For years, Mary Lumpkin was forced to bear her enslaver's children and help him run his jail, but when he died and left the property to her, she helped turn the prison into a school for Black students.

Despite experiencing history's longest case of hiccups which lasted from 1922 to 1990, Iowa farmer Charles Osborne managed to live a relatively normal life.

Richard and Mildred Loving were an interracial couple who married in 1958 when Virginia prohibited it. Their fight to remain lawfully wed soon became a historic court case.

As founder of the California-based Heaven's Gate cult, Marshall Applewhite and 38 of his followers died by suicide in March 1997 to ascend to an Earth-saving spaceship.

While Stede Bonnet is featured in the comedy series "Our Flag Means Death," the 18th-century Barbadian pirate lived a much wilder life than the show portrays.

Christa McAuliffe was supposed to be the first American civilian in space — but her story ended in tragedy when her space shuttle exploded in 1986.

On September 22, 1776, a 21-year-old spy for George Washington's Continental Army named Nathan Hale was hanged by the British. His untimely death inspired Washington to establish an espionage ring that ultimately helped America win the war.

In 1872, Elijah McCoy created a tiny device that automatically lubricated steam engines while they were running — and revolutionized the railroad industry in the process.

It's falsely believed that Jayne Mansfield died when she was beheaded in a fatal June 1967 car accident, but the truth is even grislier — and much sadder.

After ascending the throne in 1891, Queen Liliuokalani began working to draft a new constitution and ensure Hawaiin sovereignty — only to be overthrown by U.S. business interests.

Known affectionately as "Evita," Eva Perón worked her way out of poverty to become a voice for Argentina's poor and working class as the wife of President Juan Perón.