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Birch, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Birch, Samuel, 1813–85, English Egyptologist. He wrote a dictionary of hieroglyphics and translated the Book of the Dead.

Arbuthnot, John

(Encyclopedia)Arbuthnot, John ärbŭthˈnət, ärˈbəthnŏt [key], 1667–1735, Scottish author and scientist, court physician (1705–14) to Queen Anne. He is best remembered for his five “John Bull” pamphlet...

Johnson, James Weldon

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, James Weldon, 1871–1938, American author, b. Jacksonville, Fla., educated at Atlanta Univ. (B.A., 1894) and at Columbia. Johnson was the first African American to be admitted to the Florida...

Richardson, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Samuel, 1689–1761, English novelist, b. Derbyshire. When he was 50 and a prosperous printer, Richardson was asked to compose a guide to letter writing. The idea of introducing a central ...

Smith, Samuel Francis

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Samuel Francis, 1808–95, American Baptist clergyman and poet, b. Boston. He is remembered as the author of the national hymn “America,” written while he was a student at Andover Theologic...

Bamford, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Bamford, Samuel, 1788–1872, English weaver, poet, and social reformer. Always sympathetic toward the working class, he was jailed in 1819 for his part in the Peterloo massacre. His dialect verses we...

Wilberforce, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Wilberforce, Samuel wĭlˈbərfôrs [key], 1805–73, English prelate; son of William Wilberforce. In 1845 he became bishop of Oxford. He did not support the Oxford movement; instead, he attempted to ...

Peters, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Peters, Samuel, 1735–1826, American clergyman and historian, b. Hebron, Conn. Because of his Loyalist sympathies, he fled to England in 1774. There he wrote for English periodicals and published A G...

Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson

(Encyclopedia)Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson sĭrlēfˈ [key], 1938–, Liberian economist and political leader. Educated in the United States (M.P.A. Harvard, 1971), she worked in the Liberian government (1964–67, 1977�...

Johnson, Martin Elmer

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Martin Elmer, 1884–1937, American explorer and author, b. Rockford, Ill. He left home at 14 to work his way to Europe on a cattle boat, returning as a stowaway. He then joined the crew of J...