Harriet Tubman
1820-1913: Born into slavery in Maryland, Harriet Tubman freed herself, and played a major role in freeing the remaining millions. After the Civil War, she joined her family in Auburn, NY, where she founded the Harriet Tubman Home.
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Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
1825-1911: Schoolteacher before traveling for lectures on a variety of causes, chief among them the abolition of slavery. Published author.
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Francis Scott Key
1780-1843: Born in Caroll County, Maryland. He was U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia during the years of 1833-41. He wrote the national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, and was also an author.
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Benjamin Banneker
1731-1806: Born in Endicott, Md. Was an mathematician and astronomer. Banneker was appointed by President George Washington to the District of Columbia Commission, which was responsible for the survey work that established the city's original boundaries. Also published the published the Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanac and Ephemeris, which contained tide tables, future eclipses, and medicinal formulas during the years of 1791 to 1802.
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Christopher Gist
1706-59: American frontiersman commissioned by the Ohio Company to explore their western lands. In 1750 he descended the Ohio River, explored E Kentucky, and crossed to Roanoke, N.C. He then explored the Kentucky region 18 years before the more celebrated Daniel Boone. The next season he more carefully traversed and mapped the Ohio watershed in western Virginia
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