U.S. public official, diplomat, educatorBorn: 12/14/1829Birthplace: Louisa County, Va. Langston was the son of Ralph Quarles, a white plantation owner, and Jane Langston, a Black slave. After his…
The Ten Most Wanted List A history by David Johnson Alleged U.S. Embassy terrorist Osama bin Laden. (Source/FBI) Boston organized crime figure James J. 'Whitey' Bulger. (Source/FBI) Related…
(Encyclopedia) JajaJajajäˈjə [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…
(Encyclopedia) Fair Labor Standards Act or Wages and Hours Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1938 to establish minimum living standards for workers engaged directly or indirectly in interstate…
(Encyclopedia) Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, 1930, passed by the U.S. Congress; it brought the U.S. tariff to the highest protective level yet in the history of the United States. President Hoover desired…
(Encyclopedia) Freedom of Information Act (1966), law requiring that U.S. government agencies release their records to the public on request, unless the information sought falls into a category…
(Encyclopedia) Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, officially the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, U.S. budget deficit reduction measure. The law provided for automatic spending cuts…
(Encyclopedia) Americans with Disabilities Act, U.S. civil-rights law, enacted 1990, that forbids discrimination of various sorts against persons with physical or mental handicaps. Its primary…
(Encyclopedia) Embargo Act of 1807, passed Dec. 22, 1807, by the U.S. Congress in answer to the British orders in council restricting neutral shipping and to Napoleon's restrictive Continental System…
(Encyclopedia) National Defense Education Act (NDEA), federal legislation passed in 1958 providing aid to education in the United States at all levels, public and private. NDEA was instituted…
