Aretha Franklin, born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, rose from singing in her father’s Detroit church to become the universally acclaimed “Queen of Soul.” With her powerhouse voice and deep gospel roots, she scored a string of timeless hits—like “Respect,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” and “Chain of Fools”—that defined American popular music in the 1960s and ’70s. She was the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and earned 18 Grammy Awards over her career. Beyond her recordings, she made history with landmark performances at events such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral, presidential inaugurations, and the 1998 Grammy Awards tribute, where she famously joined highlights of her legacy. Honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, she continued to perform and inspire until her passing on August 16, 2018, leaving behind a legacy of soul, strength, and uncompromising artistry.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a French aviator and writer whose life in the sky informed some of the most enduring works of twentieth-century literature. Born in Lyon on June 29, 1900, he earned his pilot’s wings in the French Air Force and went on to fly hazardous airmail routes over the Sahara and the Andes—experiences he later immortalized in Night Flight and Wind, Sand and Stars. In 1943 he published Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), a poetic fable about innocence, friendship, and the search for meaning that has since been translated into over 300 languages. During World War II, he joined the Free French Air Force as a reconnaissance pilot and, on July 31, 1944, vanished over the Mediterranean on a mission from which he would never return. His blend of daring aviation exploits and lyrical storytelling continues to captivate readers and inspire aviators around the world.

Anthony J. D’Angelo is an American author, speaker, and entrepreneur who first made his mark as a college student in the mid-1990s by collecting and sharing motivational insights for his peers. His earliest work, The College Blue Book, offered practical tips on leadership, personal growth, and academic success, and quickly gained a following among student organizations and campus leaders. Building on that momentum, D’Angelo founded The Collegiate EmPowerment Company, which provides mentoring, training, and inspirational resources to young adults across the country. Over the years he has written numerous volumes in the Inspiration Book Series—tailored to resident assistants, student groups, and professional organizations—and has delivered keynote speeches at universities, corporations, and conferences, helping thousands of students and professionals unlock their potential.

Anaïs Nin (February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) occupies a singular place in twentieth-century letters, her work distinguished by its exquisite lyricism and unflinching candor. Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine to a Cuban father and Danish mother, she spent her formative years amid Europe’s cultural ferment before relocating to New York in 1914, where she commenced the diaries that would span more than six decades. In the effervescent milieu of 1930s Paris, she forged a profound artistic alliance with Henry Miller—serving as both muse and editorial collaborator—while issuing her own daring tales in Delta of Venus and Little Birds. Her marriage in 1939 to banker Hugh Parker Guiler did little to diminish her peripatetic spirit: she divided her time between New York’s domestic sphere and repeated returns to Europe, where she cultivated friendships with leading figures of Surrealism and the nascent field of psychoanalysis. The publication of her multi-volume Diaries in the 1960s, alongside incisive essays on creativity and the inner life, cemented her reputation as an intrepid chronicler of desire, imagination, and identity. Though she departed this world in 1977, her richly wrought explorations of feminine subjectivity and artistic process continue to resonate with readers and writers across the globe.

Amy Jean Klobuchar (born May 25, 1960, in Plymouth, Minnesota) built a reputation as a pragmatic problem-solver long before she became one of the Senate’s most effective deal-makers. After graduating from Yale University and the University of Chicago Law School, she clerked for a federal judge, practiced law in Minneapolis, and served on the Minneapolis city council. In 1998 she was elected Hennepin County Attorney—becoming the first woman to hold that post—where she prosecuted public corruption and domestic violence cases. In 2006 she won a U.S. Senate seat, and has since been re-elected three times, earning bipartisan praise for her work on antitrust enforcement, transportation infrastructure, and judicial confirmations. In 2019 she launched a presidential bid focused on Midwestern sensibilities, and though she later endorsed the eventual nominee, she remains a leading voice on technology regulation and rural broadband expansion.

Amelia Mary Earhart (July 24, 1897 – disappeared July 2, 1937) was an American aviation pioneer whose daring spirit and many “firsts” made her a global icon for women’s achievement. Born in Atchison, Kansas, she discovered her passion for flight in her early twenties and earned her pilot’s license in 1923—the sixteenth woman in the world to do so. In 1928 she became the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by air, a milestone that earned her instant fame. Four years later, she cemented her legacy by becoming the first woman (and second person after Charles Lindbergh) to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic, for which she received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross. Beyond that feat, she set women’s altitude and speed records, taught at Purdue University, and served as director of the National Committee for the Amelia Earhart Fellowship Fund. In 1937, while attempting to circumnavigate the globe, her Lockheed Electra vanished near Howland Island; despite an extensive search, neither she nor her plane was ever found. Through her books, lectures, and unyielding optimism, Earhart inspired generations to push boundaries—her legacy endures as a testament to courage, curiosity, and the uncharted possibilities of the sky.

Ambrose Bierce (June 24, 1842 – c. 1914) was an American satirist, journalist, and short-story writer whose dark wit and vivid realism left an indelible mark on American letters. Born in rural Kentucky and raised in Indiana, he enlisted in the Union Army at age nineteen and saw brutal action at Shiloh and Chickamauga—experiences he later transformed into harrowing tales such as “Killed at Resaca” and “Chickamauga.” After the war he became a fierce newspaper editor in San Francisco, earning the nickname “Bitter Bierce” for his scathing editorial voice. His most enduring work, The Devil’s Dictionary (first published in 1906), distilled his caustic definitions of human folly into literary legend, while his Civil War stories—above all “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”—pioneered the twist ending and psychological realism in American fiction. In 1913, Bierce traveled to Mexico to witness the Revolution and was never heard from again, leaving behind a legacy of uncompromising satire and haunting prose.

Alice Walker is an acclaimed American novelist, poet, and activist whose work has profoundly shaped contemporary literature and social thought. Born on February 9, 1944, in Eatonton, Georgia, she grew up in the segregated South as the youngest of eight children; a childhood accident that left her partially blind at age eight deepened her empathy and sharpened her poetic sensibility. After earning a B.A. in English from Sarah Lawrence College in 1965, she joined the Civil Rights Movement, working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and registering voters in Georgia and Mississippi. Walker’s breakthrough came with her 1982 novel The Color Purple, a searing exploration of race, gender, and resilience, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award in 1983 and was later adapted into an Oscar-nominated film and a Tony-winning Broadway musical. Over her career she has published numerous collections of poetry, short stories, and essays—often centering the voices of women of color—and has been a vocal advocate for women’s rights, environmental justice, and prison reform. In 2000, she received the O. Henry Award for her short story “To Hell With Dying,” and in 2015 she was awarded the National Women’s Hall of Fame’s “Indomitable Spirit” honor. Today, Walker continues to write and lecture internationally, living between the United States and France, where she champions literary freedom and human dignity.

Alice Paul was a pioneering American suffragist, feminist, and human rights advocate whose tireless activism reshaped the nation’s understanding of gender equality. Born on January 11, 1885, in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, she earned degrees at Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania before traveling to England to hone her tactics with the Women’s Social and Political Union. Returning to the United States in 1910, she co-founded the Congressional Union (later the National Woman’s Party), orchestrating the first large-scale pickets of the White House in 1917—actions that led to her imprisonment and a hunger strike. Her leadership helped secure ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, granting women the right to vote. In the decades that followed, Paul drafted the original Equal Rights Amendment in 1923 and continued to lobby tirelessly for its adoption. She died on July 9, 1977, leaving a legacy of uncompromising dedication to legal equality for all.

Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (baptized August 6, 1809 – died October 6, 1892), was England’s preeminent Victorian poet. Born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, he showed poetic talent early, publishing his first collection while still at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he formed lasting friendships with fellow poets the Brownings and Arthur Henry Hallam. Hallam’s untimely death in 1833 inspired Tennyson’s searing elegy In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), which cemented his reputation. In 1850, on the death of William Wordsworth, he was appointed Poet Laureate—a post he held for forty-two years, writing public verse such as “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (1854) to commemorate the Crimean War. His other masterpieces include the Arthurian cycle Idylls of the King (1859–1885) and the dramatic monologues “Ulysses” and “Maud.” In recognition of his services to literature, Queen Victoria ennobled him as Baron Tennyson in 1884. Throughout his life he balanced popular appeal with deep philosophical reflection, leaving a legacy that shaped the course of English poetry well into the 20th century.