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Arts & Letters
Novelists, poets, musicians, actors, directors and designers who made the country's culture.
Role:
Any
Actor 58
Novelist 46
Singer 39
Songwriter 31
Musician 30
Filmmaker 26
Painter 26
Composer 18
Poet 14
Author 11
Photographer 11
Comedian 10
Activist 9
Founder 8
Playwright 8
Sculptor 8
Educator 7
Broadcaster 6
Journalist 6
Rapper 6
Designer 5
Illustrator 5
Producer 5
Choreographer 4
Executive 4
11 people
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803–1882Literature & DramaEssayist and philosopher who led the Transcendentalist movement and shaped American intellectual thought.
Dr. Seuss 1904–1991Literature & DramaAuthor and illustrator whose rhythmic books transformed American children’s reading and publishing.
Maya Angelou 1928–2014Literature & DramaPoet and memoirist whose I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings broke new ground in autobiographical writing.
James Baldwin 1924–1987Literature & DramaEssayist and novelist whose searing explorations of race, sexuality, and identity remain profoundly relevant.
Isaac Asimov 1920–1992Literature & DramaWriter whose science fiction and popular science helped shape public imagination about robots, technology, and the future.
Vladimir Nabokov 1899–1977Literature & DramaAuthor of Lolita, Pale Fire and Speak, Memory
Washington Irving 1783–1859Literature & DramaEarly American storyteller whose Sketch Book gave the country Rip Van Winkle and Sleepy Hollow.
Richard Wright 1908–1960Literature & DramaNovelist whose works exposed the psychological and structural violence of racism and urban poverty in America.
David Foster Wallace 1962–2008Literature & DramaNovelist and essayist whose Infinite Jest became a defining postmodern American novel.
Studs Terkel 1912–2008Literature & DramaOral historian and Chicago broadcaster who recorded working Americans in book-length interview collections.
Faith Ringgold 1930–2024Visual Arts & DesignArtist and author whose story quilts combine painting, quilting, and narrative to explore Black identity.