Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Muddy Waters
A brief biography of Muddy Waters, American blues guitarist and singer who became famous in the post-World War II era.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Oprah Winfrey
Biographical details on Oprah Winfrey, American television personality, actress, and entrepreneur whose syndicated daily talk show was among the most popular of the genre.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Paul Robeson
Read about the life of Paul Robeson, celebrated American singer, actor, and black activist.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Percy Ellis Sutton
Brief account of the life of Percy Sutton, a prominent civil rights attorney who represented Malcolm X as well as some 200 people arrested in the 1960s during protests against racial segregation in the American South.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Phillis Wheatley
Learn details about the life of Phillis Wheatley, the first black woman poet of note in the United States.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Robert Smalls
Brief biographical details on Robert Smalls, an African-American slave who became a naval hero for the Union in the American Civil War and went on to serve as a congressman from South Carolina during Reconstruction.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Roy Wilkins
Read about the life of Roy Wilkins, black American civil-rights leader who served as the executive director (1955-77) of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was often referred to as the senior...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Rubye Robinson
Biographical sketch on Rubye Robinson, an American civil rights activist whose short life proved to be a powerful influence on the Civil Rights Movement.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Ru Paul
Learn about RuPaul, the American entertainer who carved out an idiosyncratic place in popular culture as perhaps the most famous drag queen in the United States in the 1990s and early 21st century.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Sarah Vaughan
Summarizes the life and career of Sarah Vaughan, an American jazz vocalist and pianist known for her rich voice.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Snoop Dogg
Learn about the life of American rapper and songwriter, Snoop Dogg, who became one of the best-known figures in gangsta rap in the 1990s and was for many the epitome of West Coast hip-hop culture.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Sojourner Truth
Biographical account of the life of Sojourner Truth, an African-American evangelist and reformer who applied her religious fervor to the abolitionist and women's rights movements.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Sonia Sanchez
Biographical details on American poet, playwright, and educator, Sonia Sanchez, who was noted for her black activism.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Sonny Rollins
Biographical account of Sonny Rollins, an American jazz musician, a tenor saxophonist who was among the finest improvisers on the instrument to appear since the mid-1950s.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Stevie Wonder
A brief biographical sketch of Stevie Wonder, an African-American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, a child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Sugar Ray Robinson
Biographical account of the life of Sugar Ray Robinson, an American professional boxer, six times a world champion: once as a welterweight and five times as a middleweight.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: T Bone Walker
Biographical information on African-American musician and songwriter T-Bone Walker, a major figure in modern blues. He was the first important electric guitar soloist in the blues and one of its most influential players.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Tommie Smith
Read a brief account of the life of American sprinter Tommie Smith who held the world record for the 200-metre dash with turn and for the straightaway 200-metre dash.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Usher
Learn about the life and career of Usher, the American musician whose smooth vocals and sensual ballads helped establish him as a rhythm-and-blues superstar beginning in the late 1990s.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: William Grant Still
Read about the life of William Grant Still, American composer and conductor, and the first black to conduct a professional symphony orchestra in the United States.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: William Julius Wilson
Biographical details on William Julius Wilson, an American sociologist whose views on race and urban poverty helped shape U.S. public policy and academic discourse.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Willie Simms
Learn about American jockey, Willie Simms, who is the only African American to have won all three of the races that compose the Triple Crown of American horse racing: the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes, and the Preakness Stakes.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Wole Soyinka
Biographical details on Nigerian playwright and political activist Wole Soyinka, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Wyomia Tyus
Entry provides a summary of the life of Wyomia Tyus, an American sprinter who held the world record for the 100-metre race (1964-65, 1968-72) and was the first person to win the Olympic gold medal twice in that event.