Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Cassatt, Mary kəsătˈ [key], 1844–1926, American figure painter and etcher, b. Pittsburgh. Most of her life was spent in France, where she was greatly influenced by her great French contemporaries...

(Encyclopedia) Harris, Patricia Roberts, 1924–85, U.S. government official, b. Mattoon, Ill. A lawyer who was active in the Democratic party, she was a law professor and dean at Howard Univ. during the 1960s and b...

(Encyclopedia) Harris, William Torrey, 1835–1909, American educator and philosopher, b. Windham co., Conn., educated at Yale. He was superintendent (1868–80) of the St. Louis public school system and was U.S. co...

(Encyclopedia) Jones, Brian, 1947–, British balloonist, b. Bristol. A former Royal Air Force pilot, he entered the world of ballooning in the 1980s, and in 1997 became an organizer for the attempt of the British-b...

(Encyclopedia) Astell, Mary ăsˈtəl [key], 1666–1731, English author and feminist. Her Serious Proposal to the Ladies (2 parts, 1694–97) offered a scheme for a women's college, an idea far in advance of the ti...

(Encyclopedia) Jones, James, 1921–77, American novelist, b. Robinson, Ill. Written in the tradition of naturalism, his novels often celebrate the endurance of man. From Here to Eternity (1951), his best-known work...

(Encyclopedia) Mary of Guise gēz [key], 1515–60, queen consort of James V of Scotland and regent for her daughter, Mary Queen of Scots. The daughter of Claude de Lorraine, duc de Guise, she was also known as Mary...

(Encyclopedia) Mary or Mari mäˈrē [key], city (1991 pop. 94,900), capital of Mary region, SE Turkmenistan. Lying in a large oasis of the Kara Kum desert, on the Murgab River delta, Mary is the center of a rich co...

(Encyclopedia) Harris, Sir Arthur Travers, 1892–1984, British marshal of the Royal Air Force (RAF). In World War I, he served for a time in German West Africa before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in Franc...

(Encyclopedia) Baraka, Amiri amērē bəräˈkə [key], 1934–2014, American poet, playwright, and political activist, b. Newark, N.J., as Everett LeRoy Jones, studied at Rutgers Univ., Howard Univ. In college he a...