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Laurens, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Laurens, Henry lôrˈənz, lärˈ– [key], 1724–92, political leader in the American Revolution, b. Charleston, S.C. A wealthy merchant and planter, he was, in the years preceding the Revolution, a...

palmetto palm

(Encyclopedia)palmetto palm or palmetto pălmĕtˈō [key] [Span.,=little palm], common name for palm trees of the genera Sabal and Serenoa, ranging from the sandy pinelands of the S United States to Colombia. Saba...

creole language

(Encyclopedia)creole language krēōlˈ [key], any language that began as a pidgin but was later adopted as the mother tongue by a people in place of the original mother tongue or tongues. Examples are the Gullah o...

corundum

(Encyclopedia)corundum kərŭnˈdəm [key], mineral, aluminum oxide, Al2O3. The clear varieties are used as gems and the opaque as abrasive materials. Corundum occurs in crystals of the hexagonal system and in mass...

Iredell, James

(Encyclopedia)Iredell, James īrˈdĕl [key], 1751–99, American jurist, b. Lewes, England. He emigrated (1767) to North Carolina, where he entered the customs service at Edenton and was made (1774) collector for ...

Micaëlis de Vasconcelos, Carolina

(Encyclopedia)Micaëlis de Vasconcelos, Carolina kärōlēˈnä mēkäāˈlĭs dĭ väshˌko͝onsĕlˈo͝osh [key], 1851–1925, Portuguese scholar, b. Berlin. As a youth she gained a considerable reputation as a R...

Tubman, Harriet

(Encyclopedia)Tubman, Harriet, c.1820–1913, American abolitionist, b. Dorchester co., Md. Born into slavery, she escaped to Phildelphia in 1849, and subsequently became one of the most successful “conductors”...

Reconstruction

(Encyclopedia)Reconstruction, 1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by t...

Hodges, Luther Hartwell

(Encyclopedia)Hodges, Luther Hartwell, 1898–1974, American politician, U.S. Secretary of Commerce (1961–65), b. Pittsylvania co., Va. From 1919 to 1950 he pursued a successful career in the textile industry. Af...

Little Tennessee

(Encyclopedia)Little Tennessee, river, c.135 mi (220 km) long, rising in the Blue Ridge, NE Ga., and flowing generally NW across SW N.C. and through E Tenn. to the Tennessee River opposite Lenoir City. On the river...
 

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