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Encyclopedia Britannica: Eunice Walker Johnson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Eunice Walker Johnson, an American entrepreneur born April 4, 1916, Selma, Ala.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Fannie Barrier Williams
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Fannie Barrier Williams, an American social reformer, lecturer, club woman, and cofounder of the National League of Colored Women.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Flip Wilson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Flip Wilson, an American comedian whose comedy variety show, The Flip Wilson Show, was one of the first television shows hosted by an African American to be a ratings success. The show ran...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Floyd Dixon
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Floyd Dixon, an American rhythm and blues (R&B) musician who was one of the principal exponents of the up-tempo blues style known as West Coast jump blues.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Fritz Pollard
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Fritz Pollard, a pioneering African-American player and coach in American collegiate and professional gridiron football. He was the first African-American selected to a backfield position...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Gail Devers
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Gail Devers, an American track athlete who overcame physical adversity to win Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Gary Wayne Coleman
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Gary Wayne Coleman, an American actor born Feb. 8, 1968, Zion, Ill.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Gene Ammons
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Gene Ammons, an American jazz tenor saxophonist, noted for his big sound and blues-inflected, "soulful" improvising.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Hinton Rowan Helper
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Hinton Rowan Helper, the only prominent American Southern author to attack slavery before the outbreak of the American Civil War (1861-65). His thesis widely influenced Northern opinion...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: William Monroe Trotter
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features William Monroe Trotter, an African American journalist and vocal advocate of racial equality in the early 20th century. From the pages of his weekly newspaper, The Guardian, he criticized...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Julius Rosenwald
Biographical sketch of the life of Julius Rosenwald, an American merchant and unorthodox philanthropist who opposed the idea of perpetual endowments and frequently offered large philanthropic gifts on condition that they be matched by...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Lucy Terry
Learn about the life of Lucy Terry, poet, storyteller, and activist of colonial and postcolonial America.
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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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Naomi Ruth Sims
Brief biographical details on American model and business executive, Naomi Ruth Sims, who was the first black supermodel to adorn the cover of Ladies' Home Journal.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin
Biographical sketch of Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, an American community leader who was active in the women's rights movement and particularly in organizing African American women around issues of civic and cultural development.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Augustus Tolton
Summarizes the life and career of Augustus Tolton, an American religious leader who is regarded as the first African American ordained as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Carl Rowan
Learn about the life and career of Carl Rowan, an American journalist, writer, and radio and television commentator, who was one of the first African American officers in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Carl Stokes
Biographical sketch of American lawyer and politician, Carl Stokes, who became the first African-American to serve as mayor of a major U.S. city, having been elected to that office in Cleveland, Ohio (1967-71).
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Carl Van Vechten
Learn about Carl Van Vechten, a U.S. novelist, music and drama critic, and an influential figure in New York literary circles in the 1920s.