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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Critical literacy × Research skills ×
Literature
Frederick Douglass
c. 1818-1895 · United States
Frederick Douglass (c.1818-1895) was an American abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland, the son of an enslaved…
Citizenship Critical literacy Ethical thinking Storytelling and narrative +1
"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."
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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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History
Natalie Zemon Davis
1928-present · United States / Canada
Natalie Zemon Davis (born 1928) is an American-Canadian historian. She was born in Detroit, Michigan, into a Jewish family, and studied history at Smith College,…
Research skills Critical thinking Storytelling and narrative Cultural heritage and identity +1
"What I offer you is in part my invention, but held tightly in check by the voices of the past."
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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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