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American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees

(Encyclopedia)American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), largest union of public employees in the United States. It began as a number of separate locals organized by a group of Wisconsi...

Ussachevsky, Vladimir

(Encyclopedia)Ussachevsky, Vladimir vlədyēˈmĭr o͞osəchĕfˈskē [key], 1911–90, Russian-American composer, b. Manchuria. Ussachevsky emigrated to the United States in 1931 and studied at the Eastman School....

syncopation

(Encyclopedia)syncopation sĭngˌkəpāˈshən, sĭnˌ– [key] [New Gr.,=cut off ], in music, the accentuation of a beat that normally would be weak according to the rhythmic division of the measure. Although th...

Mason, Lowell

(Encyclopedia)Mason, Lowell, 1792–1872, American composer and music educator, b. Medfield, Mass. While working as a bank clerk in Savannah, Ga., he helped compile an anthology that was published as The Boston Han...

Swanson, Howard

(Encyclopedia)Swanson, Howard, 1909–78, American composer, b. Atlanta. He studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Among his compositions are three symphonies, Night Music fo...

Huneker, James Gibbons

(Encyclopedia)Huneker, James Gibbons hŭnˈĭkər [key], 1860–1921, American essayist and music critic, b. Philadelphia. The originality and pungency of his style and the soundness of his criticism made him one o...

Wilson, James, American agriculturist and cabinet officer

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, James, 1836–1920, American agriculturist and cabinet officer, b. Ayrshire, Scotland. He emigrated to the United States and settled (1851) in Connecticut, later moving (1855) to Tama co., Iow...

Gilberto, João

(Encyclopedia)Gilberto, João (João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira), 1931–2019, Brazilian guitarist, singer, and songwriter. With Carlos Jobim and others, he created the cool, sophisticated Brazilian popular...

Dorsey, Thomas Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Dorsey, Thomas Andrew dôrˈsē [key], 1899–1993, American gospel musician, b. Villa Rica, Ga. He began his career as a blues pianist and songwriter. Later he became a church choir director in Chica...

Deloria, Vine Victor Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Deloria, Vine, Jr., 1933–2005, American author, theologian, historian, and activist, b. Marin, S.Dak. Considered by some to be the leading intellectua...