Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Wilkins, Roy, 1901–81, American social reformer and civil-rights leader, b. St. Louis, Mo.; grad. Univ. of Minnesota (B.A., 1923). While a student, Wilkins served as secretary of the local chapter o...

(Encyclopedia) Geary, John White gērˈē [key], 1819–73, American politician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Mt. Pleasant, Pa. In San Francisco from 1849 to 1852, Geary was the first U.S. postmaster, the l...

(Encyclopedia) Denver, James William, 1817–92, American territorial governor, army officer, and congressman, b. Winchester, Va. He commanded a company of Missouri volunteers in the Mexican War, then went (1850) to...

(Encyclopedia) Shannon, Wilson, 1802–77. American political leader, Mount Olivet, Ohio. A lawyer, he entered politics and was governor of Ohio (1838–40, 1842–44), minister to Mexico (1844–45), and a member o...

(Encyclopedia) city-state, in ancient Greece, Italy, and Medieval Europe, an independent political unit consisting of a city and surrounding countryside. The first city-states were in Sumer, but they reached their p...

(Encyclopedia) O'Neil, Buck (John Jordan O'Neil), 1911–2006, African-American baseball player and coach, b. Carrabelle, Fla. One of the stars of the Negro leagues, he began playing semipro baseball at 12, and his ...

(Encyclopedia) Moon, Warren (Harold Warren Moon, Jr.), 1956–, African-American football player, b. Los Angeles. Moon quarterbacked the Univ. of Washington Huskies to a Rose Bowl title in 1978, but he went undrafte...

(Encyclopedia) Billy the Kid, 1859–81, American outlaw, b. New York City. His real name was probably Henry McCarty; he was known as William H. Bonney. His family moved to Kansas and then to New Mexico when he was ...

(Encyclopedia) Dykstra, Clarence Addison dīkˈstrə [key], 1883–1950, American educator and civic administrator, b. Cleveland, grad. Univ. of Iowa, 1903. After graduate work at the Univ. of Chicago, he taught in ...

(Encyclopedia) Hunt, Lamar, 1932–2006, American business and sports executive, b. El Dorado, Ark. One of the Hunt brothers—sons of Texas oil magnate H. L. Hunt—Lamar Hunt had significant business interests in ...