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leopard

(Encyclopedia)leopard, large carnivore of the cat family, Panthera pardus, widely distributed in Africa and Asia. It is commonly yellow, buff, or gray, patterned with black spots and rings. The rings, unlike those ...

Freedmen's Bureau

(Encyclopedia)Freedmen's Bureau, in U.S. history, a federal agency, formed to aid and protect the newly freed blacks in the South after the Civil War. Established by an act of Mar. 3, 1865, under the name “bureau...

skunk

(Encyclopedia)skunk, name for several related New World mammals of the weasel family, characterized by their conspicuous black and white markings and use of a strong, highly offensive odor for defense. The scent gl...

bear, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)bear, large mammal of the family Ursidae in the order Carnivora, found almost exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere. Bears have large heads, bulky bodies, massive hindquarters, short, powerful limbs,...

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...

Lorain

(Encyclopedia)Lorain lôrānˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 71,245), Lorain co., N Ohio, on Lake Erie at the mouth of the Black River; inc. 1834. Once an important ore-shipping point, Lorain has shipyards, steelworks, au...

Moton, Robert Russa

(Encyclopedia)Moton, Robert Russa mōˈtən [key], 1867–1940, black American educator, b. Amelia co., Va., grad. Hampton Institute, 1890. He was commandant (1890–1915) of Hampton Institute, then principal and p...

gum tree

(Encyclopedia)gum tree, name for the eucalyptus (see myrtle) in Australia and for several other trees, e.g., the sweet gum, of the family Hamamelidaceae (witch hazel family), and the black gum or tupelo in North Am...

Groppi, James

(Encyclopedia)Groppi, James, 1931–85, American Roman Catholic cleric and political activist, b. Milwaukee. Groppi, who grew up in the Milwaukee slums, attended St. Francis' Seminary and was ordained in 1960. In 1...

Galloway

(Encyclopedia)Galloway, region, Dumfries and Galloway, SW Scotland. It formerly was divided between the now abolished counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. The Rhinns, or Rinns, of Galloway is a rocky do...