1001 People Who Made America - Alan Axelrod [57]
Henri, Robert (1865–1929) Henri led early 20th-century American art away from academic eclecticism—the imitation of earlier styles—toward a realism that embraced the modern urban landscape as a rich and exciting subject. Some critics derided his work and the work of the many American artists he influenced as the “Ashcan School,” but he and his followers accepted the label and continued to develop this new form of unsentimental urban and industrial realism that was unique to America.
Henry, Patrick (1736–1799) A radical leader of the independence movement in Virginia, Henry was less important to the American Revolution as a political thinker than as an orator of electrifying eloquence. He is best remembered for the speech he delivered at the second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775. After introducing uncompromising resolutions for the funding of the Virginia militia to fight the British, he concluded: “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”
Herbert, Victor (1859–1924) Irish born, Herbert made his reputation and fortune in the United States as the composer of innovative popular operettas that were the precursors of the musical, a uniquely American popular art form. Of his more than 40 operettas, the best-remembered are Babes in Toyland (1903) and Naughty Marietta (1910). Herbert was also a great musical businessman, who led the fight for meaningful copyright protection of music and was a founder of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1914.
Herjolfsson, Bjarni (late 10th century) While sailing from Iceland to Greenland in 986, this Norse explorer was blown off course by a storm, which took him close enough to what is now known as Newfoundland for him to see low-lying, thickly forested hills. Eager to reach Greenland, he did not investigate—but is generally considered the first European to lay eyes on the North American mainland.
Hersh, Seymour (1937– ) This investigative reporter achieved worldwide renown in 1969 by exposing the My Lai Massacre—the brutal destruction of a Vietnamese village on March 16, 1968, by a platoon of U.S. soldiers under Lieutenant William Calley—and its subsequent cover-up by the U.S. Army. Hersh was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his My Lai stories and continued his reporting on military and security matters, which, included exposing U.S. abuse of detainees at Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison (2004) and reports on U.S. military plans to employ nuclear weapons against Iran (2006).
Hickok, “Wild Bill” (1837–1876) Hickok was a radical abolitionist before and during the Civil War and worked for the Union Army as a teamster and scout. He became a deputy U.S. marshal after the war and earned a reputation as an uncompromising lawman for his work as sheriff of Hays City, Kansas, and as marshal of Abilene. He exploited his fame as star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show during 1872–1874, then became a drifting gambler, who met his end on March 1, 1877, at a poker table in the Number Ten Saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, shot to death by Jack McCall, a total stranger.
Hill, Anita (1956– ) A University of Oklahoma law professor, Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment and testified in sensational televised hearings during Thomas’s Senate confirmation in 1991. Thomas denied the charges, which triggered long Senate debate, but failed to block his elevation to the high court. Hill was both widely praised and condemned for speaking out. She went on to become a professor of social policy, law, and women’s studies at Brandeis University.
Hill, James J. (1838–1916) Hill was among the last of the titans of American rail expansion, earning the title of “Empire Builder” for his construction and consolidation of rail lines throughout the Northwest at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.
Hill, Joe (1879–1915) Hill was born in Sweden and