Harlem Is Everywhere

100 years ago, artists and writers were forging new visions of Blackness—across America and abroad.

🎧 NOW STREAMING 🎧 Tune in to "Harlem Is Everywhere," a new five-part podcast reflecting on the legacy of the #HarlemRenaissance, hosted by writer and critic Jessica Lynne… pic.twitter.com/cWWciMDgBY

— The Metropolitan Museum of Art (@metmuseum) February 26, 2024

Why did Frans Hals paint monsters in his friend's portrait?

From the National Gallery in London:

"Curator Bart Cornelis explains the meaning behind a hidden monster and skull in this 17th-century portrait by Frans Hals, and how they helped to identify the sitter as Isaac Massa.

He's accompanied by one of our restorers, Paul Ackroyd, and Larry Keith, Head of Conservation and Keeper, who help reveal this painting's secrets.

🎨  Find out more about the artist Frans Hals: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/frans-hals

🎨 Book tickets now for 'The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Frans Hals'

Open 30 September 2023 – 21 January 2024

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/the-credit-suisse-exhibition-frans-hals

Hals was one of the most sought-after painters of his generation. A gifted artist whose deft brushwork was unparalleled, he built his reputation on a new style of portrait – highly unusual in his time – that showed relaxed, lively sitters, often smiling, and even laughing.

This exhibition, the first major retrospective of Hals in more than thirty years, means a new generation can discover why he deserves his place as one of the greatest painters in Western art."

 

The Gaslight Anthem - History Books (ft. Bruce Springsteen)

Anna May Wong will be the first Asian American Featured on U.S. Currency

My Anna portrait hangs in my new house now -- but here's where she resided during my first few months in this beautiful, sometimes brutal city. She reminds me to hold on to my ferocity. I still love staring at her unflinching gaze, depicted by fellow SoCal resident @greggchadwick pic.twitter.com/fOG89TaI7k

— Ailsa Chang (@ailsachang) October 19, 2022

Anna May Wong

36"x48"oil on linen

painting by Gregg Chadwick

Ailsa Chang Collection 

Remembering Stonewall

"The Battle of #Stonewall - 1969" 

by Sandow Birk 1999 Oil on Canvas, 96" x 120"

Collection of the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

http://sandowbirk.com/stonewall 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

#OTD in 1969 patrons of the Stonewall Inn in #NYC rebelled against police who entered the bar to harass patrons. Stonewall is considered a galvanizing event in the #LGBTQ #CivilRights movement. The Stonewall is National Historic Landmark.

We Are #SantaMonica #History #Pride pic.twitter.com/dZJ3h11gi3

— Santa Monica History Museum (@SMHistoryMuseum) June 28, 2022

MAUS by Art Spiegelman (Read for Free)

I am posting an online readable copy of Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus in response to the ridiculous decision by the McMinn County Board of Education in Tennessee who voted 10-0 to remove the book from the eighth-grade English language arts curriculum saying without realizing the horrible irony that the graphic novel should be replaced, if possible, with another book without content deemed objectionable. The Holocaust is arguably the most objectionable violence ever taken against fellow humans by a despotic regime. 

Maus recounts the horrifying experiences of Art Spiegelman's father during the Holocaust, in which he depicts Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats. Spiegelman shakes us awake as he depicts the unspeakable through the language of cartoons and graphic novels. Maus is a story of survival and a study of the legacy of trauma.

Maus is presented here for readers of all ages. Welcome. 

1. The decision of a Tennessee county school board to ban Maus from the classroom is not an isolated incident

It is part of a much broader effort to censor history and literature being packaged under euphemisms like "parents rights"

Follow along if interested pic.twitter.com/Ciidqperrz

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 27, 2022

This is a really powerful thread about Maus. What it is, what it’s about and the fundamental and intrinsic Jewishness of the narrative. And why you don’t replace it. https://t.co/HMfKKbxaWz

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) January 28, 2022

Watch CIVILIZATIONS: Episode 1 - The Second Moment of Creation

CIVILIZATIONS

The Second Moment of Creation

Season 1 Episode 1

New Biography of Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

“Walter Isaacson is at once a true scholar and a spellbinding writer. And what a wealth of lessons are to be learned in these pages.” —David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Walter Isaacson, author of a new biography of Leonardo da Vinci, discusses the Renaissance genius' wildly eclectic notebooks that contained everything from landscape sketches to math equations to 'to do' lists.

For more about Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson http://ow.ly/cHwn30d8Yrg
Book available for purchase at Amazon and Powell's

Also by Walter Isaacson

Fragonard's Transformation of "Young Girl Reading"

And now for the big reveal . . . introducing Fragonard’s “Portrait of a Woman with a Book” (simulation)! Our researchers were able to establish that “Portrait of a Woman with a Book” existed as a “complete” painting for at least six months before it was changed into “Young Girl Reading.” The composition once showed a woman with her head turned outwards, looking at the spectator. She wore a large feathered headdress dotted with colored beads, a thinner neck ruffle than in the subsequent painting, and she was illuminated by a frontal light source. An amorphous folding shape in the background behind her was suggested to be a curtain on the basis of precedents in 17th- and 18th-century French portraiture. Read the full story of how we came to this discovery: http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/press/2015/fragonard.html This simulation, generated by cross-referencing various imaging techniques, was created by Gallery staffers Becca Goodman and Denis Doorly. Stay tuned as our three detectives Yuriko, John, and Michael continue their research on the series. Look for an upcoming talk at the Gallery in June! #ArtAtoZ #GirlReading

A photo posted by National Gallery of Art (@ngadc) on Apr 11, 2015 at 7:11am PDT

Must See Exhibition: Artists Respond to San Francisco’s Black Exodus

by Gregg Chadwick

Currently on display at the Thacher Gallery at USF is the powerful exhibition Hiraeth: The 3.9 Collective Searches for Home. 

Abhi Singh on the KQED Arts page explains the origins of the exhibition:

"San Francisco’s Fillmore district was once a vibrant African American community, known as 'the Harlem of the West.'  But in recent decades the Fillmore — like San Francisco as a whole — has witnessed a startling black exodus.  A group of artists known as the 3.9 Art Collective are responding with work that both reminds us of San Francisco’s more diverse  past and expresses their resistance to present trends. Their name comes from the percentage of African Americans that some predict will remain in the city by the time the next census takes place, in 2020.
 The Welsh word Hiraeth roughly translates to a longing for a far-off home — one that may not even exist or has been changed by time or idealized by memory."

Corie Schwabenland in the San Francisco Foghorn writes:

"The collective started with a discussion between two East Coast-to-SF transplants, says 3.9 co-founder William Rhodes. When Rhodes, originally from Baltimore, and fellow artist Nancy Cato shared their perceptions about San Francisco after living in the city for a respective seven and twenty years, they came to a striking conclusion:

'We really just felt there was a huge disparity when it comes to wealth, and very few variations of African Americans: You see a lot of African Americans that are homeless; you do not see a lot of African Americans living in San Francisco that are middle class or working class,” says Rhodes. 'It became a concern for us, and we decided that, since we’re both artists, to try to figure out a way to talk about these issues through our art and form a collective.'”

The 3.9 Collective’s exhibition, Hiraeth: the 3.9 Collective Searches for Home is a must see exhibition that examines the issues of displacement, gentrification, wealth disparity and racial relations.

The 3.9 Collective’s exhibition, Hiraeth: the 3.9 Collective Searches for Home is on exhibit through April 21, 2015 at the University of San Francisco’s Thacher Gallery and will feature a closing event with Rodney Ewing from 5:30-7:30p.m. on April 21st in the Thacher Gallery. 





For more information, contact jvgabrielle@usfca.edu or visit  http://www.usfca.edu/library/thacher/





Artists in the 3.9 Collective are responding to San Francisco’s dramatic loss of African American citizens with work that both reminds us of the city’s vibrantly diverse past and expresses resistance to present trends.

Visual Talismans from the Past

Fascinating Trove - Yale’s Beinecke Library Buys Vast Collection of Lincoln Photos http://nyti.ms/1G6d786 

Memory Making: The First Emperor's Legacy at the Asian Art Museum

by Gregg Chadwick

China's Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor's Legacy

at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco 

photo by Gregg Chadwick

 "I, Sovereign, am the First Emperor; my descendants will call themselves the Second Generation, the Third Generation, and will go on forever after." 
- The First Emperor, Qin Shihuang (259-210 BCE) 
   quoted by the historian Sima Qian (145-90 BCE)


China's Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor's Legacy currently on view at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco until May 27, 2013 provides tantalizing glimpses of an ancient culture and its rulers' attempts to influence cultural and political memory. Over two thousand years ago, Qin Shihuang - the first emperor of China, began constructing a massive mausoleum to ensure, what Li He, the Asian Museum's associate curator of Chinese art, describes as the personal and political "continuation of the family's ruling position and the long-lasting reign of the dynasty" as well as individual hopes for an afterlife. 

The First Emperor began to plan his eternal place of rest from the moment he ascended the throne. The mausoleum took almost 38 years of hard labor and exquisite craftsmanship to construct. Ongoing archaeological excavations continue to reveal new secrets and hidden cultural treasures created to ensure Qin Shihuang's memory and lineage. Eight human-sized terracotta warriors made the journey to San Francisco. Each figure seems imbued with the ability to speak. Buried in a vast tomb with more than 7,000 comrades, some with horses and chariots, surrounded perhaps by flowing liquid mercury rivers graced by bronze waterbirds and bells, these sculpted warriors were meant to ensure Qin Shihuang's trip through the cosmos and eventual crossing to another realm. According to historian Sima Qian (145-90 BCE) the emperor feared that the creators "might disclose all the treasure that was in the tomb...(that) after the burial and sealing up of  the treasures, the middle gate was shut and the outer gate closed to imprison all the artisans and laborers, so that no one came out." The mausoleum was forgotten over the centuries. The tomb was not revealed until the 20th century, when Chinese farmers found fragments of terracotta sculptures as they attempted to assuage the effects of a drought with a new well. 

Armored General

221-206 BCE China

Terracotta

Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, Shaanxi, China

 Installation at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco 

photo by Gregg Chadwick

Rulers and politicians of all stripes are often in the business of memory-making. The recent unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Library comes to mind. Since President Calvin Coolidge, all American presidents have a stand-alone presidential library that holds their papers and memorabilia. But the G.W. Bush library is unique in that it is a museum that Rachel Maddow convincingly describes as a ridiculous attempt to make the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq seem like a good idea. Watch the Rachel Maddow video linked here and see if you agree that, as she puts it,"The case to invade Iraq was cooked up, a hoax put upon the nation." With this ridiculous attempt at memory-making by the Bush team in mind, I looked at Qin Shihuang's memory-mausoleum differently than I might have otherwise. What message was the First Emperor attempting to send on to future generations with his vast buried army of exquisitely crafted clay warriors?

Emperor Qin Shihuang used force to break up and subsume noble lands as well as compelling the noble families themselves to move to, his new capital, Xianyang. The emperor freed peasants from their feudal bonds, but then forced them into servitude for the state. Arthur Cotterell in his informative work, The Imperial Capitals of China, describes that the emperor's extensive construction and engineering program imposed a tremendous burden and that "this continued use of conscript labor strained the allegiance of the peasantry, especially when it was maintained by the naked force of cruel punishments." Due to this shift in labor allocations, agriculture suffered and famine ensued. Subsequently in 209 (BCE), starving, impoverished peasants staged the first large-scale rebellion in Chinese history. 

Was this sculpted army intended as a symbol to the living as well as the dead? With the rebellions that signaled the coming end of Qin Shihuang's short lived dynasty, it is unlikely that the emperor's memory-making had an initial effect on the Chinese populace. Gish Jen in her marvelous new book, Tiger Writing, quotes Chinese author Lin Yutang from his 1935 work My Country and My People, "that the Chinese are given to a farcical view of life, and that 'Chinese humor... consist[s] in compliance with outward form ... and the total disregard of the substance in actuality.'" 

 China's Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor's Legacy is an exhibition that provokes cultural and historical critique as well as artistic engagement. Political art is rarely this exquisite. Don't miss it!

China's Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor's Legacy includes objects from the Museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses, the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, and the Shaanxi History Museum.

On Site View of Unrestored Warriors
at the Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, Shaanxi, China
Courtesy: Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, Shaanxi, China

More at:

The Imperial Capitals of China by Arthur Cotterell
Terracotta Warriors at the Asian Art Museum  SF Chronicle

Late Summer Mentors and Memories

Watching these poignant videos of Eddie Vedder singing with Bruce Springsteen and knowing that Tom Morello was offstage waiting for his next turn, I am called to thank the numerous mentors in my life. As an artist, sometimes it is only the artwork itself that carries its influence into your life. Other times it is the day to day connection with a teacher, colleague, or partner. And for me it has also been the powerful influence of my family and friends. From my blazingly intelligent wife MarySue Heilemann, to my brilliant brother Kent Chadwick, to my supportive parents Bob and Peg Chadwick, to my teachers Sam Amato and Jan Stussy at UCLA and Dale McConathy and Richard Martin at NYU, to my colleagues at the Santa Monica Art Studios, to the always inspiring writer Peter Clothier, to my gallerist in San Francisco Sandra Lee, to my collectors over all these years, to my new friend and colleague in the arts Barbara Drucker, to my agent Gwenda Joyce, to the insightful film and theater artists Alan and Alana Caudillo, Yareli Arizmendi and Sergio Arau, Dan Bonnell and Lea Floden, Craig Zisk and Julie Weiss, to the passionate musicians RB Morris, Kelly Colbert, Michael McDermott and Peter Himmelman, and to my collaborator in the creative fire Phil Cousineau - I say "Thank You for the inspiration, friendship and mentorship!"


Video: Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder Sing My Hometown at Wrigley Field Sept 8, 2012


Another View: Bruce Springsteen w/ Eddie Vedder My Hometown - Wrigley Field 9/8/12

Video: Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder - Atlantic City- Wrigley Field, Sept 7, 2012

Gregg Chadwick
Jimmy Buff's
72"x96" oil on linen 1983-1988

Paul Revere's Ride

by Gregg Chadwick

Paul Revere 1734-1818
The Boston Massacre (The Bloody Massacre)
9 7/8" x 8 1/2" Engraving, hand colored 1770
Boston Museum of Fine Arts

"We live in an age where, on every level, it is considered a sin to be wrong. From advertisers to kids on the playground to the world of corporate PR to politicians, the all-too-common wisdom is to defend the indefensible. That's what Palin is doing and that is what her renfields on Wikipedia are doing, and that's sad, because as anyone remotely successful in Silicon Valley can tell you, without owning our mistakes we cannot learn from them and without learning, we cannot win."
- Curt Hopkins in Read, Write, Web

I love to read history. Scores of books line my studio walls and the past is never far from my thoughts. Museums have been a favorite haunt of mine since childhood. Peering through glass at ambered papers and tattered journals never fails to remind me of the great divide between what happened and what we know. Each year historians gather new evidence from primary sources and measure what we think we understand in light of this new evidence. History is a living pursuit that sheds light on who we are and what we value. It is one thing to nudge historical understanding a bit forward with new evidence. But misrepresenting current historical consensus about Paul Revere's ride in 1775 is unhelpful.

What is the current thinking on Paul Revere's ride to to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were marching to arrest them?

We know that Paul Revere was an ardent revolutionary who was active in political and civic organizations in Colonial Boston. In 1770, Paul Revere created an emotional hand colored engraving of the Boston Massacre. On March 5,1770, five men were shot to death in Boston by panicked British troops. Preceding the gunfire a crowd of Bostonians taunted a sentry standing guard at the city's customs house. When British soldiers reinforced the sentry's position, chaos ensued and shots were fired into the crowd.

An astute, if not conniving businessman, Paul Revere borrowed the features of a drawing by artist Henry Pelham to produce his own engraving of the event which he labeled The Bloody Massacre. Revere's engraving was quickly produced, advertisements for the prints appeared in Boston newspapers three weeks after the shootings. Eventually Henry Pelham's produced his own version but Revere's engraving was already selling at high volume. Eventually a third engraving of the Boston Massacre was offered for sale by Jonathan Mulliken. Interestingly, except for minor differences - including Paul Revere's engraved signature on his print, all three prints share the same composition and characters.

John Adams, whose cousin Sam Adams was warned by Paul Revere on his midnight ride five years later, expressed in his memoirs that acting as the defense lawyer for the British soldiers accused of murder in the Boston Massacre trial in 1770 was "one of the most gallant, generous, manly, and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country."

When Revere's depiction of the Boston Massacre came out, he had already been in the Colonial military service since 1756 and was later promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1776. As an express rider for the Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Massachusetts Committee of Safety Paul Revere carried messages and copies of resolutions as far as New York City and Philadelphia. Paul Revere's role as a courier came to a head on his midnight ride on April 18, 1775.

Grant Wood (American, 1892–1942)
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
1931. Oil on Masonite. 30 x 40 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.



On the evening of April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren told Revere to ride to Lexington, Massachusetts, and warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were marching to arrest them. Contemporary accounts tell that, "After being rowed across the Charles River to Charlestown by two associates, Paul Revere borrowed a horse from his friend Deacon John Larkin. While in Charlestown, he verified that the local "Sons of Liberty" committee had seen his pre-arranged signals. (Two lanterns had been hung briefly in the bell-tower of Christ Church in Boston, indicating that troops would row "by sea" across the Charles River to Cambridge, rather than marching "by land" out Boston Neck. Revere had arranged for these signals the previous weekend, as he was afraid that he might be prevented from leaving Boston)."

William Monroe, a sergeant in Captain Parker's company of minute-men, stood guard outside the home of Reverend Clark where Samuel Adams and John Hancock had sought shelter. His account of Pul Revere's arrival is interesting:

"Early in the evening of the 18th, British soldiers had been seen on the road from Boston.
I supposed they had some design upon Hancock and Adams, who were at the house of the Rev. Mr. Clark, and immediately assembled a guard of eight men, with their arms, to guard the house. About midnight, Col. Paul Revere rode up and requested admittance. I told him the family had just retired, and had requested that they might not be disturbed "by any noise about the house.

" Noise!' said he, you'll have noise enough before long. The regulars are coming out.'

"We then permitted him to pass"

After Paul Revere had warned Hancock and Adams he was detained by British troops. Revere's account of the event is riveting:

"After I had been there about half an hour Mr. Dawes arrived, who came from Boston, over the neck: we set off for Concord, & were overtaken by a young gentlemen named Prescot, who belonged to Concord, & was going home; when we had got about half way from Lexington to Concord, the other two, stopped at a house to awake the man, I kept along, when I had got about 200 yards of them; I saw two officers as before, I called to my company to come up, saying here was two of them (for I had told them what Mr. Devens told me, and of my being stoped) in an instant, I saw four of them, who rode up to me, with their pistols in their hands, said God damn you stop if you go an inch further, you are a dead Man,' immeaditly Mr. Prescot came up we attempted to git thro them, but they kept before us, and swore if we did not turn into that pasture, they would blow our brains out, (they had placed themselves opposite to a pair of Barrs, and had taken the Barrs down) they forced us in, when we had got in, Mr. Precot said put on, He took to the left, I to the right towards a wood, at the bottom of the Pasture intending, when I gained that, to jump my Horse & run afoot.

Just as I reached it, out started six officers, seized my bridle, put their pistols to my Breast, ordered me to dismount, which I did: One of them, who appeared to have the command there, and much of a Gentleman, asked me where I came from; I told him, he asked what time I left it, I told him, he seemed surprised said Sr. may I have your name, I answered my name is Revere, what said he, Paul Revere; I answered yes; the others abused much, but he told me not to be afraid, no one should hurt me; I told him they would miss their aim. He said they should not, they were only awaiting for some deserters they expected down the Road.

I told him I knew better, I knew what they were after; that I had alarmed the country all the way up, that their Boats were catch'd aground, and I should have 500 men there soon; one of them said they had 1,500 coming: he seemed surprised and rode off into the road, and informed them who took me, they came down immeaditly on a full gallop, one of them (whom I since learned was Major Mitchell of the 5th Reg.) Clap (doug d) his pistol to my head, and said he was going to ask me some questions, if I did not tell him the truth, he would blow my brains out.

I told him I esteemed myself a Man of truth, that he had stopped me on the highway, & made me a prisoner, I knew not by what right; I would tell him the truth; I was not afraid; He then asked me, the same questions that the other did, and many more, but was more particular; I gave him much the same answers; he then Ordered me to mount my horse, they first searched me for pistols.

When I was mounted the Major took the reins out of my hand, and said by G___d Sr. you are not to ride with reins I assure you; and gave them to an officer on my right, to lead me, he then Ordered 4 men out of the Bushes, &to mount their horses; they were countrymen whom they had stopped, who were going home; then ordered us to march. He said to me We are now going towards your friends, and if you attempt to run, or we are insulted, we will blow your Brains out.'

When we had got into the Road they formed a circle, and ordered the prisoners in the center, & to lead me in the front. We rid towards Lexington, a quick pace; They very often insulted me calling me Rebel &c. &c. after we had got about a mile, I was given to the Serjant to lead, he was Ordered to take out his pistol, (he rode with a hanger,) and if I ran, to execute the major's sentence; When we got within about half a mile of the meeting house, we heard a gun fired; the major asked me what it was for, I told him to alarm the country; he ordered the four prisoners to dismount, they did, then one of the officers dismounted and cutt the bridles, and saddles, off the Horses, & drove them away, and told the men they might go about their business; I asked the Major to dismiss me, he said he would carry me, lett the consequence be what it will.

He then Ordered us to march, when we got within sight of the meeting House, we heard a Volley of guns fired, as I supposed at the tavern, as an alarm; the major ordered us to halt, he asked me how for it was to Cambridge, and many more questions, which I answered: he then asked the Serjant, if his horse was tired, he said yes; he Ordered him to take my horse; I dismounted, the Serjant mounted my horse; they cutt the Bridles & Saddle & of the Serjants horse, & rode off, down the road.

I then went to the house where I left Adams and Hancock, and told them what had happined, their friends advised them to go out of the way; I went with them, about two miles across road: after resting myself I sett off with another man to go back to the Tavern; to enquire the News; when we go there, we were told the troops were, within two miles. We went into the Tavern to git a Trunk of papers, belonging to Col. Hancock, before we left the House, I saw the ministerial Troops from the Chamber window, we made haste, & had to pass thro' our Militia, who were on a green behind the meeting house, to the number as I supposed, about 50 or 60. I went thro them; as I passed I heard the commanding officer speake to his men to this purpose, lett the troops pass by, & don't molest them, without They begin first.'"

Paul Revere rang no bells, nor fired a weapon. He was fortunate to be let go by the British patrol. Paul Revere's ride was heroic and did inspire artworks that carried his actions into the heroic realm of myth. But we don't need to turn his stealthy journey into a rabble rousing cowboy adventure. On his ride Paul Revere didn't need to carry a gun, he was armed with courage and intelligence.

John Singleton Copley
Portrait of Paul Revere
35"x 28.5" oil on canvas 1768
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston


Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report Reenacts Revere's Ride Complete With Bell and Musket

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
To warn the Brits, or what? Oh, dear
I cannot think, it’s not quite clear…

I have it now! And I will tell:
He rode, he shot, he rang the bell,
He told the Brits to go to hell
Defiant, proud and shooting swell.

Through the country dark he road
Through fair New Hampshire, so we’re told,
Through field and street, he was right bold
His rifle clutched, a vise-like hold.

“We armed, we’re armed!” he shouted wide,
He rang that bell as he did ride,
He shot the dark from side to side,
Uh, wait, I think that, uh, I lied

-Elizabeth Ash (With Apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow )

Paul Revere's Ride

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."

Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war;
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon like a prison bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.

Meanwhile, his friend through alley and street
Wanders and watches, with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers,
Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church,
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade,--
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town
And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"
A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay,--
A line of black that bends and floats
On the rising tide like a bridge of boats.

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse's side,
Now he gazed at the landscape far and near,
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry tower of the Old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns.

A hurry of hoofs in a village street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet;
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.
He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer's dog,
And felt the damp of the river fog,
That rises after the sun goes down.

It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, black and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock,
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadow brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,---
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
>From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,---
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.


More at:
Sarah Palin – “Paul Revere Warned…The British?”
Bio of Paul Revere: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Wikipedia in Tug-of-War Over Palin's Version of Revolutionary War


Paul Revere House, North Square, North End
(The Paul Revere House, built circa 1680, is located at 19 and 21 North Square, Boston)
photographic print : salted paper circa 1898
Boston Public Library, Print Department

President Barack Obama's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation

President Barack Obama's Thanksgiving Day proclamation, as released by the White House:

What began as a harvest celebration between European settlers and indigenous communities nearly four centuries ago has become our cherished tradition of Thanksgiving. This day's roots are intertwined with those of our nation, and its history traces the American narrative.

Today, we recall President George Washington, who proclaimed our first national day of public thanksgiving to be observed "by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God," and President Abraham Lincoln, who established our annual Thanksgiving Day to help mend a fractured nation in the midst of civil war. We also recognize the contributions of Native Americans, who helped the early colonists survive their first harsh winter and continue to strengthen our nation. From our earliest days of independence, and in times of tragedy and triumph, Americans have come together to celebrate Thanksgiving.



As Americans, we hail from every part of the world. While we observe traditions from every culture, Thanksgiving Day is a unique national tradition we all share. Its spirit binds us together as one people, each of us thankful for our common blessings.

As we gather once again among loved ones, let us also reach out to our neighbors and fellow citizens in need of a helping hand. This is a time for us to renew our bonds with one another, and we can fulfill that commitment by serving our communities and our nation throughout the year. In doing so, we pay tribute to our country's men and women in uniform who set an example of service that inspires us all. Let us be guided by the legacy of those who have fought for the freedoms for which we give thanks, and be worthy heirs to the noble tradition of goodwill shown on this day.

Now, therefore, I, Barack Obama, president of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage all the people of the United States to come together, whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place where family, friends and neighbors may gather, with gratitude for all we have received in the past year, to express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own and to share our bounty with others.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day of November, in the year of our Lord 2009, and of the independence of the United States of America the 234th (year).

_ Barack Obama