[...]... xxxii Comments and suggestions We welcome your comments on the U•X•L Encyclopedia of World Biography Please write: Editors, U•X•L Encyclopedia of World Biography, U•X•L, 27500 Drake Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48331-3535; call toll-free: 1-800-877-4253; fax to 248-699-8097; or send e-mail via www.gale.com U • X• L ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY a HANK AARON Born: February 5, 1934 Mobile, Alabama African... 10: 1821 U • X• L ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY reader’s guide U•X•L Encyclopedia of World Biography features 750 biographies of notable historic and contemporary figures from around the world Chosen from American history, world history, literature, science and math, arts and entertainment, and the social sciences, the entries focus on the people studied most often in middle school and high... developing the entry list Many thanks also go to the following people for their important editorial contri- U • X• L ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY x x x i butions: Taryn Benbow-Pfalzgraf (proofreading), Jodi Essey-Stapleton (copyediting and proofing), Margaret Haerens (proofreading), Courtney Mroch (copyediting), and Theresa Murray (copyediting and indexing) Special gratitude goes to Linda Mahoney... U • X• L ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY 1 AARON “because no one had told him not to,” according to one of his biographers Still, Aaron’s sensational hitting with the Clowns prompted a Boston Braves scout to purchase his contract in 1952 Assigned to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in the minor Northern League (where coaching corrected his batting style), Aaron batted 336 and won the league’s rookie of the year... hitting U • X• L ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY AARON produced a career total of 3,771 hits, again ranking him third all-time When Aaron recorded his three thousandth hit on May 7, 1970, he was the youngest player (at thirtysix) since Ty Cobb (1886–1961) to reach that milestone Aaron played in twenty-four AllStar games, tying a record His lifetime batting average was 305, and in two World Series he... through twelve pursue their dreams Later that month, Aaron was named to major league baseball’s All-Century Team, whose U • X• L ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY 3 A B E R N AT H Y members were chosen by fans and a panel of baseball experts In January 2002, Aaron was honored with one of the greatest tributes an athlete can receive: his picture appeared on a Wheaties cereal box For More Information Aaron,... served as minister at the Eastern Star Baptist church in Demopolis, Alabama, near his home town of Linden At age twenty-six U • X• L ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY A B E R N AT H Y Abernathy became a full-time minister at the First Baptist Church in Montgomery Martin Luther King Jr began preaching at another of Montgomery’s leading African American churches, Dexter Avenue Baptist, three years later During... attention Televised reports of the MIA’s activities inspired African American civil rights protesters all over the South U • X• L ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY 5 A B E R N AT H Y Nonviolent civil rights movement King and Abernathy’s work together in the MIA was the beginning of years of partnership and friendship between them Their friendship, as well as their joint efforts in the civil rights struggle,... François Duvalier 4: 640 Italian Fra Angelico 1: 71 U • X• L ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY x x v i i Lucrezia Borgia 2: 252 Sandro Botticelli 2: 257 Caligula 2: 338 Frank Capra 2: 357 Donatello 4: 619 Enrico Fermi 4: 707 Francis of Assisi 4: 729 Galileo 4: 750 Leonardo da Vinci ... Abernathy, one of twelve children, was born in Linden, Alabama, on 4 March 11, 1926 His father, William, the son of a slave, first supported his family as a sharecropper (a farmer who pays some of his crops as rent to the land’s owner) In time William Abernathy saved enough money to buy five hundred acres of his own and built a prosperous farm William Abernathy eventually emerged as one of the leading .