European Heritage: People

Leonora O'Reilly was a union organizer, social reformer, and suffrage advocate.

John Laurens, born to a wealthy planter family in South Carolina, received a republican education in Switzerland and England. Upon his return to South Carolina to fight in the American Revolution, he radically proposed to recruit slaves as soldiers in return for their freedom. An aide-de-camp to General Washington and later a lieutenant colonel of the Continental Army with a field command, he served bravely in many key battles, only to die in a meaningless skirmish in 1782.

Francis Vigo was a Spanish Trader who warned Clark that the British had taken Fort Sackville and were planning on attacking him come the spring.

Chief Asticou was an important leader of Wabanaki people around the time of European contact in the early 1600s in what is now Acadia National Park.

Sir William Johnson began life as a poor Irish immigrant and ended it as British Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Mohawk Valley. As a representative of the King, he influenced Native American policies across the continent.

George Mortimer Pullman was an American engineer and industrialist. He designed and manufactured the Pullman sleeping car and founded a company town, Pullman, for the workers who manufactured it. His Pullman Company also hired African-American men to staff the Pullman cars, who became known and widely respected as Pullman porters, providing elite service.

Father Pierre Gibault, Vicar General of the Illinois Country, who in 1778 and 1779 gained the allegiance of the French population of Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and Cahokia to the United States of America.

Suffragist Margaret Foley relied on her captivating personality and trained voice to draw attention to women’s suffrage in Boston. She became known as "the Heckler" for confronting politicians on the campaign trail about their position on women's suffrage.

Arguably the most famous Civil War nurse, Clara Barton went to great lengths to see after the sick and wounded and to ensure that they were treated both expediently and humanely. Her work in the war led her to found the American Red Cross, an organization that would provide humanitarian relief for a wide variety of crises.

Inez Milholland Boissevain was an American suffragist and labor lawyer. She is best known for leading the 1913 woman suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., dressed in a flowing white cloak and crown and riding a white horse.