Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Janet Jackson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Janet Jackson, an American singer and actress whose increasingly mature version of dance-pop music made her one of the most popular recording artists of the 1980s and '90s.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jay Z
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jay Z, an American rapper and entrepreneur, one of the most influential figures in hip-hop in the 1990s and early 21st century.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jean Baptist Point Du Sable
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jean-Baptist-Point Du Sable, a black pioneer trader and founder of the settlement that later became the city of Chicago.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jennifer Hudson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jennifer Hudson, an American actress and singer who won an Academy Award for best-supporting actress for her role in Dreamgirls (2006).
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jerry Rice
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jerry Rice, an American professional gridiron football player whom many consider the greatest wide receiver in the history of the National Football League (NFL). Playing primarily for the...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jessye Norman
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jessye Norman, an American operatic soprano, one of the finest of her day, who also enjoyed a successful concert career.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jimmy Reed
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jimmy Reed, an American singer, harmonica player, and guitarist who was one of the most popular blues musicians of the post-World War II era.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jimmy Smith
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jimmy Smith, an American musician who integrated the electric organ into jazz, thereby inventing the soul-jazz idiom, which became popular in the 1950s and '60s.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jimmy Yancey
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jimmy Yancey, an American blues pianist who established the boogie-woogie style with slow, steady, simple left-hand bass patterns. These became more rapid in the work of his students...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jim Parker
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jim Parker, an American professional gridiron football player who, during his 11-year career with the Baltimore Colts, established himself as one of the finest offensive linemen in...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Joe Morgan
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Joe Morgan, an American professional baseball player who won consecutive National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards in 1975-76, when he led the Cincinnati Reds to back-to-back...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Johnny Dodds
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Johnny Dodds, an African-American musician noted as one of the most lyrically expressive of jazz clarinetists.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Johnny Griffin
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Johnny Griffin, an African American jazz tenor saxophonist noted for his fluency in the hard-bop idiom.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: John Singleton
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features John Singleton, an American film director and screenwriter whose films often examine urban and racial tensions. He is best known for his directorial debut, Boyz n the Hood.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jo Jones
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jo Jones, a black American musician, one of the most influential of all jazz drummers, noted for his swing, dynamic subtlety, and finesse.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Josh Gibson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Josh Gibson, an American professional baseball catcher who was one of the most prodigious home run hitters in the game's history. Known as "the black Babe Ruth," Gibson is considered to be...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: June Jordan
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features June Jordan, an African American author who investigated both social and personal concerns through poetry, essays, and drama.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Kanye West
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Kanye West, an American producer and rapper who parlayed his production success in the late 1990s and early 2000s into a career as a popular, critically acclaimed solo artist.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Karl Malone
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Karl Malone, an American basketball player who owns the National Basketball Association (NBA) career record for free throws attempted (13,188) and made (9,787). He ranks second in career...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Katherine Dunham
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Katherine Dunham, an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist noted for her innovative interpretations of ritualistic and ethnic dances.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Kathleen Battle
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Kathleen Battle, an American opera singer, among the finest coloratura sopranos of her time.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Kenny Clarke
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Kenny Clarke, an American drummer who was a major exponent of the modern jazz movement of the 1940s.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Kenny Dorham
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Kenny Dorham, a black American jazz trumpeter, a pioneer of bebop noted for the beauty of his tone and for his lyricism.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Kerry James Marshall
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Kerry James Marshall, an African American painter and printmaker whose work examines aspects of black culture in the United States. His unique images extend the grand traditions of history...