A–Z index
All 973 people, filed by surname.
74 people
Deb Haaland b. 1960Reform & RightsFirst Native American cabinet secretary — leading the Interior Department and its boarding-school review.
Gene Hackman 1930–2025Arts & LettersTwo-time Academy Award winner whose everyman intensity made him one of Hollywood's most respected actors.
Fred Haise b. 1933Frontier & SportApollo 13 lunar module pilot who helped guide the crippled spacecraft back to Earth.
David Halberstam 1934–2007Ideas & MediaPulitzer Prize-winning reporter whose books on Vietnam, civil rights, and sports became American classics.
Nathan Hale 1755–1776Government & PoliticsContinental Army officer hanged as a spy at 21 whose scaffold line became Revolutionary legend.
Richard Halliburton 1900–1939Frontier & SportAdventurer and writer who traveled the world and swam the Panama Canal.
William Stewart Halsted 1852–1922Science & MedicineEstablished aseptic surgical technique and the American surgical residency training system.
Fannie Lou Hamer 1917–1977Reform & RightsCivil rights activist whose testimony at the 1964 Democratic Convention exposed racist voting suppression.
Alexander Hamilton 1755–1804Government & PoliticsFounding Father who established the nation's financial system and co-authored the Federalist Papers.
Alice Hamilton 1869–1970Science & MedicineFounded American industrial toxicology and documented workplace lead and chemical poisoning.
Margaret Hamilton b. 1936Technology & BuildingDirected development of the Apollo onboard flight software and popularized the term software engineering.
Mia Hamm b. 1972Frontier & SportSoccer star whose success helped make women’s soccer a major American sport.
John Hancock 1737–1793Government & PoliticsMerchant who presided over the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration first and largest.
Learned Hand 1872–1961Government & PoliticsFederal judge whose widely cited opinions on free speech, negligence, and judicial restraint profoundly influenced American law.
Tom Hanks b. 1956Arts & LettersAcademy Award-winning actor known for his everyman roles and status as one of Hollywood's most beloved stars.
Mark Hanna 1837–1904Government & PoliticsIndustrialist and party boss who invented the modern corporate-funded presidential campaign.
Nikole Hannah-Jones b. 1976Ideas & MediaPulitzer Prize-winning reporter who created The 1619 Project for The New York Times Magazine.
Lorraine Hansberry 1930–1965Arts & LettersPlaywright whose 'A Raisin in the Sun' brought Black family life, housing discrimination, and aspiration to Broadway.
Warren G. Harding 1865–1923Government & PoliticsTwenty-ninth president whose administration was marked by postwar retrenchment and the Teapot Dome scandal.
Keith Haring 1958–1990Arts & LettersStreet artist whose bold, cartoon-like figures addressed social issues and brought art to public spaces.
Kamala Harris b. 1964Government & PoliticsFirst woman, first Black American, and first Asian American to serve as vice president.
Benjamin Harrison 1833–1901Government & PoliticsTwenty-third president who signed the Sherman Antitrust Act and expanded the modern navy.
William Henry Harrison 1773–1841Government & PoliticsWhig general elected ninth president who died one month into his term.
Reed Hastings b. 1960Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Netflix who disrupted the entertainment industry by pioneering streaming video.
Tony Hawk b. 1968Frontier & SportSkateboarding legend who brought the sport into mainstream culture and the Olympics.
Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804–1864Arts & LettersNovelist whose The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables explored Puritan guilt and sin.
John Hay 1838–1905Government & PoliticsLincoln's young secretary who lived to run American foreign policy and write the Open Door notes.
Rutherford B. Hayes 1822–1893Government & PoliticsNineteenth president whose disputed election settlement ended federal Reconstruction in the South.
Bill Haywood 1869–1928Business & LaborCo-founded the Industrial Workers of the World and led major mining and textile strikes.
William Randolph Hearst 1863–1951Ideas & MediaPublisher whose sensational newspapers and national media empire wielded immense cultural and political power.Sally Hemings 1773–1835Reform & RightsEnslaved woman at Monticello who bore children by Thomas Jefferson and negotiated their freedom in France.
Ernest Hemingway 1899–1961Arts & LettersNobel Prize-winning novelist whose spare prose style defined 20th-century American fiction.
Jimi Hendrix 1942–1970Arts & LettersGuitarist whose sound, technique, and performance style revolutionized rock music.
Patrick Henry 1736–1799Government & PoliticsRevolutionary orator and Virginia leader remembered for mobilizing resistance and opposing centralized federal power.
Jim Henson 1936–1990Arts & LettersCreator of the Muppets and a central figure in Sesame Street and family television.
Matthew Henson 1866–1955Frontier & SportArctic explorer who co-led Robert Peary’s 1909 expedition, which claimed to have reached the North Pole.
Katharine Hepburn 1907–2003Arts & LettersFour-time Oscar-winning actress whose independent spirit and wit made her a screen legend.
Seymour Hersh b. 1937Ideas & MediaInvestigative reporter who exposed the My Lai massacre and CIA domestic spying operations.
Abraham Joshua Heschel 1907–1972Ideas & MediaRabbi and theologian who linked Jewish thought with civil-rights and antiwar activism.
Judy Heumann 1947–2023Reform & RightsDisability rights leader whose 504 sit-in and federal service shaped American accessibility law.
James J. Hill 1838–1916Business & LaborBuilt the Great Northern Railway without federal land grants and shaped northern plains settlement.
Maurice Hilleman 1919–2005Science & MedicineVirologist who developed or improved more than forty vaccines, preventing millions of deaths and transforming public health.
Sidney Hillman 1887–1946Business & LaborLabor leader who built the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and linked organized labor to New Deal politics.
E. D. Hirsch Jr. b. 1928Ideas & MediaLiterary scholar whose Core Knowledge curriculum emphasized cultural literacy and shared knowledge.
Alger Hiss 1904–1996Crime & NotorietyState Department official whose perjury conviction made Richard Nixon's career and split American opinion for decades.
Alfred Hitchcock 1899–1980Arts & LettersDirector whose Hollywood films and television presence defined modern suspense and influenced generations of American filmmakers.
David Ho b. 1952Science & MedicinePhysician-scientist whose research helped establish combination antiretroviral therapy as the standard treatment for HIV/AIDS.
Dustin Hoffman b. 1937Arts & LettersTwo-time Oscar winner whose roles in The Graduate and Rain Man showcased extraordinary range.
Reid Hoffman b. 1967Technology & BuildingCo-founder of LinkedIn and influential venture capitalist who helped build Silicon Valley's startup ecosystem.
Billie Holiday 1915–1959Arts & LettersJazz singer whose intensely personal phrasing and performances, including 'Strange Fruit,' transformed American vocal music.
Herman Hollerith 1860–1929Technology & BuildingInvented punched-card tabulating machines used in the 1890 census and founded a corporate predecessor of IBM.
Elizabeth Holmes b. 1984Crime & NotorietyTheranos founder convicted of fraud over false claims about the company's blood-testing technology.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. 1841–1935Government & PoliticsJustice whose pragmatic jurisprudence and free-speech opinions deeply influenced American law.John Holt 1923–1985Ideas & MediaTeacher and author whose How Children Fail and How Children Learn inspired the homeschooling movement.
Winslow Homer 1836–1910Arts & LettersPainter and illustrator whose seascapes and scenes of American life captured the nation's spirit.
bell hooks 1952–2021Ideas & MediaFeminist scholar and cultural critic whose writings on race, gender, and class transformed critical theory.
Herbert Hoover 1874–1964Government & PoliticsEngineer and relief administrator whose presidency was consumed by the onset of the Great Depression.
J. Edgar Hoover 1895–1972Crime & NotorietyLongtime FBI director who built a powerful national police institution while conducting extensive political surveillance and abuses.
Edward Hopper 1882–1967Arts & LettersRealist painter whose depictions of urban isolation, like Nighthawks, became iconic American images.
Grace Hopper 1906–1992Technology & BuildingComputer scientist and Navy rear admiral who helped develop early programming languages and computing.
Drew Houston b. 1983Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Dropbox who made cloud file storage simple and ubiquitous for millions.
Sam Houston 1793–1863Government & PoliticsCommander at San Jacinto who became president of the Republic of Texas and later its governor and senator.
Whitney Houston 1963–2012Arts & LettersSinger whose vocal technique and crossover success set a standard for modern pop and R&B performance.
Elias Howe 1819–1867Technology & BuildingInventor who developed the first practical lockstitch sewing machine, revolutionizing the garment industry.
Jensen Huang b. 1963Technology & BuildingCo-founder and CEO of NVIDIA whose GPUs became the engine of the AI revolution.
L. Ron Hubbard 1911–1986Ideas & MediaScience-fiction writer who founded Scientology, creating a controversial and internationally influential American religious movement.
Edwin Hubble 1889–1953Science & MedicineAstronomer whose discovery of expanding galaxies provided the foundation for the Big Bang theory.
Dolores Huerta b. 1930Reform & RightsLabor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez.
Charles Evans Hughes 1862–1948Government & PoliticsChief justice, governor, and secretary of state who guided the Court through major New Deal constitutional conflicts.
Langston Hughes 1901–1967Arts & LettersHarlem Renaissance poet and writer whose work celebrated Black life and challenged racial injustice.
Hubert Humphrey 1911–1978Government & PoliticsSenator and vice president whose advocacy helped make civil rights a central commitment of the Democratic Party.
Samuel Huntington 1927–2008Ideas & MediaPolitical scientist whose Clash of Civilizations thesis shaped post-Cold War foreign policy discourse.
Zora Neale Hurston 1891–1960Arts & LettersNovelist and folklorist whose work preserved Black Southern speech and culture and became central to the American canon.
Anne Hutchinson 1591–1643Ideas & MediaReligious dissenter whose trial and banishment exposed tensions over authority, gender, and conscience in Puritan New England.