Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Brown, Jim (James Nathaniel Brown), 1936–2023, American football player, b. St. Simon Island, Ga. A football and lacrosse All-American at Syracuse Uni...

(Encyclopedia) Burleigh, Henry Thacker bûrˈlē [key], 1866–1949, American baritone and composer, b. Erie, Pa.; pupil of Dvořák at the National Conservatory, New York, where he later taught. He was soloist at S...

(Encyclopedia) ermine, name for a number of northern species of weasel having white coats in winter, and highly prized for their white fur. It most commonly refers to the white phase of Mustela erminea, called short...

(Encyclopedia) frijole frēhōˈlē [key] [Span. fríjol ], in Mexico and the Spanish-American countries, any cultivated bean of the genus Phaseolus. The term frijole refers to the small, flat, black bean that ran...

(Encyclopedia) chimpanzee, an ape, genus Pan, of the equatorial forests of central and W Africa. Smaller populations are also found in the savannas of the same regions. The common chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, lives ...

(Encyclopedia) Crenshaw, Kimberlé, 1959–, American legal scholar and critical race theorist, b. Canton, Ohio, J.D. Harvard University, 1984. An influential writer o...

(Encyclopedia) Toussaint Louverture or L'Ouverture, François Dominique fräNswäˈ dômēnēkˈ to͞osăNˈ lo͞ovĕrtürˈ [key], c.1744–1803, Haitian patriot and martyr. A self-educated slave freed shortly befo...

(Encyclopedia) gospel music, American religious musical form that owes much of its origin to the Christian conversion of West Africans enslaved in the American South. Gospel music partly evolved from the songs slave...

(Encyclopedia) Leonard, Buck (Walter Fenner Leonard), 1907–1997, African-American baseball player, b. Rocky Mount, N.C. Beginning in 1933, he played semiprofessional ball with the Baltimore Stars and the Brooklyn ...

(Encyclopedia) patina pătˈənə [key], coating of carbonate of copper on articles of copper or bronze, formed after long exposure to a moist atmosphere or burial in the earth. Although commonly green, patina varie...