Great Thinkers

Meet the great minds whose ideas have shaped the world — philosophers, scientists, artists, leaders, and revolutionaries whose thinking still matters today.

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13 thinkers
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Era: Contemporary × Critical literacy ×
Literature
Aimé Césaire
1913-2008 · Martinique, Caribbean
Aimé Césaire (1913-2008) was a poet, playwright, and political thinker from Martinique, an island in the Caribbean that was, and still is, a French territory.…
Cultural heritage and identity Critical literacy Citizenship Ethical thinking +1
"A civilisation that proves incapable of solving the problems it creates is a decadent civilisation."
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Literature
Chinua Achebe
1930-2013 · Nigeria, West Africa
Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, critic, and professor. He was born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe in Ogidi, in southeastern Nigeria, into an Igbo…
Storytelling and narrative Critical literacy Cultural heritage and identity Ethical thinking +1
"Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter."
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History
Howard Zinn
1922-2010 · United States
Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was an American historian, playwright, and activist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrant parents who worked in factories,…
Critical thinking Citizenship Research skills Critical literacy +1
"I thought it important to put back in the historical record the countless struggles of ordinary people who fought against…"
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Literature
James Baldwin
1924-1987 · United States
James Baldwin (1924-1987) was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, and activist. He was born in Harlem, New York, the eldest of nine children. His mother's…
Critical literacy Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Storytelling and narrative +1
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."
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Technology & Engineering
Marshall McLuhan
1911-1980 · Canada
Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) was a Canadian media theorist. He was born in Edmonton, Alberta, and studied literature at the University of Manitoba and Cambridge University…
Media literacy Digital literacy Critical thinking Civic media and democracy +1
"The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium result…"
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Politics
Nadia Murad
born 1993 · Iraq
Nadia Murad (born 1993) is a Yazidi human rights activist from the Sinjar region of northern Iraq. In 2014, when she was twenty-one years old,…
Critical thinking Resilience Intercultural competence Critical literacy
"I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine."
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Physics
Narges Mohammadi
born 1972 · Iran
Narges Mohammadi (born 1972) is an Iranian physicist, journalist, and human rights activist. She is one of Iran's most prominent advocates for the abolition of…
Critical thinking Critical literacy Resilience Intercultural competence
"I will not stop. My voice will not be silenced."
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Biology
Rachel Carson
1907-1964 · United States
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist. She was born in rural Pennsylvania and developed a love of the natural world…
Environmental thinking Scientific thinking Critical literacy Citizenship +1
"In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is a story of the earth."
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Politics
Rigoberta Menchú
born 1959 · Guatemala, Central America
Rigoberta Menchú Tum (born 1959) is an indigenous Maya K'iche' woman from Guatemala and one of the most important human rights activists of the twentieth…
Citizenship Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1
"I am still keeping secret what I think no-one should know. Not even anthropologists or intellectuals, no matter how many…"
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Literature
Toni Morrison
1931-2019 · United States
Toni Morrison (1931-2019) was an American novelist, essayist, editor, and professor. She was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, into a Black working-class family…
Storytelling and narrative Critical literacy Cultural heritage and identity Ethical thinking +1
"If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else."
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Philosophy
Umberto Eco
1932-2016 · Italy, Southern Europe
Umberto Eco (1932-2016) was an Italian philosopher, semiotician, literary theorist, and novelist. He was born in Alessandria in northern Italy and studied philosophy at the…
Critical literacy Media literacy Storytelling and narrative Critical thinking +1
"A book is a fragile creature, it suffers the wear of time, it fears rodents, the elements and clumsy hands.…"
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Anthropology & Culture
Zora Neale Hurston
1891-1960 · United States
Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was an African American anthropologist, folklorist, and novelist, one of the most significant figures in both the Harlem Renaissance and the…
Cultural heritage and identity Research skills Storytelling and narrative Critical literacy +1
"I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes.…"
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Education
bell hooks
1952–2021 · United States
bell hooks (1952–2021) was an American educator, professor, feminist theorist, and cultural critic. She was born Gloria Jean Watkins in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, into a working-class…
Critical thinking Critical literacy Resilience Intercultural competence +1
"To educate as the practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone can learn."
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