Lesser-known Historical Figures

Every week, our Week in Rap Shout Out Contest gives students an opportunity to win a shout out for their school in the next Week in Rap. For this week’s contest, we asked you to tell us about a person who impacted history but is not well known for their contribution.

The entries this week were all so interesting and informative. You wrote about explorers, survivors, inventors, and leaders throughout history. Our winning entry comes from Neelsville Middle School in Germantown, Maryland, where Josephine wrote about inventor Lewis Latimer.

A lesser known figure I know is Lewis Latimer. I heard about him from my teacher when we were learning about African Americans during Black History month. He is the man that made the filament in the lightbulb with more durable carbon. Without the filament in the lightbulb, the lightbulb isn’t going to work. He isn’t well known because Thomas Edison got the credit for making the lightbulb, which is just the outside covering the filament, the glass part. He is important to history because even though Thomas Edison made the lightbulb, without the filament, you cant even make the lightbulb. There would be no use for it. That is why I think he is an important part in history. — Josephine

Congratulations, Neelsville Middle School!

Our first runner up is St. Francis Xavier Middle School in Appleton, Wisconsin. Emily wrote about the Fighting Women of Damohey, also known as the Damohey Amazons or Mino.

The Fighting Women of Dahomey was a very good part on history’s record. The Fighting Women were not just strong but very courageous. The lived in Dahomey Africa around the 1860’s. One day in the fall time a missionary was called to the town square to witness the soldiers training and to see how tough they are. Nobody really knows why they recruited a female warrior but it might be connected with the hunting skills that they had. I learned about the Fighting Women of Dahomey by researching them on the internet and I saw their picture and I thought they were very courageous for doing what they did in history. These warriors are not very well known because, I think, because they were Black Women. These women are very important to history because they were the ones that started it being known that women could fight in combat. Someday I hope that people will start to recognize them and what they accomplished for women and for history. — Emily

Finally, we wanted to share entries from VanGorden Elementary School in Liberty Township, Ohio. Here are just two of the many historical figures the sixth graders submitted.

There are so many people around the world that have changed our lives and most of us don’t even know who they are. That person in my life is Mr. Werner Coppel. He is a Holocaust survivor from a rural area in Germany. He was sent to Auschwitz, a deal camp in Poland. After many years of endless work and horrible conditions, he escaped to the woods and lived there for several days in an underground animal shelter. He visited his hometown but realized his mother, father, and brother had passed away in the war. A boat was taking survivors to America, so he and his wife boarded the boat. He now lives in Cincinnati and he has several children and grandchildren. I hope that one day Mr. Werner Coppel gets recognized for the experience he had. — Eliza

I learned about Rosalind Franklin through my dad. Rosalind Franklin is not well known because two specific men stole her work. She was a physical chemist and pioneering x-ray crystallographer. The two men who stole her work are James Watson and Francis Crick. Using x-ray crystallography on things that were not crystals she discovered some very important things. She discovered what the structure of DNA looks like. She passed in 1958 because she had ovarian cancer. She got ovarian cancer from having too many x-rays. — Kaelyn

Thank you to everyone who shared their knowledge with us this week! Don’t forget to enter this Friday’s Week In Rap Shout-Out Contest for a chance to win a shout out next Friday.