black letter or Gothic script or Old English script Style of alpha¬ bet used in handwriting throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. It features uniform vertical strokes that end on the baseline, angular lines instead of smooth curves and circles, and the overlapping of convex forms. Black letter and roman were the dominant letter shapes of medieval typography. The only extant work known to have been printed by Johannes Gutenberg, the 42-line Bible (1450s), was set in black-letter type. Roman type largely superseded it in the Renaissance, though black letter persisted in Germany well into the 20th century. Today black letter is often used for diplomas, Christmas cards, and liturgical writings.
black market Trading in violation of publicly imposed regulations such as rationing laws, laws against the sale of certain goods, and official rates of exchange among currencies. Black-market activity is common in wartime, when scarce goods and services are often strictly rationed (see rationing). Black-market foreign-exchange transactions flourish in coun¬ tries where convertible foreign currency is scarce and foreign exchange is tightly controlled.
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228 I Black Muslims ► blackbird
Black Muslims See Nation of Islam
black nationalism U.S. political and social movement aimed at developing economic power and community and ethnic pride among Afri¬ can Americans. It was proclaimed by Marcus Garvey in the early 20th century, when many U.S. black nationalists hoped for the eventual cre¬ ation of a separate black nation in Africa. In the 1960s and ’70s, Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X preached the ideal of black nationalism as an alternative to assimilation into the predominantly white culture of the U.S.
Black Panther Party (for Self-Defense) U.S. African American revolutionary party founded in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale (b. 1936) in Oakland, Calif. Its original purpose was to protect African Americans from acts of police brutality. Eventually the Panthers devel¬ oped into a Marxist revolutionary group that called for the arming of African Americans, their exemption from the draft, the release of all Afri¬ can American prisoners, and payment of compensation to African Ameri¬ cans for centuries of exploitation by white Americans. By the late 1960s it had more than 2,000 members, with chapters in several major cities; an early spokesman was Eldridge Cleaver (1935-98). Conflicts with police in the late 1960s and early ’70s led to shoot-outs in California, New York, and Chicago, one of which resulted in Newton’s imprisonment for the murder of a police officer. Though some members of the party were guilty of criminal acts, the entire group was subjected to violent attacks by police and harassment by other government agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Police activities in dealing with the Panthers were later the subject of congressional investigations. By the mid-1970s, hav¬ ing lost many members and having fallen out of favour with African American leaders, the party turned to providing social services in Afri¬ can American neighbourhoods. By the early 1980s it had effectively dis¬ banded.
black pepper or pepper Perennial, woody climbing vine ( Piper nigrum ) of the family Piperaceae, native to India; also, the hotly pungent spice made from its berries. One of the earliest spices known, pepper is probably the most widely used spice in the world today. It early became an important article of overland trade between India and Europe. The plant is cultivated throughout Indonesia and has been introduced into tropical areas elsewhere. It has broad, shiny leaves and dense, slender spikes of small flowers. The small berrylike fruits are called peppercorns. See also PEPPER.
black sand Accumulation of fragments of durable, usually dark, heavy minerals (those with a density greater than that of quartz). These accu¬ mulations are found in streambeds or on beaches where stream flow and wave energy are sufficient to carry away low-density material but not the heavy minerals. Thus, heavy minerals resistant to weathering and abra¬ sion concentrate in these areas, though they may be only minor constitu¬ ents of inland rocks. Placer mining of such deposits yields magnetite, cassiterite, and zircon, as well as gold, platinum, and other rare metals.
Black Sea Sea between Europe and Asia. Bordered by Ukraine, Rus¬ sia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania, it has a maximum depth of 7,250 ft (2,210 m). The Black Sea proper has an area of 163,000 sq mi (422,000 sq km). It is connected with the Aegean Sea through the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, and with the Sea of Azov by Kerch Strait. It receives many rivers, including the Danube, Dni¬ ester, Bug, Dnieper, Kuban, Kizil, and Sakarya. The Crimean Peninsula (see Crimea) extends into it from the north. Created when structural upheavals in Asia Minor split off the Caspian basin from the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea gradually became isolated; salinity is now less than half that of the world’s oceans. Though long popular for its resorts, it has suffered severe pollution in recent decades.
black snake Any of several species of all-black or nearly all-black snakes. Australian black snakes are in the elapid genus Pseudeschis. The black snake of Australian wetlands (P. porphyriacus) grows to an aver¬ age length of 5 ft (1.5 m). If annoyed, it expands its neck, cobra fashion. Its venom is rarely fatal. Other Australian black snakes are the mulga snake (P. australis ) and the spotted black snake (P. guttatus). North Ameri¬ can black snakes include two species in the family Colubridae: the black racer and the pilot black snake ( Elaphe obsoleta).
Black Sox scandal U.S. 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. Five of those accused admitted to a grand jury that they had thrown the series, but their signed confessions
later disappeared. Although all eight players were acquitted in 1921, com¬ missioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned them from playing for life.
Black Stone of Mecca Muslim object of veneration, built into the eastern wall of the Kaaba and probably predating Islam. It consists of three large pieces of stone and some fragments, surrounded by a stone ring and held together with a silver band. According to legend, the stone was given to Adam on his fall from paradise and was originally white but has been made black by the sins of the thousands of pilgrims who have touched and kissed it.
black theatre In the U.S., a dramatic movement encompassing plays written by, for, and about blacks. The first known play by an American black was James Brown’s King Shotaway (1823). After the Civil War, blacks began to perform in minstrel shows, and musicals written, produced, and acted entirely by blacks appeared by c. 1900. The first real success of a black dramatist was Angelina W. Grimke’s Rachel (1916). Theatre flourished during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and ’30s, and by 1940 the American Negro Theater and the Negro Playwrights’ Co. were firmly established. After World War II black theatre grew more progres¬ sive and militant, seeking to establish its own mythology, abolish racial stereotypes, and integrate black playwrights into the mainstream. Its stron¬ gest proponent, Amiri Baraka, established the Black Arts Repertory The¬ atre in 1965. In the 1980s and ’90s the African American playwrights Charles Fuller and August Wilson won Pulitzer Prizes.
Black Warrior River Navigable river, western Alabama, U.S. Formed by the confluence of the Locust and Mulberry forks in Jefferson county, it flows southwest through coalfields to join the Tombigbee River near Demopolis. The river is 178 mi (286 km) long and furnishes waterpower above Tuscaloosa.
black widow Any of several black spiders in the genus Latrodectus with a venomous bite that is rarely fatal to humans. Black widow species are found worldwide, with three living in North America. In Australia it is called the redback. The females are shiny black, usually with a reddish hourglass-shaped design on the underside of the spherical abdomen and with a body about 1 in. (2.5 cm) long. The black widow preys on insects. The male, about one-fourth the female’s size, is often killed and eaten by the female after mating (the source of its name).