a stand against segregated education when she guided the Little Rock Nine to their places in the classroom, but the issue of segregated education remained, and both educator Terrel H. Bell and federal judge W. Arthur Garrity became involved in controversial attempts to integrate school pupils through programs of "cross-busing." Support for the civil rights movement came from many quarters, from activists and speakers like Betty Shabazz, to academics like Robert Wiebe. Many other changes were also happening across American society, and it is interesting to note that in the century after social reformer Virigina Penny lamented the limitations of the women's labor market, Hazel Bishop was to find success both in industry, with her mass-marketed "kissproof" lipstick, and on Wall Street, paving the way for women in both fields.
Don't forget to check out the Biography of the Day, which is freely available to the public along with the brand new articles in the current update!