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Davis, Gray

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Gray (Joseph Graham Davis, Jr.), 1942–, U.S. politician, b. the Bronx, N.Y. A graduate of Stanford Univ. (1964) and Columbia Univ. Law School (1967), he entered the army and served in Vietnam...

Wheatley, Phillis

(Encyclopedia)Wheatley, Phillis, 1753?–1784, American poet, considered the first important black writer in the United States. Brought from Africa in 1761, she became a house slave for the Boston merchant John Whe...

Baze, Russell Avery

(Encyclopedia)Baze, Russell Avery, 1958–, Canadian-American jockey, b. Vancouver, Canada. He rode primarily at tracks in N California. In 2006 he surpassed Laffit Pincay, Jr.'s record for career wins, and in 2008...

Hale, Edward Everett

(Encyclopedia)Hale, Edward Everett, 1822–1909, American author and Unitarian clergyman, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1839. He was the nephew of Edward Everett. The pastor of a church in Worcester, Mass. (1842–56),...

Nagin, Ray

(Encyclopedia)Nagin, Ray (Clarence Ray Nagin, Jr.), 1956–, African-American politician, b. New Orleans. A Louisiana cable-television executive before entering politics, Nagin won the 2002 mayoral election handily...

Lynch, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Lynch, Thomas, 1749–79, political figure in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, known as Thomas Lynch, Jr., b. Prince George Parish, S.C., studied Cambridge and law a...

Sutton, Willie

(Encyclopedia)Sutton, Willie (William Francis Sutton, Jr.), 1901–80, American bank robber, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Sutton, who committed his first serious crime at age 9, robbed his first bank in 1927, and he claimed h...

Sunday, Billy

(Encyclopedia)Sunday, Billy (William Ashley Sunday), 1863–1935, American evangelist, b. Ames, Iowa, in the era around World War I. A professional baseball player (1883–90), he later worked for the Young Men's C...

pion

(Encyclopedia)pion pīˈŏn [key] or pi meson, lightest of the meson family of elementary particles. The existence of the pion was predicted in 1935 by Hideki Yukawa, who theorized that it was responsible for the f...

Chaplin, Charlie

(Encyclopedia)Chaplin, Charlie (Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin), 1889–1977, English film actor, director, producer, writer, and composer, b. London. Chaplin began on the music-hall stage and then joined a pantomime ...