Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Professor Longhair
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Professor Longhair, an American singer and pianist who helped shape the sound of New Orleans rhythm and blues from the mid-1940s.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Prudence Crandall
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Prudence Crandall, an American schoolteacher whose attempt to educate African American girls aroused controversy in the 1830s.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Rafer Johnson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Rafer Johnson, an American athlete, who won a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Ralph Metcalfe
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Ralph Metcalfe, an American sprinter and member of the American 4 x 100-meter relay team that won a gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. At his peak, in 1934-35, he was called...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Randy Moss
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Randy Moss, an American professional gridiron football player who is considered one of the greatest wide receivers in National Football League (NFL) history.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Randy Weston
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Randy Weston, an American jazz pianist and composer noted for his use of African rhythms.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Ray Dandridge
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Ray Dandridge, an American professional baseball player who spent most of his career between 1933 and 1955 playing in the Negro leagues and on teams outside the United States.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Redd Foxx
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Redd Foxx, an American comedian and television actor known for his raunchy stand-up routines. His style of comedy, often described as "blue" for its foul language and highly adult subject...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Reggie Jackson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Reggie Jackson, a professional baseball player.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Reggie White
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Reggie White, an American professional gridiron football player who was one of the most dominant defensive lineman in the history of the sport. In his 15-year National Football League...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Reverend Ike
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Reverend Ike, an American clergyman born June 1, 1935, Ridgeland, S.C. .
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Rex Stewart
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Rex Stewart, a black American jazz musician unique for playing the cornet, rather than the trumpet, in big bands as well as small groups throughout his career. His mastery of expressive...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Richard Pryor
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Richard Pryor, an American comedian and actor, who was one of the leading comics of the 1970s and '80s. His comedy routines drew on a variety of downtrodden urban characters, rendered with...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Roger Milla
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Roger Milla, a Cameroonian football (soccer) player, renowned for his impeccable technique and grace under pressure. A forward, he starred on the Cameroon national team that became the...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Roland Burris
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Roland Burris, an American Democratic politician who was the first African-American elected to statewide office in Illinois. His appointment as U.S. senator (2009-10) to fill the seat...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Ronnie Lott
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Ronnie Lott, an American gridiron football player who earned first-team All-Pro honors at all three defensive backfield positions during his standout 14-year National Football League (NFL)...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Sammy Price
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Sammy Price, an American pianist and bandleader, a jazz musician rooted in the old rhythm and blues and boogie-woogie traditions who had a long career as a soloist and accompanist.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Samuel Coleridge Taylor
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, an English composer who enjoyed considerable acclaim in the early years of the 20th century.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Samuel David Ferguson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Samuel David Ferguson, the first African American bishop of the Episcopal Church.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Samuel Freeman Miller
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Samuel Freeman Miller, an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1862-90), a leading opponent of efforts to use the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution to protect business...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Savion Glover
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Savion Glover, an American dancer and choreographer who became known for his unique pounding style of tap dancing, called "hitting." He brought renewed interest in dance, particularly...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Serena Williams
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Serena Williams, an American tennis player who-along with her sister Venus-revolutionized women's tennis with her powerful style of play, becoming one of the game's most dominant athletes...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Sheryl Swoopes
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Sheryl Swoopes, an American basketball player who won three Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards (2000, 2002, 2005) and four WNBA titles...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Solomon Burke
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Solomon Burke, an American singer whose success in the early 1960s in merging the gospel style of the African American church with rhythm and blues helped to usher in the soul music era.