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Young Women's Christian Association

(Encyclopedia)Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), organization whose stated mission is “to empower women and girls and to eliminate racism.” The movement is nondenominational. It grew out of the homes f...

Clark, Lewis Gaylord

(Encyclopedia)Clark, Lewis Gaylord, 1808?–1873, American editor and writer, b. near Syracuse, N.Y. He was the editor (1834–60) of the Knickerbocker Magazine and made it a leading literary publication of its day...

Sears Tower

(Encyclopedia)Sears Tower: see Willis Tower.

Coltrane, John

(Encyclopedia)Coltrane, John kōltrānˈ, kōlˈtrān [key], 1926–67, American jazz musician, b. Hamlet, N.C. He began ...

Wallack, James William

(Encyclopedia)Wallack, James William wŏlˈək [key], c.1795–1864, Anglo-American actor and manager. Of a theatrical family, he was a leading actor (1812–32) in both comedy and melodrama at Drury Lane. After 18...

Parton, James

(Encyclopedia)Parton, James, 1822–91, American biographer, b. England. He came to the United States in 1827. In 1848 he joined the staff of N. P. Willis's Home Journal in New York City. His biographical writing b...

Brown, Olympia

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Olympia, 1835–1926, American Universalist minister and woman-suffrage leader, b. Prairie Ronde, Mich.; grad. Antioch College, 1860, and the theological school of St. Lawrence Univ., 1863. She...

Coral Sea Islands

(Encyclopedia)Coral Sea Islands, external territory of Australia, comprising scattered small islands and reefs spread over c.400,000 sq mi (1,035,995 sq km) of the South Pacific Ocean, E of the Great Barrier Reef, ...

Wells-Barnett, Ida Bell

(Encyclopedia)Wells-Barnett, Ida Bell, 1862–1931, African-American civil-rights advocate and feminist, b. Holly Springs, Miss. Born a slave, she attended a freedman's school and was orphaned at 16. She moved (188...

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