Welcome to American National Biography Online
The life of a nation is told by the lives of its people
- Over 19,000 biographies of significant, influential or notorious figures from American history written by prominent scholars
- Learn about our editors and the Letter from the General Editor Miroslava Chávez-García.
Featured
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn (1932–2022) was a country music icon. In a career that spanned six decades, she scored twenty-four No. 1 hit singles and eleven No. 1 albums. Lynn broke down barriers for women in country music, and virtually every female country artist who followed her acknowledged her influence. Her songwriting encouraged women to stand up for themselves and emphasized rural pride and determination.
Featured
Dorothy Bolden
Dorothy Bolden (1920–2005) was a labor and civil rights activist who in 1968 co-founded and became the first president of the National Domestic Workers Union of America. While it was national and a union in name only, Bolden’s group improved the material welfare of thousands of Atlanta’s domestic workers. Bolden expanded the labor movement’s reach by establishing the home as a legitimate site of labor contestation and by organizing workers—specifically Black women—as skilled negotiators.
The January update of the American National Biography features six new essays, including country music singer and songwriter Loretta Lynn; labor activist Dorothy Bolden; actress Jane Powell; priest and biblical scholar Raymond E. Brown; aviation pioneer John Joseph Montgomery; and visual artist Nancy Spero.
