Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Maggie Lena Draper Walker
Summarizes the life of Maggie Lena Draper Walker, an American businesswoman, who played a major role in the organizational and commercial life of Richmond's African-American community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Margaret Walker
Biographical details on Margaret Walker, an American novelist and poet who was one of the leading black woman writers of the mid-20th century.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Mary Eliza Church Terrell
Learn about Mary Church Terrell, American social activist who was cofounder and first president of the National Association of Colored Women. She was an early civil rights advocate, an educator, an author, and a lecturer on woman...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Mary Lou Williams
Biographical sketch of jazz pianist, Mary Lou Williams, who performed with and composed for many of the great jazz artists of the 1940s and '50s.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Maury Wills
Read about the life of Maury Wills, African-American professional baseball player and manager, who set base-stealing records in his playing career.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Max Roach
Biographical sketch of Max Roach, an American jazz drummer and composer, one of the most influential and widely recorded modern percussionists.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Mc Coy Tyner
Learn about the life and career of McCoy Tyner, an African-American jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer noted for his technical virtuosity and dazzling improvisations.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Melvin Tolson
Biographical information on Melvin Tolson, an African-American poet who worked within the modernist tradition to explore African-American issues.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Melvin Van Peebles
Learn about the life and career of Melvin Van Peeples, the American filmmaker who wrote, directed, and starred in Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971), a groundbreaking film that spearheaded the rush of African American action films...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Mike Tyson
Summarizes the life and career of Mike Tyson, an American boxer who, at age 20, became the youngest heavyweight champion in history.
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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.
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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.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Paul Robeson
Read about the life of Paul Robeson, celebrated American singer, actor, and black activist.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.