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Atkinson, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Atkinson, Henry, 1782–1842, American army officer, b. North Carolina. After service as a colonel in the War of 1812, he was a commander in the West and led two expeditions (1819, 1825) to the Yellow...

bittersweet

(Encyclopedia)bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. One, called also woody nightshade...

Harris, Patricia Roberts

(Encyclopedia)Harris, Patricia Roberts, 1924–85, U.S. government official, b. Mattoon, Ill. A lawyer who was active in the Democratic party, she was a law professor and dean at Howard Univ. during the 1960s and b...

Denton

(Encyclopedia)Denton, city (2020 pop. 139,869), seat of Denton co., N Tex.; inc. 1866. The city lies in an agricultural and industrial region, but the economy is base...

Franklin, John Hope

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, John Hope, 1915–2009, the dean of 20th-century African-American historians, b. Rentiesville, Okla., grad. Fisk Univ. (A.B., 1935), Harvard (M.A., 1936; Ph.D., 1941). Franklin served on the...

wren

(Encyclopedia)wren, small, plump perching songbird of the family Troglodytidae. There are about 60 wren species, and all except one are restricted to the New World. The plumage is usually brown or reddish above and...

value-added tax

(Encyclopedia)value-added tax (VAT), levy imposed on business at all levels of the manufacture and production of a good or service and based on the increase in price, or value, provided by each level. Because the c...

Spaulding, C. C.

(Encyclopedia)Spaulding, C. C. (Charles Clinton Spaulding), 1874–1952, African-American insurance executive, b. Columbus co., N.C. In 1900, Spaulding, who had previously worked as a grocery-store manager and part...

Fillon, François Charles Amand

(Encyclopedia)Fillon, François Charles Amand fräNswäˈ shärl ämäNˈ fēyôNˈ [key], 1954–, French political leader, b. Le Mans. A conservative, he served as an assembly deputy (1981–2002, 2007–17) and ...

Venus's-flytrap

(Encyclopedia)Venus's-flytrap, insectivorous or carnivorous bog plant (Dionaea muscipula) native to the Carolina savannas and now widely cultivated as a novelty. The leaves, borne in a low rosette, resemble bear tr...