(Encyclopedia) Black Hand, symbol and name for a criminal and terroristic secret society, and especially associated with the Mafia and the Camorra. The Black Hand flourished in Sicily in the late…
(Encyclopedia) Black Shirts, colloquial term originally used to refer to the members of the Fasci di combattimento, units of the Fascist organization founded in Italy in Mar., 1919, by Benito…
The Question: What's a Black Maria? The Answer: A "black maria" is a slang term for a police wagon. How did it get this name? We don't know. But here are two…
(Encyclopedia) Black Panthers, U.S. African-American militant party, founded (1966) in Oakland, Calif., by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Originally aimed at armed self-defense against the local…
actor, musicianBorn: 4/7/1969Birthplace: Los Angeles Black spent most of the mid- and late-1990s in relative obscurity, frequently playing offbeat sidekick characters. That all changed in 2000,…
publisherBorn: 1944Birthplace: Chicago, Ill. Black graduated from Trinity College in Washington, DC in 1966. She sold advertising for magazines such as Holiday and Travel & Leisure before…
(Encyclopedia) Black Friday, Sept. 24, 1869, in U.S. history, day of financial panic. In 1869 a small group of American financial speculators, including Jay Gould and James Fisk, sought the support…
(Encyclopedia) black humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or…
(Encyclopedia) Black Tom, part of Jersey City, N.J., also called Black Tom Island. In July, 1916, German saboteurs demolished U.S. munitions stores there; in Jan., 1917, they destroyed the Kingsland…
