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Blair, Francis Preston, 1821–75, American political leader

(Encyclopedia)Blair, Francis Preston, 1821–75, American political leader and Union general in the Civil War, b. Lexington, Ky., son of Francis Preston Blair (1791–1876). A St. Louis lawyer, Blair led the Free-S...

Barton, Clara

(Encyclopedia)Barton, Clara, 1821–1912, American humanitarian, organizer of the American Red Cross, b. North Oxford (now Oxford), Mass. She taught school (1839–54) and clerked in the U.S. Patent Office before t...

Baraka, Amiri

(Encyclopedia)Baraka, Amiri amērē bəräˈkə [key], 1934–2014, American poet, playwright, and political activist, b. Newark, N.J., as Everett LeRoy Jones, studied at Rutgers Univ., Howard Univ. In college he a...

Coffin, William Sloane, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Coffin, William Sloane, Jr., 1924–2006, American Protestant social activist, b. New York City, nephew of Henry Sloane Coffin. Strongly influenced by the social philosophy of Reinhold Niebuhr, Coffin...

Chesnutt, Charles Waddell

(Encyclopedia)Chesnutt, Charles Waddell wädĕlˈ [key], 1858–1932, American author and lawyer, b. Cleveland, Ohio. In 1887 he was admitted to the Ohio bar. His short stories were first published in the Atlantic ...

Chapman, John

(Encyclopedia)Chapman, John, 1774–1845, American pioneer, more familiarly known as Johnny Appleseed, b. Massachusetts. From Pennsylvania—where he had sold or given saplings and apple seeds to families migrating...

Clay, Cassius Marcellus

(Encyclopedia)Clay, Cassius Marcellus, 1810–1903, American politician and diplomat, b. Madison co., Ky. Although he came from a slaveholding family, Clay early came to abhor the institution of slavery. In 1845 he...

Evelyn, John

(Encyclopedia)Evelyn, John ēvˈəlĭn, ĕvˈlĭn [key], 1620–1706, English diarist and miscellaneous writer. Although of royalist sympathies, he took little active part in the civil war. After 1652 he lived as a...

Falwell, Jerry Lamon

(Encyclopedia)Falwell, Jerry Lamon fôlˈwĕl, –wəl [key], 1933–2007, American fundamentalist Baptist pastor, b. Lynchburg, Va. A popular preacher and founder of the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Fa...

Ingersoll, Charles Jared

(Encyclopedia)Ingersoll, Charles Jared ĭngˈgərsôl [key], 1782–1862, American political leader and author, b. Philadelphia; son of Jared Ingersoll (1749–1822). In several influential publications, including ...