1001 People Who Made America - Alan Axelrod [115]
Scripps, Edward W. (1854–1926) Scripps founded his first newspaper, the Penny Press in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1878, then assembled the first major chain of newspapers in the United States in 1894. By 1909, he owned 34 newspapers in 15 states. In 1902, Scripps also founded the first news syndicate, the Newspaper Enterprise Association, which supplied features, illustrations, and cartoons to newspapers. This evolved into the United Press, which later became United Press International.
Seale, Bobby (1936– ) A Dallas-born African American political activist, Seale broke away from the non-violent civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and advocated militant black empowerment, including the Black Panther Party, founded in Oakland, California, in 1966. In 1969, Seale was one of the “Chicago 7,” seven political activists tried for conspiracy to incite riots during the Democratic National Convention of 1968.
Sears, Richard W. (1863–1914) In 1889, R.W. Sears, engaged in the mail-order watch business, founded with A. C. Roebuck a catalog-based general mail-order business, which rapidly grew into the giant of the industry and transformed American retail commerce.
Seeger, Pete (1919– ) In the 1940s, Seeger worked as an itinerant folk singer and in 1948 organized the Weavers, a popular folk-singing group that inspired the folk revival of the 1960s, which, in turn, was associated with the counterculture of that era.
Sequoyah (1760?– 1843) Convinced that the secret of the dominance of the white race was their written language, Sequoyah, son of a white trader and a Cherokee woman, created the first written Indian alphabet and language in 1824, effectively committing the Cherokee tongue to writing.
Serra, Junípero (1713–1784) A Spanish Franciscan missionary, Serra founded Mission San Diego, the first California mission, on July 16, 1769. Through 1782, he founded eight more California missions extending the length of Alta (Upper) California and ensuring Spanish control of the region.
Sewall, Samuel (1652–1730) Born in England, Sewall settled in Massachusetts and became a prosperous merchant. He was one of the judges in the infamous Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 and the only judge to admit the error of the 19 executions. Sewall kept a remarkable diary, which provides a window into the life, mind, and aspirations of Puritan New England.
Seward, William H. (1801–1872) Seward was an attorney, politician, and abolitionist who served in the cabinet of Abraham Lincoln as secretary of state. He survived an assassination attempt by one of John Wilkes Booth’s co-conspirators and during the administration of Andrew Johnson, negotiated the purchase of Alaska from the czar of Russia in 1867. The acquisition was widely mocked as “Seward’s folly” by Americans who could see no value in a “frozen wasteland.”
Shahn, Ben (1898–1969) Shahn was born in Kaunas, Russia, which is now a part of Lithuania, and immigrated with his family to New York City in 1906. He learned the lithographer’s trade and became an artist specializing in strong graphic works that combined elements of realism and abstraction, typically to convey leftist political themes. His later work became more introspective and reflective of his Russian-Jewish heritage.
Shaw, Anna Howard (1847–1919) Born in England, Shaw immigrated with her parents to the United States in 1851. She became a licensed Methodist preacher in 1871 and the first woman minister of the Methodist Protestant Church in 1880. She resigned in 1885 to devote herself full-time to the National American Woman Suffrage Association and the struggle to obtain for women the right to vote.
Shays, Daniel (1747–1825) Responding to economic depression, high taxes, and a wave of frontier property foreclosures, western Massachusetts farmer and American Revolution veteran Shays led what became known as “Shays’s Rebellion” in an effort to prevent western Massachusetts courts and