Encyclopedia Britannica
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...
Encyclopedia Britannica
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...
Encyclopedia Britannica
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.
Encyclopedia Britannica
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.
Encyclopedia Britannica
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.
Encyclopedia Britannica
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.
Encyclopedia Britannica
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...
Encyclopedia Britannica
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.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Kobe Bryant
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Kobe Bryant, an American professional basketball player, who helped lead the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to five championships (2000-02; 2009-10).
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: La Dainian Tomlinson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features LaDainian Tomlinson, an American professional gridiron football player who was one of the most productive running backs in National Football League (NFL) history.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Larry Doby
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Larry Doby, an American baseball player, the second African-American player in the major leagues and the first in the American League when he joined the Cleveland Indians in 1947.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Laura Matilda Towne
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Laura Matilda Towne, an American educator known for founding one of the earliest and most successful of the freedmen's schools for former slaves after the American Civil War.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Laurence Fishburne
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Laurence Fishburne, an American actor noted for the intensity of his performances. He was the recipient of a Tony Award (1992) for his work in August Wilson's play Two Trains Running, and...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Lawrence Taylor
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lawrence Taylor, an American collegiate and professional gridiron football player, considered one of the best linebackers in the history of the game. As a member of the New York Giants of...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Lee Evans
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lee Evans, an American runner who won two gold medals at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. His victory in the 400-metre event there set a world record that lasted for two decades.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Leon Forrest
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Leon Forrest, an African-American author of large, inventive novels that fuse myth, history, legend, and contemporary realism.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Little Brother Montgomery
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Little Brother Montgomery, a major African-American blues artist who was also an outstanding jazz pianist and vocalist. He cowrote "The Forty-Fours," a complex composition for piano that...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Lloyd Price
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lloyd Price, an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Price made his mark in rock music history with his exuberant tenor and his flair for recasting rhythm and blues as...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Lonne Elder Iii
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lonne Elder III, an American playwright whose critically acclaimed masterwork, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (1965, revised 1969), depicted the dreams, frustrations, and ultimate endurance of...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Lou Rawls
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lou Rawls, an American singer whose smooth baritone adapted easily to jazz, soul, gospel, and rhythm and blues.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Ludacris
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Ludacris, an American rapper who exemplified the Dirty South school of hip-hop, an exuberant, profanity-laden musical style popularized by artists in the southern United States. Ludacris's...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Lugenia Burns Hope
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lugenia Burns Hope, an American social reformer whose Neighborhood Union and other community service organizations improved the quality of life for blacks in Atlanta, Ga., and served as a...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Mabel Keaton Staupers
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Mabel Keaton Staupers, a Caribbean-American nurse and organization executive, most noted for her role in eliminating segregation in the Armed Forces Nurse Corps during World War II.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Margaret Bush Wilson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Margaret Bush Wilson, an American civil rights activist and attorney born Jan. 30, 1919, St. Louis, Mo.