Born: 30 May 1946 Nationality: American Candy Lightner transformed a personal tragedy into a crusade against drink driving. She founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving or MADD, a grassroots organisation dedicated to curbing alcohol-related traffic deaths. Lightner's 13-year-old daughter Cari, whilst walking down a quiet street, was struck from behind by a car. The impact threw Cari 125 feet, knocking off her shoes and mutilating her body so badly that it was not possible to sav

Born: 25 December 1821 Died: 12 April 1912 Nationality: American Clara was born Clarissa Harlowe Barton on Christmas Day in 1821 in Oxford, Massachusetts. When Clara was eleven years old, her brother David fell off the roof of a barn. He became very sick. Clara spent the next two years taking care of David. The doctors didn't hold out much hope for David, but, with Clara's help, he eventually got better. It was during this time that Clara discovered that she enjoyed taking ca

Born: 15 January 1929 Died: 4 April 1968 Nationality : American Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. King, both a Baptist minister and civil-rights activist, King had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States, beginning in the mid-1950s. King organised the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which gave him a base to pursue further civil-rights activities, first in the South and later nationwide. His philosophy o

Born: 31 March 1948 Nationality: American Albert Arnold Gore Jr., known as Al Gore, is an American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Chosen as Clinton's running mate in their successful 1992 campaign, he was re-elected in 1996. At the end of Clinton's second term, Gore was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in 2000. Gore is the founder and current chair of the Al

Born: 24 February 1955 Died: 5 October 2011 Nationality: American Steve Jobs was best known as the co-founder, chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple Inc; CEO and largest shareholder of Pixar Animation Studios; founder, chairperson and CEO of NeXT and a member of The Walt Disney Company's board of directors. Together with Steve Wozniak, Jobs is widely recognised as a pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s with his Apple brand. He was famously des

Born: 12 February 1809 Died 15 April 1865 Nationality: American Abraham Lincoln is one of America's greatest heroes famous for leading the country during the American Civil War. His leadership in the North helped the country to remain strong and defeat the South keeping the country united. He also pushed for the freedom of all slaves throughout the nation. He won a seat in the Illinois Legislature when he was 25. During that time he studied the law and began to work as a lawy

Born: 27 June 1880 Died: 1 June 1968 Nationality: American American educator Helen Keller overcame the adversity of being blind and deaf to become one of the 20th century's leading humanitarians, as well as co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Helen Adams Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. In 1882, she fell ill and was left blind and deaf. Beginning in 1887, Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, helped her make tremendous progress with her ability to commun

Born: 24 July 1897 Disappeared: 2 July 1937 Nationality: American Amelia Earhart, arguably the most famous female pilot of all time, was born in Kansas, USA. Amelia's first "flight" was when she was just seven years old. With the help of her uncle she made a homemade roller coaster. After crashing dramatically she told her sister that it "was just like flying". In 1920 Amelia and her father visited an air show in California. Amelia went on her first plane flight that day. Ame