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Black River (river, Arkansas and Missouri, United States)
river in southeastern Missouri and eastern Arkansas, U.S., rising in the Ozark Mountains in Reynolds county, Mo. It flows southeasterly to Poplar Bluff, Mo., and then continues southwest to enter the White River near Newport, Ark., after a course of 280 miles (450 km). Limited navigation is possible for shallow-draft vessel...
Black River (river, Arizona, United States)
tributary of the Gila River, east-central Arizona, U.S. The Salt River is formed at the confluence of the Black and White rivers on a plateau in eastern Gila county. It flows 200 miles (320 km) in a westerly direction and empties into the Gila River 15 miles (24 km) west-southwest of Phoenix. The Salt River and its main tributary, the Verde River, are part of the Colorado River drainage basin.......
Black River (river, Jamaica)
...because of their rapid descent from the mountains. The Rio Minho in central Jamaica is the longest river, flowing for some 58 miles (93 km) from the Dry Harbour Mountains to Carlisle Bay. The Black River in the west and the Rio Cobre near Kingston are each longer than 30 miles (50 km)....
Black Rock Canal (canal, New York, United States)
...Barge Canal at Tonawanda, New York. That canal, with a minimum depth of 12 feet (4 metres), connects with the Hudson River and has branches that connect with Lake Champlain and Lake Ontario. The Black Rock Canal, from Buffalo Harbor to a point a few miles down the Niagara River, extends the navigation period locally through a greater part of the winter, when the river itself becomes jammed......
Black Rock Desert (region, Nevada, United States)
arid region of lava beds and alkali flats composing part of the Basin and Range Province and lying in Humboldt and Pershing counties of northwestern Nevada, U.S. With an area of about 1,000 square miles (2,600 square km), the desert is 70 miles (110 km) long and up to 20 miles (32 km) wid...
Black Rod (English official)
an office of the British House of Lords (the upper house in Parliament), instituted in 1350. Its holder is appointed by royal letters patent, and his title is derived from his staff of office, an ebony stick surmounted with a gold lion. He is a personal attendant of the sovereign in the upper house and the...
black root rot (plant disease)
The beet plant is subject to many diseases and insect pests. Black root rot, a fungus disease characterized by lesions in the stem near the soil surface, and cercospora leaf spot, a fungus infection in which the leaves become greenish yellow and root weight and sugar content are reduced, are most serious and can cause great damage if not controlled. Precautions must also be taken against......
Black Russian terrier (breed of dog)
The beet plant is subject to many diseases and insect pests. Black root rot, a fungus disease characterized by lesions in the stem near the soil surface, and cercospora leaf spot, a fungus infection in which the leaves become greenish yellow and root weight and sugar content are reduced, are most serious and can cause great damage if not controlled. Precautions must also be taken against......
black rust (plant disease)
In the fungus group known as rust, the chief damage is caused by black rust (Puccinia graminis). Because this fungus spends part of its life on cereals and part on the barberry bush, these bushes are often eradicated near wheat fields as a preventive measure. Black rust causes cereal plants to lose their green colour and turn yellow. The grain produced is small, shrivelled, and......
Black Sabbath (British rock group)
British band whose bludgeoning brand of rock defined the term heavy metal in the 1970s. The principal members were Ozzy Osbourne (byname of John Osbourne; b. Dec. 3, 1948Birmingham, Warwickshire, Eng.), Terry (“Geezer...
black sand (mineral)
accumulation of fragments of durable heavy minerals (those with a density greater than that of quartz), usually of a dark colour. These accumulations are found in streambeds or on beaches where stream and wave energy was sufficient to carry away low-density material but not the heavy minerals. Thus, heavy minerals resistant to weathering and abrasion concentrate in these areas, though they may be...
black sapote (plant)
accumulation of fragments of durable heavy minerals (those with a density greater than that of quartz), usually of a dark colour. These accumulations are found in streambeds or on beaches where stream and wave energy was sufficient to carry away low-density material but not the heavy minerals. Thus, heavy minerals resistant to weathering and abrasion concentrate in these areas, though they may be...
black scoter (bird)
...scoter (M. deglandi, or fusca) is nearly circumpolar in distribution north of the Equator, as is the black, or common, scoter (M., or sometimes Oidemia, nigra). The black scoter is the least abundant in the New World. All three species of scoter feed mainly on marine animals such as clams; only about 10 percent of their diet is plant material. The three species......
Black Sea (sea, Eurasia)
large inland sea situated at the southeastern extremity of Europe. It is bordered by Ukraine to the north, Russia to the northeast, Georgia to the east, Turkey to the south, and Bulgaria and Romania to the west....
black sea bass (fish)
Among the many serranid sea basses valued for food and sport are grouper; the black sea bass (Centropristis striata), a gray, brownish, or blackish species of the western Atlantic; and the graysby (Petrometopon cruentatus), of tropical western Atlantic waters....
Black Sea Fleet (Russian navy)
The dispute between Russia and Ukraine over control of the Black Sea Fleet and Sevastopol, the Crimean port city where the fleet was based, was particularly acrimonious. Early in 1992 Ukraine laid claim to the entire fleet, which had been an important naval asset of the Soviet Union. Russia responded unequivocally that the fleet always had been and would remain Russia’s. A “war of......
Black Sea Lowland (region, Ukraine)
...less dense there, and the rivers carry comparatively less water. The principal tributaries of the middle Dnieper are the Ros, Sula, Pesl, Vorskla, and Samara. The lower Dnieper basin lies within the Black Sea Lowland, in the black-soil steppe area, which has now been completely plowed up. The grassy steppe vegetation has been preserved only in the nature reserves and preserves and in old ravine...
Black Sea Nature Reserve (nature reserve, Ukraine)
...successful program of breeding endangered species; ostriches also have been successfully introduced. The separate sections of the Ukrainian Steppe Reserve also preserve various types of steppe. The Black Sea Nature Reserve shelters many species of waterfowl and is the only Ukrainian breeding ground of the Mediterranean gull (Larus melanocephalus). Also located on......
Black Sea turbot (fish)
Several other flatfish are also called turbot. Among them are the Black Sea turbot (Scophthalmus maeoticus), a relative of the European species, and certain right-sided, Pacific Ocean flatfish of the genus Pleuronichthys and the family Pleuronectidae....
Black September (political organization, Palestine)
...fighters out of Jordan and into Lebanon, and in July 1971 Jordanian authorities killed a respected Fatah leader, Abū ʿAlī ʿIyād. An extremist militant corps of Fatah called Black September (Aylūl Aswad) subsequently emerged, first proclaimed in November 1971. It drew its first international notoriety in September 1972 when some of its members murdered 1...
Black September (Jordanian history)
...PLO’s legislature. In 1970 fighting broke out in Jordan after King Ḥussein, fearing a loss of power to the PLO, authorized his army to expel the organization (a confrontation known as “Black September”). The PLO was defeated, and Ḥammāmī moved to Beirut, Lebanon, where he remained involved in Palestinian politics, envisaging compromise with Israe...
black Seto (Japanese pottery)
Japanese ceramic ware created at Mino during 1573–96. A black ware, it stands in contrast to the contemporary pure-white Shino ware. Seto-guro (“black Seto”) was produced by a process that involved firing the iron-glaze ware in an oxidizing kiln from which it was suddenly removed and immediately cooled....
black shale (rock)
variety of shale that contains abundant organic matter, pyrite, and sometimes carbonate nodules or layers and, in some locations, concentrations of copper, nickel, uranium, and vanadium. Fossils are rare in the shale and either are replaced by pyrite or are preserved as a film of graphite. Black shales occur in thin beds in many areas at various depths. They were deposited under anaerobic conditio...
black shark (fish)
either of two Asian species of river fishes. See labeo....
Black Sheep (Turkmen tribal federation)
Turkmen tribal federation that ruled Azerbaijan and Iraq from about 1375 to 1468....
Black Sheep Squadron (United States military unit)
...General Claire L. Chennault’s American Volunteer Group, the Flying Tigers, in China. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he rejoined the Marines in 1942 and organized Squadron 214, called the Black Sheep Squadron, one of the most renowned fighting units of the war, operating mostly in the Solomon Islands. On his last mission, on January 3, 1944, he shot down three Japanese aircraf...
Black Ship to Hell (work by Brophy)
The two great influences on Brophy’s work were Sigmund Freud and George Bernard Shaw, whom she called the “two mainstays of the 20th century.” Her nonfiction treatise Black Ship to Hell (1962), which examines human destructive and self-destructive instincts, owes much to her study of psychoanalysis. Flesh (1962), In Transit (1969), Pussy Owl: Superbeast...
Black Ships, The (Japanese opera)
...a strong interest in the founding of opera companies and symphony orchestras, as well as in the teaching of Western music. His opera, Kurobune (1940; The Black Ships), deals with the opening of Japan to the West and reflects his knowledge of Wagnerian style. Attempts at nationalistic operas can be represented better by the work ......
Black, Shirley Temple (United States diplomat and actress)
internationally popular American child star of the 1930s, who was Hollywood’s greatest box-office attraction at the age of seven in sentimental musicals....
Black, Sir James (Scottish pharmacologist)
Scottish pharmacologist who (along with George H. Hitchings and Gertrude B. Elion) received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1988 for his development of two important drugs, propranolol and cimetidine....
Black, Sir James Whyte (Scottish pharmacologist)
Scottish pharmacologist who (along with George H. Hitchings and Gertrude B. Elion) received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1988 for his development of two important drugs, propranolol and cimetidine....
black skimmer (bird)
...in warm regions. The three species are dark above and white below, with white face and forehead. The short legs and the bill are red, and the long narrow wings are black. The largest skimmer is the black skimmer (Rynchops nigra; see photograph) of America, which grows to 50 cm (20 inches) long. The African skimmer (R. flavirostris) and the Indian skimmer.....
“Black Slaves” (work by Ortiz)
...life and started him in a new career. In 1906 he published Los negros brujos (“Black Sorcerers”), his first book on the subject, and in 1916 Los negros esclavos (“Black Slaves”), in which he studies Cuban blacks according to the region of Africa from which they came. His Un catauro de cubanismos...
black snake (reptile)
any of about a dozen species of snakes that are all black or nearly so. Australia has two species of black snakes, Pseudechis porphyriacus and P. guttatus. P. porphyriacus is a small-headed member of the cobra family, Elapidae. It is blue-black with a red belly, and its average le...
black snakeroot (herb)
In North America the American bugbane, or summer cohosh (C. americana), about 120 cm (4 feet) tall, and the black cohosh, or black snakeroot (C. racemosa; see photograph), about 180 cm (5.91 feet) tall, have roots that have been used medicinally. C. foetida, native to Europe and Siberia, is used medicinally by the Chinese. These species are......
black snub-nosed monkey (primate)
...of the day in the hot springs that bubble out and form pools in volcanic areas. Finally, two western Chinese species of snub-nosed monkey, the golden (Rhinopithecus roxellana) and black (R. bieti), are confined to high altitudes (up to 3,000 metres in the case of the former and to 4,500 metres in the latter), where the temperature drops below 0 °C (32 °F) every night...
black soil (soil)
Among the in situ soils are the red-to-yellow (including laterite) and black soils known locally as regur. After these the alluvial soil is the third most common type. Also significant are the desert soils of Rajasthan, the saline soils in Gujarat, southern Rajasthan, and some coastal areas, and the mountain soils of the Himalayas. The type of soil is......
“Black Sorcerers” (work by Ortiz)
...him to research their urban subculture and eventually their religious beliefs and practices. The experience changed his life and started him in a new career. In 1906 he published Los negros brujos (“Black Sorcerers”), his first book on the subject, and in 1916 Los negros esclavos (“Black Slaves”), in which he studies....
Black Sox Scandal (American history)
American baseball scandal centring on the charge that eight members of the Chicago White Sox had been bribed to lose the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The accused players were pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude (“Lefty”) Williams, first baseman...
black spider monkey (primate)
American baseball scandal centring on the charge that eight members of the Chicago White Sox had been bribed to lose the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The accused players were pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude (“Lefty”) Williams, first baseman...
black spot (disease)
common disease of several plants that is caused by species of Pseudomonas bacteria or by many fungus species in the genera Asterina, Asterinella, Asteroma, Diplotheca, Glomerella, Gnomonia, Microthyriella, Placosphaeria, and Stigmea. Infections occur during damp periods and appear as round to irregular black leaf spots, sometimes on petiol...
black spruce (plant)
...of the moss a true bog is formed and various heaths invade the mat, especially Chamaedaphne. With continued thickening, trees may begin to grow, the first usually being larch (Larix). Black spruce may invade in the last stages of bog development. From a distance it may be difficult to detect the original boundary between the upland and the now filled lake....
Black Star Line (American company)
...they were economically strong, and he preached an independent black economy within the framework of white capitalism. To forward these ends, he established the Negro Factories Corporation and the Black Star Line (1919), as well as a chain of restaurants and grocery stores, laundries, a hotel, and a printing press....
black state (historical territory, South Africa)
any of 10 former territories that were designated by the white-dominated government of South Africa as pseudo-national homelands for the country’s black African (classified by the government as Bantu) population during the mid- to late 20th century. The Bantustans were a major administrative device for the exclusion of blacks from the South African ...
black stem rust (plant disease)
In the fungus group known as rust, the chief damage is caused by black rust (Puccinia graminis). Because this fungus spends part of its life on cereals and part on the barberry bush, these bushes are often eradicated near wheat fields as a preventive measure. Black rust causes cereal plants to lose their green colour and turn yellow. The grain produced is small, shrivelled, and......
Black Stone of Mecca (Islam)
Muslim object of veneration, built into the eastern wall of the Kaʿbah (small shrine within the Great Mosque of Mecca) and probably dating from the pre-Islamic religion of the Arabs. It now consists of three large pieces and some fragments, surrounded by a stone ring and held together with a silver band. According to popular Islamic leg...
black stork (bird)
The black stork (Ciconia nigra) of Europe, Asia, and Africa is about 100 cm tall, black with a white spot on the belly and a red bill and red legs....
Black Sun Press (French publishing house)
American poet who, as an expatriate in Paris in the 1920s, established the Black Sun Press....
Black Sunlight (work by Dambudzo)
...of Hunger, his name for his country. Despite critical and popular recognition brought by the publication of his book, Marechera remained disruptive and confrontational. In 1980 his novel Black Sunlight was published; less acclaimed than his first work, it is an explosive and chaotic stream-of-consciousness account of a photojournalist’s involvement with a revolutionary......
black swan (bird)
...of Hunger, his name for his country. Despite critical and popular recognition brought by the publication of his book, Marechera remained disruptive and confrontational. In 1980 his novel Black Sunlight was published; less acclaimed than his first work, it is an explosive and chaotic stream-of-consciousness account of a photojournalist’s involvement with a revolutionary........
Black Swan (film by Aronofsky [2010])
...collaborated with Rodarte’s design duo Kate and Laura Mulleavy to produce ballet costumes for a production of Swan Lake that dramatically concluded Darren Aronofsky’s dark thriller Black Swan....
Black Swan (American company)
...was a full-time musician, and he began working for W.C. Handy’s music publishing company as a song plugger (i.e., promoting songs to performers). In 1921 he took a position as musical factotum for Black Swan records, the first black-owned recording company, for which he organized small bands to provide backing for such singers as Ethel Waters. He played piano for leading black singers on...
Black Swan Green (work by Mitchell)
...Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J.D. Salinger, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985) by Jeanette Winterson, and Black Swan Green (2006) by David Mitchell....
Black Swan, The (work by Mann)
The composition of the novel was fully documented by Mann in 1949 in The Genesis of a Novel. Doktor Faustus exhausted him as no other work of his had done, and The Holy Sinner and The Black Swan, published in 1951 and 1953, respectively, show a relaxation of intensity in spite of their accomplished, even virtuoso style. Mann rounded off his imaginative work in 1954 with......
Black Swan, The (film by King [1942])
...the travails of a family of Welsh miners—that O’Hara was able to showcase her talent for evincing hard-headed women. In 1942 she appeared in the pirate adventure The Black Swan. Her tough demeanour, combined with her athleticism and willingness to do her own stunts, led to her casting in a series of further swashbucklers. As a result, she was dubbed......
Black Tai (people)
...spoken by the Lao of Vientiane, a Lao Loum group, bears closer resemblance to that spoken by the Thai across the river than to languages spoken by some other Lao Loum peoples such as the Tai Dam (Black Tai; so named for their black clothing) in the northeast. Beyond the government’s three Lao groupings are communities of Chinese and Vietnamese, both of which are concentrated primarily in...
Black Tai language (language)
...spoken by the Lao of Vientiane, a Lao Loum group, bears closer resemblance to that spoken by the Thai across the river than to languages spoken by some other Lao Loum peoples such as the Tai Dam (Black Tai; so named for their black clothing) in the northeast. Beyond the government’s three Lao groupings are communities of Chinese and Vietnamese, both of which are concentrated primarily in...
black tea
Black tea...
black tern (bird)
The most typical terns are the approximately 30 species of the genus Sterna, with forked tail, black cap or crest, and pale body. The black tern, S. nigra (sometimes Chlidonias niger), about 25 cm (10 inches) long, with a black head and underparts (white below in winter) and gray wings and back, breeds in temperate Eurasia and North America and winters in tropical Africa......
black tetra (fish)
The black tetra (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi), also called blackamoor, or petticoat fish, is a deep-bodied fish that is 4–7.5 cm (1.5–3 inches) long. When small, it is marked with black on its hind parts and dorsal and anal fins; the black fades to gray as the fish increases in size....
black theatre (American theatre)
in the United States, dramatic movement encompassing plays written by, for, and about African Americans....
Black Thunder (novel by Bontemps)
historical novel by Arna Bontemps, published in 1936. One of Bontemps’s most popular works, this tale of a doomed early 19th-century slave revolt in Virginia was noted for its detailed portrait of a slave community and its skillful use of dialect. Although it was virtually unnoticed when it was firs...
Black Thursday (American history)
...future earnings. As a result, when a variety of minor events led to gradual price declines in October 1929, investors lost confidence and the stock market bubble burst. Panic selling began on “Black Thursday,” October 24, 1929. Many stocks had been purchased on margin—that is, using loans secured by only a small fraction of the stocks’ value. As a result, the price d...
Black Tiger, the (Egyptian actor)
Egyptian actor (b. Nov. 18, 1949, Zaqaziq, Egypt—d. March 27, 2005, Cairo, Egypt), broke the unspoken colour barrier in Egyptian cinema as the first dark-skinned actor to play leading roles. Zaki was best known for his portrayals of historical figures, notably former presidents Gamal Adbel Nasser and Anwar el-Sadat, Modernist writer Taha Hussein, and—in his last, unfinished, film...
Black Tigers (guerilla unit)
...bank of Colombo that killed 100 people; and a July 2001 attack on Colombo’s international airport that destroyed half of the country’s commercial airliners. An elite unit of the LTTE, the “Black Tigers,” was responsible for carrying out suicide attacks. If faced with unavoidable capture by Sri Lankan authorities, Black Tigers purportedly committed suicide by swallowi...
black titi (plant)
(Cliftonia monophylla), evergreen shrub or small tree of the family Cyrillaceae, native to southern North America. It grows to about 15 m (50 feet) tall and has oblong or lance-shaped leaves about 4–5 cm (1.5–2 inches) long. Its fr...
Black Tuesday (American history)
The panic began again on Black Monday (October 28), with the market closing down 12.8 percent. On Black Tuesday (October 29) more than 16 million shares were traded. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost another 12 percent and closed at 198—a drop of 183 points in less than two months. Prime securities tumbled like the issues of bogus gold mines. General Electric fell from 396 on......
black tupelo (tree)
Most widely distributed tupelo, Nyssa sylvatica, also known as black tupelo or pepperidge tree. It is found in moist areas of the eastern U.S. from Maine south to the Gulf Coast and westward to Oklahoma. Its wood is li...
black turnstone (bird)
The black turnstone (A. melanocephala), which breeds in Arctic Alaska and winters as far south as Mexico, has a black and white wing pattern but is otherwise dark....
Black Unicorn, The (poetry by Lorde)
Coal (1976), a compilation of earlier works, was Lorde’s first release by a major publisher, and it earned critical notice. Most critics consider The Black Unicorn (1978) to be her finest poetic work. In it she turned from the urban themes of her early work, looking instead to Africa, and wrote on her role as mother and daughter, using rich imagery and mythology....
black varnish (varnish)
any of a class of oil varnishes in which bitumen (a mixture of asphaltlike hydrocarbons) replaces the natural gums or resins used as hardeners in clear varnish. Black varnish is widely used as a protective coating for interior and exterior ironwork such as pipework, tanks, stoves, roofing, and marine accessories. The bitumen forms a protective barrier against atmospheric corrosi...
Black Virgin (religious statue)
...city. It developed around the Benedictine abbey, founded in 934. The abbey became a principality of the Holy Roman Empire in 1274 and belonged to Schwyz after 1386. Its wooden statue, the “Black Virgin” (which owes its name to the discoloration caused by the candles burned before it through the centuries), became a sacred object of European pilgrims from the 14th century.......
Black Volta River (river, Africa)
river in Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta), Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), headstream of the Volta River in ...
black vulture (Coragyps atratus)
In addition to the California and Andean condors, other notable New World vultures include the black vulture (Coragyps atratus), a New World vulture sometimes called a black buzzard or, inappropriately, a carrion crow. The black vulture, the most abundant vulture species of all, is a resident of the tropics and subtropics that often wanders far into temperate regions. It is a chunky......
black vulture (bird)
The cinereous vulture, sometimes called the black vulture (Aegypius monachus), is one of the largest flying birds. It is about 1 metre (3.3 feet) long and 12.5 kg (27.5 pounds) in weight, with a wingspan of about 2.7 metres (8.9 feet). Entirely black with very broad wings and a short, slightly wedge-shaped tail, it ranges through southern Europe, Asia Minor, and the central steppes and......
black walnut (tree)
(Juglans nigra), tall tree, native to eastern North America, valued for its decorative wood. See walnut....
Black War (Australian history)
(1804–30), term applied to hostilities between Aborigines and white European soldiers and settlers on the Australian island of Tasmania (then called Van Diemen’s Land), which resulted in the virtual extermination of the original Aboriginal population of the island. Armed conflict began in May 1804, when a military detachment op...
Black Warrior River (river, Alabama, United States)
river in western Alabama, U.S. It is formed by the Locust and Mulberry forks about 20 miles (30 km) west of Birmingham and flows about 180 miles (290 km) southwest to join the Tombigbee River near Demopolis. The river is navigable, and with the Tombigbee it forms a link in the ...
black water stream (hydrology)
The streams that rise in the ancient crystalline highlands are classified as either blackwater (Jari, Negro, and Tocantins-Araguaia) or clearwater (Trombetas, Xingu, and Tapajós). The blackwater tributaries have higher levels of humic acids (which cause their dark colour) and originate in nutrient-poor, often sandy uplands, so they carry little or no silt or dissolved solids. Clearwater......
Black Week (South African history)
...Mafeking (Mafikeng), and Kimberley. Particularly of note among Boer victories in this period are those that occurred at Magersfontein, Colesberg, and Stormberg, during what became known as Black Week (Dec. 10–15, 1899)....
Black Widow (aircraft)
...Two years later Northrop reestablished his company as Northrop Aircraft, Inc., which he directed until his retirement in 1952. During World War II he developed the radar-equipped, twin-engine P-61 Black Widow, the first American aircraft specifically designed as a night interceptor, and also subcontracted with other aircraft manufacturers in order to finance his experimental flying-wing......
black widow (spider)
any of several species of black spiders distinguished by an hourglass-shaped marking on the abdomen. Black widows, especially L. mactans, are found throughout much of the world. The bite of the black widow often produces muscle pain, nausea, and mild paralysis of the diaphragm, which makes breathing difficult. Most victims recover without serious com...
black wildebeest (mammal)
...antelope. In some species, such as the dik-dik (Madoqua), individuals are solitary and cryptic; however, during mating season, they form conspicuous monogamous pairs. Others, such as the black wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), form enormous herds. During the breeding season, only a few males control sexual access to a group of females in a polygynous mating system. When......
black willow (plant)
Three of the largest willows are black (S. nigra), crack, or brittle (S. fragilis), and white (S. alba), all reaching 20 metres (65 feet) or more; the first named is North American, the other two Eurasian but naturalized widely. All are common in lowland situations....
Black, Winifred Sweet (American journalist)
American reporter whose sensationalist exposés and journalistic derring-do reflected the spirit of the age of yellow journalism....
Black Woman, The (painting by Tarsila)
...Gleizes. She was accompanied on this trip by poet Oswald de Andrade, whom she would eventually marry. In Paris she turned to Brazilian culture for artistic inspiration, painting The Black Woman (1923), a flattened, stylized, and exaggerated portrait of a nude Afro-Brazilian woman against a geometric background. The painting marks the beginning of her synthesis of......
Black Woman, The: An Anthology (work by Bambara)
...women were as much the oppressor as white men. “How relevant are the truths, the experiences, the findings of White women to Black women?” asked Toni Cade Bambara in The Black Woman: An Anthology (1970). “I don’t know that our priorities are the same, that our concerns and methods are the same.” As far back as Sojourner Truth, black fe...
Black Women’s Health Imperative (American organization)
...an alternative birthing centre, also in Gainesville. The self-help groups she initiated served as models throughout the nation and worldwide, and they paved the way for her founding in 1983 of the National Black Women’s Health Project (NBWHP; since 2003 the Black Women’s Health Imperative). That year the NBWHP held its first national conference at Spelman College in Atlanta. As ex...
black woodpecker (bird)
Dryocopus includes two well-known species: the black woodpecker (D. martius), which is some 46 cm (18 inches) long and is found in coniferous and beech woodlands of temperate Eurasia, and the pileated woodpecker (D. pileatus), which is some 40–47 cm (15.5–18.25 inches) in size and inhabits mature forests of much of temperate North......
black-and-tan setter (breed of dog)
breed of sporting dog dating from 17th-century Scotland, named for the duke of Gordon, whose kennels brought the breed to prominence. Like the other setters, its function is to search for game and indicate its presence to the hunter. The Gordon setter stands 23 to 27 inches (58 to 69 cm) and weighs 45 to 80 pounds (20 to 36 kg). Its soft, wavy coat is black with tan on the head,...
black-and-tan terrier (breed of dog)
breed of dog developed in England from the whippet, a racing dog, and the black-and-tan terrier, a valued ratter, to combine the talents of each. In 1860 the breed was named after the city of Manchester, a breeding centre, but it was often called the black-and-tan terrier until the 1920s. A sleek, shorthaired dog, the Manchester has a long, narrow head, small ...
black-and-white colobus (monkey)
breed of dog developed in England from the whippet, a racing dog, and the black-and-tan terrier, a valued ratter, to combine the talents of each. In 1860 the breed was named after the city of Manchester, a breeding centre, but it was often called the black-and-tan terrier until the 1920s. A sleek, shorthaired dog, the Manchester has a long, narrow head, small ...
black-and-white film (photography)
Black-and-white films...
black-and-white photography
...Brandt, Robert Capa, Martin Munkacsi, René Burri, and Harry Benson were among the better-known photographers to be the subject of retrospective exhibitions, proving the enduring appeal of black-and-white silver prints in an age in which the validity of colour was being held in question by the manipulative possibilities of image-editing programs such as Photoshop....
black-and-yellow argiope (spider)
...Brandt, Robert Capa, Martin Munkacsi, René Burri, and Harry Benson were among the better-known photographers to be the subject of retrospective exhibitions, proving the enduring appeal of black-and-white silver prints in an age in which the validity of colour was being held in question by the manipulative possibilities of image-editing programs such as Photoshop.......
black-and-yellow mangrove snake
...mammals, lizards, frogs, and other snakes, as well as the eggs of these animals. Breeding females of this genus lay between 3 and 15 eggs. One of the largest and most spectacular species is the black-and-yellow mangrove snake, or gold-ringed cat snake (B. dendrophila), a shiny black snake with a yellow crossbar pattern on its body. It ranges from the Malay......
black-backed bell-magpie (bird)
...mammals, lizards, frogs, and other snakes, as well as the eggs of these animals. Breeding females of this genus lay between 3 and 15 eggs. One of the largest and most spectacular species is the black-and-yellow mangrove snake, or gold-ringed cat snake (B. dendrophila), a shiny black snake with a yellow crossbar pattern on its body. It ranges from the Malay.........
black-backed courser (bird)
(Pluvianus aegyptius; see ), shorebird belonging to the family Glareolidae (order Charadriiformes). The crocodile bird is a plover-like courser that derives its name from its frequent association with the Nile crocodile, from whose hide it picks parasites for food. By their cries, the birds also serve to warn c...
black-backed jackal (mammal)
...reputation for cowardice. Three species are usually recognized: the golden, or Asiatic, jackal (C. aureus), found from eastern Europe and northeast Africa to Southeast Asia, and the black-backed (C. mesomelas) and side-striped (C. adustus) jackals of southern and eastern Africa. Jackals grow to a length of about 85–95 cm (34–37 inches), including the......
black-backed three-toed woodpecker (bird)
...make up the genus Picoides: the northern three-toe (P. tridactylus), which ranges across the subarctic Northern Hemisphere and south in some mountains, and the black-backed three-toe (P. arcticus), found across forested central Canada....