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holiday

(Encyclopedia)holiday [altered from holy day], day set aside for the commemoration of an important event. Holidays are often accompanied by public ceremonies, such as parades and carnivals, and by religious observa...

Wilson, August

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, August, 1945–2005, American playwright and poet, b. Pittsburgh as Frederick August Kittel, Jr. Largely self-educated, Wilson first attracted wide critical attention with his Broadway debut, ...

Confederate cruisers

(Encyclopedia)Confederate cruisers, in U.S. history, warships constituting the South's seagoing navy. At the outbreak of the Civil War the United States ranked next to Great Britain in merchant marine. Since almost...

community college

(Encyclopedia)community college, public institution of higher education. Community colleges are characterized by a two-year curriculum that leads to either the associate degree or transfer to a four-year college. T...

Hull, Bobby

(Encyclopedia)Hull, Bobby (Robert Marvin Hull, Jr.), 1939–, Canadian hockey player. Considered to be the best left wing in the sport's history, Hull was skating from age three and began playing with the Chicago B...

Abernathy, Ralph David

(Encyclopedia)Abernathy, Ralph David ăbˈərnăthˌē [key], 1926–90, American civil-rights leader, b. Linden, Ala. A Baptist minister, he helped Martin Luther King, Jr., organize the Montgomery bus boycott (195...

Cerar, Miro

(Encyclopedia)Cerar, Miro (Miroslav Cerar, Jr.), 1963–, Slovenian lawyer and political leader, b. Ljubljana. After earning a law doctorate from the Univ. of Ljubljana, he became a professor of constitutional law ...

Santa Gertrudis cattle

(Encyclopedia)Santa Gertrudis cattle, breed of beef cattle derived from crosses between Shorthorn cows (see Shorthorn cattle) and Brahman bulls (see Brahman cattle); the breed was developed by Robert J. Kleberg, Jr...

Sloan, Alfred Pritchard, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Sloan, Alfred Pritchard, Jr., 1875–1966, American businessman and philanthropist, b. New Haven, Conn., grad. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1895. He began his career as a draftsman for the H...

Sloan Foundation

(Encyclopedia)Sloan Foundation, fund established (1934) by automobile executive Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. as a philanthropic institution supporting research in various areas. In its early years it stressed support of U....
 

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