CP US History II Biography Assignment Sarajian/Ragone
Name:__________________________________Figure:__________________________________________________
Biography Resources
You must have at least one book, one additional print source and one online source (please provide the
appropriate MLA citation):
1-______________________________________________________________________________________________
2-______________________________________________________________________________________________
3-______________________________________________________________________________________________
4-______________________________________________________________________________________________
Select a key figure from the period we are studying (1870-Present). Select a biography of this person, and additional
print source and 1 online sources. After reading the biography you will prepare an essay on this figure as well as an
iWeb site to present to the class.
Your essay should cover the following:
Paragraph 1
Introduction; Dynamic topic sentence establishing
why you selected this figure, what you intend
to show about his/her impact on the era he/she
lived in and his/her effect on us today.
Paragraph 2
Basic biographical facts (such as birth, family, education, marriage and children,
and early career).
Paragraph 3
Key events (positive and negative) in this person’s
life. What happened and how did this impact the
person? Key influences on him/her. Is this why we are studying him/her? How
did this impact his/her era?
REMEMBER-the key is specific examples.
Paragraph 4
Building from paragraph 3, what were this person’s key
accomplishments relative to us today? How did this person impact
our lives today; for example how does what he/she invented impact
us today? Did a policy decision he/she made lead to something that
affects us today? Did he/she significantly influence someone who
impacts us today (e.g. Gandhi/Martin Luther King, Jr.).
Paragraph 5
Summary paragraph-What did you learn about this person.
What did you learn that surprised you? Did something really
impress you? Did something disappoint you? Include a
meaningful quote and how it reflects what you discovered about the
person’s life. If you were to research this person more, what
would you look into deeper?
The Web Page should be have at least 3 pages. We will use iWeb. There is a tutorial we can watch in
class.
Page 1-Intro-biological facts-something to grab me
Page 2-Key influences and accomplishments. Who did he/she influence? How did he/she
impact us today.
Page 3-Quotes and links to websites about that figure should we want to learn more.
Be creative-have fun-dazzle us. You can go beyond the basic requirements. I will show you examples
of where previous students added music and video.
Missing a deadline will result in the deduction of points.
Timeline:
Wednesday, September 18th-Figure and resources (biography and online sources) selected due.
Monday, September 23rd-Outline due Bring all your resources this day. You will be able to work on paper and
website in class.
Friday, September 27th -Final Paper due.
Monday, September 30th-iWeb site due.
All steps in the process must be typed, double spaced, 12 Pt. Times New Roman font.
US II – Remember, these are just some ideas. Find someone who interests you (it could be an
inventor/writer/musician/athlete). Each individual may be used by only one student.
Presidents
Theodore Roosevelt
Warren G. Harding
Franklin D. Roosevelt
John F. Kennedy
Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton
William H. Taft
Calvin Coolidge
Harry Truman
Lyndon Johnson
Ronald Reagan
George W. Bush
Woodrow Wilson
Herbert Hoover
Dwight Eisenhower
Richard Nixon
George H. W. Bush
Barack Obama
Military Figures
John J. Pershing
James Doolittle
William Westmoreland
Douglas MacArthur
George S. Patton
Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
Chester Nimitz
Maxwell Taylor
David Petraeus
Statesman/Military Leaders
George Marshall
Colin Powell
Politics/Government
Henry Kissinger
George Wallace
Marco Rubio
John McCain
Hillary Clinton
Condoleezza Rice
Elena Kagan
Cory Booker
Robert Taft
Chris Christie
Inventors/Scientists
The Wright Brothers
George Westinghouse
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Albert Einstein
Thomas Edison
Nikolai Tesla
Albert Sabin
George Washington Carver
Philo Farnsworth
Jonas Salk
The World of Sports
James J. Braddock
Harold “Red” Grange
Althea Gibson
Wilma Rudolph
Jack Dempsey
Jackie Robinson
Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Babe Ruth
Pete Rozelle
Billy Jean King
Entertainment Industry
Al Jolson
Irving Berlin
Les Paul
Steven Spielberg
Cecil B. DeMille
Bill Cosby
Lucille Ball
Walt Disney
George M. Cohan
Frank Sinatra
Marilyn Monroe
George Lucas
Civil Rights
W. E. B. DuBois
Martin Luther King
Stokely Carmichael
Margaret Sanger
Marcus Garvey
Medgar Evers
Jesse Jackson
Betty Friedan
Rosa Parks
Malcolm X
Cesar Chavez
Gloria Steinem
The Arts
Ernest Hemingway
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Kurt Vonnegut
Lillian Hellman
Diane Arbus
William Faulkner
Andy Warhol
William Saroyan
Arthur Miller
Stephen King
Robert Frost
John Steinbeck
Dalton Trumbo
Tennessee Williams
Business
John D. Rockefeller
David Sarnoff
Robert L. Johnson
Nolan Bushnell
Joseph P. Kennedy
Miscellaneous
Sacco and Vanzetti
Amelia Earhart
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Helen Keller
World Figures
Lenin
Khrushchev
Ben-Gurion
Saddam Hussein
Andrew Carnegie
Oprah Winfrey
Berry Gordy, Jr.
Roone Arledge
Steve Jobs
Henry Ford
Bill Gates
Warren Buffett
J.P. Morgan
Mark Zuckerberg
Al Capone
Charles Lindbergh
Margaret Chase Smith Eleanor Roosevelt
Leopold and Loeb
Hitler
Gorbachev
Kim Il Sung
Osama bin Laden
Stalin
Putin
Mao Zedong