So the President is doing the sort of project I actually think is nice – 250 noteworthy Americans in a statuary garden for America’s 250th anniversary. Of course, being Trump, it isn’t a great list – although, admittedly, it did exceed my expectations. Nevertheless, here’s my own list of 250 people, if I was making the Garden. They are arranged roughly chronologically, based on their accomplishments:
1. Phyllis Wheatley – Enslaved female
poet
2. Benjamin Franklin – Scientist,
statesman, abolitionist, and publisher
3. Thomas Paine – Revolutionary
pamphleteer
4. John Paul Jones – Revolutionary
Naval hero
5. Alexander Hamilton – Revolutionary
and influential Secretary of the Treasury
6. James Madison – Constitutional
author
7. George Washington – Revolutionary War
general and first President of the U.S.
8. John Adams – Revolutionary and
second President
9. Thomas Jefferson – Declaration of
Independence author, polymath, third President
10. Noah Webster – Lexicographer of
American English
11. Mary Lyon – Women’s education
pioneer
12. Sequoyah – Lexicographer for
Cherokee Nation
13. Walt Whitman – Influential poet
14. Horace Mann – Foundational educator
who advocated for public schooling
15. Samuel Morse – Telegraph innovator
16. Sarah Josepha Hale – Reformer and
author
17. Dorothea Dix – Reformer for mental
institutions
18. Edgar Alan Poe – Short story
innovator and poet
19. Elizabeth Blackwell – Female
medical pioneer
20. Lucretia Mott – Suffragist and
Seneca Falls organizer
21. Elizabeth Cady Stanton – Suffragist
and Seneca Falls organizer
22. Henry David Thoreau – Author and
civil disobedience pioneer
23. Herman Melville – Iconic author
24. Eunice Foote – Climate scientist
who discovered greenhouse effect
25. Sojourner Truth – Groundbreaking black
feminist
26. Frederick Douglass – Enslaved
autobiographer
27. Hariet Jacobs – Enslaved
autobiographer
28. Harriet Tubman – Underground
Railroad operator
29. Frederick Law Olmsted – Pioneering
landscape architect
30. Hariet Beecher Stowe – Abolitionist
author and home economist
31. John Brown – Abolitionist martyr
32. Abraham Lincoln – President who
guided the nation through the Civil War and abolished slavery
33. Louisa May Alcott – Acclaimed author
34. Ulysses S. Grant – Civil War
general and President
35. Luther Burbank – Influential horticulturist
36. Victoria Woodhull – Suffragist and
reformer
37. Susan B. Anthony – Important suffragist
38. Mark Twain – Iconic humorist and
author
39. Clara Barton – American Red Cross
founder
40. Josiah Willard Gibbs – Influential
mathematician and physicist
41. Alexander Graham Bell – Telephone
inventor
42. Bass Reeves – Legendary frontier
marshal
43. Annie Oakley – Exhibition
sharpshooter
44. Mary Baker Eddy – Founder of
Christian Science
45. Thomas Nast – Iconic cartoonist
46. Sarah Winnemucca – Native rights
activist
47. John Singer Sargent – Important
painter
48. Emily Dickinson – Influential poet
49. Henry Bergh – Founder of the
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
50. Helen Keller – Disability advocate,
suffragist, and reformer
51. Anne Sullivan – Teacher of Keller
52. Thomas Edison – Iconic inventor
53. Nikola Tesla – Iconic inventor
54. Nellie Bly – Influential journalist
55. Mary McLeod Bethune – Suffragist
and Civil Rights activist
56. John Muir – Conservationist legend
57. Martha Hughes Cannon – Suffragist
and reformer, fought polygamy in Utah
58. Theodore Roosevelt – President,
conservationist, reformer, Nobel Laureate
59. L. Frank Baum – Influential children’s
author
60. WEB Du Bois – Author, sociologist, Civil
Rights leader
61. Orville Wright – Flight pioneer
62. Wilbur Wright – Flight pioneer
63. Louis Comfort Tiffany – Iconic
glass artist
64. Zitkala-Sa – Author and Native
rights activist
65. Ida B. Wells – Journalist,
suffragist, Civil Rights leader
66. Upton Sinclair – Author and
reformer
67. Ida Tarbell – Journalist and
muckraker
68. Mother Jones – Labor leader for
miners and child laborers
69. Louis Armstrong – Jazz pioneer
70. Jane Addams – Immigrant rights
activist, Nobel Laureate
71. Margaret ‘Molly’ Brown –
Philanthropist and socialite
72. Willis Carrier – Inventor of
air-conditioning
73. Alice Paul – Suffragist who helped
get the 19th Amendment passed
74. Clarence Darrow – Lawyer for the
American Civil Liberties Union
75. Annie Jump Cannon – Influential astronomer
76. Jim Thorpe – Olympian and athletic
icon
77. Mary Pickford – Silent film actress
and cofounder of United Artists
78. Buster Keaton – Silent film pioneer
79. Fanny Brice – Actress, humorist,
and Follies star
80. Jeannette Rankin – First female
Congressional Representative
81. Margaret Sanger – Founder of
Planned Parenthood and supporter of birth control
82. Duke Ellington – Legendary jazz
composer
83. Amelia Earhart – Flight pioneer
84. Harry Houdini – Entertainer and
hoax-buster
85. Henry Ford – Industrialist and
developer of mass production
86. Edwin Hubble – Important
cosmologist
87. Margaret Mead – Influential
anthropologist
88. Emma Goldman – Radical feminist and
anarchist
89. Philo Farsnworth – Television
inventor
90. Robert Goddard – Rocket inventor
91. Willa Cather – Acclaimed author
92. Will Rogers – Entertainer, author
and humorist
93. Bessie Smith – Pioneering blues
singer
94. Gertrude Stein – Author and
cultural icon
95. Frances Perkins – First female
Cabinet Secretary, developed Social Security
96. Dorothea Lange – Important photographer
97. Georgia O’Keefe – Groundbreaking modern
artist
98. Robert Johnson – Blues music icon
99. Frank Lloyd Wright – Legendary
architect
100.
Jesse
Owens – Olympian and Civil Rights figure
101.
Zora
Neale Hurston – Acclaimed author
102.
Walt
Disney – Animator and entrepreneur
103.
Marian
Anderson – Operatic and spiritual singer
104.
Irving
Berlin – Iconic composer
105.
John
Dewey – Educator and philosopher
106.
Martha
Graham – Modern dance pioneer
107.
Judy
Garland – Actress and singer
108.
Julia
Morgan – Pioneering female architect
109.
Estee
Lauder – Cosmologist and entrepreneur
110.
Woody
Guthrie – Foundational folk musician
111.
Billie
Holiday – Iconic jazz and blues singer
112.
Katharine
Hepburn – Acclaimed actress
113.
Marjory
Stoneman Douglas – Important conservationist
114.
Richard
Rodgers – Broadway legend
115.
Oscar
Hammerstein II – Broadway legend
116.
Franklin
Delano Roosevelt – President who developed New Deal and led America through
WWII
117.
Ansel
Adams – Legendary photographer
118.
Barabara
McClintock – Geneticist, Nobel Laureate
119.
Maria
Tallchief – America’s first prima ballerina
120.
George
Balanchine – Ballet innovator
121.
Norman
Rockwell – Influential artist
122.
A.
Philip Randolph – Civil Rights icon
123.
Ella
Baker – Civil Rights organizer
124.
Hedy
Lamarr – Actress and inventor
125.
Josephine
Baker – Actress, spy, and Civil Rights figure
126.
Albert
Einstein – Legendary physicist, Nobel Laureate
127.
Benjamin
O. Davis Jr. – Leader of Tuskegee Airmen
128.
Dwight
Eisenhower – WWII Commander and President
129.
Chester
Nimitz – WWII Admiral in the Pacific
130.
George
C. Marshall – Army General and originator of Marshall Plan, Nobel Laureate
131.
Robert
H. Jackson – Nuremberg prosecutor and Supreme Court Justice
132.
Elanor
Roosevelt – First Lady and force behind United Nations’ Declaration of Human
Rights
133.
Jackie
Robinson – Baseball legend
134.
Maria
Martinez – Groundbreaking ceramicist
135.
Ruth
Asawa – Innovative sculptor
136.
Richard
Feynman – Iconic physicist, Nobel Laureate
137.
John
von Neumann – Mathematician, physicist, and economist
138.
Hank
Williams – Country music pioneer
139.
Grace
Hopper – Foundational computer programmer
140.
Margaret
Chase Smith – Anti-McCarthy Senator
141.
Edward
R. Murrow – Anti-McCarthy journalist
142.
Virginia
Apgar – Obstetric modernizer
143.
Henrietta
Lacks – Patient with unique cells that have cured millions
144.
Jonas
Salk – Vaccinologist, found the cure for polio
145.
Chuck
Berry – Rock and Roll pioneer
146.
Arthur
Miller – Iconic playwright
147.
Mamie
Till – Civil rights figure
148.
Paul
Tillich – Influential theologian
149.
Eugenie
Clark – Scientist, shark expert
150.
Lucille
Ball – Actress, television pioneer, businesswoman
151.
Marie
Tharp – Oceanographer, discovered plate tectonics
152.
Alfred
Hitchcock – Groundbreaking film director
153.
Ludwig
Mies Van der Rohe – International architect
154.
Walter
Reuther – Labor leader and policy advocate
155.
James
Baldwin – Author and Civil Rights figure
156.
Francis
Oldham Kelsey – Pharmacologist and regulations pioneer
157.
Linus
Pauling – Chemist and disarmament advocate, dual Nobel Laureate
158.
Robert
Noyce – Microchip developer, founder of Intel
159.
Dr.
Seuss – Children’s literature legend
160.
Julia
Child – Innovative cook and author
161.
Johnny
Cash – Influential country musician
162.
Patsy
Cline – Innovative country musician
163.
Frank
Sinatra – Iconic singer
164.
Ella
Fitzgerlad – Important singer
165.
Stanley
Kubrick – Acclaimed film director
166.
Rosa
Parks – Civil Rights activist
167.
Martin
Luther King Jr. – Civil Rights legend, Nobel Laureate
168.
Bayard
Rustin – Civil Rights organizer
169.
Malcolm
X – Civil rights icon
170.
John
F. Kennedy – President, realigned the political parties
171.
Lyndon
B. Johnson – President, launched Medicare and Medicaid
172.
Patsy
Mink – First Asian-American female Representative, Title IX champion
173.
Hannah
Arendt – Influential Political theorist
174.
Betty
Friedan – Second-Wave feminist
175.
Rachel
Carson – Founder of the modern Environmental movement
176.
Norman
Borlaug – Agronomist, Nobel Laureate
177.
Bob
Dylan – Legendary musician, Nobel Laureate
178.
Stan
Lee – Comics icon
179.
Clair
Patterson – Physicist and regulation pioneer against dangerous lead
180.
Larry
Itliong – Farm labor organizer
181.
Dolores
Huerta – Legendary labor leader and activist
182.
Billy
Frank Jr. – Native rights activist
183.
Aretha
Franklin – Soul music icon
184.
Thurgood
Marshall – First black Supreme Court Justice
185.
Maurice
Hilleman – Vaccinologist who developed MMR, hepatitis, and many others
186.
Eunice
Kennedy Shriver – Special Olympics founder and philanthropist
187.
Maya
Angelou – Memoirist, poet, artist, and Civil Rights activist
188.
Katherine
Johnson – NASA mathematician who worked on Apollo
189.
Michael
Collins – Apollo 11 crew
190.
Buzz
Aldrin – Apollo 11 crew
191.
Neil
Armstrong – Apollo 11 crew
192.
Muhammad
Ali – Boxing legend
193.
Bruce
Lee – Influential martial artist and actor
194.
Joan
Didion – Acclaimed author and essayist
195.
Marsha
P. Johnson – LGBT activist
196.
Judy
Blume – Influential children’s author
197.
John
Rawls – Political philosopher
198.
Gloria
Steinem – Feminist activist
199.
Angela
Davis – Radical feminist and academic
200.
Carl
Bernstein – Journalist, exposed Watergate
201.
Bob
Woodward – Journalist, exposed Watergate
202.
Katharine
Graham – Newspaper publisher, released the Pentagon Papers
203.
Jim
Henson – Puppeteer and educational television innovator
204.
Marlon
Brando – Innovative actor
205.
Billie
Jean King – Tennis star and LGBT activist
206.
Vera
Rubin – Astronomer, discovered dark matter
207.
Stevie
Wonder – R&B music icon
208.
Nam
June Paik – Founder of video art
209.
Stephen
Sondheim – Broadway icon
210.
Will
Eisner – Influential cartoonist and graphic novel pioneer
211.
Betty
Ford – First Lady, physical and mental health advocate
212.
Dolly
Parton – Legendary musician and philanthropist
213.
Willie
Colon – Salsa music pioneer
214.
Rita
Moreno – Acclaimed actress
215.
Harvey
Milk – LGBT icon, politician
216.
Judith
Heumann – Disability rights activist
217.
Pauli
Murray – Activist and priest
218.
Ruth
Bader Ginsburg – Lawyer and Supreme Court Justice
219.
Sandra
Day O’Connor – First female Supreme Court Justice
220.
Philip
Johnson – Postmodern architect
221.
Wilma
Mankiller – First female tribal leader
222.
Toni
Morrison – Influential author, Nobel Laureate
223.
Isabel
Allende – Important author and exile
224.
Tina
Turner – Iconic rock singer
225.
Florence
Griffiths Joyner – Track star, record-holder
226.
Oprah
Winfrey – Television innovator and entrepreneur
227.
Maya
Lin – Sculptor, designed Vietnam Memorial
228.
Dian
Fossey – Primatologist and martyr for conservation
229.
Judith
Butler – Pioneer in gender studies
230.
Kimberle
Crenshaw – Important developer of racial studies
231.
Claudia
Goldin – Economist, Nobel Laureate
232.
Bill
Gates – Microsoft cofounder and computing innovator
233.
Stephen
Spielberg – Influential film director
234.
Elizabeth
Loftus – Psychologist of memory
235.
Frank
Gehry – Deconstructivist architect
236.
Steve
Jobs – Apple cofounder and computing innovator
237.
Jay
Z – Rap music icon
238.
Beyonce
– Influential and highly acclaimed musician
239.
Walter
‘Robby’ Robinson – Journalist, exposed Catholic abuse scandal
240.
Meryl
Streep – Legendary film and television actress
241.
Louise
Gluck – Poet, Nobel Laureate
242.
Kara
Walker – Influential artist
243.
Henry
Louis Gates Jr. – Prominent black studies scholar and influential genealogist
244.
Audra
McDonald – Legendary stage actress
245.
Barack
Obama – First black President, Nobel Laureate
246.
Hillary
Clinton – First Lady, Senator, and Presidential nominee
247.
Nancy
Pelosi – First female Speaker of the House
248.
Tarana
Burke – Activist against sexual violence
249.
Alex
Honnold – Rock climbing legend
250.
Shoshana
Zuboff – Economist, charted ‘surveillance capitalism’
