Two Sesquicentennials in One Week!

Dear Members, Alumni, and Friends of the James Scholar Advisory & Leadership Team:

This month includes two noteworthy sesquicentennials – 150^th anniversaries – that are celebrated in this week’s edition of Quotemail.

The Irish poet, essayist, and folklorist William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was born 150 years ago this Saturday, June 13^th. Yeats was a literary luminary who helped to spearhead the “Keltik Renaissance” of the late 19^th century in Ireland, paving the way for a greater appreciation and study of Irish literature and mythology in the 20^th century. Here’s my favorite poem by Mr. Yeats.

“The Song of Wandering Aengus” (1899)

By William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

Editor’s Note: From the Emerald Isle comes this love-quest poem inspired by classical Irish mythology (see http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/oengus.html). Yeats’ poem in turn served as the basis of “Rogue Planet,” the 18th episode of the 1st season of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE.

I went out to the hazel wood,

Because a fire was in my head,

And cut and peeled a hazel wand,

And hooked a berry to a thread;

And when white moths were on the wing,

And moth-like stars were flickering out,

I dropped the berry in a stream

And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor

I went to blow the fire a-flame,

But something rustled on the floor,

And someone called me by my name:

It had become a glimmering girl

With apple blossom in her hair

Who called me by my name and ran

And faded through the brightening air.

  

Though I am old with wandering

Through hollow lands and hilly lands,

I will find out where she has gone,

And kiss her lips and take her hands;

And walk among long dappled grass,

And pluck till time and times are done,

The silver apples of the Moon,

The golden apples of the Sun.

Juneteenth (next Friday, June 19th) is an upcoming patriotic holiday that celebrates the proclamation of freedom given to African-American slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865. These were the last slaves to be freed in the American South after the conclusion of the Civil War two months before. The observance of Juneteenth, at first focused in Texas, has since spread all over the United States. In our own century, Juneteenth serves to remind us of the plight of millions of people throughout the world who still need liberation from the bondage of slavery.

In honor of the sesquicentennial of Juneteenth, and of all the heroes who have sought to abolish the slave trade from ancient times to the present, here is a “culture vulture” article that I penned six years ago for the honors newsletter about Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, the abolitionist movement, and the Underground Railroad.

Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman: Leaders and Liberators

By Rob Chappell

Reprinted from CURSUS HONORUM (COURSE OF HONORS) IX: 8 (March 2009)

       In honor of Women’s History Month, the Culture Vulture would like to share the stories of two women who were prominent leaders in the American abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements during the nineteenth century. These courageous leaders have inspired countless women after them to work for liberty, justice, and equality for all people. The two African-American heroes highlighted in this article are Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) and Harriet Tubman (1820-1913).

       Sojourner Truth (originally named Isabella Baumfree) was born a slave in upstate New York, at a time when slavery had not yet been abolished throughout the North. She obtained her freedom in 1826 and worked at various jobs until she found her lifelong vocation in 1843: campaigning for human rights. On June 1 of that year, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth and began traveling and speaking throughout the northeastern states. During the 1840s and 1850s, she enthralled hundreds of audiences with her spirited addresses advocating the abolition of slavery and women’s suffrage, while her autobiography (NARRATIVE OF SOJOURNER TRUTH, A NORTHERN SLAVE), published in 1850, continued to galvanize the abolitionist movement.

       Truth’s most famous address, AIN’T I A WOMAN, was delivered before the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron during 1851. She worked for the Union Army and the Freedmen’s Bureau in Washington, DC during the Civil War and continued her speaking tours on behalf of women’s suffrage until her eventual retirement in Battle Creek, Michigan. Because of her championing of equal rights for African-Americans and for all women, she became known as the “Miriam of the Latter Exodus.”

       Harriet Tubman (originally named Araminta Ross) was born a slave on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. After escaping to freedom in Pennsylvania at the age of 29, she returned to Maryland several times to liberate other slaves. Tubman became a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, clandestinely leading Southern slaves to freedom in the northern United States or in British Canada, where slavery had been abolished since 1833. She conveyed secret messages to her “passengers” on the Underground Railroad through songs like “Follow the Drinking Gourd.” This ingenious piece of music taught runaway slaves how to use the Big Dipper to find the North Star, which would guide their nocturnal journeys to freedom in the northern United States or British Canada:

“When the Sun comes back,

And the first quail calls,

Follow the Drinking Gourd.

For the old man is a-waiting

For to carry you to freedom,

If you follow the Drinking Gourd.”

       During the Civil War, Tubman served in the Union Army as a scout and guide, and in June 1863, she became the first woman in American history to lead a combat operation, in which hundreds of slaves were liberated in South Carolina. After the Civil War, she worked tirelessly for women’s suffrage and full equality for African-Americans, finally obtaining a government pension after decades of struggle in 1899. She made her home in Auburn, New York – the center of her humanitarian work for the last 44 years of her life.

       The legacy of Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman continues today as courageous women of the 21st century work, as Sojourner Truth said, “to set [the world] right side up again.” Through writing, speaking, researching, and volunteering, the successors of these two liberating leaders are helping all of us to build a brighter future for all people.

Webliography

•       http://www.sojournertruth.org/Default.htm (Sojourner Truth Institute)

•       http://www.harriettubman.com/index.html (Harriet Tubman Infohub)

•       http://www.freedomcenter.org/ (National Underground Railroad Freedom Center)

•       http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/special/mlk/gourd2.html (Text of “Follow the Drinking Gourd” with Commentary from NASA)

•       http://nationaljuneteenth.com/ (National Juneteenth Observance Foundation)

I look forward to seeing Harriet Tubman’s portrait on a future $20 bill!

Until next time –

Rob