title: Oklahoma

text: The Legislature of Oklahoma consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. As the lawmaking branch of the state government, it is responsible for raising and distributing the money necessary to run the government. The Senate has 48 members serving four-year terms, while the House has 101 members with two-year terms. The state has a term limit for its legislature that restricts any one person to twelve cumulative years service between both legislative branches.


title: Oklahoma

text: Oklahoma's judicial branch consists of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, and 77 District Courts that each serve one county. The Oklahoma judiciary also contains two independent courts: a Court of Impeachment and the Oklahoma Court on the Judiciary. Oklahoma has two courts of last resort: the state Supreme Court hears civil cases, and the state Court of Criminal Appeals hears criminal cases (this split system exists only in Oklahoma and neighboring Texas). Judges of those two courts, as well as the Court of Civil Appeals are appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of the state Judicial Nominating Commission, and are subject to a non-partisan retention vote on a six-year rotating schedule.


title: Oklahoma

text: The executive branch consists of the Governor, their staff, and other elected officials. The principal head of government, the Governor is the chief executive of the Oklahoma executive branch, serving as the ex officio Commander-in-chief of the Oklahoma National Guard when not called into Federal use and reserving the power to veto bills passed through the Legislature. The responsibilities of the Executive branch include submitting the budget, ensuring state laws are enforced, and ensuring peace within the state is preserved.


title: Oklahoma

text: The state is divided into 77 counties that govern locally, each headed by a three-member council of elected commissioners, a tax assessor, clerk, court clerk, treasurer, and sheriff. While each municipality operates as a separate and independent local government with executive, legislative and judicial power, county governments maintain jurisdiction over both incorporated cities and non-incorporated areas within their boundaries, and have executive power but no legislative or judicial power. Both county and municipal governments collect taxes, employ a separate police force, hold elections, and operate emergency response services within their jurisdiction. Other local government units include school districts, technology center districts, community college districts, rural fire departments, rural water districts, and other special use districts.


title: Oklahoma

text: Thirty-nine Native American tribal governments are based in Oklahoma, each holding limited powers within designated areas. While Indian reservations are typical in most of the United States, they are not present in Oklahoma, tribal governments hold land granted during the Indian Territory era, but with limited jurisdiction and no control over state governing bodies such as municipalities and counties. Tribal governments are recognized by the United States as quasi-sovereign entities with executive, judicial, and legislative powers over tribal members and functions, but are subject to the authority of the United States Congress to revoke or withhold certain powers. The tribal governments are required to submit a constitution and any subsequent amendments to the United States Congress for approval.


title: Oklahoma

text: Oklahoma has 11 substate districts including the two large Councils of Governments, INCOG in Tulsa (Indian Nations Council of Governments) and ACOG (Association of Central Oklahoma Governments).


title: Oklahoma

text: During the first half-century of statehood, Oklahoma was considered a Democratic stronghold, being carried by the Republican Party in only two presidential elections (1920 and 1928). After the 1948 election, the state turned firmly Republican. Although registered Republicans were a minority in the state until 2015, Oklahoma has been carried by Republican presidential candidates in all but one election since 1952: Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 landslide victory. Every single county in the state has been won by the Republican candidate in each election since 2004. Oklahoma City was the largest city in the United States carried by Republican Donald Trump in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.


title: Oklahoma

text: Generally, Republicans are strongest in the suburbs of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, as well as the Panhandle. Democrats are strongest in the eastern part of the state and Little Dixie, as well as the most heavily African American and inner parts of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. With a population of 8.6% Native American in the state, it is also worth noting that most Native American precincts vote Democratic in margins exceeded only by African Americans.


title: Oklahoma

text: Following the 2000 census, the Oklahoma delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives was reduced from six to five representatives, each serving one congressional district. In the current Congress, Republicans comprise Oklahoma's entire delegation.


title: Oklahoma

text: Oklahoma had 598 incorporated places in 2010, including four cities over 100,000 in population and 43 over 10,000. Two of the fifty largest cities in the United States are in Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and sixty-five percent of Oklahomans live within their metropolitan areas, or spheres of economic and social influence defined by the United States Census Bureau as a metropolitan statistical area. Oklahoma City, the state's capital and largest city, had the largest metropolitan area in the state in 2020, with 1,425,695 people, and the metropolitan area of Tulsa had 1,015,331 residents. Between 2000 and 2010, the leading cities in population growth were Blanchard (172.4%), Elgin (78.2%), Jenks (77.0%), Piedmont (56.7%), Bixby (56.6%), and Owasso (56.3%).


title: Oklahoma

text: In descending order of population, Oklahoma's largest cities in 2010 were: Oklahoma City (579,999, +14.6%), Tulsa (391,906, −0.3%), Norman (110,925, +15.9%), Broken Arrow (98,850, +32.0%), Lawton (96,867, +4.4%), Edmond (81,405, +19.2%), Moore (55,081, +33.9%), Midwest City (54,371, +0.5%), Enid (49,379, +5.0%), and Stillwater (45,688, +17.0%). Of the state's ten largest cities, three are outside the metropolitan areas of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and only Lawton has a metropolitan statistical area of its own as designated by the United States Census Bureau, though the metropolitan statistical area of Fort Smith, Arkansas extends into the state.


title: Oklahoma

text: Under Oklahoma law, municipalities are divided into two categories: cities, defined as having more than 1,000 residents, and towns, with under 1,000 residents. Both have legislative, judicial, and public power within their boundaries, but cities can choose between a mayor–council, council–manager, or strong mayor form of government, while towns operate through an elected officer system.


title: Oklahoma

text: State law codifies Oklahoma's state emblems and honorary positions; the Oklahoma Senate or House of Representatives may adopt resolutions designating others for special events and to benefit organizations. In 2012 the House passed HCR 1024, which would change the state motto from "Labor Omnia Vincit" to "Oklahoma—In God We Trust!" The author of the resolution stated a constituent researched the Oklahoma Constitution and found no "official" vote regarding "Labor Omnia Vincit", therefore opening the door for an entirely new motto.


title: Emma D'Arcy

text: Emma Zia D'Arcy (born 27 June 1992) is an English actor. They are known for their roles in the BBC drama "Wanderlust" (2018), the Amazon Prime series "Truth Seekers" (2020), and the HBO fantasy series "House of the Dragon" (2022–), the lattermost of which earned them critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award nomination.


title: Emma D'Arcy

text: D'Arcy was born in the North London Borough of Enfield. In year six, they played Titania in a school production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", which they credit for introducing them to acting. They studied Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Art through St Edmund Hall, Oxford, graduating in 2011. During their time at university, D'Arcy took up theatre on the side with their friends, beginning as a set designer before moving into acting and directing.


title: Emma D'Arcy

text: D'Arcy has appeared in several theatre productions, including "The Pillowman" at the Oxford Playhouse, "Romeo and Juliet" at the Southwark Playhouse, "The Games We Played" at Theatre503, "Callisto: A Queer Epic" at the Arcola Theatre, "Against" at the Almeida Theatre alongside Ben Whishaw, "A Girl in School Uniform (Walks into a Bar)" at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, "Mrs. Dalloway" at the Arcola Theatre, and "The Crucible" at The Yard Theatre.


title: Emma D'Arcy

text: D'Arcy made their television debut as Naomi Richards in Nick Payne's 2018 BBC One and Netflix series "Wanderlust". They starred as Astrid in the 2020 Amazon Prime Video series "Truth Seekers", a comedy horror series starring Nick Frost.


title: Emma D'Arcy

text: As of 2022, D'Arcy stars as Rhaenyra Targaryen in the HBO fantasy series "House of the Dragon", a "Game of Thrones" prequel and adaptation of George R. R. Martin's companion book "Fire and Blood". The series began production in April 2021, and its ten-episode first season debuted in August 2022.


title: Emma D'Arcy

text: D'Arcy appeared in the 2020 comedy-drama film "Misbehaviour" directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, and the 2021 romantic drama "Mothering Sunday", directed by Eva Husson. In 2022, D'Arcy joined the cast of "Anna", a film about the murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Awards, twelve NAACP Image Awards, and twelve "Billboard" Music Awards, including the "Billboard" Icon Award. She has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards, including one for her supporting role in the film "Mudbound" (2017) and another for its original song "Mighty River", becoming the first person nominated for acting and songwriting in the same year.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Her career began in 1988 when she was signed to Uptown Records by its founder Andre Harrell. Blige then began background vocal work for other artists on the label such as Father MC and Jeff Redd. In 1992, Blige released her debut album, "What's the 411?", which is credited for introducing the mix of R&B and hip hop into mainstream pop culture. Its 1993 remix album became the first album by a singer to have a rapper on every song, popularizing rap as a featuring act. Both "What's the 411?" and her 1994 album "My Life" are featured on the "Rolling Stone"s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, and the latter on "Time" magazine's All-Time 100 Albums. Throughout her career, Blige went on to release 14 studio albums, all of which have reached the top ten on the "Billboard" 200 chart, including four number-one albums. Her biggest hits include "Real Love", "Not Gon' Cry", "Be Without You" and the "Billboard" Hot 100 number-one single "Family Affair".


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige has also made a successful transition to both the television and movie screens, with supporting roles in films such as "Prison Song" (2001), "Rock of Ages" (2012), "Betty and Coretta" (2013), "Black Nativity" (2013), her Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated breakthrough performance as Florence Jackson in "Mudbound" (2017), "Trolls World Tour" (2020), "Body Cam" (2020), "The Violent Heart" (2021) and co-starring as jazz singer Dinah Washington in the Aretha Franklin biopic "Respect" (2021). In 2019, Blige starred as Cha-Cha on the first season of the Netflix television series "The Umbrella Academy". She currently stars as Monet Tejada in the spin-off of the highly rated TV drama "Power" in "".


title: Mary J. Blige

text: She received a Legends Award at the World Music Awards in 2006, and the Voice of Music Award from ASCAP in 2007." Billboard" ranked Blige as the most successful female R&B/Hip-Hop artist of the past 25 years. In 2017, "Billboard" magazine named her 2006 song "Be Without You" as the most successful R&B/Hip-Hop song of all time, as it spent an unparalleled 15 weeks atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and over 75 weeks on the chart. In 2011, VH1 ranked Blige as the 80th greatest artist of all time. In 2012, VH1 ranked Blige at number 9 in "The 100 Greatest Women in Music" list. Blige became a first-time nominee for the 2021 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2022, Blige was awarded with the Icon Award at the Billboard Music Awards.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige was born January 11, 1971, in Fordham Hospital in the borough of the Bronx, New York City. She was born to mother Cora, a nurse, and father Thomas Blige, a jazz musician. She is the second of four children. She has an elder sister, LaTonya Blige-DaCosta, a younger half-brother, Bruce Miller, and a younger half-sister, Jonquell, both from a later relationship Blige's mother had with another man after divorcing her first husband.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: She spent her early childhood in Richmond Hill, Georgia, where she sang in a Pentecostal church. She and her family later moved back to New York and resided in the Schlobohm Housing Projects, located in Yonkers.<ref name="http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/mary-j-blige"></ref> The family subsisted on her mother's earnings as a nurse after her father left the family in the mid-1970s. Her father was a Vietnam War veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: At the age of five, she was molested by a family friend, and as a teenager she endured years of sexual harassment from her peers. She would eventually turn to alcohol, drugs and promiscuous sex to try and numb the pain. Blige dropped out of high school in her junior year.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Pursuing a musical career, Blige spent a short time in a Yonkers band named "Pride" with band drummer Eddie D'Aprile. In early 1988, she recorded an impromptu cover of Anita Baker's "Caught Up in the Rapture" at a recording booth in the Galleria Mall in White Plains, New York. Her mother's boyfriend at the time later played the cassette for Jeff Redd, a recording artist and A&R runner for Uptown Records. Redd sent it to the president and CEO of the label, Andre Harrell. Harrell met with Blige and in 1989 she was signed to the label as a backup vocalist for artists such as Father MC, becoming the company's youngest and first female artist.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: After being signed to Uptown, Blige began working with record producer Sean Combs, also known as Puff Daddy. He became the executive producer and produced a majority of her first album. The title "What's the 411?" was an indication by Blige of being the "real deal". "What's the 411?" nevertheless established Blige as a dynamic storyteller whose performances of love narrative drew upon both her musical influences and her lived experiences as a hip-hop-generation woman. The music was described as "revelatory on a frequent basis". Blige was noted for having a "tough girl persona and streetwise lyrics".


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On July 28, 1992, Uptown/MCA Records released "What's the 411?", to positive reviews from critics. "What's the 411?" peaked at number six on the "Billboard" 200 and topped the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It also peaked at number 53 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified three times Platinum by the RIAA. According to "Entertainment Weekly"s Dave DiMartino, with the record's commercial success and Blige's "powerful, soulful voice and hip-hop attitude", she "solidly connected with an audience that has never seen a woman do new jack swing but loves it just the same". According to Dave McAleer, Blige became the most successful new female R&B artist of 1992 in the United States.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: "What's the 411?" earned her two Soul Train Music Awards in 1993: Best New R&B Artist and Best R&B Album, Female. It was also voted the year's 30th best album in the Pazz & Jop—an annual poll of American critics nationwide, published by "The Village Voice". By August 2010, the album had sold 3,318,000 copies in the US.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: "What's the 411?" has since been viewed by critics as one of the 1990s' most important records. Blige's combination of vocals over a hip hop beat proved influential in contemporary R&B. With the album, she was dubbed the reigning "Queen of Hip Hop Soul"


title: Mary J. Blige

text: The album's success spun off "What's the 411? Remix", a remix album released in December that was used to extend the life of the "What's the 411?" singles on the radio into 1994, as Blige recorded her follow-up album.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Following the success of her debut album and a remixed version in 1993, Blige went into the recording studio in the winter of 1993 to record her second album, "My Life".


title: Mary J. Blige

text: The album was a breakthrough for Blige, who at this point was in a clinical depression, battling both drugs and alcohol – as well as being in an abusive relationship with K-Ci Hailey. On November 29, 1994, Uptown/MCA released "My Life" to positive reviews. The album peaked at number seven on the US "Billboard" 200 and number one of the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for selling 481,000 copies in its first week and remaining atop the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for an unprecedented eight weeks. It ultimately spent 46 weeks on the "Billboard" 200 and 84 weeks on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In 2002, "My Life" was ranked number 57 on "Blender"s list of the 100 greatest American albums of all time. The following year, "Rolling Stone" placed it at number 279 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and in 2006, the record was included in "Time"s 100 greatest albums of all-time list.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige involved herself in several outside projects, recording a cover of Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" for the soundtrack to the FOX series "New York Undercover", and "Everyday It Rains" (co-written by R&B singer Faith Evans) for the soundtrack to the hip hop documentary, "The Show". Later in the year, she recorded the Babyface-penned and produced "Not Gon' Cry", for the soundtrack to the motion picture "Waiting to Exhale". The platinum-selling single rose to number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in early 1996. Blige gained her first two Grammy nominations and won the 1996 Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for her collaboration with Method Man on "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By". Shortly after, Blige was featured on Jay-Z's breakthrough single, "Can't Knock the Hustle", from his debut "Reasonable Doubt" (1996) and with Ghostface Killah on "All That I Got Is You" from his debut, "Ironman", which was also released that year. In addition, Blige co-wrote four songs, provided background vocals and was featured prominently on two singles with fellow R&B singer Case on his self-titled debut album (1996) including the US top 20 hit, "Touch Me, Tease Me", which also featured then up-and-coming rapper Foxy Brown.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: "What's the 411?" highlights the featuring of woman centered narratives although in this album her narratives were regularly policed and told through male emcees. Nonetheless, it marked the start of a transition towards black women centered narratives that focused on the daily experiences and troubles of the black experience through the lens of women rather than necessarily singing about black trauma. Treva B. Lindsey, in her piece "If You Look in My Life: Love, Hip-Hop Soul, and Contemporary African-American Womanhood", highlights the regulating by men saying, "Although the lyrics on "What's the 411?" establish an African American woman-centered discourse, male artists' words of adoration and longing first introduce listeners to Blige as a hip-hop storyteller. "What's the 411?", therefore, functions as an African American woman-centered storytelling space created largely by black men."


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On April 22, 1997, MCA Records (parent company to Uptown Records, which was in the process of being dismantled) released Blige's third album, "Share My World". By then, she and Combs had dissolved their working relationship. In his place were the Trackmasters, who executive-produced the project along with Steve Stoute. Sharing production duties were producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, R. Kelly, Babyface and Rodney Jerkins. The album was made at a time when Blige was trying to "get her life together", by trying to overcome drugs and alcohol, as well as the ending of her relationship with Hailey. After an encounter with a person who threatened her life the previous year, she tried to quit the unhealthy lifestyle and make more upbeat, happier music. As a result, songs such as "Love Is All We Need" and "Share My World" were made. "Share My World" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 and spawned five hit singles: "Love Is All We Need" (featuring Nas), "I Can Love You" (featuring Lil' Kim), "Everything", "Missing You" (UK only) and "Seven Days" (featuring George Benson). In February 1997, Blige performed her hit at the time, "Not Gon' Cry", at the 1997 Grammy Awards, which gained her a third Grammy Award nomination, her first for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, as Blige was recording the follow-up to "My Life". In early 1998, Blige won an American Music Award for "Favorite Soul/R&B Album". That summer, she embarked on the Share My World Tour, which resulted in a Gold-certified live album released later that year, simply titled "The Tour". The album spawned one single, "Misty Blue".


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On August 17, 1999, Blige's fourth album, titled "Mary" was released. It marked a departure from her more familiar hip hop-oriented sound; this set featured a more earthy, whimsical, and adult contemporary-tinged collection of songs, reminiscent of the 1970s to early 1980s soul. She also appeared on "" with Eric Clapton in 1999. On December 14, 1999, the album was re-released as a double-disc set. The second disc was enhanced with the music videos for the singles "All That I Can Say" and "Deep Inside" and included two bonus tracks: "Sincerity" (featuring Nas, Andy Hogan and DMX) and "Confrontation" (a collaboration with hip hop duo Funkmaster Flex & Big Kap originally from their 1999 album "The Tunnel"). The "Mary" album was critically praised, becoming her most nominated release to date, and was certified double platinum. It was not as commercially successful as Blige's prior releases, though all of the singles: "All That I Can Say", "Deep Inside", "Your Child", and "Give Me You" performed considerably on the radio. In the meantime, MCA used the album to expand Blige's demographic into the nightclub market, as club-friendly dance remixes of the "Mary" singles were released. The club remix of "Your Child" peaked at number-one on the "Billboard's" Hot Dance Club Play chart in October 2000. In 2001, a Japan-only compilation, "Ballads", was released. The album featured covers of Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed", and previous recordings of Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and Dorothy Moore's "Misty Blue". In 1999, George Michael and Mary J. Blige covered the song 'As' written by Stevie Wonder, and worldwide outside of the United States, it was the second single from George Michael's greatest hits album "". It became a top ten UK pop hit, reaching number four on the chart. It was not released on the U.S. version of the greatest hits collection or as a single in the U.S. Michael cited Blige's record company president for pulling the track in America after Michael's arrest for committing a lewd act.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On August 28, 2001, MCA released Blige's fifth studio album, "No More Drama". The album's first single, "Family Affair" (produced by Dr. Dre) became her first and only number-one single on the "Billboard" Hot 100, where it remained for six consecutive weeks. It was followed by two further hit singles, the European only single "Dance for Me" featuring Common with samples from "The Bed's Too Big Without You" by The Police, and the Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis-produced title track (originally recorded for the "Mary" album), which sampled "Nadia's Theme", the piano-driven theme song to the daytime drama "The Young and the Restless". Though the album sold nearly two million copies in the U.S., MCA was underwhelmed by its sales, and subsequently repackaged and re-released the album on January 29, 2002. The "No More Drama" re-release featured a new album cover, deleted three of the songs from the original tracklisting, while adding two brand-new songs—one of which was the fourth single and top twenty Hot 100 hit "Rainy Dayz", (featuring Ja Rule), plus two remixes; one of the title track, serviced by Sean Combs/Puff Daddy and the single version of "Dance for Me" featuring Common. Blige won a Grammy for 'Best Female R&B Vocal Performance' for the song "He Think I Don't Know". In April 2002, Blige performed with Shakira with the song "Love Is a Battlefield" on VH1 Divas show live in Las Vegas, she also performed "No More Drama" and "Rainy Dayz" as a duet with the returning Whitney Houston.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On July 22, 2002, MCA released "Dance for Me", a collection of club remixes of some of her past top hits including the Junior Vasquez remix of "Your Child", and the Thunderpuss mix of "No More Drama". This album was released in a limited edition double pack 12" vinyl for DJ-friendly play in nightclubs.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On August 26, 2003, Blige's sixth album "Love & Life" was released on Geffen Records (which had absorbed MCA Records.) Blige heavily collaborated with her one-time producer Sean Combs for this set. Due to the history between them on "What's the 411?" and "My Life", which is generally regarded as their best work, and Blige having just come off of a successful fifth album, expectations were high for the reunion effort.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Despite the album debuting at number one on the "Billboard" 200 and becoming Blige's fourth consecutive UK top ten album, "Love & Life"s lead-off single, the Diddy-produced "Love @ 1st Sight", which featured Method Man, barely cracked the top ten on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, while altogether missing the top twenty on the Hot 100 (although peaking inside the UK top twenty). The following singles, "Ooh!", "Not Today" featuring Eve, "Whenever I Say Your Name" featuring Sting on the international re-release, and "It's a Wrap" fared worse. Although the album was certified platinum, it became Blige's lowest-selling at the time. Critics and fans alike largely panned the disc, citing a lack of consistency and noticeable ploys to recapture the early Blige/Combs glory. Blige and Combs reportedly struggled and clashed during the making of this album, and again parted ways upon the completion of it.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: The album became Blige's first album in six years to debut at number one on the "Billboard" 200, selling 285,298 copies in first week. "Love & Life" received mixed reviews from music critics. "AllMusic" gave it 4 stars and said the album "beamed with joy" and "Rolling Stone" gave it three stars, saying "You may not always love Blige's music, but you will feel her". The album was eventually certified Platinum by the RIAA for shipping over 1,000,000 copies in the US. The album was nominated for the Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 46th Grammy Awards.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Geffen Records released Blige's seventh studio album, "The Breakthrough" on December 20, 2005. For the album, Blige collaborated with J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Rodney Jerkins, will.i.am, Bryan-Michael Cox, 9th Wonder, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Raphael Saadiq, Cool and Dre, and Dre & Vidal. The cover art was photographed by Markus Klinko & Indrani. It debuted at number one on both the "Billboard" 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Selling 727,000 copies in its first week, it became the biggest first-week sales for an R&B solo female artist in SoundScan history, the fifth largest first-week sales for a female artist, and the fourth largest debut of 2005.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: The lead-off single, "Be Without You", peaked at number three on the "Billboard" Hot 100, while peaking at number one on the R&B chart for a record-setting fifteen consecutive weeks; it remained on the chart for over sixteen months. "Be Without You" found success in the UK (peaking in the lower end of the top forty) it became Blige's longest charting single on the UK Singles Chart. It is her second longest charting single to date. The album produced three more singles including two more top-five R&B hits—"Enough Cryin'", which features Blige's alter ego Brook-Lynn (as whom she appeared on the remix to Busta Rhymes's "Touch It" in 2006); and "Take Me as I Am" (which samples Lonnie Liston Smith's "A Garden of Peace"). Blige's duet with U2 on the cover of their 1992 hit, "One" gave Blige her biggest hit to date in the UK, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart eventually being certified one of the forty highest-selling singles of 2006; it was her longest charting UK single.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: The success of "The Breakthrough" won Blige nine "Billboard" Music Awards, two American Music Awards, two BET Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, and a Soul Train Award. She received eight Grammy Award nominations at the 2007 Grammy Awards, the most of any artist that year. "Be Without You" was nominated for both "Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year". Blige won three: "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance", "Best R&B Song" (both for "Be Without You"), and "Best R&B Album" for "The Breakthrough". Blige completed a season sweep of the "big three" major music awards, having won two American Music Awards in November 2006 and nine Billboard Music Awards in December 2006.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In December 2006, a compilation called "Reflections (A Retrospective)" was released. It contained many of Blige's greatest hits and four new songs, including the worldwide lead single "We Ride (I See the Future)". In the UK, however, "MJB da MVP" (which appeared in a different, shorter form on "The Breakthrough") was released as the lead single from the collection. The album peaked at number nine in the U.S, selling over 170,000 copies in its first week, while reaching number forty in the UK In 2006, Blige recorded a duet with rapper Ludacris, "Runaway Love", which is the third single on his fifth album, "Release Therapy". It reached the top five on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and the R&B chart. Blige was featured with Aretha Franklin and the Harlem Boys Choir on the soundtrack to the 2006 motion picture "Bobby", on the lead track "Never Gonna Break My Faith" written by Bryan Adams. The song was nominated for a Golden Globe and won the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige's eighth studio album, "Growing Pains", was released on December 18, 2007, debuting at number two on the "Billboard" 200 and at number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It sold 629,000 copies in its first week, marking the third time since Nielsen SoundScan began collecting data in 1991 that two albums sold more than 600,000 copies in a week in the United States. In its second week, the album climbed to number one, making it Blige's fourth number-one album. The lead single, "Just Fine", peaked at number twenty-two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and at number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "Just Fine" was nominated for the Grammy Award for "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance", and Blige won "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for the Chaka Khan duet "Disrespectful" (featured on Khan's album "Funk This") which Blige wrote.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: "Growing Pains" was not released in the UK until February 2008, where it became Blige's fifth top ten and third-highest-charting album."The Breakthrough" and "Reflections (A Retrospective)" were released in the Christmas rush and therefore settled for lower peaks, although both selling more than her top five album "Mary". ""Just Fine"" returned Blige to the UK singles chart top 20 after her previous two singles failed to chart highly. Subsequent singles from "Growing Pains" include "Work That", which accompanied Blige in an iTunes commercial, and "Stay Down".


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige was featured on 50 Cent's 2007 album, "Curtis", in the song "All of Me". In March 2008, she toured with Jay-Z in the Heart of the City Tour. They released a song called "You're Welcome". In the same period, cable network BET aired a special on Blige titled "The Evolution of Mary J. Blige", which showcased her career. Celebrities such as Method Man and Ashanti gave their opinions about Blige and her music. Blige is featured on singles by Big Boi, and Musiq Soulchild.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: "Growing Pains" was nominated for and won the Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary R&B Album", at the 51st Grammy Awards held on February 8, 2009, earning Blige her 27th Grammy nomination, in a mere decade.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige went on the Growing Pains European Tour, her first tour there in two years. A tour of Australia and New Zealand was scheduled for June but was postponed due to "weariness from an overwhelming tour schedule" and then eventually canceled entirely.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On August 7, 2008, it was revealed Blige faced a US$2 million federal suit claiming Neff-U wrote the music for the song "Work That", but was owned by Dream Family Entertainment. The filing claimed that Dream Family never gave rights to use the song to Blige, Feemster or Geffen Records. Rights to the lyrics of the song used in an iPod commercial are not in question.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige returned to performing in January 2009 by performing the song "Lean on Me" at the Presidential Inauguration Committee's, "". Blige also performed her hit 2007 single, "Just Fine", with a new intro at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball after Barack Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2009. Blige appeared as a marquee performer on the annual "Christmas in Washington" television special.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige was honored at the 2009 BET Honors Ceremony and was paid tribute by Anita Baker and Monica. On November 4, 2009, Blige sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Yankee Stadium before the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies played the last game (game 6) of the World Series. Blige performed two songs from her ninth album as well as her previous hits, "No More Drama" and "Be Without You" along with the song "Color", which was featured on the "Precious" soundtrack. Blige appeared as a guest judge on the ninth season of American Idol on January 13, 2010.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On January 23, 2010, Blige released a track "Hard Times Come Again No More" with the Roots as well as performing it at the telethon. At the 2010 Grammy Awards, Blige and Andrea Bocelli performed" Bridge over Troubled Water". Blige also performed on BET's SOS Help For Haiti, singing "Gonna Make It" with Jazmine Sullivan and "One." Blige also took part in February 2010's We Are the World 25 for Haiti, singing the solo originally sung by Tina Turner in the original 1985 We Are the World version. At the 41st NAACP Image Awards Blige won Outstanding Female Artist and Outstanding Album for "Stronger with Each Tear". On November 18, 2010, "Billboard" revealed Mary J. Blige as the most successful female R&B/hip hop artist on the Top 50 R&B/Hip Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years list. She came in at number 2 overall.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In January 2011, Hot 97 premiered Blige's teaser track "Someone to Love Me (Naked)" featuring vocals by Lil Wayne. In July 2011, Blige released the song "The Living Proof" as the lead single to the soundtrack of the film "The Help". On July 24, VH1 premiered their third "Behind the Music" that profiled her personal and career life. In August 2011, Blige released her first single off the album, "25/8". Blige's tenth studio album, "My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act 1)", was released in November 2011. The album, primarily recorded in Los Angeles and New York City, saw Blige looking toward the future while acknowledging the past. "From me to you, My Life II... Our journey together continues in this life", the singer explained. "It's a gift to be able to relate and identify with my fans at all times. This album is a reflection of the times and lives of people all around me." The album features production by Kanye West and the Underdogs. The second single "Mr. Wrong" featuring Canadian rapper Drake was the most successful single from the album, peaking at number 10 on "Billboard"s R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The rest of the songs released, including lead single "25/8" achieved only moderate success, peaking within the top 40 on R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The album itself debuted at No. 5 on the "Billboard" 200, selling 156,000 copies in the first week; it was eventually certified Gold in 2012 and has sold 763,000 in the US.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On February 28, 2012, Blige performed "Star Spangled Banner" at the 2012 NBA All-Star Game. Blige appeared as guest mentor on "American Idol" on March 7, 2012, and performed "Why" on the results show the following night. On September 23, 2012, Blige was a performer at the iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Blige was featured on the song "Now or Never" from Kendrick Lamar's album "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City", released on October 22, 2012.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In early 2013, reports surfaced that Blige was recording a Christmas album. The album, titled, "A Mary Christmas" was released on October 15, 2013, through Matriarch and Verve Records, her first release with the latter. The album includes collaborations with Barbra Streisand, the Clark Sisters, Marc Anthony and Jessie J. In early December, "A Mary Christmas" became Blige's 12th top ten album after it rose to No. 10 in its eight week.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On February 5, 2014, a remix of Disclosure's "F for You" featuring guest vocals from Mary was released.It was announced May 30, 2014, that "Think Like a Man Too (Music from and Inspired by the Film)", released June 17 on Epic Records, would introduce new songs by Mary J. Blige, including the single "Suitcase". Blige recorded a collection of music from and inspired by the film. In the United States, "Think Like a Man Too" debuted at number 30 on the "Billboard" 200, with 8,688 copies sold in its first week, becoming the lowest sales debut of any of her studio albums. On "Billboard"s R&B/Hip-Hop chart, the soundtrack album charted at number six, marking Blige's 16th top ten entry on the chart, tying her with Mariah Carey for the second-most top tens by a female artist.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: June 2, 2014 saw Blige pairing up with another English musician with the release of a re-worked version of Sam Smith's "Stay with Me". A live visual to the song was released on the same day.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Following her concert date at the Essence Festival, on July 9, 2014, it was announced Blige would move to London to experiment with a new sound for her new album. Blige spent a month in London recording her album in RAK Studios with a host of young British acts, including Disclosure, Naughty Boy, Emeli Sandé and Sam Smith. Ten new songs, co-written and recorded by the singer, were released on November 24, 2014, on an album titled "The London Sessions". That same month, she announced that she left Geffen and Interscope and signed with Capitol Records.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In August 2016, Blige was recruited to perform the new theme song for the ABC Daytime talk show "The View" for its twentieth season titled "World's Gone Crazy" written by Diane Warren. A music video was also shot for the new theme song with co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Candace Cameron Bure, Raven-Symoné, Paula Faris, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin and Jedediah Bila. Blige also appeared on "The View" alongside Maxwell during its premiere week on September 9, 2016, to discuss their joint tour and theme song.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On September 30, 2016, Blige premiered a new show, "The 411", on Apple Music. On its debut episode, she interviewed Hillary Clinton. A trailer was released online with Blige singing a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "American Skin" to a bewildered Clinton. The exchange received mixed and negative reaction on social media. Two weeks later, a studio version, this time featuring a verse from American rapper Kendrick Lamar was released online.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Following her highly publicized divorce from Kendu Issacs, Blige released two songs within October, "Thick of It" and "U + Me (Love Lesson)". On April 28, 2017, her thirteenth studio album, "Strength of a Woman", was released. It peaked at number three on the "Billboard" 200, number two on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and topped the R&B Albums chart. On July 12, 2018, Blige released the single "Only Love" on Republic Records, following her exit from Capitol Records.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On April 16, 2019, Blige announced that she is co-headlining a North American summer tour with Nas titled The Royalty Tour. On May 8, Blige released the single "Thriving" featuring Nas. During an interview with Ebro Darden on Beats 1 for the premiere of "Thriving", Blige announced that her next studio album would be released before July. On June 23, at the BET Awards 2019, she was honored with the "Lifetime Achievement Award" for her extraordinary contributions to music industry. On June 25, "The New York Times Magazine" listed Mary J. Blige among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In June 2021, Blige celebrated the 25th anniversary of her album "My Life" with the release of the Amazon Studios documentary "Mary J. Blige's My Life", directed by Vanessa Roth.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In December 2021, it was announced that Blige had formed her own label Mary Jane Productions, in conjunction with 300 Entertainment. Along with the news came the release of two new singles, "Good Morning Gorgeous" and "Amazing" featuring DJ Khaled. The songs appear on Blige's fourteenth studio album, also titled "Good Morning Gorgeous", which was released on February 11, 2022.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In January 2022, Blige released an additional song from "Good Morning Gorgeous" titled "Rent Money" featuring Dave East.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: On February 13, 2022, Blige performed at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show alongside fellow American rappers Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and Anderson .Paak. Days later, on February 17, Blige said on the radio show "The Breakfast Club" that she is working on an album entirely produced by Dr. Dre. On March 7, 2022, Blige and Pepsi announced the inaugural Strength of a Woman Festival and Summit, a three-day festival in Atlanta, in partnership with Live Nation Urban.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In May 2022, Blige was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME. In September 2022, she was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) for Super Bowl LVI halftime show.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In 1998, Blige made her acting debut on the sitcom "The Jamie Foxx Show", playing the apparently southern Ola Mae, a preacher's daughter who wanted to sing more than gospel music. Her father was portrayed by Ronald Isley of the Isley Brothers. In 2001, Blige starred opposite rapper Q-Tip in the independent film "Prison Song". That same year, Blige made a cameo on the Lifetime network series, "Strong Medicine"; playing the role of Simone Fellows, the lead singer of a band who was sick, but would not seek treatment. In 2000, Blige was featured in a superhero web cartoon in junction with Stan Lee. Blige used the cartoon as part of her performance while on her 2000 Mary Show Tour. In 2004, Blige starred in an Off-Broadway play, "The Exonerated", which chronicled the experiences of death row inmates. Blige portrayed Sunny Jacobs, a woman who spent 20 years in prison for a crime she did not commit. In late 2005, it was reported that Blige landed the starring role in the upcoming MTV Films biopic on American singer/pianist and civil rights activist, Nina Simone. By spring of 2010, Blige was slated to star as Simone with British actor David Oyelowo portraying her manager Clifton Henderson. Blige later dropped out of the role due to financial issues and the role was subsequently recast with actress Zoe Saldana as Simone in "Nina", released in 2016.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In February 2007, Blige guest-starred on "Ghost Whisperer", in the episode "Mean Ghost", as the character Jackie Boyd, the school's cheerleader coach grieving for the death of her brother and affected by the ghost of a dead cheerleader. The episode features many of Blige's songs. In August 2007, Blige was a guest star on "Entourage", in the role of herself, as a client of Ari Gold's agency. In October 2007, Blige was also a guest star on "America's Next Top Model", as a creative director for a photoshoot by Matthew Rolston. In May 2009, Mary made a guest appearance on "30 Rock", as an artist recording a benefit song for a kidney. Blige also had a supporting role in Tyler Perry's movie "I Can Do Bad All by Myself", which was released in September 2009.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige starred alongside Tom Cruise, Julianne Hough, and Alec Baldwin in the film adaptation of the 1980s jukebox hit musical "Rock of Ages". Blige played Justice Charlier, the owner of a Sunset Strip gentlemen's club. Production began in May 2011 and the film was released in June 2012.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige starred in the Lifetime movie "Betty and Coretta" alongside Angela Bassett, Malik Yoba and Lindsay Owen Pierre. She played Dr. Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X. The film premiered in February 2013. In December 2015, she portrayed Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West in NBC's "The Wiz Live!". In October 2016, Blige guest-starred on ABC legal drama "How to Get Away with Murder" as an old acquaintance of Annalise Keating played by Viola Davis.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In 2017, Blige starred in the period drama film "Mudbound" directed by Dee Rees. Playing Florence Jackson, the matriarch of her family, she received praise such as "Variety's" review: "Mary J. Blige, as the mother of the Jackson family, gives a transformative performance that will elevate the acting career of the R&B star." For her performance in "Mudbound", Blige was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. As she was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song (with Taura Stinson and Raphael Saadiq), she became the first person nominated for an Academy Award for acting and original song in the same year. Her nomination also made Dee Rees the first black woman to direct a film for which an actor was nominated for an Academy Award.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige voiced Irene Adler in the 2018 animated film "Sherlock Gnomes", and in 2020 voiced Queen Essence in the animated musical film "Trolls World Tour". In 2018, it was announced that Blige was cast as Sherry Elliot in "", the third season of the slasher television series "Scream". The season premiered on VH1 on July 8, 2019. In 2019, Blige starred in the role of Cha-Cha, a main antagonist in the Netflix superhero series "The Umbrella Academy".


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In 2020, Blige played a leading role in the horror film "Body Cam". She also starred in the independent drama film "Pink Skies Ahead". Blige currently stars as Monet Stewart Tejada in "", the first spin-off for the highly rated Starz cable drama "Power" which premiered in September 2020. Blige played singer Dinah Washington in the biographical drama film "Respect" about life and career of Aretha Franklin. The film was released theatrically on August 13, 2021.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In the 1990s, Blige spent six years in a relationship with singer Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey of the R&B group Jodeci. During a 1995 interview on the UK television show "The Word", Blige confirmed the two were engaged; Hailey denied that they were going to get married. Their turbulent relationship inspired Blige's album "My Life".


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige married her manager, Martin "Kendu" Isaacs, on December 7, 2003. At the time, Isaacs had two children, Nas and Jordan, with his first wife, and an older daughter, Briana, from a teenage relationship. In July 2016, Blige filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences". Blige and Isaacs' divorce was finalized on June 21, 2018.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In 2004, Blige launched her own record label, Matriarch Records, distributed through Interscope, and in mid-2012, discovered girl group Just'Us, making the group the first ladies of the label. Blige says "These are my little Mary's; they each remind me of myself at different points in my life." Blige has been reported to be working with Just'Us on their debut album.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In July 2010, Blige launched her first perfume, My Life (through Carol's Daughter), exclusively on HSN. The fragrance's success broke sales records in hours and has been awarded two prestigious FIFI awards from the Fragrance Foundation. The newest fragrance, My Life Blossom launched in August 2011 exclusively to HSN.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In October 2010, Blige released a line of sunglasses called "Melodies by MJB". The first Melodies collection featured four styles with a total of 20 color options. Each style represented a specific facet of Blige's life. Essence magazine reported that in the spring of 2011, "Melodies by MJB" extended their collection to offer more styles.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige's production company, along with William Morris Endeavor, is also working on several TV and film projects.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In partnership with the Home Shopping Network (HSN) and Carol's Daughter, Blige released her "My Life" perfume. The perfume broke HSN records by selling 65,000 bottles during its premiere. The scent went on to win two FiFi Awards, including the "Fragrance Sales Breakthrough" award.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige has had endorsement contracts with Reebok, Air Jordan, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Gap, Target, American Express, AT&T Inc., M·A·C, Apple Inc., Burger King and Chevrolet. She has also been a spokesperson with Carol's Daughter beauty products and Citibank's with Nickelback program.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Called the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul", Blige is credited with influencing the musical marriage of hip hop and R&B. Ethan Brown of "The New Yorker" says that albums "What's the 411?" and "My Life", in hindsight, invented "the sample-heavy sound that reinvigorated urban radio and became a blueprint for nineties hip-hop and R&B". Tom Horan of "The Daily Telegraph" comments that Blige, being an immensely influential figure in popular music, "invented what is now called R&B by successfully combining female vocals with muscular hip hop rhythm tracks. All over the world, that recipe dominates today's charts." Called one of the "most explosive, coming-out displays of pure singing prowess" and "one of the most important albums of the nineties", "What's the 411?" saw Blige pioneer "the movement that would later become neo soul, generating gripping songs that were also massive radio hits".


title: Mary J. Blige

text: African American scholars have noted the implications of Blige's presentation and representation of black womanhood and femininity in the typically male-dominated and centric sphere of hip hop. Blending the vocal techniques of rapping in hip hop with aspirational messages in R&B, Blige is credited with articulating black women's experiences in a "more factual and objective" manner than typical stereotypes and tropes of black women in the media. Using her personal experiences and struggles with her family as source material for her songs, Blige refutes notions of black female hypersexuality by "imploring women to love and empower themselves through both autonomy and intimacy." This desire for love does more than connect to her audience members. With particular attention on her single "Real Love", critics note how the song is "a performative text, declaratively demand[ing] recognition of Blige's full humanity and, more broadly, that of hip-hop-generation women."


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige has received notable awards and achievements. In 2010, she was ranked 80th on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Artist of All Time. Blige was listed as one of the 50 most influential R&B singers by Essence. In 2003, "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked "My Life" at number 279 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album was also included on Time's list of the 100 Greatest albums of All Time. In 2020, both "What's the 411?" and "My Life" were featured in a rebooted list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, at 271 and 126 respectively. Alternately called the "Queen of R&B" for her success in the realm of R&B, Blige has amassed ten number one albums on the R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart . Blige is also the only artist to have won Grammys in the R&B, hip hop, pop, and gospel fields.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: Blige and her work have influenced several recording artists, including Beyoncé, Adele, Taylor Swift, Monica, Layton Greene, Keyshia Cole, Bryson Tiller, Cheryl, Teyana Taylor Keke Palmer, Jess Glynne, Rihanna,Sam Smith, and Alexandra Burke.


title: Mary J. Blige

text: As an actress, Blige received the Breakthrough Performance Award at the 2018 Palm Springs International Film Festival for her role in "Mudbound".


title: Mary J. Blige

text: In 2020, Kamala Harris, the first Black and South Asian female Vice President-elect on a major party, walked out to "Work That" at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, campaign events (including her own presidential campaign), and her victory speech.


title: Nile

text: The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest river in the world, though this has been contested by research suggesting that the Amazon River is slightly longer. Of the world's major rivers, the Nile is one of the smallest, as measured by annual flow in cubic metres of water. About long, its drainage basin covers eleven countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Republic of the Sudan, and Egypt. In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt, Sudan and South Sudan. Additionally, the Nile is an important economic river, supporting agriculture and fishing.


title: Nile

text: The Nile has two major tributaries – the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile is traditionally considered to be the headwaters stream. However, the Blue Nile is the source of most of the water of the Nile downstream, containing 80% of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region. It begins at Lake Victoria and flows through Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet at the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.


title: Nile

text: The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely through the Nubian Desert to Cairo and its large delta, and the river flows into the Mediterranean Sea at Alexandria. Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river and its annual flooding since ancient times. Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of Aswan Dam. Nearly all the cultural and historical sites of Ancient Egypt developed and are found along river banks. The Nile is, with the Rhône and Po, one of the three Mediterranean rivers with the largest water discharge.


title: Nile

text: The standard English names "White Nile" and "Blue Nile" refer to the river's source, derived from Arabic names formerly applied to only the Sudanese stretches that meet at Khartoum.


title: Nile

text: In the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called "Ḥ'pī" (Hapy) or "Iteru", meaning "river". In Coptic, the word ⲫⲓⲁⲣⲟ, pronounced "piaro" (Sahidic) or "phiaro" (Bohairic), means "the river" (lit. p(h).iar-o "the.canal-great"), and comes from the same ancient name. In Nobiin the river is called "Áman Dawū", meaning "the great water". In Luganda the river is called "Kiira" or "Kiyira". In Runyoro it is called "Kihiira". In Egyptian Arabic, the Nile is called "en-Nīl", while in Standard Arabic it is called "an-Nīl". In Biblical Hebrew, it is , "Ha-Ye'or" or , "Ha-Shiḥor".


title: Nile

text: The English name "Nile" and the Arabic names "en-Nîl" and "an-Nîl" both derive from the Latin ' and the Ancient Greek . Beyond that, however, the etymology is disputed. Homer called the river , "Aiguptos", but in subsequent periods, Greek authors referred to its lower course as "Neilos"; this term became generalised for the entire river system. Thus, the name may derive from Ancient Egyptian expression "n"ꜣ "r"ꜣ"w-ḥ"ꜣ"w(t)" (lit. 'the mouths of the front parts'), which referred specifically to the branches of the Nile transversing the Delta, and would have been pronounced "ni-lo-he" in the area around Memphis in the 8th century BCE. Hesiod at his "Theogony" refers to Nilus (Νεῖλος) as one of the Potamoi (river gods), son of Oceanus and Tethys.


title: Nile

text: Another derivation of "Nile" might be related to the term "Nil" (; ), which refers to "Indigofera tinctoria", one of the original sources of indigo dye. Another may be "Nymphaea caerulea", known as "The Sacred Blue Lily of the Nile", which was found scattered over Tutankhamun's corpse when it was excavated in 1922. Another possible etymology derives from the Semitic term "Nahal", meaning "river". Old Libyan has the term "lilu", meaning water (in modern Berber "ilel" ⵉⵍⴻⵍ means "sea").


title: Nile

text: With a total length of about between the region of Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile is among the longest rivers on Earth. The drainage basin of the Nile covers , about 10% of the area of Africa. Compared to other major rivers, though, the Nile carries little water (5% of the Congo River, for example). The Nile basin is complex, and because of this, the discharge at any given point along the main stem depends on many factors including weather, diversions, evaporation and evapotranspiration, and groundwater flow.


title: Nile

text: Upstream from Khartoum (to the south), the river is known as the White Nile, a term also used in a limited sense to describe the section between Lake No and Khartoum. At Khartoum, the river is joined by the Blue Nile. The White Nile starts in equatorial East Africa, and the Blue Nile begins in Ethiopia. Both branches are on the western flanks of the East African Rift.


title: Nile

text: The source of the White Nile, even after centuries of exploration, remains in dispute. The most remote source that is indisputably a source for the White Nile is the Kagera River; however, the Kagera has tributaries that are in contention for the farthest source of the White Nile. Two start in Burundi: the Ruvyironza River (also known as the Luvironza) and the Rurubu River.<ref name="core.ac.uk/Aziz"></ref> In addition, in 2010, an exploration party in Rwanda went to a place described as the source of the Rukarara tributary, and by hacking a path up steep jungle-choked mountain slopes in the Nyungwe Forest found (in the dry season) an appreciable incoming surface flow for many kilometres upstream, and found a new source, giving the Nile a length of .


title: Nile

text: The White Nile leaves Lake Victoria at Ripon Falls near Jinja, Uganda, as the "Victoria Nile." It flows north for some to Lake Kyoga. The last part of the approximately river section starts from the western shores of the lake and flows at first to the west until just south of Masindi Port, where the river turns north, then makes a great half circle to the east and north to Karuma Falls. For the remaining part, it flows westerly through the Murchison Falls until it reaches the northern shores of Lake Albert where it forms a significant river delta. Lake Albert is on the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the Nile is not a border river at this point. After leaving Lake Albert, the river continues north through Uganda and is known as the Albert Nile.


title: Nile

text: The White Nile flows into South Sudan just south of Nimule, where it is known as the "Bahr al Jabal" ("Mountain River"). Just south of the town is the confluence with the Achwa River. The Bahr al Ghazal, long, joins the Bahr al Jabal at a small lagoon called Lake No, after which the Nile becomes known as the "Bahr al Abyad", or the White Nile, from the whitish clay suspended in its waters. When the Nile floods it leaves a rich silty deposit which fertilizes the soil. The Nile no longer floods in Egypt since the completion of the Aswan Dam in 1970. An anabranch river, the Bahr el Zeraf, flows out of the Nile's Bahr al Jabal section and rejoins the White Nile.


title: Nile

text: The flow rate of the Bahr al Jabal at Mongalla is almost constant throughout the year and averages . After Mongalla, the Bahr Al Jabal enters the enormous swamps of the Sudd region. More than half of the Nile's water is lost in this swamp to evaporation and transpiration. The average flow rate of the White Nile at the tails of the swamps is about . From here it meets with the Sobat River at Malakal. On an annual basis, the White Nile upstream of Malakal contributes about 15% of the total outflow of the Nile.


title: Nile

text: The average flow of the White Nile at Lake Kawaki Malakal, just below the Sobat River, is ; the peak flow is approximately in October and minimum flow is about in April. This fluctuation is caused by the substantial variation in the flow of the Sobat, which has a minimum flow of about in March and a peak flow of over in October. During the dry season (January to June) the White Nile contributes between 70% and 90% of the total discharge from the Nile.


title: Nile

text: The course of the Nile in Sudan is distinctive. It flows over six groups of cataracts, from the sixth at Sabaloka just north of Khartoum northward to Abu Hamad. The tectonic uplift of the Nubian Swell diverts the river south-west for over 300 km, following the structure of the Central African Shear Zone embracing the Bayuda Desert. At Al Dabbah it resumes its northward course towards the first cataract at Aswan forming the 'S'-shaped Great Bend of the Nile mentioned by Eratosthenes.


title: Nile

text: In the north of Sudan, the river enters Lake Nasser (known in Sudan as Lake Nubia), the larger part of which is in Egypt.


title: Nile

text: Below the Aswan Dam, at the northern limit of Lake Nasser, the Nile resumes its historic course. North of Cairo, the Nile splits into two branches (or distributaries) that feed the Mediterranean: the Rosetta Branch to the west and the Damietta to the east, forming the Nile Delta.


title: Nile

text: Below the confluence with the Blue Nile the only major tributary is the Atbarah River, also known as the Red Nile, roughly halfway to the sea, which originates in Ethiopia north of Lake Tana, and is around long. The Atbarah flows only while there is rain in Ethiopia and dries very rapidly. During the dry period of January to June, it typically dries up north of Khartoum.


title: Nile

text: The Blue Nile (, "ʿĀbay") springs from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian Highlands. The Blue Nile flows about 1,400 kilometres to Khartoum, where the Blue Nile and White Nile join to form the Nile. Ninety percent of the water and ninety-six percent of the transported sediment carried by the Nile originates in Ethiopia, with fifty-nine percent of the water from the Blue Nile (the rest being from the Tekezé, Atbarah, Sobat, and small tributaries). The erosion and transportation of silt only occurs during the Ethiopian rainy season when rainfall is especially high on the Ethiopian Plateau; the rest of the year, the great rivers draining Ethiopia into the Nile have a weaker flow. In harsh and arid seasons and droughts, the Blue Nile dries out completely.


title: Nile

text: The flow of the Blue Nile varies considerably over its yearly cycle and is the main contribution to the large natural variation of the Nile flow. During the dry season the natural discharge of the Blue Nile can be as low as , although upstream dams regulate the flow of the river. During the wet season, the peak flow of the Blue Nile often exceeds in late August (a difference of a factor of 50).


title: Nile

text: Before the placement of dams on the river the yearly discharge varied by a factor of 15 at Aswan. Peak flows of over occurred during late August and early September, and minimum flows of about occurred during late April and early May.


title: Nile

text: The Bahr al Ghazal and the Sobat River are the two most important tributaries of the White Nile in terms of discharge.


title: Nile

text: The Bahr al Ghazal's drainage basin is the largest of any of the Nile's sub-basins, measuring in size, but it contributes a relatively small amount of water, about annually, because tremendous volumes of water are lost in the Sudd wetlands.


title: Nile

text: The Sobat River, which joins the Nile a short distance below Lake No, drains about half as much land, , but contributes annually to the Nile. When in flood the Sobat carries a large amount of sediment, adding greatly to the White Nile's color.


title: Nile

text: The Yellow Nile is a former tributary that connected the Ouaddaï highlands of eastern Chad to the Nile River Valley c. 8000 to c. 1000 BCE. Its remains are known as the Wadi Howar. The wadi passes through Gharb Darfur near the northern border with Chad and meets up with the Nile near the southern point of the Great Bend.


title: Nile

text: The Nile has been the lifeline of civilization in Egypt since the Stone Age, with most of the population and all of the cities of Egypt developing along those parts of the Nile valley lying north of Aswan. However, the Nile used to run much more westerly through what is now Wadi Hamim and Wadi al Maqar in Libya and flow into the Gulf of Sidra. As the sea level rose at the end of the most recent ice age, the stream which is now the northern Nile captured the ancestral Nile near Asyut. This change in climate also led to the current extents of the Sahara desert, around 3400 BC.


title: Nile

text: The Giza Pyramid Complex originally overlooked a branch of the Nile that no longer exists. This branch was highest during the African Humid Period.


title: Nile

text: The existing Nile has five earlier phases; i) the Upper Miocenian Eonile, of about 6 million years BP, ii) the Upper Pliocenian Paleonile, commencing about 3.32 million years BP, and during the Pleistocene, the Nile phases iii) Proto-Nile, commencing about 600,000 years BP, iv) Pre-Nile, transitioning at about 400,000 years BP to the v) Neo-Nile.<ref name="Said/chapter/10.1007"></ref> Flowing north from the Ethiopian Highlands, satellite imagery was used to identify dry watercourses in the desert to the west of the Nile. A canyon, now filled by surface drift, represents the Eonile that flowed during 23–5.3 million years before present. The Eonile transported clastic sediments to the Mediterranean; several natural gas fields have been discovered within these sediments.


title: Nile

text: During the late-Miocene Messinian salinity crisis, when the Mediterranean Sea was a closed basin and evaporated to the point of being empty or nearly so, the Nile cut its course down to the new base level until it was several hundred metres below world ocean level at Aswan and below Cairo. This created a very long and deep canyon which was filled with sediment after the Mediterranean was recreated. At some point the sediments raised the riverbed sufficiently for the river to overflow westward into a depression to create Lake Moeris.


title: Nile

text: Lake Tanganyika drained northwards into the Nile until the Virunga Volcanoes blocked its course in Rwanda. The Nile was much longer at that time, with its furthest headwaters in northern Zambia. The currently existing Nile first flowed during the former parts of the Würm glaciation period.


title: Nile

text: There are two theories about the age of the integrated Nile. One is that the integrated drainage of the Nile is of young age and that the Nile basin was formerly broken into series of separate basins, only the most northerly of which fed a river following the present course of the Nile in Egypt and Sudan. Rushdi Said postulates that Egypt supplied most of the waters of the Nile during the early part of its history.


title: Nile

text: The other theory is that the drainage from Ethiopia via rivers equivalent to the Blue Nile, the Atbara and the Takazze flowed to the Mediterranean via the Egyptian Nile since well back into Tertiary times.


title: Nile

text: Salama suggests that during the Paleogene and Neogene Periods (66 million to 2.588 million years ago) a series of separate closed continental basins each occupied one of the major parts of the Sudanese Rift System: Mellut rift, White Nile rift, Blue Nile rift, Atbara rift and Sag El Naam rift.


title: Nile

text: The Mellut Basin is nearly deep at its central part. This rift is possibly still active, with reported tectonic activity in its northern and southern boundaries. The Sudd swamp which forms the central part of the basin may still be subsiding. The White Nile Rift system, although shallower than the Bahr el Arab rift, is about deep. Geophysical exploration of the Blue Nile Rift System estimated the depth of the sediments to be . These basins were not interconnected until their subsidence ceased, and the rate of sediment deposition was enough to fill and connect them.


title: Nile

text: The Egyptian Nile connected to the Sudanese Nile, which captures the Ethiopian and Equatorial headwaters during the current stages of tectonic activity in the Eastern, Central and Sudanese Rift systems. The connection of the different Niles occurred during cyclic wet periods. The Atbarah overflowed its closed basin during the wet periods that occurred about 100,000 to 120,000 years ago. The Blue Nile connected to the main Nile during the 70,000–80,000 years B.P. wet period. The White Nile system in Bahr El Arab and White Nile Rifts remained a closed lake until the connection of the Victoria Nile to the main system some 12,500 years ago during the African humid period.


title: Nile

text: The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that "Egypt was the gift of the Nile". An unending source of sustenance, it played a crucial role in the development of Egyptian civilization. Because the river overflowed its banks annually and deposited new layers of silt, the surrounding land was very fertile. The Ancient Egyptians cultivated and traded wheat, flax, papyrus and other crops around the Nile. Wheat was a crucial crop in the famine-plagued Middle East. This trading system secured Egypt's diplomatic relationships with other countries and contributed to economic stability. Far-reaching trade has been carried on along the Nile since ancient times. A tune, Hymn to the Nile, was created and sung by the ancient Egyptian peoples about the flooding of the Nile River and all of the miracles it brought to Ancient Egyptian civilization.


title: Nile

text: Water buffalo were introduced from Asia, and the Assyrians introduced camels in the 7th century BC. These animals were raised for meat and were domesticated and used for ploughing—or in the camels' case, carriage. Water was vital to both people and livestock. The Nile was also a convenient and efficient means of transportation for people and goods.


title: Nile

text: The Nile was also an important part of ancient Egyptian spiritual life. Hapi was the god of the annual floods, and both he and the pharaoh were thought to control the flooding. The Nile was considered to be a causeway from life to death and the afterlife. The east was thought of as a place of birth and growth, and the west was considered the place of death, as the god Ra, the Sun, underwent birth, death, and resurrection each day as he crossed the sky. Thus, all tombs were west of the Nile, because the Egyptians believed that in order to enter the afterlife, they had to be buried on the side that symbolized death.


title: Nile

text: As the Nile was such an important factor in Egyptian life, the ancient calendar was even based on the three cycles of the Nile. These seasons, each consisting of four months of thirty days each, were called Akhet, Peret, and Shemu. Akhet, which means inundation, was the time of the year when the Nile flooded, leaving several layers of fertile soil behind, aiding in agricultural growth. Peret was the growing season, and Shemu, the last season, was the harvest season when there were no rains.


title: Nile

text: Owing to their failure to penetrate the Sudd wetlands of South Sudan, the upper reaches of the White Nile remained largely unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Various expeditions failed to determine the river's source. Agatharchides records that in the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, a military expedition had penetrated far enough along the course of the Blue Nile to determine that the summer floods were caused by heavy seasonal rainstorms in the Ethiopian Highlands, but no European of antiquity is known to have reached Lake Tana. The "Tabula Rogeriana" depicted the source as three lakes in 1154.


title: Nile

text: Europeans began to learn about the origins of the Nile in the 14th century when the Pope sent monks as emissaries to Mongolia who passed India, the Middle East and Africa, and described being told of the source of the Nile in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) Later in the 15th and 16th centuries, travelers to Ethiopia visited Lake Tana and the source of the Blue Nile in the mountains south of the lake. Although James Bruce claimed to be the first European to have visited the headwaters, modern writers give the credit to the Jesuit Pedro Páez. Páez's account of the source of the Nile is a long and vivid account of Ethiopia. It was published in full only in the early 20th century, although it was featured in works of Páez's contemporaries, including Baltazar Téllez, Athanasius Kircher and by Johann Michael Vansleb.


title: Nile

text: Europeans had been resident in Ethiopia since the late 15th century, and one of them may have visited the headwaters even earlier without leaving a written trace. The Portuguese João Bermudes published the first description of the Tis Issat Falls in his 1565 memoirs, compared them to the Nile Falls alluded to in Cicero's "De Republica". Jerónimo Lobo describes the source of the Blue Nile, visiting shortly after Pedro Páez. Telles also uses his account.


title: Nile

text: The White Nile was even less understood. The ancients mistakenly believed that the Niger River represented the upper reaches of the White Nile. For example, Pliny the Elder writes that the Nile had its origins "in a mountain of lower Mauretania", flowed above ground for "many days" distance, then went underground, reappeared as a large lake in the territories of the Masaesyli, then sank again below the desert to flow underground "for a distance of 20 days' journey till it reaches the nearest Ethiopians."


title: Nile

text: Modern exploration of the Nile basin began with the conquest of the northern and central Sudan by the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, and his sons from 1821 onward. As a result of this, the Blue Nile was known as far as its exit from the Ethiopian foothills and the White Nile as far as the mouth of the Sobat River. Three expeditions under a Turkish officer, Selim Bimbashi, were made between 1839 and 1842, and two got to the point about beyond the present port of Juba, where the country rises and rapids make navigation very difficult.


title: Nile

text: Lake Victoria was first sighted by Europeans in 1858 when British explorer John Hanning Speke reached its southern shore while traveling with Richard Francis Burton to explore central Africa and locate the great lakes. Believing he had found the source of the Nile on seeing this "vast expanse of open water" for the first time, Speke named the lake after Queen Victoria. Burton, recovering from illness and resting further south on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, was outraged that Speke claimed to have proven his discovery to be the true source of the Nile when Burton regarded this as still unsettled. A quarrel ensued which sparked intense debate within the scientific community and interest by other explorers keen to either confirm or refute Speke's discovery. British explorer and missionary David Livingstone pushed too far west and entered the Congo River system instead. It was ultimately Welsh-American explorer Henry Morton Stanley who confirmed Speke's discovery, circumnavigating Lake Victoria and reporting the great outflow at Ripon Falls on the lake's northern shore.


title: Nile

text: The Nile has long been used to transport goods along its length. Winter winds blow south, up river, so ships could sail up river using sails and down river using the flow of the river. While most Egyptians still live in the Nile valley, the 1970 completion of the Aswan Dam ended the summer floods and their renewal of the fertile soil, fundamentally changing farming practices. The Nile supports much of the population living along its banks, enabling Egyptians to live in otherwise inhospitable regions of the Sahara. The river's flow is disturbed at several points by the Cataracts of the Nile which form an obstacle to navigation by boats. The Sudd also forms a formidable navigation obstacle and impedes water flow, to the extent that Sudan had once attempted to build the Jonglei Canal to bypass the swamp.


title: Nile

text: Nile cities include Khartoum, Aswan, Luxor (Thebes), and the GizaCairo conurbation. The first cataract, the closest to the mouth of the river, is at Aswan, north of the Aswan Dam. This part of the river is a regular tourist route, with cruise ships and traditional wooden sailing boats known as feluccas. Many cruise ships ply the route between Luxor and Aswan, stopping at Edfu and Kom Ombo along the way. Security concerns have limited cruising on the northernmost portion for many years.


title: Nile

text: A computer simulation study to plan the economic development of the Nile was directed by H.A.W. Morrice and W.N. Allan, for the Ministry of Hydro-power of Sudan, during 1955–57 Morrice was their hydrological adviser, and Allan his predecessor. The calculations were enabled by accurate monthly inflow data collected for 50 years. The underlying principle was the use of over-year storage, to conserve water from rainy years for use in dry years. Irrigation, navigation and other needs were considered. Each computer run postulated a set of reservoirs and operating equations for the release of water as a function of the month and the levels upstream. The behavior that would have resulted given the inflow data was modeled. Over 600 models were run. Recommendations were made to the Sudanese authorities. The calculations were run on an IBM 650 computer. Simulation studies to design water resources are discussed further in the article on hydrology transport models, which have been used since the 1980s to analyze water quality.


title: Nile

text: Despite the development of many reservoirs, drought during the 1980s led to widespread starvation in Ethiopia and Sudan, but Egypt was nourished by water impounded in Lake Nasser. Drought has proven to be a major cause of fatality in the Nile river basin. According to a report by the Strategic Foresight Group around 170 million people have been affected by droughts in the last century with half a million lives lost. From the 70 incidents of drought which took place between 1900 and 2012, 55 incidents took place in Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya and Tanzania.


title: Nile

text: The Nile's water has affected the politics of East Africa and the Horn of Africa for many decades. The dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the $4.5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has become a national preoccupation in both countries, stoking patriotism, deep-seated fears and even murmurs of war. Countries including Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya have complained about Egyptian domination of its water resources. The Nile Basin Initiative promotes a peaceful cooperation among those states.


title: Nile

text: Several attempts have been made to establish agreements between the countries sharing the Nile waters. On 14 May 2010 at Entebbe, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Tanzania signed a new agreement on sharing the Nile water even though this agreement raised strong opposition from Egypt and Sudan. Ideally, such international agreements should promote equitable and efficient usage of the Nile basin's water resources. Without a better understanding about the availability of the future water resources of the Nile, it is possible that conflicts could arise between these countries relying on the Nile for their water supply, economic and social developments.


title: Nile

text: In 1951, American John Goddard together with two French explorers became the first to successfully navigate the entire Nile from its source in Burundi at the potential headsprings of the Kagera River in Burundi to its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, a journey of approximately . Their 9-month journey is described in the book "Kayaks down the Nile".


title: Nile

text: The White Nile Expedition, led by South African national Hendrik Coetzee, navigated the White Nile's entire length of approximately . The expedition began at the White Nile's beginning at Lake Victoria in Uganda, on 17 January 2004 and arrived at the Mediterranean in Rosetta, four and a half months later.


title: Nile

text: The Blue Nile Expedition, led by geologist Pasquale Scaturro and his partner, kayaker and documentary filmmaker Gordon Brown became the first known people to descend the entire Blue Nile, from Lake Tana in Ethiopia to the beaches of Alexandria on the Mediterranean. Their approximately journey took 114 days, from 25 December 2003 to 28 April 2004. Though their expedition included others, Brown and Scaturro were the only ones to complete the entire journey. Although they descended whitewater manually, the team used outboard motors for much of their journey.


title: Nile

text: On 29 January 2005, Canadian Les Jickling and New Zealander Mark Tanner completed the first human-powered transit of Ethiopia's Blue Nile. Their journey of over took five months. They recount that they paddled through two war zones, regions notorious for bandits, and were arrested at gunpoint.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, becoming famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings. Accordingly, he was described by abolitionists in his time as a living counterexample to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave. It was in response to this disbelief that Douglass wrote his first autobiography.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Douglass wrote three autobiographies, describing his experiences as a slave in his "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" (1845), which became a bestseller and was influential in promoting the cause of abolition, as was his second book, "My Bondage and My Freedom" (1855). Following the Civil War, Douglass was an active campaigner for the rights of freed slaves and wrote his last autobiography, "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass". First published in 1881 and revised in 1892, three years before his death, the book covers his life up to those dates. Douglass also actively supported women's suffrage, and he held several public offices. Without his permission, Douglass became the first African American nominated for vice president of the United States, as the running mate of Victoria Woodhull on the Equal Rights Party ticket.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Douglass believed in dialogue and in making alliances across racial and ideological divides, as well as in the liberal values of the U.S. Constitution. When radical abolitionists, under the motto "No Union with Slaveholders", criticized Douglass's willingness to engage in dialogue with slave owners, he replied: "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born into slavery on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Talbot County, Maryland. The plantation was between Hillsboro and Cordova; his birthplace was likely his grandmother's cabin east of Tappers Corner, and west of Tuckahoe Creek. In his first autobiography, Douglass stated: "I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it." In successive autobiographies, he gave more precise estimates of when he was born, his final estimate being 1817. However, based on the extant records of Douglass's former owner, Aaron Anthony, historian Dickson J. Preston determined that Douglass was born in February 1818. Though the exact date of his birth is unknown, he chose to celebrate February 14 as his birthday, remembering that his mother called him her "Little Valentine."


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Douglass was of mixed race, which likely included Native American and African on his mother's side, as well as European. In contrast, his father was "almost certainly white", according to historian David W. Blight in his 2018 biography of Douglass. Douglass said his mother Harriet Bailey gave him his name Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey and, after he escaped to the North in September 1838, he took the surname Douglass, having already dropped his two middle names.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: The opinion was...whispered that my master was my father; but of the correctness of this opinion I know nothing. ... My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant. ... It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age. ... I do not recollect of ever seeing my mother by the light of day. She was with me in the night. She would lie down with me, and get me to sleep, but long before I waked she was gone.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: After separation from his mother during infancy, young Frederick lived with his maternal grandmother Betsy Bailey, who was also a slave, and his maternal grandfather Isaac, who was free. Betsy would live until 1849. Frederick's mother remained on the plantation about away, only visiting Frederick a few times before her death when he was 7 years old.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Returning much later, about 1883, to purchase land in Talbot County that was meaningful to him, he was invited to address "a colored school":


title: Frederick Douglass

text: At the age of 6, Douglass was separated from his grandparents and moved to the Wye House plantation, where Aaron Anthony worked as overseer. After Anthony died in 1826, Douglass was given to Lucretia Auld, wife of Thomas Auld, who sent him to serve Thomas' brother Hugh Auld and his wife Sophia Auld in Baltimore. From the day he arrived, Sophia saw to it that Douglass was properly fed and clothed, and that he slept in a bed with sheets and a blanket. Douglass described her as a kind and tender-hearted woman, who treated him "as she supposed one human being ought to treat another." Douglass felt that he was lucky to be in the city, where he said slaves were almost freemen, compared to those on plantations.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: When Douglass was about 12, Sophia Auld began teaching him the alphabet. Hugh Auld disapproved of the tutoring, feeling that literacy would encourage slaves to desire freedom. Douglass later referred to this as the "first decidedly antislavery lecture" he had ever heard. "'Very well, thought I,'" wrote Douglass. "'Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave.' I instinctively assented to the proposition, and from that moment I understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom."


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Under her husband's influence, Sophia came to believe that education and slavery were incompatible and one day snatched a newspaper away from Douglass. She stopped teaching him altogether and hid all potential reading materials, including her Bible, from him. In his autobiography, Douglass related how he learned to read from white children in the neighborhood, and by observing the writings of the men with whom he worked.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Douglass continued, secretly, to teach himself to read and write. He later often said, "knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom." As Douglass began to read newspapers, pamphlets, political materials, and books of every description, this new realm of thought led him to question and condemn the institution of slavery. In later years, Douglass credited "The Columbian Orator", an anthology that he discovered at about age 12, with clarifying and defining his views on freedom and human rights. First published in 1797, the book is a classroom reader, containing essays, speeches, and dialogues, to assist students in learning reading and grammar. He later learned that his mother had also been literate, about which he would later declare:


title: Frederick Douglass

text: I am quite willing, and even happy, to attribute any love of letters I possess, and for which I have got—despite of prejudices—only too much credit, not to my admitted Anglo-Saxon paternity, but to the native genius of my sable, unprotected, and uncultivated mother—a woman, who belonged to a race whose mental endowments it is, at present, fashionable to hold in disparagement and contempt.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: When Douglass was hired out to William Freeland, he "gathered eventually more than thirty male slaves on Sundays, and sometimes even on weeknights, in a Sabbath literacy school."


title: Frederick Douglass

text: In 1833, Thomas Auld took Douglass back from Hugh ("[a]s a means of punishing Hugh," Douglass later wrote). Thomas sent Douglass to work for Edward Covey, a poor farmer who had a reputation as a "slave-breaker". He whipped Douglass so frequently that his wounds had little time to heal. Douglass later said the frequent whippings broke his body, soul, and spirit. The 16-year-old Douglass finally rebelled against the beatings, however, and fought back. After Douglass won a physical confrontation, Covey never tried to beat him again.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Recounting his beatings at Covey's farm in "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave", Douglass described himself as "a man transformed into a brute!" Still, Douglass came to see his physical fight with Covey as life-transforming, and introduced the story in his autobiography as such: "You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man."


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Douglass first tried to escape from Freeland, who had hired him from his owner, but was unsuccessful. In 1837, Douglass met and fell in love with Anna Murray, a free black woman in Baltimore about five years his senior. Her free status strengthened his belief in the possibility of gaining his own freedom. Murray encouraged him and supported his efforts by aid and money.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: On September 3, 1838, Douglass successfully escaped by boarding a northbound train of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad. The area where he boarded was thought to be a short distance east of the train depot, in a recently developed neighborhood between the modern neighborhoods of Harbor East and Little Italy. This depot was at President and Fleet Streets, east of "The Basin" of the Baltimore harbor, on the northwest branch of the Patapsco River. Research cited in 2021, however, suggests that Douglass in fact boarded the train at the Canton Depot of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad on Boston Street, in the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore, further east.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Young Douglass reached Havre de Grace, Maryland, in Harford County, in the northeast corner of the state, along the southwest shore of the Susquehanna River, which flowed into the Chesapeake Bay. Although this placed him only some from the Maryland–Pennsylvania state line, it was easier to continue by rail through Delaware, another slave state. Dressed in a sailor's uniform provided to him by Murray, who also gave him part of her savings to cover his travel costs, he carried identification papers and protection papers that he had obtained from a free black seaman.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Douglass crossed the wide Susquehanna River by the railroad's steam-ferry at Havre de Grace to Perryville on the opposite shore, in Cecil County, then continued by train across the state line to Wilmington, Delaware, a large port at the head of the Delaware Bay. From there, because the rail line was not yet completed, he went by steamboat along the Delaware River further northeast to the "Quaker City" of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, an anti-slavery stronghold. He continued to the safe house of noted abolitionist David Ruggles in New York City. His entire journey to freedom took less than 24 hours.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Once Douglass had arrived, he sent for Murray to follow him north to New York. She brought the basics for them to set up a home. They were married on September 15, 1838, by a black Presbyterian minister, just eleven days after Douglass had reached New York. At first they adopted Johnson as their married name, to divert attention.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: The couple settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts (an abolitionist center, full of former slaves), in 1838, moving to Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1841. After meeting and staying with Nathan and Mary Johnson, they adopted Douglass as their married name. Douglass had grown up using his mother's surname of Bailey; after escaping slavery he had changed his surname first to Stanley and then to Johnson. In New Bedford, the latter was such a common name that he wanted one that was more distinctive, and asked Nathan Johnson to choose a suitable surname. Nathan suggested "Douglass", after having read the poem "The Lady of the Lake" by Walter Scott, in which two of the principal characters have the surname "Douglas".


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Douglass thought of joining a white Methodist Church, but was disappointed, from the beginning, upon finding that it was segregated. Later, he joined the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, an independent black denomination first established in New York City, which counted among its members Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman. He became a licensed preacher in 1839, which helped him to hone his oratorical skills. He held various positions, including steward, Sunday-school superintendent, and sexton. In 1840, Douglass delivered a speech in Elmira, New York, then a station on the Underground Railroad, in which a black congregation would form years later, becoming the region's largest church by 1940.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Douglass also joined several organizations in New Bedford and regularly attended abolitionist meetings. He subscribed to William Lloyd Garrison's weekly newspaper, "The Liberator". He later said that "no face and form ever impressed me with such sentiments [of the hatred of slavery] as did those of William Lloyd Garrison." So deep was this influence that in his last autobiography, Douglass said "his paper took a place in my heart second only to The Bible."


title: Frederick Douglass

text: Garrison was likewise impressed with Douglass and had written about his anti-colonization stance in "The Liberator" as early as 1839. Douglass first heard Garrison speak in 1841, at a lecture that Garrison gave in Liberty Hall, New Bedford. At another meeting, Douglass was unexpectedly invited to speak. After telling his story, Douglass was encouraged to become an anti-slavery lecturer. A few days later, Douglass spoke at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society's annual convention, in Nantucket. Then 23 years old, Douglass conquered his nervousness and gave an eloquent speech about his rough life as a slave.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: While living in Lynn, Douglass engaged in early protest against segregated transportation. In September 1841, at Lynn Central Square station, Douglass and friend James N. Buffum were thrown off an Eastern Railroad train because Douglass refused to sit in the segregated railroad coach.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: In 1843, Douglass joined other speakers in the American Anti-Slavery Society's "Hundred Conventions" project, a six-month tour at meeting halls throughout the eastern and midwestern United States. During this tour, slavery supporters frequently accosted Douglass. At a lecture in Pendleton, Indiana, an angry mob chased and beat Douglass before a local Quaker family, the Hardys, rescued him. His hand was broken in the attack; it healed improperly and bothered him for the rest of his life. A stone marker in Falls Park in the Pendleton Historic District commemorates this event.


title: Frederick Douglass

text: In 1847, Douglass explained to Garrison, "I have no love for America, as such; I have no patriotism. I have no country. What country have I? The Institutions of this Country do not know me—do not recognize me as a man."