#theodore sedgwick

[yr-obedt-cicero]

A recording of Hamilton's days following the duel

July 8th, 1804

Sunday morning, Hamilton walked with Eliza “over all the pleasant scenes” of the Grange estate, and returned home at noon. He read the morning service of the Episcopal church. The hours until evening were spent “in kind companionship” with his family. And at the end of the day, Hamilton gathered his children around him under a near tree, he laid with them upon the grass until it turned dark. [x] According to Alexander Hamilton Jr. in an interview; “Col. Smith, son in-law of John Adams, had dined with us, and the result of a conversation on the subject was a tacit agreement on my father's part not to fight.” [x]

July 9th, 1804

Monday morning, Hamilton left Eliza at the Grange and rode down to lower Manhattan, to his town house at 54 Cedar Street with his four eldest sons. After taking care of his urgent clients and affairs, he drafted his will.

Source — Library of Congress, Digital Collections. Alexander Hamilton Papers: Miscellany, 1711-1820; Hamilton, Alexander; Last will and testament

In the Name of God Amen! I Alexander Hamilton of the City of New York Counsellor at Law do make this my last Will and Testament as follows. First I appoint John B Church Nicholas Fish and Nathaniel Pendleton of the City aforesaid Esquires to be Executors and Trustees of this my Will and I devise to them their heirs and Assigns, as joint Tenants and not as Tenants in common, All my Estate real and personal whatsoever and wheresoever upon Trust at their discretion to sell and dispose of the same, at such time and times in such manner and upon such terms as they the Survivors and Survivor shall think fit and out of the proceeds to pay all the Debts which I shall owe at the time of my decease, in whole, if the fund shall be sufficient, proportionally, if it shall be insufficient, and the residue, if any there shall be to pay and deliver to my excellent and dear Wife Elizabeth Hamilton.

Though if it shall please God to spare my life I may look for a considerable surplus out of my present property—Yet if he should speedily call me to the eternal wor[l]d, a forced sale as is usual may possibly render it insufficient to satisfy my Debts. I pray God that something may remain for the maintenance and education of my dear Wife and Children. But should it on the contrary happen that there is not enough for the payment of my Debts, I entreat my Dear Children, if they or any of them shall ever be able, to make up the Deficiency. I without hesitation commit to their delicacy a wish which is dictated by my own. Though conscious that I have too far sacrificed the interests of my family to public avocations & on this account have the less claim to burthen my Children, yet I trust in their magnanimity to appreciate as they ought this my request. In so unfavourable an event of things, the support of their dear Mother with the most respectful and tender attention is a duty all the sacredness of which they will feel. Probably her own patrimonial resources will preserve her from Indigence. But in all situations they are charged to bear in mind that she has been to them the most devoted and best of mothers. In Testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my hand the Ninth day of July in the year of our lord One thousand Eight hundred & four.

Alexander Hamilton

Signed sealed published & declared as and for his last Will and Testament in our presence who have subscribed the same in his presence.

The words John B Church being above interlined.

Dominick T Blake

Graham Newell

Theo B Valleau

Source — Last Will and Testament of Alexander Hamilton, [9 July 1804]

According to John C. Hamilton, while he was executing it, a friend came in and related to him his fear of an intended fraud. Hamilton took him by the arm and said, “Let us walk past the counting-room of these people. Perhaps, on seeing us together, they may think it expedient to do you justice.” The expedient succeeded. [x]

In the afternoon, the regulations of the duel were finalized by Van Nass and Pendleton. [x] Hamilton wrote that Assignment of Debts and Grant of Power of Attorney would be placed on John B. Church. This was included in a list of seven items given to Nathaniel Pendleton. [x]

Know all Men by these Presents, That I Alexander Hamilton of the City of New York Counsellor at law, in consideration of one Dollar to me in hand paid by John B Church Esquire, (the receipt whereof is hereby acknowleged) have bargained sold assigned and conveyed and hereby do bargain sell assign & convey to the said John B Church all and singular the debts due owing and payable to me: which are specified in the schedule hereunto annexed to be by him collected and the proceeds applied first towards the payment of all and every the debt and debts which I owe to my household and other servants and labourers, and to the Woman who washes for Mrs. Hamilton—and secondly towards the satisfaction and discharge of certain accommodation notes made by me and indorsed by him and which have been or shall be discounted in and by the Manhattan Bank and the Office of Discount & Deposit of the Bank of the United States in the City of New York. And for this purpose I do hereby constitute and appoint him my Attorney to ask demand sue for recover and receive the said Debts and every of them and upon receipt thereof or any part thereof to make and give acquittances. In Witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed & set my hand and seal the Ninth day of July in the year of our lord One thousand Eight hundred & four.

A. Ham⟨ilton⟩

Source — Assignment of Debts and Grant of Power of Attorney to John B. Church, [9 July 1804]

The last remaining hours of the day were spent with his old Treasury protégé, Oliver Wolcott Jr., who later wrote; “Hamilton spent the afternoon & evening of Monday with our friends at my House in Company with Mr. Hopkinson of Phil’. He was uncommonly cheerful and gay The duel had been determined on for ten days.” [x]

July 10th, 1804

The following document is undated, but is theorized to have been composed or finished on Hamilton's last work day, Tuesday. Hamilton wrote a list of reasonings as to why he accepted the challenge;

Source — New York Historical Society. Alexander Hamilton statement on impending duel with Aaron Burr, undated, [July 10, 1804(?)]

On my expected interview with Col Burr, I think it proper to make some remarks explanatory of my conduct, motives and views.

I am certainly desirous of avoiding this interview, for the most cogent reasons.

1 My religious and moral principles are strongly opposed to the practice of Duelling, and it would even give me pain to be obliged to shed the blood of a fellow creature in a private combat forbidden by the laws.

2 My wife and Children are extremely dear to me, and my life is of the utmost importance to them, in various views.

3 I feel a sense of obligation towards my creditors; who in case of accident to me, by the forced sale of my property, may be in some degree sufferers. I did not think my self at liberty, as a man of probity, lightly to expose them to this hazard.

4 I am conscious of no ill-will to Col Burr, distinct from political opposition, which, as I trust, has proceeded from pure and upright motives.

Lastly, I shall hazard much, and can possibly gain nothing by the issue of the interview.

But it was, as I conceive, impossible for me to avoid it. There were intrinsick difficulties in the thing, and artificial embarrassments, from the manner of proceeding on the part of Col Burr.

Intrinsick—because it is not to be denied, that my animadversions on the political principles character and views of Col Burr have been extremely severe, and on different occasions, I, in common with many others, have made very unfavourable criticisms on particular instances of the private conduct of this Gentleman.

In proportion as these impressions were entertained with sincerity and uttered with motives and for purposes, which might appear to me commendable, would be the difficulty (until they could be removed by evidence of their being erroneous), of explanation or apology. The disavowal required of me by Col Burr, in a general and indefinite form, was out of my power, if it had really been proper for me to submit to be so questionned; but I was sincerely of opinion, that this could not be, and in this opinion, I was confirmed by that of a very moderate and judicious friend whom I consulted. Besides that Col Burr appeared to me to assume, in the first instance, a tone unnecessarily peremptory and menacing, and in the second, positively offensive. Yet I wished, as far as might be practicable, to leave a door open to accommodation. This, I think, will be inferred from the written communications made by me and by my direction, and would be confirmed by the conversations between Mr van Ness and myself, which arose out of the subject.

I am not sure, whether under all the circumstances I did not go further in the attempt to accommodate, than a pun[c]tilious delicacy will justify. If so, I hope the motives I have stated will excuse me.

It is not my design, by what I have said to affix any odium on the conduct of Col Burr, in this case. He doubtless has heared of animadversions of mine which bore very hard upon him; and it is probable that as usual they were accompanied with some falshoods. He may have supposed himself under a necessity of acting as he has done. I hope the grounds of his proceeding have been such as ought to satisfy his own conscience.

I trust, at the same time, that the world will do me the Justice to believe, that I have not censured him on light grounds, or from unworthy inducements. I certainly have had strong reasons for what I may have said, though it is possible that in some particulars, I may have been influenced by misconstruction or misinformation. It is also my ardent wish that I may have been more mistaken than I think I have been, and that he by his future conduct may shew himself worthy of all confidence and esteem, and prove an ornament and blessing to his Country.

As well because it is possible that I may have injured Col Burr, however convinced myself that my opinions and declarations have been well founded, as from my general principles and temper in relation to similar affairs—I have resolved, if our interview is conducted in the usual manner, and it pleases God to give me the opportunity, to reserve and throw away my first fire, and I have thoughts even of reserving my second fire—and thus giving a double opportunity to Col Burr to pause and to reflect.

It is not however my intention to enter into any explanations on the ground. Apology, from principle I hope, rather than Pride, is out of the question.

To those, who with me abhorring the practice of Duelling may think that I ought on no account to have added to the number of bad examples—I answer that my relative situation, as well in public as private aspects, enforcing all the considerations which constitute what men of the world denominate honor, impressed on me (as I thought) a peculiar necessity not to decline the call. The ability to be in future useful, whether in resisting mischief or effecting good, in those crises of our public affairs, which seem likely to happen, would probably be inseparable from a conformity with public prejudice in this particular.

Source — Statement on Impending Duel with Aaron Burr, [28 June–10 July 1804]

Hamilton ran into a family friend and client on Broadway, Dirck Ten Broeck, who reminded him that he had forgotten to deliver a promised legal opinion. Afterward, Broeck reflected with astonishment on Hamilton's reaction; “He was really ashamed of his neglect, but [said] that I must call on him the next day, Wednesday—(the awful fatal day)—at 10 o'clock, when he would sit down with me, lock the door, and then we would finish the business.” [x]

Hamilton wrote to Theodore Sedgwick, his friend of many years, who had been the channel of his most useful communications on the policy of the country; thus showing that, to the latest moment, his thoughts were upon that which had formed the leading topic of the Federalist—“the utility of the Union to the political prosperity of the whole American people.” [x] Since one purpose of the duel was to prepare to head off a secessionist threat, he warned Sedgwick against any such movement among New England Federalists.

Source — Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. Letter from Alexander Hamilton to Theodore Sedgwick, 10 July 1804.

New York July 10. 1804

My Dear Sir

I have received two letters from you since we last saw each other—that of the latest date being the 24 of May. I have had in hand for some time a long letter to you, explaining my view of the course and tendency of our Politics, and my intentions as to my own future conduct. But my plan embraced so large a range that owing to much avocation, some indifferent health, and a growing distaste for Politics, the letter is still considerably short of being finished. I write this now to satisfy you, that want of regard for you has not been the cause of my silence.

I will here express but one sentiment, which is, that Dismembrement of our Empire will be a clear sacrifice of great positive advantages, without any counterballancing good; administering no relief to our real Disease; which is Democracy, the poison of which by a subdivision will only be the more concentered in each part, and consequently the more virulent.

King is on his way for Boston where you may chance to see him, and hear from himself his sentiments.

God bless you

A H

Source — Alexander Hamilton to Theodore Sedgwick, [July 10, 1804]

Hamilton then saw Judah Hammond, who was a clerk in AH's law office, where he drafted an elaborate opinion in a legal matter. Hammond later recalled that; “The last time General Hamilton was in the office was in the early part of July 1804, in the afternoon. I was the only person remaining in the office with him. The last thing he did there, in his professional business he did at my desk and by my side. Even the place seems sacred to my memory. The office was at Number twelve in Garden Street, opposite the Church Grounds. The building has been since removed. It was near sunset, the evening bright and serene. The setting sun approached the margin of the horizon, shedding his last rays on the beautiful objects illustrated by his departing splendours. At this closing of the day, when we love to linger in its pleasures, General Hamilton came to my desk, in the tranquil manner usual with him, and gave me a business paper with his instructions, concerning it. I saw no change in his appearance. These were his last moments in his place of business” [x]

According to John C. Hamilton; “—after waiting upon his faithful friend, Oliver Wolcott, at the close of an entertainment given by him, [...] made his last visit. It was to Colonel [Robert] Troup, the companion of his early years.” [x] For weeks, Troup had lain bedridden with a grave illness that Hamilton feared might prove mortal. When he dropped by to visit Troup, Hamilton did not mention the duel and overflowed Troup with medical suggestions;

“The General's visit lasted more than half an hour; and after making particular inquiries respecting the state of my complaint, he favored me with his advice as to the course which he thought would best conduce to the reestablishment of my health. But the whole tenor of the General's deportment during the visit manifested such composure and cheerfulness of mind as to leave me without any suspicion of the rencontre that was depending.”

Source — William and Mary Quarterly, Journal

Afterwards, Hamilton returned to his townhouse. Pendleton found him there and attempted to discuss with him and make a final attempt to dissuade Hamilton from his decision to delope during the duel. Nevertheless, Hamilton insisted he would fire in the air. When Pendleton protested, Hamilton indicated that his mind was made up; “My friend,” he told Pendleton, “it is the effect of a religious scruple and does not admit of reasoning. It is useless to say more on the subject as my purpose is definitely fixed.” [x]

At 10 p.m, Hamilton - even after already writing Eliza a farewell letter dated on the fourth - sat down in his study upstairs and took his quill once more to pen another letter but in favor of Anne Mitchell, Hamilton's cousin, and his largest supporter in his boyhood.

Source — A letter from Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, dated July 4, 1804. Courtesy of the Library of Congress Manuscripts Division.

My beloved Eliza

Mrs. Mitchel is the person in the world to whom as a friend I am under the greatest Obligations. I have ⟨not⟩ hitherto done my ⟨duty⟩ to her. But ⟨resolved⟩ to repair my omission as much as ⟨possible,⟩ I have encouraged her to come to ⟨this Country⟩ and intend, if it shall be ⟨in my po⟩wer to render the Evening of her days ⟨c⟩omfortable. But if it shall please God to put this out of my power and to inable you hereafter to be of ⟨s⟩ervice to her, I entreat you to d⟨o⟩ it and to treat ⟨h⟩er with the tenderness of a Sister.

This is my second letter.

The Scrup⟨les of a Christian have deter⟩mined me to expose my own li⟨fe to any⟩ extent rather than subject my s⟨elf to the⟩ guilt of taking the life of ⟨another.⟩ This must increase my hazards & redoubles my pangs for you. But you had rather I should die inno⟨c⟩ent than live guilty. Heaven can pre⟨se⟩rve me ⟨and I humbly⟩ hope will ⟨b⟩ut in the contrary ⟨e⟩vent, I charge you to remember that you are a Christian. God’s Will be done. The will of a merciful God must be good.

Once more Adieu My Darling darling Wife

A H

Tuesday Evening 10 oCl⟨ock⟩

⟨Mrs Ha⟩milton

Source — Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [10 July 1804]

Hamilton descended from his study, and entered the parlor downstairs, there he found his son reading a book. Hamilton watched him pensively for a few moments, before he leaned over his book and smiled as he asked him if he would sleep with him. [x] The son in this story is Hamilton's fifth child, John Church Hamilton, who later recalled the same incident in an interview;

I recall a single incident about it with full clearness. [...] The day before the duel I was sitting in a room, when, at a slight noise, I turned around and saw my father in the doorway, standing silently there and looking at me with a most sweet and beautiful expression of countenance. It was full of tenderness, and without any of the business pre-occupation he sometimes had. “John,” he said, when I had discovered him, “won't you come and sleep with me to-night?” His voice was frank as if he had been my brother instead of my father. That night I went to his bed, and in the morning very early he awakened me, and taking my hands in his palms, all four hands extended, he said and told me to repeat the Lord's Prayer. Seventy-five years have since passed over my head, and I have forgotten many things, but not that tender expression when he stood looking at me in the door nor the prayer we made together the morning before the duel. I do not so well recollect seeing him lie upon his deathbed, though I was there.

Source — Interview with John Church Hamilton, reminiscences about his father.

July 11th, 1804

After Hamilton retired to bed with John uncommonly early, he awoke quietly at three o'clock the next morning. Hamilton reportedly had; “some imperfect sleep; but the succeeding morning his symptoms were aggravated, attended however with a diminution of pain. His mind retained all its usual strength and composure. The great source of his anxiety seemed to be in his sympathy with his half distracted wife and children.” [x] He soon awoke John and took his hands in his palms, “all four hands extended”, he spoke the Lord's Prayer, as John repeated after him. Afterwards he asked his son to light a candle, John asked him what was the matter and Hamilton had lied to him claiming that his little sister, Eliza Hamilton Holly, was ill and had been taken out of town. And that his mother had sent for him and that he was going out with Doctor Hosack. After the candle was lit he sat down and wrote a hymn which he had but just finished when Pendleton and Hosack called for him. The hymn was put in his will where it was found by his wife later on. [x]

Main sources:

Life of Alexander Hamilton, by John Church Hamilton.

The intimate life of Alexander Hamilton, by Allan McLane Hamilton.

Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow.

A Collection of the Facts and Documents, Relative to the Death of Major-General Alexander Hamilton, by William Coleman.

Four letters on the death of Alexander Hamilton 1804, David B. Ogden.

[toastytrusty]

actually so sad this is the only mention of jonathon bellamy in war of two ☹️ need more jonathon bellamy content in the world

excerpts from war of two by john sedgwick

[odesofmeddea]

did you fuck her like a hound 🖤

succession, “prague” 1x08 script by jesse armstrong; in memorium, alice winn; “the derelict” the dead and the living, sharon olds; succession “chiantishire” 3x08; the carnivorous lamb introduction by sharon g. feldman; dinosaur, richard siken; the borgias 2x02; white fang, jack london; the love song of st. sebastian by t. s. eliot; dead ringers script by david cronenberg and norman snider; between men, eve kosofsky sedgwick; inbred - ethel cain; fabulous creatures, mythical monsters, and animal power symbols, cassandra eason; ‘the ash lad and the wolf’ by theodor kittelsen; fire and blood, “a son for a son”, george r. m. martin

[militantinremission]

HipHop's 50th Anniversary: What 'Culture' are We talking about?

I was in Elementary School back on Aug. 11th 1973. My family left The Bronx, but I spent a lot of time w/ my 'big cousins' in the Harlem River Houses. My cousin Mona babysat my brother & I, taking Us everywhere w/ her; including dates. I remember Mona taking Us to 'The Summer Of Soul Concert' in Harlem, & I remember going to a few of those Park Jams in Bronxdale & in Soundview. I think We saw more of King Mario than Kool Herc & Coke La Rock. My oldest brother formally introduced me to HipHop in the Spring of 1977 (b4 the Blackout). I remember coming home from School to find his Crew set up in Our Dining Room.

I got my 1st look from the 'Other Side of The Rope', & I was hooked! I wasn't a Rapper (yet), or a Break Dancer, but I had an ear for music. Like a lot of Old School Deejays (& under My brother's tutelage) I cut My teeth on Component Sets & BSR Turntables; rocking Line In switches b4 getting a [real] Mixer... I bought My own DJ Set in 1984 (B2s), & mastered my Craft as a Street DJ, & later in a few NYC Clubs. Most DJs are disciples of [Grand Master] Flash or [Grand Wizard] Theodore; I was more of a disciple of Jazzy Jay & Cut Master DC. We All have Our Unique Features, but EVERYONE went back to School when Jazzy Jeff introduced the 'Transformer Cut', back in 1986. Like a lot of DJs disenchanted w/ 'Gangsta Rap', I split time w/ HipHop's Twin Sister- House Music.

I say all of this, to qualify myself as a 'bonafide Shorty' of 1st Generation HipHop, & a full fledged Member of The New School Era. My point, is to say that 'In The Beginning', there was just The Culture. It didn't have a formal name- but it was being done ALL OVER NYC. I associate the '1520 Sedgwick Avenue' Story of HipHop w/ Afrika Bambaataa; he's The First Person that I remember telling this Story. Disco King Mario predated Kool Herc by years. Herc copied Mario's Style- down to his equipment! King Mario wasn't alone, Pete 'DJ' Jones & Hank Spann & were dueling Frankie Crocker & Gary Byrd On The Radio (WWRL vs WBLS), while DJ Flowers, DJ Spotlight, DJ Smokey, DJ Hollywood, The Disco Twins, & a number of Club DJs were also mixing it up.

A major argument is whether Disco is connected to HipHop. The Cats up in The Bronx say HELL NO, while the rest of NYC says HELL YES! People need to understand that when We talk about 'Disco', we don't mean 'The Sound' or Studio 54; We mean 'The Disco Fever', 'Harlem World', 'Sugar Hill', & 'The Factory'. The DJs that spun @ these Clubs molded the format that HipHop DJs still follow Today. Kool Herc is credited w/ The 'Merry Go Round'- his mix of Break Beats, but he wasn't the only DJ mixing Breaks or James Brown songs. The Black Spades that were interviewed, speak on King Mario spinning 'Soul Power' & how they chanted 'Spade Power'- as early as 1971. This creates a schism between Bronxdale & Soundview.

Black Americans say HipHop started in Bronxdale, as late as 1971. West Indians; Jamaican- Americans in particular, say it started on Aug. 11th, 1973. Puerto Ricans [Nuyoricans/ Puerto Rocks] say it started between 1975 & 1977, when Afrika Bambaataa incorporated Latino Breakers into 'his' HipHop scene. While there is debate over When & Where in The Bronx it started, EVERYONE AGREES that HipHop was created to Stop Gang Violence. The Culture involves individual expression through Graffiti, B- Boy Style of Dress, & Dance, Spoken Word, & the ability to keep The Party going non-stop. The Original Gangs splintered into Crews that now 'battled' each other w/ Turntables & Mics, on the Dance floor, & w/ Spray Paint Cans (Bombing).

The vernacular of HipHop is based in The Nation Of Islam & The Nation of Gods & Earths, so it's big on Black Power, Black Excellence, & The Traditional Black Family. Both Organizations are Pan Afrikan in their Philosophy, so The Black Diaspora is represented. The same is true w/ The Zulu Nation. Before the rise of The Nation of Latin Kings & Queens, you would find Latino Zulu Kings & Queens- it was All Love! Afrika Bambaataa coined HipHop's 'Mission Statement' of: "Peace, Unity, Love, & Having Fun!", in a song w/ James Brown by the same Name. He also defined the existing '5 Elements' as the fundamentals of HipHop Culture. The Zulu Nation were the unofficial Ambassadors of HipHop; first taking it Downtown, & later taking it Globally... No One questioned Bambaataa's actions.

As We celebrate 50Yrs of HipHop, Afrika Bambaataa's Legacy is tarnished @ best. He has been Radio Silent, since allegations of Child Molestation rose against him 7Yrs ago. Every Move that Bambaataa made is being questioned- Was it a good move for HipHop to go Downtown to SoHo? Did it open the door to the current 'isms' that plague The Culture? It was a Black Specific art form, but it opened itself up to integration w/ Sexual Deviants, Drug Abusers, & White Record Executives. In retrospect, We can see what lured Bam Downtown. I'm curious- is the current manifestation of 'The Culture' Bambaataa's intended goal? It goes against his language, but it's in line w/ his actions.

In the wake of Afrika Bambaataa's 'Fall from Grace', people began questioning his narrative of HipHop. Original B- Boys are still walking The Streets, so it wasn't hard to fact check. DJ Phase has spoke on many Youtube videos under 'The Culture', where he breaks down the Foundation of what became HipHop. According to DJ Phase, HipHop was born on June 7th, 1971- in the Bronxdale Houses. He said that it wasn't organized; Mario simply set up on the grass & spun records. Later that Summer, in July- DJ Phase said that they were more organized w/ more sound & records, so THAT was when Brothers got serious about what they were doing. Disco King Mario did a series of Jams that culminated in the legendary 'Rosedale Park' Jam, that lit up The Bronx & inspired future pioneers.

There is a lot of controversy today concerning the Origins of HipHop. Jason Black, of 'The Black Authority' had the best comment on the subject: "Success has many Fathers, but Failure is an Orphan". As We question the running narrative of HipHop's birth, We also have to question WHO gets Credit for WHAT. No One questions the contributions of Jamaicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Haitians, & Panamanians to The Culture, but the claims being made by Busta Rhymes, Pete Rock, Fat Joe, & John Leguizamo are disrespectful. Busta & Pete Rock assert that Jamaican Culture DIRECTLY INFLUENCED HipHop; Busta says 90%. He goes on to say that Kool Herc brought the Sound System & Jamaican 'Toasting' or 'Ranking' to the Bronx Youth. Puerto Ricans weren't really prominent in HipHop b4 'Beat Street' & the 'Break Dance Movies', but Fat Joe & John Leguizamo say Puerto Rico contributed 50% to The Culture... They ALL sound ridiculous.

In an effort to get ahead of King Mario predating Kool Herc, people have gone as far as saying that Disco King Mario is [half] Puerto Rican. When it was proven that Mario came from North Carolina, a Story came out that his family migrated to (Jim Crow) North Carolina back in 1912. Mario's Sister says they aren't Puerto Rican- They're North Carolinian & 'Country'... His Mother just liked the name Mario. This effort to remove Black Americans from a Black American genre is confusing. Making a contribution 'to', or an innovation 'of' something, doesn't make one 'The Originator' of it. DJ Phase made a point to elaborate on The Energy behind HipHop, & what inspired it. Our Family from The Diaspora mostly arrived after The Civil Rights Movement; They really don't know what AmeriKKKa was like before 1970.

Contrary to what Busta Rhymes, Pete Rock, or Fat Joe may say, HipHop begins w/ The Black Spades. As a boy in Harlem, I remember how revered The Black Spades were. They were respected, but I didn't understand why... Before The Black Spades, Blackfolk in The Bronx were being victimized by Whitefolk; 'Authur Avenue' Italians, in particular. According to The Black Spades, they couldn't go ANYWHERE w/o being attacked, so they organized & struck back. The Black Spades- essentially Black Teens, didn't just beat those Racists back; they opened up The Bronx for EVERY Black Person, giving them The Right of Autonomy. That Energy or Spirit of Revolution was celebrated in Song & Dance, & King Mario was The Conductor.

Kool Herc got to see King Mario & The Black Spades at 'The Tunnel'. He heard the Breaks & saw how the Black Spades reacted- He heard the chants of 'Spade Power!' Herc himself said that he analyzed what 'they were doing' & came up w/ The Merry Go Round. That, is an innovation. Herc never said that he introduced Toasting to those Baby Spades; in fact, Herc admitted trying to play Jamaican Music, but The Crowd didn't take to it. If Busta & Pete Rock were right, We should have some Reggae among familiar Beat Beats. All of these Cats talk about 'Culture', but they just sound ignorant. A 'Culture' is defined as: 'The sum total of Social Life'. If West Indian (i.e. Jamaican) and/or Latinx (i.e. Puerto Rican) Culture plays such a major role in HipHop, why did ALL of them adopt Black American Social Mores? Kool Herc admitted that he was clowned when he arrived in The Bronx; he thought Cowboy Boots were cool.

If we're going to run w/ the: 'Kool Herc is The Father of HipHop' Story, Coke La Rock should @ least be mentioned. He is credited w/ being The First Emcee. He was Herc's Partner. Busta & a literal Legion of Yardies want to coronate Herc as 'King of HipHop', but it was Coke La Rock that transformed 'Clive' into 'Kool Herc'. Clive DIDN'T KNOW THE CULTURE. Coke La Rock took him down to 125th Street, showed him what to buy, & how to sport it. Somehow, Coke La Rock was written out of the narrative. Again, Bambaataa started this. Another issue w/ Herc being hailed as 'The Father' of HipHop, is how easily he Bowed Down to U- Roy. Herc referred to him as 'his King'. Big Respect to U- Roy, I- Roy & ALL the Pioneers of Ska, Reggae, Lover's Rock, Dub Poetry, & Dancehall! That said, Black Americans BOW TO NO ONE! This is a Problem.

When We talk about Culture, HipHop embodies The Spirit of Revolution. Lay it out on the Black American Timeline, & it's a natural transition; from Work Songs, to Ragtime, to Jazz, to Rhythm & Blues, to Soul & Funk, to HipHop. It's the tireless spirit of Black Liberation in AmeriKKKa. Where does Jamaican or Puerto Rican 'Culture' fit in? They were 'Lovers, not Fighters'. We were Angry! What were they angry about? They were in America- Everything was 'Irie'! When DJ Phase was asked about this [Kool Herc] narrative, he cut to The Chase & said that this narrative gives Whitefolk a 'lane of claim' to Our Culture. It was Too Black, Too Strong, but it's been watered down. When We raise Our Heads, We will see that the people claiming ownership of Our Culture, are the same people representing Us in Government. They are the ones allowing Benign Neglect to continue & contesting Our Right to receive [Lineage Based] Reparations. They also represent Us 'On Screen', but they rarely depict Us in a dignified manner; We're either Ghetto, or Cowards.

While We're on the subject of 'Culture', let's point out how the level of deviance & violence has risen w/ the number of Jamaican & Puerto Rican Rappers. Boogie Down Productions gets Full Credit for setting off the 9mm talk. Just- Ice's 'The Original Gangster of Hip Hop' was just plain Raw... Also, B- Girls didn't dress like or behave like Dancehall Girls; compare Shante, Sweet Tee, & Latifah to Lil Kim, Nikki Minaj, & Cardi B. White Record Executives, like Lyor Cohen, have rerouted HipHop's 'messaging' to target Suburban Whitefolk eager to hear about 'Ghetto Life'. Today's Artists have been set up lovely by those who came before them, but I wonder if the New Jacks know The History? Do they know what it took for Us to maintain this? Cats had to show restraint, because Authorities were just waiting for Us to mess up. U can literally count the # of times U heard the N- Word b4 NWA... Do they know Themfolks tried to shut Us down in 1982; leading to the 'New School/ Hardcore Era' that started in 1983- 1984 w/ Run-DMC, T- La Rock & Jazzy Jay, & LL Cool J?

Truth be told, The Park Jams faded out by 1986- 1987. The Crack Wars began to make large gatherings dangerous. The 1st Crack Dealers (in My Hood) were The Dreads, who sold out of Weed Spots. The 'Rude Boys' weren't concerned w/ 'protocol', so things got Hot pretty quickly.... I understand that there is an effort to make HipHop EVERYONE'S genre, but it isn't; not anymore than Motown or Bebop. The World is welcome to enjoy HipHop, but make No Mistake- it's a Black American genre that just happens to be globally appreciated & adopted by many. That said, notions of people like Kool Herc, or Eminem being the 'Father' or 'King' diminish the effect that those 'Baby Spades' had on The Original Concept. We can appreciate their contributions, but HipHop Culture is bigger than them. It has a purpose, & it's NOT making Non Indigenous Blackfolk wealthy.

It was a youthful expression of Black Power & Creativity, but outside forces have turned it into a Golden Goose that only benefits White Record Execs & their Proxies. We treated Her like a Debutant, but She has been reduced to a Crack Whore that EVERYONE can get a piece of. Young Family has to go back to The Root. A Race War is looming, & i'm not sure that their music is up to task. Most of today's Artists are more concerned w/ their 30 pieces of silver, than The Culture it represents. Cats like Busta & Fat Joe aren't concerned, they're taking the money & running. Fat Joe wasn't even a Rapper back in The Day, he was a Stick up Kid; so he's always been about the 'Vic'. Immortal Technique & Big Pun R The Real Deal... HipHop has become symbolic of Black American Courtesy- We say: "have some", & Our 'guest' proceeds to help themselves to Everything. NO ONE is allowed to be more than a Guest in the genres of Jamaican & Latinx Music, so why do they expect ownership in Black American Music?

When We talk about HipHop Culture, We need to remove All the noise in The Room. ANYONE making a claim to Our Culture should be Checked quickly. This 'Back to School Party' Story doesn't make sense! It's supposed to be inspirational, but it's narrated like just another Party. What's so special about it? What exactly motivated Herc's Sister to have this Party, several weeks before School started? How does this 'Party' spark a Movement? Compare it w/ HipHop being a Celebration of Black Youth in The Bronx [dramatically] winning their fight against White Supremacy & their Right of Autonomy- An UNAPOLOGETIC DISPLAY of Black Power. There was a REASON why NYPD left Mario & the Black Spades Deejays alone. When they were 'Jamming', The Black Spades weren't beating down White Racists... No disrespect, but Immigrant Family weren't Here, so they don't know what sparked this Movement.

The Original Concept of HipHop is rooted in stopping Gang Violence. It was a creative alternative to the death & destruction that We brought on each other. The current version of it is so far removed, it's almost unrecognizable. Today's manifestation is literally a Death Cult that offers little to no benefit to The Artist. White Executives seem convinced that it's only about Beats & Rhymes, but the Crap being presented is vulgar & cookie cutter; which defies HipHop's demand for Originality & Excellence. After 50+Yrs, it's apparent that HipHop is best represented when it's Culturally connected to the Experience of Black American Life. EVERYONE ELSE is a House Guest & should behave accordingly.

[obsessioncollector]

Just started Nabokov's The Eye and in the intro he uses the adjective "cauchemaresque," which I'm pretty sure is not a legitimate English word (it's approximately "nightmarish" in French.) I googled bc I like spotting words in Nabokov that only bring up the Nabokov sentence I found them in when I google them, and aside from dictionary entries, the first English-language result was a Harvard Crimson film review from 1969 (The Eye was published in English in '65.) So this Harvard kid definitely picked up the word from Nabokov right? I'm onto you theodore sedgwick...

[46ten]

Schuyler elopements

The following accounts are from Women of Colonial and Revolutionary Times: Catherine Schuyler (1897) by Mary Gay Humphreys.

Regarding the elopement of Angelica Schuyler and John Church:

“Carter and my eldest daughter ran off and were married on the twenty-third of July. Unacquainted with his family connections and situation in life the matter was exceedingly disagreeable and I signified it to them” [Philip Schuyler to William Duer, pg 191] 

[One can read my speculation about why, (x), considering the above, AH was nevertheless acceptable to the Schuylers]

Regarding the elopement (that I don’t think was an elopement, just a surprising marriage due to SVR’s youth) of Margarita (Peggy) Schuyler and Stephen Van Rensselaer: 

“Stephen’s precipitate marriage has been to me a source of surprise and indeed of regret. He certainly is too young to enter into a connection of this kind; the period of his life is an important crisis; it is the time to acquire Fame, or at least to prepare for its acquisition. It is the Time to engage in a busy life, to arouse the Facultys into action, to awake from a lithargic Inattention, which is generally the consequence of youthful pleasures, and make a figure upon the active Theatre. Instead of this our field has indulged the momentary impulse of youthful Passions, and has yielded to the dictates of Remorseful Fancy.” [Harrison Gray Otis to Killian Van Rensselaer, pg 195]

Regarding the elopement of Cornelia Schuyler and Washington Morton: 

At the Morton home in New Jersey there had been a notable wedding, that of Eliza Morton to Josiah Quincy of Boston. The Rev. Samuel Smith of Princton College performed the ceremony before all the aristocracy of the time....Among the guests was Miss Cornelia Schuyler. The bride had a brother, Washington Morton. He made himself prominent as a lad during the British occupation by losing a darning needle which, being the only one in the neighborhood, accordingly had to be loaned from house to house. He was now one of the young bloods of the time. One of his recent enterprises had been a walk to Philadelphia on a wager. He was accompanied by various young men on horseback and in carriages. That night he gave them a dinner at Philadelphia, and was one of the liveliest of the company. He was of superb figure and very athletic. The admiration of Miss Schuyler and Mr. Morton was mutual and prompt. He followed the young lady to Albany and declared his attentions to her father. His walk had given him much distinction, but it was not the sort likely to win the approval of so strict a disciplinarian as General Schuyler, or the championship of so considerate a mother as his wife. 

The young man’s suit was refused. “He has not taken that place which befitted a married man,” and the General, to make sure of his position, led the young man to the wharf and saw him aboard the New York sloop. Returning home he called his daughter into the library and told her what he had done. “My wishes will be respected? Promise me to have nothing to do with him by word or letter.”

“I cannot.” 

“What! do you mean to disobey me?” 

“I mean I cannot bind myself; I will not.”

The issue was made. What steps were taken to secure obedience do not appear. In time, however, the impatient lover found opportunity to send his love a letter, and one moonlit evening two muffled figures appeared under Miss Cornelia’s window. At a low whistle the window opened and a rope was thrown up. Attached to the rope was a rope ladder, which making fast like a veritable heroine of romance the bride descended. They were driven to the river, where a boat was waiting to take them across. On the other side was the coach-and-pair. They were then driven thirty miles across country to Stockbridge, where an old friend of the Morton family lived. It was Judge Theodore Sedgwick, not unknown  to General Schuyler in Congress and about the troublesome boundary commissions. The affair had gone too far. The judge sent for a neighboring minister and the runaways were duly married. So flagrant a breach of the parental authority was not to be hastily forgotten. Philip and Catherine Schuyler had had had various experiences in kind, but this transcended everything out of fiction, from which in fact it seems to have been carefully copied. It was some months before the young couple was pardoned, by the stern father at least, for the mother’s heart quickly responded to the happiness of her children, even though they had been so willful. As in the case of the other runaways, the youthful Mortons disappointed expectation, by becoming important householders and taking a prominent place in the social life of New York, where Washington Morion achieved some distinction at the bar. [pg 202-4].

A few posts about Washington Morton, x

[lboogie1906]

Pastor Theodore Sedgwick Wright (c. 1797 - March 25, 1847) prominent clergyman, antislavery leader, and reformer was thought to have been born in New Jersey. He attended the New York African Free School. He enrolled in the Princeton Theological Seminary and 1828 became its first Black graduate and simultaneously the first African American graduate from any American college or university. He became pastor of the First Colored Presbyterian Church.

He despised slavery and racism and spoke openly about it, even though at this time it was very dangerous. He is known for his works as an abolitionist and devotee of Black civil rights. He was an agent of the New England Anti-Slavery Society which sponsored his travels and lectures condemning racial prejudice. His two most influential speeches were “The Progress of the Antislavery Cause” and “Prejudice Against the Colored Man.” He wrote several entries and speeches for William Lloyd Garrison’s Liberator.

He became one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He served on the Society’s executive committee. He joined other abolitionists in forming the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. He was the chairman of the New York Vigilance Committee which tried to prevent the kidnapping of free Blacks from being sold into slavery. He assisted the fugitive enslaved, his home was a station on the Underground Railroad.

He was elected vice-president of the Phoenix Society, an organization that worked toward the improvement of African American training “in morals, literature, and the mechanical arts.” He circulated petitions to the New York legislature for the termination of property requirement mandates exclusively for the state’s Black voters. He was elected treasurer of the Union Missionary Society which sent missionaries to Africa. When the UMS joined the American Missionary Association, he became an officer. He joined the Liberty Party and became a member of the committee that chose its presidential and vice-presidential nominees.

He married Adaline T. Turpin. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[prodigalsson]

Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution by Stephen L. Hardin, Gary S. Zaboly (Illustrator)

The first complete history of the nineteenth-century revolt, drawing on original Texan and Mexican sources and on-site inspections of almost every battlefield. Hardly were the last shots fired at the Alamo before the Texas Revolution entered the realm of myth and controversy. French visitor Frederic Gaillardet called it a “Texian Iliad” in 1839, while American Theodore Sedgwick pronounced the…

[brolicarmydjschool]

Hip Hop: Culture Or Commodity

It’s 2023. We’ve entered the 50th year of hip-hop culture.

Or have we? Is it more appropriate to say, “We’ve entered the 50th year of hip-hop commodity?”

Like many of you, since childhood, I’ve embraced the narrative that DJing, MCing, breaking and graffiti were born out of the tenets of peace, love, unity and having fun.

But, today, as a grown man who’s well-read, who has cultivated the power of discernment, and who thinks his own thoughts, I question if that old narrative was merely a marketing strategy; one which was sold to me, and that I “bought,” as a young, impressionable kid, growing up in Queens, NY.

I raise this question, because much of the culture today, while designed to look authentic, seems to merely be an aspect of one, or another, marketing strategy.

Let me explain what I mean, via my own story:

I was born on May 14, 1972. I’m one year older than the culture. Of course, I wasn’t there, watching Kool Herc at the first “Back To School Jam,” on Sedgwick Ave in the Bronx, on August 11, 1973.

But thanks to my older brother, John, by the age of 5, my hip-hop education had begun. Granted, what I was learning about through my bro’s tutelage actually had no name in 1977. It was just this thing some of us called “Getting Down,” or “Going Off,” or “Jamming.”

But, in fact, it was an art renaissance, taking place in the Bronx, and spilling over into the surrounding boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.

By 1979, at age 7, I was all in.

“Robert: You hear that sound? Ziggaziggazigga? That’s GrandWizzard Theodore scratching the record. Papi doesn’t get back from work for another couple of hours. Let’s turn on his turntables so I can teach you how to scratch before he gets home.”

Or “Robert, I’m taking you with me to Saint Joan of Arc Church. The head priest is gonna let us break inside their recreation room.”

I was learning about this creative phenomenon, exclusive to New York, taking place inside my city, my community, my neighborhood, and with my friends.

Thanks to programs like HOT TRACKS — which played music videos from artists like RUN DMC and Malcolm McClaren feat. The World’s Famous Supreme Team — by 1982, the rest of America got exposed. People outside of NYC began seeing the faces and hearing the voices of my ghetto heroes.

“Ghetto,” because Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, GrandWizzard Theodore, Grand Mixer DST, Tony Tone, Charlie Chase, etc., didn’t look like the Six Million Dollar Man or the Lone Ranger. They looked like my brother. They looked like my brother’s friends. They looked like my friends. They looked like my family — people who lived in a one-bedroom, tenement building apartment, infested with mice and roaches. They looked like me!

By 1983, documentaries like Style Wars aired on PBS. The news media began to chronicle what inner-city Black and Latino kids were doing — DJing, rapping, breaking, graffiti — on any given NYC block. The film industry was even intrigued: Movies like Wild Style and Beat Street were made available for people to experience inside air-conditioned, downtown theaters. This was far away from the warzone, benign-neglect aesthetic of hip-hop’s epicenter, The Bronx, NY.

They even had a name for it, by now. They were calling the union of these four forces, “hip-hop.” This thing that low-income, underprivileged youth had created as an alternative to crime and violence — gangs ran NYC during the 1970s — finally had an official name. However, that meant it could also, now, be packaged in a proverbial box, gift-wrapped, complete with bow, and sold for mass consumption.  

Enter, 1984: The Year Hip-Hop Culture Became Hip-Hop Commodity.

Graffiti was washed away from its home, the NYC subway system, and transposed to art galleries. There, wealthy collectors would buy canvases to hang inside their multi-million-dollar luxury apartments. Breaking got so played out, you’d be laughed out of a house party if you attempted a windmill.

Even DJs, the very people credited for creating hip-hop, were coerced into subordinate positions to their counterparts, as hip-hop’s principal, gold and platinum ornament became The Rapper. Soon, DJs were replaced in live performance by “backing tracks.” But it wasn’t the audiences that asked for this change. It was the larger, business infrastructure, dominating hip-hop, which brought it about.

Thus, if you’re Gen Z, you may not be aware that during the 1990s, my Gen X generation of DJs waged a rebellion, and reclaimed its ownership of hip-hop. Therefore, that time is now considered hip-hop’s “Golden Era.”

Players like the X-ecutioners, Invisibl Skratch Piklz, and the Beat Junkies regained control of the distribution and monetization of hip-hop, at least within DJing. We started our own record labels, promotion companies, and played an integral role in booking one-off shows and tours; events that put the focus back on other neglected elements like breaking and graffiti as well. In the simplest terms: Between 1990 and 2000, DJ culture revitalized hip-hop.

It’s the 2000s now. The generation of DJs who stepped into the forefront after mine, have, once again relinquished power to outsiders. But the difference in 2023, when compared to 1983, is, today, business and marketing experts will go as far as disguising themselves as DJs, in order to capitalize on the stock of hip-hop culture.

Here’s how it works: They’ll join a DJ school, and take a few lessons on dropping, mixing and scratching. The next thing you know, they’re influencers, telling aspiring DJs — who genuinely want to learn the art form — what kind of gear to buy, and what apps to run while DJing. If an economically challenged kid from the Bronx can’t afford that $3,000 laptop, or can’t drop $2,000 on the latest mixer, well, they inform them, they’ll just be “left in the dust.”

The indecency of it all is this: People who listen to these influencers have no awareness they are, effectively, being colonized. They do not know the very worldview being pushed upon them — that they will be banished if they can’t keep up economically — serves the function of making their ultimate elimination look benign. They do not know these are outsiders, who’ve successfully infiltrated hip-hop, specifically DJ culture, bearing gifts; ones who are, at every second, exploiting it, and them, for monetary gain.

So, here we are. It’s the opening month of the year marking hip-hop’s 50th anniversary; another year overgrown with “DJs” turned influencers. These are the ones who don’t respect hip-hop’s legacy of economic inclusion, this being a philosophy embedded in the culture by the pioneers on whose shoulders we stand.

At this point, what am I saying should be done?

I’m suggesting the following two (2) action steps.

If you’re going to become a DJ, or teach DJing:

• Examine our culture first. Interact with it. Learn its history, document it, and teach it correctly, to others. Name its great artists and tell what they did to advance the art form. Don’t merely and unethically profiteer off hip-hop’s resources for “LIKES”, “FOLLOWS,” and Benjamins.

• Refrain from using fear-mongering tactics to attract students, or to cash in on DJing, and the greater culture of hip-hop.

In closing:

This essay grew out of a social media conflict I’ve been having over specific forms of marketing, aimed at students of the culture. As should be clear, I strongly object to these practices.

This is not a statement against any person, or group of persons. Further, this is not a statement against the people who follow my work, or, especially, the ones who don’t.

If you are a true supporter of hip-hop culture — not the rah-rah around it, but the science and history of it — I thank you. I particularly thank you if that interest has led you to give an ear to what I have ever said or done.

I stand on all the above. If, because of what I’ve said, I lose colleagues, followers, students, sponsorships or should I be slandered, vilified, shunned or become abject, while it would be unfortunate, I do not care. I am aligned with a much Higher Power, and higher values, than those with which the current DJ world aligns itself.

I stand firm in the truth of my words, even if they are disconcerting, because I understand the following: There is an economic and creative war, happening in plain sight, for the control of how people think and interact, not only with DJ art and technology, but with themselves, and with their own minds.

For that reason, I’ll never go along with fake shit, to get along with fake shit. Instead, I dig in my heels for what I see as right and just.

Regardless of the circumstances, I will always stay, and reside, in truth and in respect. That is the legacy of the pioneers, and, as far as my part is concerned, understand: I’m just trying to help this art form get to the next generation, intact.

Happy 50th, hip-hop.

If you’re interested in scheduling an appointment or you’d like more information, please contact us.

[bulkbinbox]

theodore sedgwick, foto realizada através do daguerreótipo, eua

[forthosebefore]

Elizabeth Freeman (c. 1744 – December 28, 1829), also known as Bet, Mum Bett, or MumBet, first Black woman released from slavery under the Massachusetts state constitution (all men are created equal), essentially ending slavery in Massachusetts circa 1781.

Freedman’s suit, Brom and Bett v. Ashley (1781), was cited in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court appellate review of Quock Walker's freedom suit. When the court upheld Walker's freedom under the state's constitution, the ruling was considered to have implicitly ended slavery in Massachusetts.

“Any time, any time while I was a slave, if one minute's freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told I must die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it—just to stand one minute on God's airth [sic] a free woman— I would.” — Elizabeth Freeman

Freeman is buried in the Sedgwick family plot in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Freeman remains the only non-Sedgwick buried in the Sedgwick plot. They provided a tombstone, inscribed as follows:

ELIZABETH FREEMAN, also known by the name of MUMBET died Dec. 28th 1829. Her supposed age was 85 Years. She was born a slave and remained a slave for nearly thirty years; She could neither read nor write, yet in her own sphere she had no superior or equal. She neither wasted time nor property. She never violated a trust, nor failed to perform a duty. In every situation of domestic trial, she was the most efficient helper and the tenderest friend. Good mother, farewell.

Children: Bett (Betsy) "Lil Bett" Humphrey formerly Freeman, died after 1811 after about age 46 [location unknown]. She is listed under her mother's freed slave name since her father's name is unknown. Her mother took the name "Freeman" after winning her freedom and probably gave the name to her young daughter. Betsy married Jonah Humphrey, who then disappeared from the area around 1811. Betsy may have married Jack Burghardt, great grandfather of civil rights leader W. E. B. Du Bois, but this is speculation.

Painting of Elizabeth Freeman, aged 70. Painted by Susan Ridley Sedgwick, aged 23. Watercolor on ivory, painted circa 1812. Photo courtesy of Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.

Sources: WikiTree, Wikipedia

Visit www.attawellsummer.com/forthosebefore to learn more about Black history.

Need a freelance graphic designer or illustrator? Send me an email.

[aswithasunbeam]

Words of Wisdom from A.Ham

“I observe more and more that by the jealousy and envy of some, the miserlyness of others and the concurring influence of all foreign powers, America, if she attains to greatness, must creep to it. Well be it so. Slow and sure is no bad maxim. Snails are a wise generation.” - From Alexander Hamilton to Theodore Sedgwick, 27 February 1800

[nightclubsinger]

my reading/cover companions

[bbcsherlock]

ummm dont talk to me unless youve read

Effeminate England: Homosexual Writing After 1885             by Joseph Bristow;                            Secret Selves: Confession and Same-Sex Desire in Victorian Autobiography             by Oliver Buckton;                            Sacred and Profane in Symbolist at the Art             by Luigi Carluccio;                            Virtuous Vice: Homoeroticism and the Public Sphere             by Eric Clarke;                            Nameless Offences: Homosexual Desire in the Nineteenth Century             by H. G. Cocks;                            Talk on the Wilde Side             by Cohen;                            An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method             by Morris R. Cohen, Ernest Nagel;                            Sex Scandals: The Private Parts of Victorian Fiction             by William Cohen;                            London and the Culture of Homosexuality, 1885–1914             by Matt Cooke;                            Family Likeness: Sex, Marriage, and Incest from Jane Austen to Virginia Woolf             by Mary Jean Corbett;                            American Sympathy: Men, Friendship and Literature in the New Nation             by Caleb Crain;                            Emulation: Making Artists for Revolutionary France             by Thomas Crow;                            Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites             by Colin Cruise;                            Queer Beauty: Sexuality and Aesthetics from Wincklemann to Freud and Beyond             by Whitney Davis;                            Friendship's Bonds: Democracy and the Novel in Victorian England             by Richard Dellamora;                            Masculine Desire: The Sexual Politics of Victorian Aestheticism             by Richard Dellamora;                            "Beautiful, Aesthetic, Erotic." The New York Review of Books             by Richard Dorment;                            Romantic Genius: The Pre-History of a Homosexual Role             by Andrew Elfenbein;                            British Aestheticism and Ancient Greece: Hellenism, Reception, Gods in Exile             by Stefano Evangelista;                            The Trials of Oscar Wilde: Deviance, Morality, and Late-Victorian Society             by Michael S. Foldy;                            The History of Sexuality: An Introduction (Volume I)             by Michel Foucault;                            Queer Dickens: Erotics, Families, Masculinities             by Holly Furneaux;                            Idylls of the Marketplace: Oscar Wilde and the Victorian Public             by Regenia Gagnier;                            Selected Poetry             by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, David Luke;                            The Story of Art             by E. H. Gombrich;                            Queer Others in Victorian Gothic: Transgressing Monstrosity             by Ardel Haefele-Thomas;                            Homosexual Desire             by Guy Hocquenhem;                            "Burne-Jones and Gustave Moreau." Horizon: A Review of Literature and Art             by Robin Ironside;                            The Homosexual Revival of Renaissance Style, 1850–1950             by Yvonne Ivory;                            The Symbolists             by Philippe Jullian;                            Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime             by Immanuel Kant, John T. Goldthwait;                            Sexual Justice: Democratic Citizenship and the Politics of Desire             by Morris B Kaplan;                            Sodom on the Thames: Sex, Love, and Scandal in Wilde Times             by Morris B Kaplan;                            Painted Men in Britain, 1868–1918: Royal Academicians and Masculinities             by Jongwoo Jeremy Kim;                            Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England             by Sharon Marcus;                            The Other Victorians: A Study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Century Britain             by Steven Marcus;                            Pleasures Taken: Performances of Sexuality and Loss in Victorian Photographs             by Carol Mavor;                            The Last Pre-Raphaelite: Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination             by Fiona MacCarthy;                            "The Homosexual Role." Social Problems 16.2             by Mary McIntosh;                            Victorian Keats: Manliness, Sexuality, and Desire             by James Najarian;                            Walking the Victorian Streets             by Deborah Epstein Nord;                            Catholicism, Sexual Deviance, and Victorian Gothic Culture             by Patrick O'Malley;                            The Place of Enchantment: British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern             by Alex Owen;                            The Renaissance             by Walter Pater;                            Flesh and the Ideal: Winckelmann and the Origins of Art History             by Alex Potts;                            Art for Art Sake's: Aestheticism in Victorian Painting             by Elizabeth Prettejohn;                            Art of the Pre-Raphaelites             by Elizabeth Prettejohn;                            Beauty and Art: 1750–2000             by Elizabeth Prettejohn;                            Beauty's Body: Femininity and Representation in Victorian Aestheticism             by Kathy Alexis Psomiades;                            Art and Homosexuality: A History of Ideas             by Christopher Reed;                            From Realism to Symbolism: Whistler and His World             by Allen Reff, Staley Theodore;                            Men in Wonderland: The Lost Girlhood of the Victorian Gentleman             by Catherine Robson;                            Edward Carpenter             by Sheila Rowbotham;                            Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire             by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick;                            The Epistemology of the Closet             by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick;                            Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siècle             by Elaine Showalter;                            The Wilde Century: Effeminacy, Oscar Wilde, and the Queer Moment             by Alan Sinfield;                            Aubrey Breadsley: Dandy of the Grotesque             by Chris Snodgrass;                            Postal Pleasures: Sex, Scandal, and Victorian Letters             by Kate Thomas;                            Cities of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London             by Judith Walkowitz;                            "Queer and Then?." Chronicle of Higher Education             by Michael Warner            

[yggdrasilushxrt]

//ooc: Heads up- this is a departure from the usual content on this blog.

I’m not feeling particularly patriotic today because of the current actions of SCOTUS, but I am in an educational mood. The accomplishments of women, and their capacity for great things are currently being threatened and trampled on.

A manipulative and highly vocal minority is preying on vulnerable populations to mold their thinking into a punitive theocratic state, while also paving the path for systemic misogyny and the resurgence of race and class stratification. Women, particularly women of color, are among many groups of people being targeted today. So today, I’m going to highlight and honor two people that should be recognized so that their impact on our history doesn’t get lost.

Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784)

Born in Gambia, Africa, Phillis was captured by slavers and brought to America. In less than two years, she be came a well educated woman that could read a variety of literature. Astronomy and geography was also in her repertoire of knowledge and skills. She began to write poetry at the age of fourteen and her first published piece came out in 1767. In 1770, her piece “An Elgiac Poem, on the Death of the Celebrated Divine George Whitefield”, earned her fame. Following this, she soon became the first black woman in America to have a published book.

During the American Revolution, she wrote extensively to ministers and other officials speaking out against slavery. She also wrote a very well received poem that celebrated George Washington’s appointment as the commander of the Continental Army. Even so, she continued to speak out against the use of slaves in America. She strongly believed that this issue was a roadblock to American gaining true heroism and patriotism.

Wheatley married a free black man, John Peters, from Boston and latter died in 1784 after complications from child birth. Her legacy greatly impacted American literature and showed others that, with equal access to education, African Americans were just as capable of creative and intellectual greatness as all other human beings. Her work and impact helped influence the abolition movement.

Source: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/phillis-wheatley

Elizabeth Freeman (“Mum Bett”) (~1744-1829)

Born into slavery in Claverack, NY around 1744 (documentation to confirm the year of her birth was not able to be found), Elizabeth grew up on a plantation with her younger sister, Lizzie. This plantation belonged to Pieter Hogeboom. While unable to read or write, she had a tactical and strategic mind. After being transferred to another location owned by Colonel John Ashley and Hogeboom’s daughter, whom had married the Colonel.

Mrs. Ashley had a history of cruelty towards slaves and one incident was marked down in history. In one conflict, Freeman protected her sister from being struck with a heated kitchen shovel by Mrs. Ashley. This act left her with a serious wound that never healed up properly. Instead of hiding this injury, she kept it as visible as possible as proof of the mistreatment slaves endured.

Freeman would go on to eventually sue for her freedom. Less than a year after the Massachusetts State Constitution was ratified, she challenged it in court. She was inspired by this when her master, Colonel Ashley, wrote an ultimately famous line in the Sheffield Declaration. “Mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other, and have a right to the undisturbed enjoyment of their lives, liberty, and property.” This very same language would eventually be used in the Declaration of Independence in 1776, as well as the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780.

Freeman had overheard these words and eventually went to an attorney named Theodore Sedgwick to challenge the constitutionality of slavery under these words. Many lawyers of the time decided to see if this case as a test to see if this interpretation was viable. In 1781, the Berkshire Court of Common Pleas received a “Write of Replevin” that ordered Freeman and another enslaved man to be freed. Colonel Ashley, however, refused to let them go. This spurred Freeman to sue Ashley in a case that she ultimately won. She was freed and awarded 30 shillings in addition to coverage of court costs.

Elizabeth went on to be a prominent healer, midwife and nurse. Twenty years later, she was able to buy her first home. She died in 1829 at an estimated age of 85 and was buried in the Sedgwick family plot in Stockbridge, Ma. Her actions to gain her freedom ultimately led to a series of trials that culminated in determining that slavery was incompatible with the new Massachusetts Constitution.

Source: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/elizabeth-freeman

[wardogxicarus]

//ooc: Heads up- this is a departure from the usual content on this blog. 

I’m not feeling particularly patriotic today because of the current actions of SCOTUS, but I am in an educational mood. The accomplishments of women, and their capacity for great things are currently being threatened and trampled on. 

A manipulative and highly vocal minority is preying on vulnerable populations to mold their thinking into a punitive theocratic state, while also paving the path for systemic misogyny and the resurgence of race and class stratification. Women, particularly women of color, are among many groups of people being targeted today. So today, I’m going to highlight and honor two people that should be recognized so that their impact on our history doesn’t get lost. 

Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784)

Born in Gambia, Africa, Phillis was captured by slavers and brought to America. In less than two years, she be came a well educated woman that could read a variety of literature. Astronomy and geography was also in her repertoire of knowledge and skills. She began to write poetry at the age of fourteen and her first published piece came out in 1767. In 1770, her piece “An Elgiac Poem, on the Death of the Celebrated Divine George Whitefield”, earned her fame. Following this, she soon became the first black woman in America to have a published book.

During the American Revolution, she wrote extensively to ministers and other officials speaking out against slavery. She also wrote a very well received poem that celebrated George Washington’s appointment as the commander of the Continental Army. Even so, she continued to speak out against the use of slaves in America. She strongly believed that this issue was a roadblock to American gaining true heroism and patriotism. 

Wheatley married a free black man, John Peters, from Boston and latter died in 1784 after complications from child birth. Her legacy greatly impacted American literature and showed others that, with equal access to education, African Americans were just as capable of creative and intellectual greatness as all other human beings. Her work and impact helped influence the abolition movement. 

Source: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/phillis-wheatley

Elizabeth Freeman (“Mum Bett”) (~1744-1829)

Born into slavery in Claverack, NY around 1744 (documentation to confirm the year of her birth was not able to be found), Elizabeth grew up on a plantation with her younger sister, Lizzie. This plantation belonged to Pieter Hogeboom. While unable to read or write, she had a tactical and strategic mind. After being transferred to another location owned by Colonel John Ashley and Hogeboom’s daughter, whom had married the Colonel. 

Mrs. Ashley had a history of cruelty towards slaves and one incident was marked down in history. In one conflict, Freeman protected her sister from being struck with a heated kitchen shovel by Mrs. Ashley. This act left her with a serious wound that never healed up properly. Instead of hiding this injury, she kept it as visible as possible as proof of the mistreatment slaves endured. 

Freeman would go on to eventually sue for her freedom. Less than a year after the Massachusetts State Constitution was ratified, she challenged it in court. She was inspired by this when her master, Colonel Ashley, wrote an ultimately famous line in the Sheffield Declaration. “Mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other, and have a right to the undisturbed enjoyment of their lives, liberty, and property.” This very same language would eventually be used in the Declaration of Independence in 1776, as well as the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780. 

Freeman had overheard these words and eventually went to an attorney named Theodore Sedgwick to challenge the constitutionality of slavery under these words. Many lawyers of the time decided to see if this case as a test to see if this interpretation was viable. In 1781, the Berkshire Court of Common Pleas received a “Write of Replevin” that ordered Freeman and another enslaved man to be freed. Colonel Ashley, however, refused to let them go. This spurred Freeman to sue Ashley in a case that she ultimately won. She was freed and awarded 30 shillings in addition to coverage of court costs. 

Elizabeth went on to be a prominent healer, midwife and nurse. Twenty years later, she was able to buy her first home. She died in 1829 at an estimated age of 85 and was buried in the Sedgwick family plot in Stockbridge, Ma. Her actions to gain her freedom ultimately led to a series of trials that culminated in determining that slavery was incompatible with the new Massachusetts Constitution. 

Source: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/elizabeth-freeman