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Brown, Trisha

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Trisha, 1936–2017, American dancer and choreographer acclaimed for having revolutionized modern dance in the late 20th cent., b. Aberdeen, Wash. After studying dance at Mills College (B.A., 1...

Plessy v. Ferguson

(Encyclopedia)Plessy v. Ferguson, case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1896. The court upheld an 1890 Louisiana statute mandating racially segregated but equal railroad carriages, ruling that the equal protect...

Durand, Asher Brown

(Encyclopedia)Durand, Asher Brown dyo͞orăndˈ [key], 1796–1886, American painter and engraver, b. near Newark, N.J. He established a reputation by his engravings of Trumbull's Signing of the Declaration of Inde...

Herreshoff, John Brown

(Encyclopedia)Herreshoff, John Brown hĕrˈəs-hŏf [key], 1841–1915, American yacht and ship builder. Though totally blind from the time he was 15, he managed his own sail-boat building company until his brother...

Gordon, John Brown

(Encyclopedia)Gordon, John Brown, 1832–1904, U.S. public official and Confederate general, b. Upson co., Ga. Gordon began his Civil War service as an infantry captain and so distinguished himself through four yea...

Palmer, Nathaniel Brown

(Encyclopedia)Palmer, Nathaniel Brown, 1799–1877, American sea captain and antarctic explorer, b. Stonington, Conn. While on a whaling voyage (1820–21) in the South Shetlands, he commanded the Hero on an explor...

brown recluse spider

(Encyclopedia)brown recluse spider or violin spider, poisonous nocturnal spider, Loxoceles reclusa, most common in the SE and S central United States. Adults are 3⁄8 in. (10 mm) long and are light brown with a da...

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