Different Like Me. Jennifer Elder

       Dian Fossey

      Dian Fossey was a lonely child, always longing for the one thing she wasn’t allowed to have: a pet. She was awkward around other children, and yearned for companionship. Then, as a young woman, Dian’s life changed when she read a book about zoology, the study of animals. She was inspired by this book to take a trip to Africa. Dian traveled to many countries, and met Dr. Louis Leakey, a famous scientist. Best of all, she saw lots of animals. Dian loved Africa and was sad to leave it when it was time to go home.

      Dr. Leakey remembered the tall, shy young woman and helped her return to Africa to study gorillas in 1966. Dian set up camp on a mountain in the country of Rwanda. It was not easy to get to. The nearest trail a car could drive on was three miles away. From there you had to hike, carrying whatever you needed up the side of the mountain. That didn’t stop Dian, though. Soon she had a metal hut built for herself, a hut for guests, and several other structures.

      It was difficult to get close to the gorillas. They were wild animals, after all. Dian decided that she would watch what the gorillas did and try to act like a gorilla. She walked like a gorilla, she ate like a gorilla, and she made noises like a gorilla. Little by little, the gorillas got used to her.

      Over her 18 years in Rwanda, Dian became very attached to the gorillas. She gave them names and called them her friends. Dian did not get along well with other humans, though. Some local people saw her as an outsider and thought she should go back home. Dian had problems both with poachers—who killed gorillas, or sold them to zoos—and with farmers, who cut down forests where the gorillas lived.

      Because of Dian Fossey’s work, we know much more than we did about gorillas. But Dian did more than just watch the gorillas. She also made people aware of how important it was to save them. Thanks to Dian, today there are people all over the world working to help gorillas survive in the wild.

       Andy Warhol

      Before he was famous, Andy Warhol worked as a commercial artist, drawing pictures of things to help stores sell them. When Andy decided to make his own art, he still painted the same sorts of things, like soup cans and soda bottles. This was called “Pop Art,” art inspired by advertising, TV, and comic books. Andy painted these things over and over and over again.

      Andy’s prints and paintings became very popular in the 1960s. Everybody wanted one of his works, and they were selling faster than he could make them. So Andy got some other artists to help him, and they worked together in a large studio called The Factory. They also made music at The Factory, and very long movies. One movie shows a man sleeping. Another is just one long shot of the Empire State building that goes on for eight hours. Not many people have ever watched the whole thing!

      Andy started meeting lots of famous people and making portraits of them. These prints made people look strange—with pink eyes or blue lips—but they were a big hit. Andy became very rich, and one thing he used his money for was collecting. When Andy found something he liked, such as a cookie jar, he would buy as many of them as he could. Like Andy’s art, collections are the same thing over and over again.

      Even in the New York art world, at the center of a whole scene that he created, Andy remained the same shy, quiet person he had always been. He lived with his mother and basically kept to himself. There are lots of pictures of Andy at fancy New York parties. But when you look at his face in these pictures, it’s hard to tell whether he’s having a good time or whether he’d rather be back at home making art.

      Andy is still interesting today because he was many things at once. He was a shy, quiet person but had lots of friends and went to parties. He didn’t like to be interviewed but started a magazine called Interview. His art was funny and sad and deep and empty, all at the same time. Even his friends felt they didn’t know him well. Andy once said that in the future, everybody will be famous for 15 minutes. That may be true for other people, but Andy Warhol will be famous for a long, long time.

       Benjamin Banneker

      Benjamin Banneker’s grandmother was from England, and his grandfather was from Africa. In the 1700s in America, there were laws against people of different colors getting married. They got married anyway, though, and lived out in the country where nobody would bother them.

      The Banneker family farm was far from town, so Benjamin’s grandmother taught the children at home. Then, when Benjamin was 12, a school for boys opened nearby. Benjamin was excited about going to school, and he was a brilliant student. In fact, he learned so fast that soon he knew more about math than the teacher did!

      When Benjamin was 21, he was given a pocket watch. After taking the watch apart and putting it back together, Benjamin decided to make his own clock out of wood. The wooden clock kept good time for 40 years. It is said to be the first clock made in America.

      Later, after reading a book on astronomy, Benjamin built a “work cabin” on his land. Neighbors were used to seeing him lying on his back, looking at the stars. Now he had a skylight to look through and a telescope. He used his math skills to predict many events, including a solar eclipse. Other astronomers thought it would be on a different day, but Benjamin saw that they had made a mistake. The eclipse took place on April 14 1789, just as Benjamin had predicted.

      Benjamin loved science and math, but he realized that other things were important, too. The books that he wrote included ideas about peace and freedom. He was proud to be an American, and proud of his African heritage. The fight against slavery was very important to him. Benjamin was a free man, but his father and grandfather had both been slaves. He had learned from them what a terrible thing slavery was. Benjamin even exchanged letters with Thomas Jefferson on the subject, hoping to change the future president’s mind.

      Today, we know Benjamin Banneker as the first African-American scientist. In his own time, though, he was known by a more colorful name:The Sable Genius.