Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Whitney, Asa

(Encyclopedia)Whitney, Asa, 1797–1872, American merchant and transcontinental railroad projector, b. North Groton, Conn. He entered the mercantile business in New York City, acted as a foreign buyer for several y...

Will, George

(Encyclopedia)Will, George (George Frederick Will), 1941–, American political columnist, b. Champaign, Illinois. He attended Trinity College (B.A., 1962), Oxford (1962–64), and Princeton (PhD., 1964). In 1973, ...

Warner, Mark Robert

(Encyclopedia)Warner, Mark Robert, 1954–, U.S. politician, b. Indianapolis, grad George Washington Univ. (B.A., 1977), Harvard Law School (J.D., 1980). After settling in Virginia and working as a congressional st...

Sackville, Lionel Sackville-West, 2d Baron

(Encyclopedia)Sackville, Lionel Sackville-West, 2d Baron, 1827–1908, British diplomat. He served in numerous diplomatic posts before being appointed (1881) ambassador to the United States. He helped to settle (18...

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

(Encyclopedia)Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), civil-rights organization founded in 1957 by Martin Luther King, Jr., and headed by him until his assassination in 1968. Composed largely of African-Am...

Terry, Alfred Howe

(Encyclopedia)Terry, Alfred Howe, 1827–90, American general, b. Hartford, Conn. A lawyer, he led a regiment of Connecticut volunteers at the first battle of Bull Run in the Civil War. Made a brigadier general of ...

Wooster, David

(Encyclopedia)Wooster, David wo͝osˈtər [key], 1711–77, American Revolutionary officer, b. Fairfield co., Conn. He served as an officer in the British army during the last of the French and Indian Wars. Wooster...

Aga Muhammad Khan

(Encyclopedia)Aga Muhammad Khan or Agha Muhammad Khan both: äˈgämo͞ohämˈmäd khän [key], 1742–97, shah of Persia, founder of the Qajar dynasty. He was emasculated by family enemies at the age of five. He w...

Schlafly, Phyllis

(Encyclopedia)Schlafly, Phyllis shlăfˈlē [key], 1924–2016, American conservative activist, b. St. Louis, Mo., as Phyllis McAlpin Stewart, grad. Washington Univ. (B.A. 1944, J.D. 1978), Harvard (M.A. 1945). A R...

Shelby, Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Shelby, Isaac, 1750–1826, American frontiersman, b. Washington co. (then part of Frederick co.), Md. Around 1773 he settled in the Holston River country in what is now E Tennessee. In the American R...