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Buena Vista, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Buena Vista, battle of, military engagement in the Mexican War, fought Feb. 22–23, 1847. The battle site was just S of Saltillo, Coahuila, in Mexico. Gen. Zachary Taylor, disobeying orders from the ...

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans.

(Encyclopedia)Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954. Linda Brown was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka because she was black. When, com...

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Board of Education

(Encyclopedia)Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Board of Education, case decided in 1971 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court held that the constitutional mandate (see Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan...

Whitlam, Gough

(Encyclopedia)Whitlam, Gough gŏf [key], 1916–2014, Australian political leader. Edward Gough Whitlam studied law and entered practice near Sydney after serving in World War II. A member of the Labour party, he w...

Lease, Mary Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Lease, Mary Elizabeth, 1853–1933, American agrarian reformer and temperance advocate, b. Ridgeway, Pa. The daughter of an Irish political refugee, she first gained recognition for a series of lectur...

Banks, Russell

(Encyclopedia)Banks, Russell, 1940–, American writer, b. Newton, Mass., grad. Univ. of North Carolina (1967). Banks is known for fiction that explores the bleaker aspects of American working-class life with empat...

guidance and counseling

(Encyclopedia)guidance and counseling, concept that institutions, especially schools, should promote the efficient and happy lives of individuals by helping them adjust to social realities. The disruption of commun...

Williams, Shirley Vivien Teresa Brittain, Baroness Williams of Crosby

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Shirley Vivien Teresa Brittain, Baroness Williams of Crosby 1930–, British politician. Daughter of the political scientist and philosopher Sir George Catlin and the novelist Vera Brittain,...

Tshombe, Moise Kapenda

(Encyclopedia)Tshombe, Moise Kapenda mô-ēsˈ kəpĕnˈdä chōmˈbā [key], 1919–69, political leader in Congo (Kinshasa). He was related to the royal family of the Lunda people and received his education at mi...

Cooper, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Cooper, Peter, 1791–1883, American inventor, industrialist, and philanthropist, b. New York City. After achieving success in the glue business, Cooper, with two partners, erected (1829) the Canton I...