Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Robert C. Weaver
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Robert C. Weaver, a noted economist who was the first African-American to serve in the U.S. cabinet.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Robert E. Park
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Robert E. Park, an American sociologist noted for his work on ethnic minority groups, particularly African Americans, and on human ecology, a term he is credited with coining. One of the...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Alonzo J. Ransier
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Alonzo J. Ransier, a black member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina during Reconstruction.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Bill T. Jones
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Bill T. Jones, an American choreographer and dancer who, with Arnie Zane, created the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Abbey Lincoln
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Abbey Lincoln, an American vocalist, songwriter, and actress born Aug. 6, 1930, Chicago, Ill.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Adelaide Hall
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Adelaide Hall, an American-born jazz improviser whose wordless rhythms ushered in what became known as scat singing.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Alan Page
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Alan Page, an American gridiron football player who in 1971 became the first defensive player to win the Most Valuable Player award of the National Football League (NFL). He was inducted...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Al Green
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Al Green, an American singer-songwriter who was the most popular performer of soul music in the 1970s. By further transforming the essential relationship in soul music between the sacred...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Alice Dunbar Nelson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Alice Dunbar Nelson, a novelist, poet, essayist, and critic associated with the early period of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and '30s.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Alicia Keys
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Alicia Keys, an American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress, who achieved enormous success in the early 2000s with her blend of R&B and soul music.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Allen Toussaint
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Allen Toussaint, a songwriter, pianist, and producer, Toussaint was responsible for national hits by Ernie K-Doe, Chris Kenner, Jessie Hill, Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, and the Showmen,...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Allen Iverson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Allen Iverson, an American basketball player known for both explosive play on the court and controversy away from the game. He became the first great athlete to be strongly identified with...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Amanda Smith
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Amanda Smith, an American evangelist and missionary who opened an orphanage for African-American girls.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Anna Deavere Smith
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Anna Deavere Smith, an American playwright, actress, author, journalist, and educator, who was best known for her one-woman plays that examined the social issues behind current events.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Art Tatum
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Art Tatum, a blind, self-taught American pianist, considered one of the greatest technical virtuosos in jazz.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Barry Sanders
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Barry Sanders, an American professional gridiron football player. In his 10 seasons with the Detroit Lions (1989-98), Sanders led the National Football League (NFL) in rushing four times...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Bennie Moten
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Bennie Moten, a U.S. pianist, one of the earliest known organizers of bands in the Midwest in the emergent years of jazz.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Benny Carter
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Benny Carter, an American jazz musician, an original and influential alto saxophonist, who was also a masterly composer and arranger and an important bandleader, trumpeter, and clarinetist.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Ben Webster
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Ben Webster, an American jazz musician, considered one of the most distinctive of his generation, noted for the beauty of his tenor saxophone tone and for his melodic inventiveness.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Big Joe Turner
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Big Joe Turner, a black American blues singer, or "shouter," whose records were imitated by white musicians in the early days of rock and roll.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Big Mama Thornton
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Big Mama Thornton, an American singer and songwriter who performed in the tradition of classic blues singers such as Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie. Her work inspired imitation by Elvis...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Bill Dixon
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Bill Dixon, an American jazz artist born Oct. 5, 1925, Nantucket, Mass.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Billy Eckstine
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Billy Eckstine, an American singer and bandleader who achieved great personal success while fostering the careers of a number of younger jazz musicians.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Blind Lemon Jefferson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Blind Lemon Jefferson, an American country blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter, one of the earliest black folk-blues singers to achieve popular success.