CAMILLE BOHANNON

Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951 – August 11, 2014)

Williams was an actor and comedian. Known for his
improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters
he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on
film, in dramas and comedies alike. 

He is regarded as one of the greatest comedians of all
time receiving numerous accolades including an Academy
Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, six Golden Globe
Awards, five Grammy Awards, and two Screen Actors
Guild Awards. Williams was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille
Award in 2005.

  
MIKE GRACIA

   
Ringo Starr (Sir Richard Starkey) the former
drummer with The Beatles is 84 today.

George Orwell’s novel of a dystopian future, 1984, was
published on June 8, 1949. The novel’s all-seeing leader,
known as “Big Brother,” became a universal symbol for
intrusive government and oppressive bureaucracy.

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair)
(25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950)    
    

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Book Cover First Edition.

Harried Beecher Stowe was an American author and abolitionist 
who came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular
novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which depicts the harsh conditions experienced by enslaved African Americans.

The book reached an audience of millions as a novel and play,
and became influential in the United States and in Great Britain,
energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while
provoking widespread anger in the South. Stowe wrote 30
books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections
of articles and letters. She was influential both for her writings
as well as for her public stances and debates on social issues
of the day.

Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe
(June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896)

Bust of Harriet Beecher Stowe at the hall
of fame for great Americans.

Mark Twain at age 31.

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
(November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910)

Clemens was apprenticed to a printer at age 13 and later
worked for his older brother, who established the Hannibal
Journal. In 1857, the Keokuk Daily Post commissioned him
to write a series of comic travel letters, but after writing five
he decided to become a steamboat captain instead. He signed
on as a pilot’s apprentice in 1857 and received his pilot’s
license in 1859, when he was 23.

Clemens piloted boats for two years, until the Civil War halted
steamboat traffic. During his time as a pilot, he picked up the
term “Mark Twain,” a boatman’s call noting that the river was
only two fathoms deep, the minimum depth for safe navigation.

When Clemens returned to writing in 1861, working for the
Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, he wrote a humorous travel
letter signed by “Mark Twain” and continued to use the
pseudonym for nearly 50 years.