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Pocahontas

(Encyclopedia)Pocahontas pōkəhŏnˈtəs [key], c.1595–1617, Native North American woman, daughter of Chief Powhatan. Pocahontas, meaning “playful one” (her birth name was Amonute, and her family called her ...

Butler, John

(Encyclopedia)Butler, John, 1728–96, Loyalist commander in the American Revolution, b. New London, Conn. He served in the French and Indian Wars and distinguished himself especially by leading the Native American...

Clarkson, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Clarkson, Thomas, 1760–1846, English abolitionist. He devoted most of his life to agitation against slavery, and the voluminous information that he gathered on the slave trade helped to influence Pa...

antioxidant

(Encyclopedia)antioxidant, substance that prevents or slows the breakdown of another substance by oxygen. Synthetic and natural antioxidants are used to slow the deterioration of gasoline and rubber, and such antio...

Natives, South American

(Encyclopedia)Natives, South American, aboriginal peoples of South America. In the land mass extending from the Isthmus of Panama to Tierra del Fuego, Native American civilizations developed long before the coming ...

Chateaugay

(Encyclopedia)Chateaugay shătˈəgē, –gāˌ [key], river, c.50 mi (80 km) long, rising in Chateaugay Lake in the Adirondacks, NE N.Y., and flowing through Quebec to empty into the St. Lawrence 10 mi (16 km) bel...

Herkimer, Nicholas

(Encyclopedia)Herkimer, Nicholas, 1728–77, American Revolutionary general. He was born in a German colony near the present town of Herkimer, N.Y. He served in the French and Indian War and was appointed (1776) br...

Du Bois, W. E. B.

(Encyclopedia)Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois) dəboisˈ [key], 1868–1963, American civil-rights leader and author, b. Great Barrington, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1890; M.A., 1891; Ph.D., 18...

Wounded Knee

(Encyclopedia)Wounded Knee, creek, rising in SW S.Dak. and flowing NW to the White River; site of the last major battle of the Indian wars. The ...

Catlin, George

(Encyclopedia)Catlin, George, 1796–1872, American traveler and artist, b. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Educated as a lawyer, he practiced in Philadelphia for two years but turned to art study and became a portrait painter i...