Simone Biles was born on March 14, 1997 in Columbus, Ohio. Her birth mother struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, so Simone and her siblings were placed in foster care when she was just a toddler. At age 6, Simone and her younger sister Adria were adopted by their maternal grandfather Ron Biles and his … Read more
Shakira was born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia to parents Nidia Ripoll and William Mebarak Chadid. Her father was born in New York to Lebanese parents and her mother was a native Colombian. Family and Ancestry Shakira comes from a family of Middle Eastern descent. On her father’s side, … Read more
Selena Gomez was born on July 22, 1992 in Grand Prairie, Texas. She was named after the popular Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, who died in 1995. Her mother is Amanda Dawn “Mandy” Teefey and her father is Ricardo Joel Gomez. Her parents divorced when she was five years old, and she was raised primarily by … Read more
Sandra Cisneros (full name: Sandra Cisneros Theresa) was born on December 20, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois. She was the only daughter out of seven children born to Alfredo Cisneros, a Mexican-American upholsterer, and Elvira Anguiano Cisneros, a homemaker. Her family frequently moved between cheap apartments in Chicago’s Puerto Rican and Mexican neighborhoods. She and her … Read more
Robert Oppenheimer was born on April 22, 1904 in New York City. His parents were Julius Oppenheimer, a wealthy textile importer, and Ella Friedman, a painter. Oppenheimer was educated at the Ethical Culture Society School, a progressive private school in New York City that emphasized ethics and world cultures over traditional subjects. He showed exceptional … Read more
Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California on March 26, 1874. His father, William Prescott Frost Jr., was a journalist and his mother, Isabelle Moodie, was a Scottish immigrant. As a child, Frost found inspiration in nature and the New England landscape. Early Family Life Frost’s father died of tuberculosis when Frost was 11 … Read more
Pablo Picasso was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. As a pioneering Cubist painter, sculptor, printmaker, and ceramist, Picasso fundamentally shaped modern and contemporary art. Over his long career, he created an astounding 50,000 artworks in a variety of mediums and styles. He co-founded the Cubist movement, invented collage as an … Read more
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia. Her parents were Albanian and she was raised in the Albanian Catholic church. Childhood Even as a young girl, Agnes was thoughtful and interested in helping the poor. She was always dedicated to her faith as a youth. Her father’s unexpected … Read more
Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 in the village of Steventon in Hampshire, England. She was the seventh of eight children born to George Austen, an Anglican rector, and Cassandra Leigh Austen. The Austens were a close-knit family. Jane was very close to her older sister Cassandra, who would remain her closest friend … Read more
Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in the village of Groot-Zundert in the southern Netherlands. He was the oldest surviving son of Theodorus van Gogh, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and Anna Cornelia Carbentus. Van Gogh had five siblings – a brother named Theo as well as three sisters and … Read more