César Estrada Chávez was born on March 31, 1927, near Yuma, Arizona, to Librado Chávez and Juana Estrada Chávez. He grew up in a Mexican American family whose early life was closely connected to farming and small businesses. His family owned a grocery store, an automobile repair shop and a pool hall on their homestead … Read more
Cormac McCarthy was born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr. on July 20, 1933, in Providence, Rhode Island, to Charles Joseph McCarthy and Gladys Christina McGrail McCarthy. He was one of six children in an Irish Catholic family. In 1937, when he was four years old, the family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, because his father worked as … Read more
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States, to James McCauley and Leona Edwards McCauley. She was raised primarily in Pine Level, Alabama, in her mother’s family home and grew up with her younger brother, Sylvester. Her mother, Leona, was a teacher, while her maternal grandparents had been … Read more
Sonia Maria Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954, in the Bronx, New York City, to Puerto Rican parents Juan Sotomayor and Celina Báez Sotomayor. Her father worked as a tool-and-die worker and had limited formal education, while her mother worked in nursing after serving during World War II. Sotomayor grew up in a working-class … Read more
M. S. Subbulakshmi, whose full name was Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi, was born on September 16, 1916, in Madurai, in the Madras Presidency of British India, now Tamil Nadu, India. She was affectionately known as Kunjamma within her family. Her childhood was surrounded by music because her mother, Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Ammal, was an accomplished veena player, … Read more
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, born Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay, was born on September 26, 1820, in Birsingha village, in the Midnapore region of Bengal, British India. He was born into a poor Bengali Hindu Brahmin family to Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay and Bhagavati Devi. His difficult childhood and the financial struggles experienced by his family became an important part … Read more
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, at the Dickinson Homestead on Main Street in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was the middle child of Edward Dickinson and Emily Norcross Dickinson, with an older brother, William Austin Dickinson, commonly known as Austin, and a younger sister, Lavinia Dickinson. Her father was a prominent lawyer and … Read more
Hassan Allahyari is an Afghan-born Twelver Shia religious scholar, preacher, researcher, debater and media personality who is widely known for his lectures and discussions about Islamic theology and the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt. Public biographical sources identify Kabul, Afghanistan, as his birthplace and generally place his birth year in 1949. Detailed information about his … Read more
Molana Abdul Hannan Siddiqui was a Pakistani Islamic scholar, preacher, religious speaker and khateeb who became widely recognized for his Urdu-language Islamic lectures. Available biographical records give his date of birth as May 22, 1957, and his birthplace as Pakistan. Hamariweb identifies his father as Maulana Muhammad Mustafa Jauhari and describes him as coming from … Read more
Anthony Michael Bourdain was born on June 25, 1956, in New York City and grew up in suburban New Jersey. He was the elder of two sons born to Pierre Bourdain, a classical-music executive, and Gladys Bourdain, a longtime editor at The New York Times. His family was culturally inclined, and Bourdain developed an early … Read more