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Lower Plains: Kansas, Nebraska

Some Famous Kansans

B orn just outside of Manhattan in northeastern Kansas, William Chrysler (1875–1940) started his career as a mechanic in the railroad town of Ellis. He went on to found the Chrysler Corporation, the seventh largest auto manufacturer

in the world, maker of Dodge, Jeep, and other popular cars. Dwight Eisenhower (1890–1969) may have been born in Texas, but the 34th president of the United States spent his child- hood in Abilene in the Flint Hills region of Kansas. Atchison-born Amelia Earhart

(1897–1939) was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1937, her plane disap- peared over the Pacific Ocean. The mystery of her disappearance still has not been solved. A key figure in the Harlem

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Renaissance, poet Langston Hughes (1902–1967) was born in Missouri but raised in Lawrence, Kansas. He was one of the first writers to experiment with jazz poetry, a style of poetry that replicates the rhythm and feel of jazz. Kansas City-born jazz icon Charlie Parker (1920–1955) left a lasting musical legacy as the inventor of bebop. Singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge (b. 1961) released her twelfth album, Fourth Street Feeling , in 2012. The title references a street in her hometown of Leavenworth. Best known for his appearances on Saturday Night Live , Overland Park native Jason Sudeikis (b. 1975) got his start as an actor and comedian by performing at ComedySportz in Kansas City.

Amelia Earhart in the cockpit of her Lockheed Electra airplane.

Jason Sudeikis