Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Pan-American Union

(Encyclopedia)Pan-American Union, former name for the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS). It was founded (1889–90) at the first of the modern Inter-American Conferences (see Pan-Amer...

Ticknor, William Davis

(Encyclopedia)Ticknor, William Davis, 1810–64, American publisher. John Reed and James T. Fields became Ticknor's partners in Boston, and their firm is best known as Ticknor and Fields. They published the works o...

Native American music

(Encyclopedia)Native American music. The music of Native North Americans is primarily a vocal art, usually choral, although some nations favor solo singing. Native American music is entirely melodic; there is no ha...

Jacobi, Abraham

(Encyclopedia)Jacobi, Abraham jəkōˈbē [key], 1830–1919, American pediatrician, founder of pediatrics in the United States, b. Westphalia, Germany, M.D. Bonn, 1851. He was imprisoned for participating in the R...

Johnson, Samuel, American clergyman, educator, and philosopher

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Samuel, 1696–1772, American clergyman, educator, and philosopher, b. Guilford, Conn., grad. Collegiate School (now Yale), 1714; father of William Samuel Johnson. He became a Congregationali...

Native American Church

(Encyclopedia)Native American Church, Native American religious group whose beliefs blend fundamentalist Christian elements with pan–Native American moral principles. The movement began among the Kiowa about 1890...

American Indian Movement

(Encyclopedia)American Indian Movement (AIM), Native American civil-rights activist organization, founded in 1968 to encourage self-determination among Native Americans and to establish international re...

satire

(Encyclopedia)satire, term applied to any work of literature or art whose objective is ridicule. It is more easily recognized than defined. From ancient times satirists have shared a common aim: to expose foolishne...

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...

Central American Federation

(Encyclopedia)Central American Federation or Central American Union, political confederation (1825–38) of the republics of Central America—Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador. United under ...