Romare Bearden (1911)

Regarded as one of the most important African-American artists of the 20th century, Bearden first achieved recognition for his complex, semiabstract collages of photographs and painted paper on canvas in Europe following WWII. By the 1960s, he was the preeminent collagist in the US. A prolific artist, he created some 2,000 works, many of which focus on aspects of African-American culture, including music and family. A Bearden mural in a subway station in what city was once valued at $15 million? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875)

After working numerous odd jobs, Burroughs tried his hand at writing, publishing his first story under the pen name Normal Bean in 1912. Two years later, he published Tarzan of the Apes, a story about an English boy raised by apes in Africa. Wildly successful, the book was the first in a series of 27 Tarzan titles. Burroughs later moved to Hollywood to supervise the filming of the first of the extremely successful Tarzan films. What city is named after his most famous character? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Caligula (12 CE)

Caligula was a Roman emperor who began his reign upon the death of the extremely unpopular Tiberius. His reign was initially welcomed, but, shortly after assuming power, he suffered a severe illness that is widely believed to have rendered him insane. He earned a reputation for cruel autocracy, torture, and execution and was finally assassinated by a tribune of the Praetorian Guard. Caligula’s real name was Caius Caesar Germanicus. Why was he nicknamed Caligula as a child? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797)

In 1816, 18-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her soon-to-be husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, traveled to Geneva to spend the summer with poet Lord Byron. Forced indoors by unpleasant weather, the friends amused themselves by sitting around a fire and reading ghost stories. Byron suggested they each write their own supernatural tale, and the story that Mary wrote became the basis for her novel, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. What real-life events may have inspired her? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809)

The father of the US Supreme Court justice of the same name, Holmes was an American physician, poet, and humorist. After beginning his medical career as a general practitioner, he shifted to the academic field and became dean of the Harvard medical school. However, he is perhaps best known for the poem that won him national acclaim—”Old Ironsides,” a protest against the scrapping of the USS Constitution, which helped save the ship. What common medical term was coined by Holmes? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774)

Seton was the first native-born US citizen canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Six years after she founded the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children, her husband died, leaving her with five young children. She later opened a free Catholic elementary school and is considered the mother of the US parochial school system. In 1813, she founded the Sisters of Charity, the first US religious order, and served as its superior until her death. Seton is the patron saint of what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Emmanuel Radnitzky, AKA Man Ray (1890)

Radnitzky was a photographer, painter, and filmmaker better known in the art world as Man Ray. After forming the New York Dada group with Marcel Duchamp in 1917, he moved to Paris and became associated with the Surrealists. By placing objects on light-sensitive paper and exposing them to sunlight, he created “cameraless” pictures called “rayographs.” He later turned to portrait and fashion photography, extensively documenting Parisian celebrities. How did Radnitzky come to be known as Man Ray? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880)

Apollinaire was a French poet who developed a casual, lyrical poetic style characterized by a blend of modern and traditional images and verse techniques. His poetry was marked by daring technical experiments, and his use of unusual verbal associations and word patterns to create surprise is often considered the start of Surrealism. A friend of many avant-garde artists, including Pablo Picasso, Apollinaire was once arrested as a suspect in the theft of what famous painting? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Allan Pinkerton (1819)

Pinkerton, an American detective and spy, founded the first private detective agency in the US—the Pinkerton Detective Agency—in 1850. The agency, which specialized in railroad theft cases, soon became famous, and Pinkerton opened branches in several cities. In 1860, he discovered and thwarted a plot to assassinate newly elected President Abraham Lincoln while en route to his inauguration. He went on to serve as a spy during the Civil War and head up what would become what government agency? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Jorge Luis Borges (1899)

Borges was an Argentine poet, essayist, and short-story writer. Much of his work is rich in fantasy and metaphorical allegory, including the story collection Ficciones, which won him an international following. In the 1920s, Borges was afflicted by a worsening hereditary blindness and was totally blind by the mid-1950s. Forced to abandon the writing of long texts, he began dictating his works. What literary movement is Borges credited with establishing in South America? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary