250 People Who Shaped America

In 1981, she became the first woman on the Supreme Court, changing its face and tone with a swing vote that shaped rulings on abortion, affirmative action and the presidency.

In 1964, she became the first woman of color and first Asian American woman elected to Congress, then spearheaded Title IX legislation barring sex discrimination in schools.

As America’s first president, Washington carved the enduring template: He served all Americans—included all parties in his cabinet—and retired gracefully to avoid the appearance of empire.

His Declaration of Independence articulated the idea that “all men are created equal” and possess unalienable rights. As president, his Louisiana Purchase nearly doubled the country’s size.

The charismatic diplomat, conservationist and soldier used his “bully pulpit” to strengthen consumer protections, bust monopolies and create more than 200 million acres of public land.

FDR led America through two historic crises: the Great Depression and World War II. His New Deal permanently reshaped government, creating enduring safety nets like Social Security.

In the army, he saw the nation’s ragged road network firsthand. As president, he unfurled a vast new Interstate Highway System that reshaped how Americans travel, work and live.

Johnson steered the passage of historic civil rights legislation that outlawed segregation and protected voting rights, while creating new social programs for healthcare, education and more.

His novel The Jungle exposed filthy meatpacking conditions, revolting a nation and spurring the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. "I aimed at the public's heart and hit it in the stomach,” he wrote.

His biting 19th-century cartoons helped topple New York's corrupt Boss Tweed and shaped American political imagery, giving enduring form to the Republican elephant and Democratic donkey.

Her book Silent Spring cast pesticides as “biocides” threatening all life, galvanized President John F. Kennedy to order a federal review—and awakened modern environmental consciousness.

Disney created iconic characters (Mickey! Donald! Snow White!) through cutting-edge animation. His theme parks became meticulously staged fantasy worlds that have entertained billions.

Blending hoaxes and chutzpah, Barnum drew millions to outrageous museum displays, dazzling opera performances and a traveling three-ring circus, helping pioneer modern mass entertainment.

She guided enslaved people to freedom on the Underground Railroad—even urging some who lost their nerve at gunpoint. Later, she pushed for abolition and women’s suffrage.

Convicted for refusing to give her seat to a white passenger, she sparked a local bus boycott, national outrage over segregation—and a groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court decision against it.

A Black, openly gay Quaker, he put his profound personal commitment to equality and nonviolent protest into action on a national scale as chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.

Standing up for voters in Selma brought him a billy club to the skull. The image horrified America, helping pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He went on to be the “conscience of Congress.”

At 6, she showed a nation what courage looked like, walking past an angry mob day after day as federal marshals escorted her into the all-white school she single-handedly integrated.

His Southwest Voter Registration Education Project registered millions of Latinos, successfully sued to redraw districts where they were disenfranchised and fought discrimination at the polls.

Battling frostbite, dehydration and exhaustion, the duo led an 8,000-mile expedition to map the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase, deepening ecological knowledge of the continent.

With a young child in tow, the Shoshone guide and translator proved vital to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, bridging divides with Indigenous tribes and spotting edible and medicinal plants.

The trailblazer’s detailed journals and maps of his extensive 1820s travels helped open the West, guiding streams of wagon trains along routes that became the Oregon Trail to the Pacific.

The first Black man to win a tennis Grand Slam championed civil rights from urban America to apartheid South Africa, raising AIDS awareness after getting HIV from a blood transfusion.

In a politically charged Cold War match, the eccentric prodigy beat Boris Spassky at the 1972 World Chess Championship, ending Soviet dominance and making chess a brief cultural obsession.

The hoop star's 1991 HIV diagnosis shattered stigmas about AIDS and showed it could be manageable. His investments sparked economic development in underserved urban neighborhoods.