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Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was a television and movie actor who became the 40th president of the United States. He was a popular president, easily winning two terms in office. He had a charming manner and was a gifted public speaker. Reagan was the oldest person to serve as U.S. president, reaching the age of 77 near the end of his second term.
EARLY LIFE
Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois. He was the second son of John and Nelle Reagan. Reagan grew up in Dixon, Illinois, about 100 miles (about 160 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. His father was a salesman. His mother, who taught him to read at an early age, was his strongest childhood influence.
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull was already a skilled hunter and warrior in his early teens. When he was growing up, he never dreamed that he would be fighting for his way of life.
HOW DID HE GET HIS NAME?
Sitting Bull was born in about 1831 near the Grand River in South Dakota. He became a chief of the Sioux Indians at the age of 22. His name refers to a male buffalo, an animal that Native Americans believed to be strong and fearless. A sitting bull is stubborn as well. Sitting Bull received this name after he showed bravery and daring in an attack.
Susan B. Anthony
There was a time when women in the United States were not allowed to vote. They could not participate in politics, and did not have the same rights as men. Susan B. Anthony devoted 50 years of her life to the struggle for women’s voting rights. A busy reformer, Anthony also championed the abolition (outlawing) of slavery in the years before the Civil War (1861-1865).
SUSAN B. ANTHONY’S EARLY LIFE
Susan Brownell Anthony was born in Massachusetts on February 15, 1820. She was one of eight children. From the age of 7, she lived in New York State. At age 15, she became a schoolteacher.
Slavery
A slave ship docks on the western coast of Africa. Slave traders force thousands of black Africans into the cargo hold. Weeks later, the ship reaches port. The people are herded off the ship and sold to white businessmen and landowners. Millions of Africans became enslaved this way.
A LONG HISTORY
Slavery didn’t begin in the American colonies. It has a long history going back to ancient times. Ancient Egyptians used slaves to build palaces and monuments. The Romans turned prisoners they captured in war into slaves. Aztecs, Incas, and the Maya used slaves to farm and to fight wars.
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant commanded the Union forces in the last year of the American Civil War. An outstanding general, Grant succeeded in bringing a bloody and difficult war to an end. He became a national hero and was elected president of the United States. But his talents as a military leader failed to make Grant a great president. In fact, his presidency is considered one of the worst in American history.
EARLY LIFE
Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio. His parents named their son Hiram Ulysses Grant. But when he applied to West Point, America’s top military academy, his name got mixed up.