Let's begin with a brief exercise. Who are the most famous Americans in history, excluding presidents and first ladies? Go ahead—list your top ten. I can wait. (Go ahead, use the comments section below.)
A colleague and I recently put this question to 2,000 11th and 12th graders from all 50 states, curious to see whether they would name (as a great many educators had predicted) the likes of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Tupac Shakur, 50 Cent, Barry Bonds, Kanye West or any number of other hip-hop artists, celebrities or sports idols. To our surprise, the young people's answers showed that whatever they were reading in their history classrooms, it wasn't People magazine. Their top ten names were all bona fide historical figures.
To our even greater surprise, their answers pretty much matched those we gathered from 2,000 adults age 45 and over. From this modest exercise, we deduced that much of what we take for conventional wisdom about today's youth might be conventional, but it is not wisdom. Maybe we've spent so much time ferreting out what kids don't know that we've forgotten to ask what they do know.
Chauncey Monte-Sano of the University of Maryland and I designed our survey as an open-ended exercise. Rather than giving the students a list of names, we gave them a form with ten blank lines separated by a line in the middle. Part A came with these instructions: "Starting from Columbus to the present day, jot down the names of the most famous Americans in history." There was only one ground rule—no presidents or first ladies. Part B prompted for "famous women in American history" (again, no first ladies). Thus the questionnaire was weighted toward women, though many kids erased women's names from the first section before adding them to the second. But when we tallied our historical top ten, we counted the total number of times a name appeared, regardless of which section.
Of course a few kids clowned around, but most took the survey seriously. About an equal number of kids and adults listed Mom; from adolescent boys we learned that Jenna Jameson is the biggest star of the X-rated movie industry. But neither Mom nor Jenna was anywhere near the top. Only three people appeared on 40 percent of all questionnaires. All three were African-American.
For today's teens, the most famous American in history is...the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., appearing on 67 percent of all lists. Rosa Parks was close behind, at 60 percent, and third was Harriet Tubman, at 44 percent. Rounding out the top ten were Susan B. Anthony (34 percent), Benjamin Franklin (29 percent), Amelia Earhart (23 percent), Oprah Winfrey (22 percent), Marilyn Monroe (19 percent), Thomas Edison (18 percent) and Albert Einstein (16 percent). For the record, our sample matched within a few percentage points the demographics of the 2000 U.S. Census: about 70 percent of our respondents were white, 13 percent African-American, 9 percent Hispanic, 7 percent Asian-American, 1 percent Native American.
What about the gap between our supposedly unmoored youth and their historically rooted elders? There was not much of one. Eight of the top ten names were identical. (Instead of Monroe and Einstein, adults listed Betsy Ross and Henry Ford.) Among both kids and adults, neither region nor gender made much difference. Indeed, the only consistent difference was between races, and even there it was only between African-Americans and whites. Whites' lists comprised four African-Americans and six whites; African-Americans listed nine African-American figures and one white. (The African-American students put down Susan B. Anthony, the adults Benjamin Franklin.)
Trying to take the national pulse by counting names is fraught with problems. To start, we know little about our respondents beyond a few characteristics (gender, race/ethnicity and region, plus year and place of birth for adults). When we tested our questionnaire on kids, we found that replacing "important" with "famous" made little difference, but we used "famous" with adults for the sake of consistency. Prompting for women's names obviously inflated their total, though we are at a loss to say by how many.
Related topics: American History
Additional Sources
"'Famous Americans': The Changing Pantheon of American Heroes" by Sam Wineburg and Chancey Monte-Sano, The Journal of American History, March 2008


Comments
Paragraphs 8 and 9 of the article are replete with implication. These "findings", regardless of the extent to which they may or may not have survived statistical scrutiny, provide a guidepost toward a national conversation about race in America. I am delighted with Mr. Wineburg's and Ms. Monte-sano's "house-call" in taking the national pulse.
Posted by Melvin Hardy on April 28,2008 | 01:33PM
Another question I would have is WHEN was this questionnaire distributed/answered (as in what month); I'm thinking that Jan./Feb. would result in more African American names than any other part of the year due to MLK Day and Black History Month (Feb.)?! Would anyone agree? Scott M. butterscotchusa@yahoo.com
Posted by Scott M. on April 30,2008 | 07:48PM
Although presented as amusing, this article is a sad commentary on the state of education today. No doubt some of the names in the top ten deserve to be there, but as this multicultural pendulum has swung back with such vehemence, we have to wonder if the "white guilt" effect has brainwashed our children and forever tainted our education system. That's bad enough for white students. What's worse is that the black students are taught that only people that looked like them matter in the portrait of history. Very sad, and frankly, frightening.
Posted by Steve P. on May 6,2008 | 10:29AM
@ Steve P.: Why can't you just accept the situation? And why is that sad? Anyway, where have you been? Since when have black students been "taught that only people that looked like them matter in the portrait of history"? I think black children were taught the exact opposite for about 400 years. Furthermore, why is this "bad enough for white students"? Race and discussions of race are only "frightening" to people who are stuck in the past and unable to see past "race." What's sad, actually, is when people are racists and don't even know it, or when they know it but don't know why they are.
Posted by Claude on May 11,2008 | 04:20PM
BTW my 10 most famous: 1. George Washington 2. Abe Lincoln 3. Michael Jordan 4. JFK 5. MLK 6. Edison 7. Hank Aaron 8. Tiger Woods 9. Henry Ford 10. FDR
Posted by Claude on May 11,2008 | 06:09PM
I was very enlightened by this article, and the comments left so far take what little hope was given to me and dashed it against the rocks. The "white guilt" effect tainting the education system and brainwashing our children? What does that even mean? Since the first time a student sat down in front of a so called authority, that student was brainwashed. That's what education is. Along comes someone who was taught one way his whole life and can't stand the idea of change. And "what's worse", again? That black students saw 4 of 10 people on the list share their complexion? What's so bad about that? Honestly, I didn't think Neanderthals read the Smithsonian much less commented on its articles. Sorry for the ad hominem, but I really sad reading all of this.
Posted by gm on May 12,2008 | 11:53AM
Hallelujah! Kudos to Sam Wineburg! African-American children have been on the short-end of the stick for a long time! It's time for the tables to turn, and reflect truth about their history. Mention the positive things that occurred out of bad situations. They need to know that African Americans have a history in these United States and as a result,mention the unsung heroes of the smalltown and backroads of USA. Focus on encouraging pride and self worth for a race which has contributed economically,socially, and politically. Lisa Minor
Posted by Lisa Minor on May 15,2008 | 08:50AM
Alice Paul Martin Luther King, Jr. Ben Franklin The Wright Brothers (2) Thomas Edison Lewis& Clark (2) Bill Gates Tom Anderson
Posted by Baileys on May 17,2008 | 03:33PM
Most famous non-presidents that immediately come to mind: John D Rockefeller Sitting Bull Jonas Salk Bobby Kennedy Susan B Anthony Jesse James Malcom X Elvis Presley Babe Ruth Helen Keller I'd also call them famous Americans, but not by birth: Albert Einstein Bob Marley That was in the first 30 seconds. To narrow it down to 10 is too hard frankly...
Posted by 30 Seconds on May 18,2008 | 02:49PM
I would vote for Henry Bergh, Nathan Hale, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Homer Simpson, Jonas Salk, Henry Ford, James Madison, FDR, Thomas Edison
Posted by eris on May 23,2008 | 03:21PM
Ten for me are Henry Bergh, Nathan Hale, Jonas Salk, Homer Simpson, Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, FDR, James Madison, Henry Ford, Margaret Sanger
Posted by eris on May 23,2008 | 03:32PM
What strike me is who is missing - no generals or soldiers, no doctors, no one Hispanic, Asian or gay or lesbian. No musicians, no writers, no artists. Neither Oppenheimer nor Ford; none of captains of industry or the masters of crime.
Posted by Wilm Roget on May 23,2008 | 10:41PM
Hey... Albert Eistein wasn't American... he was born in Germany... so he couldn't be considered one of the most famous Americans... am I right? Please correct me if not...
Posted by Cait on June 26,2008 | 08:55AM
Einstein was a naturalized US citizen, and therefore, an American! As for my top 10: MLK, Franklin, Hamilton, Bill Gates, Frederick Douglass, George Marshall, Henry Ford, Edison, Satchmo, and last, but certainly not least, Chuck Berry!
Posted by Matt McElroy on July 17,2008 | 07:59PM
My Positive list: Mark Twain, Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, Richard Feyneman, Susan N. Anthoy, Geronimo, Jonas Salk, Dolores Huerta,Leon Ledermanm Joshua Lederberg My Negative List: Clarence Thomas, Anton Scalia,
Posted by Eugene Cota-Robles on July 21,2008 | 06:01PM
After reading the article,it becomes quite clear that after some time,both adults and children engage more in assimilation than accommodation as were espoused by Piaget.Since i also tried to explore the children's perception about their neighboring countries in my doctorate work,it is quite revealing to know that children are also rational and prudent in imbibing the inner complexities of an environment,shaped cumulatively by family,school,peergroup and also by media.More work is required in this field.Anyhow,study was interesting.
Posted by seema.agnihotri on November 17,2008 | 11:01PM
I was part of an AP World History seminar recently and this survey was brought up in one of our discussions. As a history teacher, I was dismayed at the results. I think it reflects the way history is being taught today in America. While the civil rights movement was extremely important (for gender and racial issues), there are many other events and ideas in American history that the teenagers either ignored or seem unaware of--the War for Independence, writing of the Constitution, westward expansion, centralization of power in the federal government throughout the past 200 or so years, the great discoveries and innovations made by inventors and industrialists that have transformed the whole world, etc. (Not to mention the people who originally came here and settled). There's only one 18th century person on the list, three 19th century people and the rest from the 20th century. Do you really think this proves teenagers are historically rooted? As a final anecdote which somewhat proves my point, I think, the majority of the high school students I have taught are amazed to find out that there was a man named Martin Luther who lived in the 16th century and that MLK was actually named for him. My favorite historian, Winston Churchill (who actually was half American), said it best, "The further backward you can look, the farther forward you can see."
Posted by Ruth Dewhurst on July 7,2009 | 08:23AM