This unit is designed to introduce students to individuals who have been important in U.S. history and who contributed to society. Students are asked to research, study, and portray an important person from one of the following fields: leaders, sports figures, humanitarians/philanthropists, industrialist/business figures, entertainment, scientists/explorers, and literary/arts. Some of the activities students are asked to do include reading a biography of the person, developing a time line, writing a letter to the person's mother, presenting an original monologue, designing a tee-shirt, creating a tombstone with an appropriate epitaph, and creating a map and developing a graph. The document includes information concerning the unit: goals and objectives, outline, projects, forms, resources, correspondence, sample projects, questions and answers, and bibliography. (DB)