My Name is Harriet Tubman: Conductor of the Underground Railroad I was born around 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland, and my birth name was Araminta Ross. My parents, Harriet “Rit” Green and Ben Ross, were enslaved, and so I was born into slavery as well. From the time I was a small child, I felt the sharp edge of that system. I was hired out to different households, separated from my family, and punished harshly. As a young girl, I was struck in the head with a heavy weigh

My Name is Sarah Winnemucca: Northern Paiute Leader and Advocate I was born around 1844 near what is now western Nevada, into the Northern Paiute people, a land of wide valleys, sagebrush plains, and mountain shadows. My grandfather, Chief Truckee, believed that understanding the newcomers crossing our lands might protect our future. Because of his vision, I grew up hearing both the language of my people and the language of the Americans who pushed steadily west. From childho

My Name is Alexander William Doniphan: Lawyer, Soldier, and Defender of Law I was born in 1808 in Kentucky, but my life and legacy would be written in the soil of Missouri. As a young man, I studied law with determination, believing firmly that civilization on the frontier required more than rifles and bravado—it required courts, order, and principles. When I moved to Liberty, Missouri, I built my law practice in a region that was growing quickly and not always peacefully. Th

My Name is Kit Carson: Mountain Man, Scout, and Pathfinder of the West I was born in 1809 in Kentucky, but my life truly began when my family moved to the Missouri frontier. When my father died, I was still a boy, and like many on the edge of civilization, I learned quickly that survival required courage and skill. I was apprenticed to a saddler in Franklin, Missouri, but the open horizon called louder than any workshop. At sixteen, I ran away and joined a caravan on the Sant

My Name is Millard Fillmore: Thirteenth President of the United States I was born on January 7, 1800, in a small log cabin in Cayuga County, New York. My parents were poor, and my childhood was marked by hard labor rather than privilege. I worked on farms and apprenticed in a cloth-dressing mill. Books were scarce, but I hungered for knowledge. With determination, I educated myself, borrowing volumes wherever I could and studying by candlelight. I believed that learning was t

My Name is Anne Hutchinson: Religious Dissenter and Defender of Conscience I was born Anne Marbury in 1591 in Alford, Lincolnshire, England, the daughter of a clergyman who himself had faced trouble for challenging the Church of England. From my father, Francis Marbury, I learned that faith was not merely obedience to authority but a matter of conviction and careful study of Scripture. I grew up in a world where questioning religious leaders could bring punishment, yet I also

My Name is Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo: Californio General, Ranchero, and Witness to a Changing California I was born in 1807 in Monterey, Alta California, when this distant land still belonged to the Spanish Empire. My family was respected, and from an early age I was trained in discipline, duty, and loyalty to the crown. Soldiers, priests, and settlers shaped the world around me. The missions stretched along the coast, Native peoples labored under Spanish authority, and the l

My Name is William L. Marcy: Soldier, Governor, and Secretary of War I was born in 1786 in Massachusetts, in the first years of the American Republic, when the nation was still learning how to stand on its own feet. My father had served in the Revolutionary War, and from him I inherited both discipline and a deep belief in the strength of the Union. As a young man, I studied law and made my way to New York, where opportunity and ambition met on the growing frontier of America

My Name is James K. Polk: President of the Republic and Architect of Expansion I was born in 1795 in North Carolina, on the edge of a young republic still defining its ambitions. My childhood was marked by hardship and illness, experiences that taught me discipline and endurance early in life. From the beginning, I believed that success in public service came not from charisma, but from relentless work and unwavering focus.   Formed by Study and Self-Control I pursued educati

My Name is Peter Skene Ogden: Fur Trader of the Oregon Country My name is Peter Skene Ogden: Fur Trader of the Oregon Country. I was born in 1790 in Quebec, into a world already shaped by empire and competition. My father was a loyalist who had fled the American Revolution, and from him I learned that borders could shift faster than loyalties. From an early age, I understood that survival in North America depended on adaptability, restraint, and knowing when to press forward