Authors

Henry Blake Fuller was a key figure in the Chicago Literary Renaissance, renowned for pioneering social realism in American literature. He is noted for being one of the first American novelists to explore homosexual themes. Fuller had a complicated love-hate relationship with Chicago. He frequently found solace at Indiana Dunes, which served as a retreat from urban life and a source for inspiration.

Born December 7, 1873, in Virginia, Willela Sibert Cather grew up on the dusty plains of Red Cloud, Nebraska. Her life took her across the country, and she would become one of the premiere American authors of the 1900s.

Katharine Lee Bates was a professor and writer best remembered as the author of the lyrics to the song “America the Beautiful.” She shared a home for almost three decades with her companion, fellow academic and social reformer Katharine Coman.

Theophilus Gould Steward was born on April 17, 1843, in Gouldtown, New Jersey. On July 25, 1891, Steward was appointed the first African American chaplain of the Twenty-Fifth Infantry. On April 17, 1907, Steward retired from the Army after 16 years of service. He moved to Wilberforce, Ohio and taught at Wilberforce University. On January 11, 1924, Steward died in Wilberforce. He was buried in Gouldtown Memorial Park.

Once a mill girl, she would go on to become a respected author writing about her experiences in Lowell.

A mill girl, a striker, a suffragist and an author - Harriet Hanson Robinson started out in Lowell working in the textile mills but went on to make a name for herself in the larger movement for woman suffrage.

Rachel Bella Calof’s autobiographical account of life on the homestead tells the hardships endured by both women and immigrants during U.S. expansion. Feeling that homesteading was their best opportunity to succeed in America, Rachel and Abraham journeyed to the region near Devils Lake, North Dakota to become homesteaders. Over the next 23 years, she and her husband carved out a life for themselves on the North Dakota prairie.

Master of the macabre. Writer of haunting poetry. Some would say that Edgar Allan Poe's personal life is just as interesting as his tales.

Langston Hughes became a fixture of the Harlem Renaissance for his poetry, plays, novels, and newspaper columns.

In November 1967, Carl B. Stokes was featured on the cover of Time when he became the first African American mayor of a major city. He played important roles in the civil rights and environmental movements of that period.