Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Murphy, Charles Francis, 1858–1924, American political boss, b. New York City. He was the owner of many saloons in New York City and took a keen interest in Democratic politics. His services to Tamm...

(Encyclopedia) china clay, one of the purest of the clays, composed chiefly of the mineral kaolinite usually formed when granite is changed by hydrothermal metamorphism. Usage of the terms china clay and kaolin is n...

(Encyclopedia) Di Rupo, Elio āˈlēō dē ro͞oˈpō [key], 1951–, Belgian political leader. Born to Italian immigrant parents, he is a chemist by education and was a lecturer (1977–78) at the Univ. of Leeds, E...

(Encyclopedia) Witherspoon, John, 1723–94, Scottish-American Presbyterian clergyman, political leader in the American Revolution, and signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Haddingtonshire (now East Lothian...

(Encyclopedia) Robbins, Lionel Charles, 1898–1984, British economist, b. Middlesex, England. A professor at the London School of Economics (1929–61), he wrote the well-known methodological treatise, An Essay in ...

(Encyclopedia) Prohibition party, in U.S. history, minor political party formed (1869) for the legislative prohibition of the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The temperance movement was...

(Encyclopedia) Rakhine State ărəkănˈ, äräkänˈ [key], state (1983 pop. 2,045,891), 14,194 sq mi (36,762 sq km), W Myanmar, extending along the Bay of Bengal. It lies at the foot of the Arakan Mts., which rise...

(Encyclopedia) Cherokee chĕrˈəkē [key], largest Native American group in the United States. Formerly the largest and most important tribe in the Southeast, they occupied mountain areas of North and South Carolin...

(Encyclopedia) Mikołajczyk, Stanislaus stänēsˈläs mēkôwīˈchĭk [key], 1901–66, Polish politician and leader of the Polish Peasant party. After the German conquest of Poland, he became vice premier (1941) ...

(Encyclopedia) integration, in U.S. history, the goal of an organized movement to break down the barriers of discrimination and segregation separating African Americans from the rest of American society. Racial segr...