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LL Cool J

(Encyclopedia) LL Cool J , 1968- , African-American rapper and actor, b. Queens, N.Y., as James Todd Smith. Smith had a tragic upbringing, with his father shooting bo...

Strang, James Jesse

(Encyclopedia)Strang, James Jesse străng [key], 1813–56, American Mormon leader, b. Cayuga co., N.Y. A lawyer, teacher, and newspaperman, he migrated in 1843 to Wisconsin, was converted to Mormonism and baptized...

Jaja

(Encyclopedia)Jaja jäˈjə [key], fl. 1869–87, Nigerian merchant prince. A former slave, he became an important trader in Bonny in the 1860s as a middleman between the coastal markets and the Nigerian interior. ...

Wirral

(Encyclopedia)Wirral, metropolitan borough (1991 est. pop. 322,100), NW England, on the peninsula between the Mersey and Dee estuaries, in the Greater Manchester metropolitan area. Sometimes referred to as “the d...

Jefferson, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Jefferson, Thomas, 1743–1826, 3d President of the United States (1801–9), author of the Declaration of Independence, and apostle of agrarian democracy. After 1809, Jefferson lived in retirem...

Linton, William James

(Encyclopedia)Linton, William James, 1812–97, Anglo-American wood engraver, author, and political reformer. In 1842 he began working as a wood engraver with John Orrin Smith and produced illustrations for the new...

Amherst College

(Encyclopedia)Amherst College, at Amherst, Mass.; founded 1821 as a college for men, coeducational since 1975. A liberal arts institution, Amherst maintains a cooperative program with Smith College, Mount Holyoke C...

Tangier, island, United States

(Encyclopedia)Tangier, island, E Va., in S Chesapeake Bay. Capt. John Smith first visited the island in 1608, and in 1620 settlers arrived from Cornwall, England. Isolated from the mainland, the people of Tangier d...

Chew, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Chew, Benjamin, 1722–1810, American public official and judge, b. Anne Arundel co., Md. He read law in Philadelphia under Andrew Hamilton and was admitted (1746) to the bar. After practicing law at ...

Atherton, Gertrude Franklin (Horn)

(Encyclopedia)Atherton, Gertrude Franklin (Horn) ăthˈərtən [key], 1857–1948, American writer, b. San Francisco. She wrote a series of historical novels about California, which include The Californians (1898),...