1001 People Who Made America - Alan Axelrod [6]
Bakker, Jim (1941– ) Bakker was born James Orson in Muskegon, Michigan, and took the last name of his wife and partner Tammy Faye Bakker when he began his rise as a preacher and evangelist. He founded the PTL (Praise the Lord) Club, which grew into an internationally popular and influential television ministry, and Bakker became famous as a “televangelist.” In 1989, he was convicted on 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy for bilking hundreds of thousands of contributors of millions of dollars. Released from prison in 1994, he started a new television show in 2003.
Baldwin, James (1924–1987) Born into poverty in Harlem, Baldwin became a revivalist preacher at age 14, graduated from high school, and embarked on a period of self-education that led to his first novel, the autobiographical Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953), the first of many eloquently incisive works dealing with race in America. Baldwin emerged not only as a major literary talent, but a stirring voice in the Civil Rights movement.
Ball, Lucille (1911–1989) Ball started her career in film, but truly entered the American consciousness in 1951 as the screwball wife of a nightclub bandleader on I Love Lucy. From 1951 to 1955—the original run of the show—I Love Lucy commanded two-thirds of America’s televiewers.
Baltimore, George Calvert, First Baron (1578/79–1632) Persecuted as a Catholic in England, Baron Baltimore was also spurned in the new American colony of Virginia, so petitioned King Charles I for a grant on Chesapeake Bay, where he could found a refuge for Catholics. He pleaded his case eloquently, but died before the grant was made. It was left to his son actually to found the colony—an important early step in what would become an American tradition of religious freedom.
Bari, Judi (1949–1997) A long-time political and social activist, Bari began working as a carpenter in Northern California. While building luxury homes with old-growth redwood, she became concerned about the future of the redwood forest and joined the radical environmentalist organization Earth First! She enlisted the aid of the loggers themselves to stop reckless and rapacious logging practices and organized a mass non-violent protest called Redwood Summer, which resulted in the preservation of Headwaters Forest, the last unprotected redwood wilderness in California and prompted many logging companies to end the practice of redwood clearcutting.
Barnum, Phineas T. (1810–1891) Just 15 when his father died, Barnum had to support his mother and five siblings. He started publishing a newspaper in Danbury, Connecticut, and was arrested for libel three times. To him, this proved the potential profitability of sensationalism and in 1834, having moved to New York, he earned notoriety—and cash—presenting one Joice Heth, an elderly black woman, as the 161-year-old nurse to George Washington. This exhibition evolved into such attractions as the Barnum Museum, spectacular concerts, and, of course, a three-ring circus in partnership with James A. Bailey. The Barnum and Bailey Circus was billed, characteristically, as the “Greatest Show on Earth.”
Barton, Clara (1821–1912) Born in North Oxford, Massachusetts, Barton discovered her life’s work when, beginning at age 11, she nursed her brother through a two-year convalescence from injuries sustained in a bad fall. During the Civil War, she persuaded the military establishment to allow her to work as a battlefield nurse. The soldiers called her the “Angel of the battlefield.” In 1870, while touring Europe, Barton became involved in the International Red Cross movement and, on her return to the United States in 1873, worked toward creating an American Red Cross, which she founded in 1877.
Bartram, William (1699–1777) A self-educated naturalist, Bartram counted Benjamin Franklin among his best friends and earned an appointment as royal botanist for the American colonies. His pioneering work included scientific expeditions into the Alleghenies, Carolinas, and other areas of the