#Lafayette’s farewell tour

[hiidkwhatimdoing7525]

November 23, 1824

lafayette was in Washington DC

Also today a (small) picture frame fell on the board and bent my mini lafayette at the neck

which YOU SURVIVED THE FRENCH REVOLUTION DON’T DIE NOW

Source

the lafayette 200 website

[hiidkwhatimdoing7525]

I always really love Georges, I'm so glad to see more appreciation and posts about him!

In which Georges de La Fayette and Auguste Levasseur tried to extinguish a fire

Georges has always lived somewhat in the shadow of his father – from what I gathered he did so quite willingly and never seemed to mind since he absolutely adored his father, but I sometimes would wish for a little bit more of a spotlight on Georges. It is easy to forget that Georges accompanied his father on his Tour in 1824/25, he was not only a companion and help for his father, it was also a sort of homecoming for him as well.

So allow me to present to you the story of Georges and Auguste Levasseur (La Fayette’s secretary who accompanied him as well and wrote a very detailed account of the whole tour) dabbling in firefighting.

It was now midnight, and every one else had retired, while I [Auguste Levasseur] still continued to listen eagerly to the interesting details given to me by Mr. M when we were suddenly interrupted by a great tumult of voices, mingled with the sound of bells and the rumbling of fire engines over the pavement. “This is fortunate for you,” said my friend, “fire has broken out in some part of the town, go to it; what you will witness, will teach you more of our habits of order and police, than I could tell you during all the rest of the night.” His advice was hardly necessary, for the moment I had ascertained the cause of the tumult, began to move towards the door. On the stairs I met George Lafayette, who was hurrying down as eagerly as myself. Once in the street, it was only necessary to follow the crowd in order to arrive at the fire. On our way, our imaginations were excited, and presented this event, unfortunate in itself, as still a fortunate circumstance for us, since it would afford us an opportunity of testifying by our zeal in the midst of danger, how much we were affected by, and grateful for the infinite kindnesses, the citizens of New York had shown us since our arrival. After a long race we reached the extremity of a street, opening on one of the wharves of the East river; here we found the burning house. The fire had caught first in a store-house filled with combustible materials, and had quickly communicated to some neighbouring frame buildings. The flames which blazed up with violence, gave us a fair opportunity to be hold the situation of the conflagration, and the surrounding crowd.

Five or six thousand persons standing upon the wharves, or mounted upon the masts of vessels, remained still and almost as silent, as if they were at a theatrical exhibition. This silence was only interrupted by the horrible crackling of the rafters, which every moment were tumbling amid the flames, by the monotonous sounds of the engines, and the orders of their directors. To get near the burning house, it was necessary to traverse a great part of the surrounding crowd, which was difficult; but by the light of the fire we were recognized by some one near us, who pronounced the name of Lafayette. This name, repeated from mouth to mouth, was the lucky talisman which opened our way to the desired point. There, in a vast space left free by the crowd, were more than thirty fire engines, some of which only played upon the fire, while the others supplied them with water by means of their long hose. Upon the platform of each of the engines was the director with his speaking trumpet, commanding the twenty men working the engine. When the men belonging to one engine were fatigued, they were instantly replaced by others coming out of the crowd, at the order of the director, who called in a loud voice “twenty men of such a company, advance;” immediately the number of men demanded rushed to the engine requiring assistance, and the wearied men retired to the crowd where they remained peaceable spectators. In front of the crowd were some police officers, who were distinguished by their long white staves, by means of which they kept order, placing them horizontally before the most impatient, and only allowing those to pass who were called for by the directors of the engines.

We then perceived that this calm and obedient crowd were nothing else than the young men enrolled in the engine companies. One of the police officers, who had dined with us in the evening, recognized us, and addressed to us some compliments. “We take a lively interest in the misfortune that demands your presence here,” said George Lafayette, “and should be very happy if our feeble services could be of any utility.” “We thank,” you said the officer, “but you can see for yourselves how little we need assistance; but, however, if you wish to approach nearer to judge of the result of our efforts, follow me.” He conducted us into the midst of the engines, and there we saw with what boldness and dexterity these youthful volunteers devoted themselves to the preservation of their fellow-citizens.

We stopped for a moment near the engine which was nighest to the burning house, and offered our services, which were accepted, but in a manner which showed it to be done solely through politeness. In five minutes the two young men returned to reclaim their place, after kindly shaking hands with us. In spite of its violence the conflagration was forced to submit to the skill of the firemen, and we soon perceived that all danger was past. In retiring, we could not refrain from expressing to the police officer, our admiration at the order and quiet which had constantly reigned throughout this great crowd, which a few magistrates had sufficed to maintain, without the aid of a single bayonet or uniform, and we were convinced on returning to our hotel, that one such sight as we had witnessed was sufficient to prove the great influence of the habit of order, over a people who are their own legislators.

Auguste Levasseur, Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825; or Journal of Travels in the United States, Translated from the French, Volume 1/2, New-York, 1829, p. 27-27.

[rosemeriwether]

Bicentennial of Lafayette’s farewell tour

When it comes to most events, I’m unreliable because I tend to leave early to try and beat traffic.

[ouiouixmonami]

How cool you are in DC! How is the Lafayette exhibit? Is there a lot of things happening for the anniversary?

Hi! :) The Lafayette exhibit was absolutely amazing. I legitimately teared up multiple times while viewing the various letters and commemorative items from his Farewell Tour (photos of the artifacts on display are unfortunately not allowed).

The most fascinating and emotionally moving item on display - in my opinion - is a short memoir of John Laurens that Lafayette wrote on November 16th, 1825. So far, I've been unable to find this document online and I suspect it may be difficult to dig it up since I believe it's typically housed in a private collection although I've only done a cursory search on my phone and haven't had time to sit down and look on my laptop yet, but I plan to do that once I'm home.

I didn't see anything else going on related to Lafayette, but that's not to say other things won't be announced in the future!

[knives-out20]

The Impact Of The Intergalactic - David Bowie Opinion Essay - by Beck S.

This is an essay I wrote about the span of David Bowie's career. I wrote it for a summer school course I took last year (August 2021) for a course called History of Rock & Roll.

My teacher gave nice feedback after he marked it, talking about how it was an "Excellent paper. It charts Bowie's progress throughout his career well, and includes significant detail. I could really feel the passion you have about him throughout. In fact, there is *too much* detail! The paper was supposed to be 3 pages max, double-spaced. Still, this is a good problem to have; better too much than too little."

So...enjoy!!

From his early works like Hunky Dory, to Black Tie White Noise in the 1990’s and stretching over to Blackstar as his final album, David Bowie has rarely had a bad album or song- in my opinion. His career has had ups and downs, his musical creations ranging in the way he would pitch his voice and what instruments he would use, the people he would produce with, and the wild things he would say. Charting David Bowie’s development over time is in fact an interesting journey.

Early on in his dreamy career, Bowie would have done nearly anything- or in fact, anyone- to grow in the music world. Hopping from band to band (like The Velvet Underground), producer to producer, doing whatever he could do to get ‘in’ in the industry. His early albums weren’t taken very highly in their times- especially with the ‘man-dress’ he wore on the British release of his The Man Who Sold The World album. Although, this dress was only the start of the androgynous appearance he would soon be known for, over the course of his 5-decade-spanning career.

The 1970’s were strange, to say the least. He married Angela Bowie at the start of the decade, then welcomed their son Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones a year later. Bowie went on to be hopped up on cocaine. David donned the look of one of his famous personas, The Thin White Duke. The same persona with slicked-back ginger hair, a white button-up under a black waistcoat and paired with black dress pants. The same Duke who called Adolf Hitler one of the first ‘rock stars’ and gave off a lot of faschist energy. He said many statements he’d later apologize for and grow as a better man from, which is good- it’s better than standing by then, or even backing himself up and supporting them. David Bowie called that period the darkest days of his life, and blamed the crazy statements on his horrid addiction and deteriorating mental state. The late 1970’s were more favorable, seeing as it gave the world what was dubbed the Berlin Trilogy alongside Brian Eno and David’s personal friend, Iggy Pop. Made up of three of his albums: Low and Heroes (both in 1977) and Lodger (1978). He moved from Los Angeles to Switzerland, then to Berlin as a further decision to escape his addiction (the reason he moved away from LA in the first place). It was in Berlin, of course, where he wrote his famous song Heroes, about two lovers, one from East Berlin and one from West.

Speaking of Berlin, David Bowie performed near the west of the Berlin Wall in 1987; he played so loud that crowds gathered on the east to listen. At this time, Bowie had no idea he would be the beginning of the city’s soon-coming unifying. After his death in 2016, the German government thanked him for bringing the wall down and unifying a divided Germany.

Music isn’t all he is known for, though it is a majority. He also starred in movies from time to time. Being the titular man in The Man Who Fell To Earth in 1976, Jareth the moody goblin king in Jim Henson’s 1986 Labyrinth film (what is most likely his most famous role), Monte the barman in the 1991 movie The Linguini Incident, cameoing as himself in Zoolander (2001), Nikola Tesla in the 2006 movie The Prestige, and even Lord Royal Highness in Spongebob Squarepants’ Atlantis Squarepantis in 2007, among a few others. David Bowie dabbled in the art of acting, and was not that bad at it. He was good enough to gain a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, too. Sometimes it bends my mind that my first introduction to my all-time favourite musician was in a Spongebob Squarepants movie, back before I knew who he was, but David Bowie was never one to shy away from foreshadowing. At least one song from many of his albums would hint at the direction he’d go in for his next release. For example, his track Queen Bitch on Hunky Dory foreshadowed his soon-coming Ziggy Stardust. And the Diamond Dogs track 1984 actually hinted at the Philadelphian soul of Young Americans, which is a more famous song of his, which he went on to perform on The Cher Show with its host.

The 1990’s were certainly an experimental time for David Bowie. But to my knowledge, I think the 1990’s was a time for everyone. He married supermodel Iman some days after performing at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, and released the album I named earlier, Black Tie White Noise. It is known to have had a prominent use of electronic instruments, as was his other 1990’s album, Earthling. The early 1990’s greeted David’s first real band since the Spiders From Mars, dubbed Tin Machine. They recorded three guitar-driven albums which received mixed reviews from the masses, but Bowie looks back at this period- as do I- with a certain fondness; “a glorious disaster” he called it, when talking to journalist Mick Brown. Tin Machine is a period I don’t listen to often, compared to his solo stuff, but I don’t press the skip button when it comes on.

Alas, the starman’s career drew to a close as the 2000s rolled in. David Bowie greeted the 2000’s with the birth of his and Iman’s daughter, the beautiful Alexandria Zahra Jones. After suffering a- strange, as it were- heart attack symptoms mid-song during a concert in 2004, he took a hiatus from his career. I say strange because given what I know, he was trying his best to stay healthy at the time. According to my special Rolling Stone edition magazine about David Bowie (released at the start of this year), he was on tour and performing in a really hot arena. But Bowie was sober, and had quit smoking. He was taking medication to lower his cholesterol, and worked out with a trainer. Bowie looked great, and yet he felt a pain in his shoulder and chest, along with a shortness for breath. A bodyguard rushed onstage to usher Bowie off of it, cutting the concert short. He only performed live once or twice after that point, but was set on never going live ever again. And he kept his word on that, unfortunately but also fortunately. Unfortunately, because David Bowie live would have been quite the experience- I wouldn’t know, personally. But fortunately, because I do not believe anyone needs a repeat of the 2004 Reality scare.

I am actually not too fond of speaking of his final years. Nobody really likes to speak of the last years of their idols’ life before their death, so it’s no surprise. Blackstar was David Bowie’s 25th and final album, recorded entirely in secret in New York alongside his long-time producer, Tony Visconti. The album's central theme lyrically is mortality, and seeing as Bowie was undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer at the time, I see it as his way of coping with his incoming death. His producer Tony Visconti called him a ‘canny bastard’, when he realized Bowie was essentially writing a farewell album. Every song on the album is what is considered a swan song, a swan song in question being a phrase for a final gesture of some sort before retirement or death. In this case, death. Over the course of recording the album, David Bowie’s chemotherapy had actually been working and he had an eerie optimism while recording. But by the time they shot the two music videos Blackstar and Lazarus, where he showed off the definite passage of time and cruelty of chemotherapy through sparse and gray hair with sagging skin, he knew his condition was terminal and that this would be a battle he would lose. Blackstar wasn’t the first album to have been made by a musician succumbing to a fatal illness, but in my opinion it is in fact the most beautiful. It’s jazzy, and elegant, showing how at peace he had become with dying.

Blackstar the album was released on January 8th, 2016. Also known as David Bowie’s 69th birthday. Two days later, David Bowie died at his Lafayette Street home on January 10th after living with liver cancer for up to 18 months. Beforehand, he had let it be known he did not want a funeral nor a burial, but rather that his body be cremated and the ashes to be scattered in Bali by his loved ones. His wish was received, and planet Earth was very much bluer and quieter without his colour and wonderful noise.

As I said earlier on, David Bowie’s career came with ups and downs. His mysteriously close relationship with Mick Jagger, his cross with famous underage groupie Lori Maddox, the births of his two talented children, his faschist bender in the 70’s, and final bang of Blackstar in his final year on earth. Through the highs and lows, his career and his music meant a lot to the quote-unquote misfits and freaks of the world, myself included. David Bowie turned and faced the strange, shouted “you’re not alone!” To those who felt the loneliest, he surely spent his career helping those who needed to be themselves, feel more freer and braver in doing so, no matter what they may be when they are themselves. He never went boring, he never went stale, he sang what he wanted and dressed how he pleased, and kept to his word on how much more to life there is when you’re just that; yourself. A year after David Bowie’s untimely passing, his son Duncan Jones accepted an award for British album of the year that was won by Blackstar at the 37th annual Brit Awards. When he accepted it, he made a speech about his father that I will leave here, and never forget. Seeing as it perfectly encapsulates David Bowie’ legacy, and the true meaning of his extraordinary career.

“I lost my dad last year, but I also became a dad. And, uhm, I was spending a lot of time- after getting over the shock- of trying to work out what would I want my son to know about his granddad? And I think it would be the same thing that most of my dad's fans have taken over the last 50 years. That he’s always been there supporting people who think they’re a little bit weird or a little bit strange, a little bit different, and he’s always been there for them. So...this award is for all the kooks, and all the people who make the kooks. Thanks, Brits, and thanks to his fans.” - Duncan Z. H. Jones (February 22 2017, at The O2 Arena in London.)

[ashmarie1687]

It was fun seeing Claire meet the Marquis de Lafayette especially as the US is currently celebrating the 200th anniversary of his return to America where a couple people who portray the Marquis are going to the different towns and cities that were visited. https://lafayette200.org

Caitríona Balfe as Claire Fraser in Outlander 7x14 "Ye Dinna Get Used To It"

[vamonumentlandscape]

Washington D.C: Day 1

Our first stop on our trip was to Lorton, more specifically the Occoquan Historic District. The Occoquan Regional Park is on the land where the inmates of the Lorton Work House Prison worked in the brick kilns. Only one survives today, but it gives you a look at what once took over the large park space by the river. After eating at the cute riverside spot Brickmakers, we walked up the hill to see the nearly complete Turning Point Suffragist Memorial. According to the park’s website, over 150 women were imprisoned at the Lorton Work House in relation to the women’s suffrage movement from June to December of 1917. The “Silent Sentinels”, as the monument described, were the women who peacefully demonstrated outside the White House, but were detained and charged with falsified information. Those charges led them to be imprisoned at Lorton or in the District of Columbia Jail. These brave suffragists, like Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul, and Lucy Burns, were the sparks of change that paved the way for women's rights. Paul and Burns both endured much pain fighting for their rights, like with the notoriously long hunger strikes they would enact when imprisoned. The statues done for Paul and Catt are beautiful depictions and show their strengths as activists. Alice Paul is holding her famous picket sign, MR. PRESIDENT HOW LONG MUST WOMEN WAIT FOR LIBERTY, to greet you at the beginning of the memorial. After you have rounded out the beautiful garden path, you end with seeing Carrie Chapman Catt with a big bouquet of flowers to symbolize their success. While Paul took the more radicalized approach with Burns which they picked up from British suffragists, Catt was a peaceful activist who took a more amicable approach. Another interesting piece of the memorial was the original White House Fence from Wilson’s time in office on display. It was powerful to see the large black fencing these brave women stood in front of almost daily to fight for their rights. The goal of women’s suffrage never would have been achieved without all of these brave women.

Unveiled in 1876, the Emancipation Memorial (also known as the Freedmen’s Memorial) has been controversial since its unveiling. Though the sculpture of Lincoln and a former enslaved person was funded by free African-Americans, there was some shock during the dedication ceremony in response to the deification of Lincoln and the stance of the African-American male. In his keynote address, Frederick Douglass expressed some criticism for President Lincoln. In the end, Douglass acknowledged an “earnest sympathy” for Lincoln. When talking about this statue in the spring semester, we knew that a stop at this memorial was essential. During a hot afternoon, Lincoln Park was packed with families with their children and their four-legged friends. We took a close look at the statue that has garnered more-recent criticism from activists like Glenn Foster of Palm Collective, who we were fortunate enough to talk to just a few weeks ago. Foster believes that a hidden narrative exists with the statue actively marginalizing African-Americans. “What does it mean for an African-American child to see the statue?” Foster asked. As we saw it with our own eyes, we understood why the memorial was so controversial. Though Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved persons in the South and made the cessation of slavery the goal of the Union during the Civil War, we were taken aback by the depiction of the man kneeling at Lincoln’s feet. It is problematic, to say the least, and requires a sign for historical context if the city does not take it down. Just across from the Emancipation Memorial is a statue that honors Mary Bethune. As a child of formerly enslaved persons, Bethune became a notable educator, civil rights activist, philanthropist, and feminist. She was the leader of many organizations like the National Association for Colored Women and was an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She most notably started a school for African-American students in Daytona Beach, Florida, which became Bethune-Cookman University. Throughout the life of “The First Lady of the Struggle,” she never gave up in standing up for the right to improved opportunities for African-Americans. The Bethune monument, which was unveiled in 1974, stood in direct contrast to the feelings we had with the Emancipation Memorial. We may not know what should be done with the depiction of Lincoln, but it certainly requires some sort of action. Lincoln will always be one of the most consequential presidents of our history, but our society must be honest in interpreting his legacy along with that of African-Americans.

We took a quick ride on the Metro over to the L’Enfant Plaza stop to see the memorial for Dwight D. Eisenhower in front of the Department of Education. A statue of a young Eisenhower raised in Abilene, Kansas can be seen looking towards his future of being the General that commanded the D-Day invasion in Nazi-occupied France and the 34th President of the United States. All depictions of Eisenhower and his close allies during his time in the military and the Oval Office are beautifully done. The memorial shows the powerful presence that Eisenhower had in every role that he had. We made sure to also read through the speeches on the back of the marble pedestals, which included his famous farewell address where he warned of a military-industrial complex. During his presidency, Eisenhower sent in Federal troops to ensure the integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. His largest project would be the Interstate Highway System, which has been the way that most Americans get around ever since. One can understand why Eisenhower is seen as a President of a higher echelon. We certainly did after viewing this memorial.

In response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and in support of calls for justice, Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington D.C. supported the renaming of a section of 16th Street NW to Black Lives Matter Plaza. This section of the street is located at the Lafayette Square end of the White House. This action may have been a jab at the former president, who did not look favorably upon calls for police reform, but it was also a move to show that the city was listening and understood where people were coming from. The vast majority of protests were not composed of “thugs” and “looters” as charged by the media, but involved peaceful calls for ending police brutality and systemic racism. We were able to walk on the bright yellow letters that spelled Black Lives Matter. Though it has been over a year since most people were out in the streets of Washington protesting, the street still felt like a pilgrimage place for all Americans. Saying the words “Black Lives Matter” should not be treated as taboo and it is not claiming that other lives do not matter. BLM is all about the issue at hand, which is that African-Americans are disproportionately targeted by police, even when they are unarmed. Unwarranted killings and attacks by those meant to protect must end, and they must end now. As evidenced by our stop at this living memorial, the movement is here to stay and legislation must be passed in favor of fulfilling justice for all.

After seeing Black Lives Matter Plaza, we took a stroll to Lafayette Square just across from the White House. Just like BLM Plaza, this park is a social hub for tourists and residents alike. It was great to be able to walk upon this park to see the beauty of the White House up close. With the previous President, no one had been able to get very close for a while. Music, voices, laughter, footsteps, and the whirr of the sidewalk scooters filled the air. The beautiful weather made it an even better atmosphere. The one statue that took us off guard while enjoying the grounds was of Andrew Jackson. He is one of the most controversial presidents in American History. His fame originates from being a famous soldier in the wars against Native Americans. Later the “common man” became more popular as he was not an elitist running for president. Duels were something he took part in quite frequently as we have learned. Rebecca Grawl, an alumnae from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and our tour guide for part of DC, told us that he actually had been shot at around 12 times and had 2 bullets lodged in him from previous duels. The worst part of his legacy was the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that led to the infamous Trail of Tears. Thousands of Natives were displaced, died of disease and exhaustion, and were forced out of their homes. Another one of his blunders was his dismantlement of the National Bank. It is ironic that the man who destroyed and hated the national currency of the United States resides on the twenty dollar bill. Another fact learned from Rebecca Grawl was that his equestrian statue is wrong. There is a rule for when there is an equestrian statue built for someone - the front two feet symbolize how the rider passed away. Two feet on the ground means that they died of natural causes, one foot off of the ground means they died due to an injury or disease from battle, and two feet off the ground means they were killed in battle. Jackson’s horse has two feet off of the ground, yet he was not killed in battle. Despite his title of being an American president and winning the popular vote three times for president, his legacy is troubling to say the least.

Our last stop for the day before heading to Shake Shack (YUM!) was the World War I Memorial. It is unfinished, but what is complete is absolutely stunning. A statue of John J. Pershing towers over the memorial representing his incredible military leadership of U.S. troops during The Great War. Beside his grand statue are maps engraved in gold, red, and blue on black granite with descriptions of each campaign. This is a place for reflection and education as many of those lost in the war may only have distant descendants living and those who visit are mostly coming to learn. The largest unfinished part of the memorial is right behind the small pool of water. A Soldier’s Journey is a large sculpture that follows a young male soldier through the “myth of a hero’s journey” from home, to the battlefront, and his return home where he is changed from the war. This part of the memorial will be complete in 2024 and we all are eager to return to see the finished product.

[cardest]

France playlist

When in France, I wear no pants!

This is my French playlist. It’s one that I am very proud of. It took me several months of researching, listening, finding, playing records to gather over 400 songs. But, France. What a country! This playlist could go as far as 500 songs. 

Hit play: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC1-CHRTel_bBjdT_DAHLrnvX

There is an endless amount of talent from this part of the world. From across many decades the songs just keep coming. Incredible. Une région tellement incroyable pour la musique. Here is a list I created. It took me many months to compile.

**Updated April 19, 2021** ** indicated new additions to this playlist.

FRANCE 001 Panther Theme Song (Original Version) - Panther Theme Song 002 Gojira -  L'Enfant Sauvage 003 Therion -  Initials B.B 004 Fantomas -  Page 1 [6 Frames] 005 Kraftwerk - Tour De France Etape 1 006 Alcest -  Les Voyages De L'Âme 007 Serge Gainsbourg - Le Poinçonneur Des Lilas 008 Fantomas -  Page 2 [7 Frames] 009 Sabina - Viva LAmour 010 Rammstein - Fruhling in Paris 011 Jacques Dutronc - Paris séveille 012 Léo Ferré - Paris cest une idée 013 Aosoth  - Temple Of Knowledge 014 Joe dassin - Les Champs Élysées 015 Iron Maiden -  Murders In The Rue Morgue 016 Grace Jones - Libertango (Ive Seen That Face Before) 017 ARISTIDE BRUANT - A Batignolles 018 Magma - Merci (Ki Ïahl Ö Lïahk) 019 WIRE - French Film Blurred 020 Duran Duran - A view to a Kill 021 Fantomas -  Page 3 [17 Frames] 022 Karl Heinz Schaefer - Les gants blancs du diable 023 The Cure  - How Beautiful You Are 024 Ovtrenoir - Outrenoir 025 Apocalyptica -  Through Paris in a Sportscar 026 Henry Mancini - Mambo Parisienne 027 Madonna  -Justify My hate 028 Patachou - Rendez-vous de Paname 029 Grand Guignol Orchestra - Un trop plein de rouge   ** 030 ZAZ - Sous le ciel de Paris 031 Patrick Juvet - Paris By Night 032 Gojira -  Silvera 033 Roger Roger - Sans Queue ni Tete 034 Modern Talking - Bells Of Paris 035 TOMBS - Once Falls the Guillotine 036 Popera Cosmic - Les Esclaves   ** 037 Fantomas -  Page 5 [7 Frames] 038 Sael - I Searched For The End Of The Spiral 039 Blancmange - Dont Tell Me 040 Thunderball - Thunderball (Main Title) 041 France Gall - Ella Elle La 042 Henry Apocalypse de Jean Premier temps - Titre-révélation 043 Merrimack - Arousing Wombs in Nine Angles Pleroma 044 Perturbator -  She Moves Like a Knife 045 Fantomas - Page 6 [26 Frames] 046 John Cale  - Half Past France 047 Queensryche - Last Time In Paris 048 Deathspell Omega -  Abscission 049 QUEEN -  PRINCES OF THE UNIVERSE (Highlander) 050 David Bowie - Heroes - Chante En Francais 051 Berlin - Metro 052 April March - Chick Habit 053 Alcest -  Je Suis D'Ailleurs 054 Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Slipped Disc 055 Black Devil -  Follow Me (Instrumental) 056 Jacqueline François - Ce Jour La A Paris 057 Duo Tata - Paris nous aime 058 Boogalox - chez les ye-ye 059 Necrowretch - Ripping Souls Of Sinners 060 Fantomas -  Page 9 [11 Frames] 061 Thunderball OST - Chateau Flight 062 Heldon - Les soucoupes volantes vertes 063 Chene Noir - La musique des amants   ** 064 B.F.G - Paris 065 Jet Vegas - PARIS 066 Cloven Hoof - Notre Dame (A Sultans Ransom ) 067 Moondog - Paris 068 Serge Gainsbourg - Shu Ba Du Ba Loo Ba 069 Treponem Pal - Renegade (french version) 070 THE VOLUPTUOUS HORROR OF KAREN BLACK  - Bring Back The Night 071 Fantomas -  Page 10 [15 Frames] 072 Elton John - Paris 073 Malcolm McLaren - Jazz is Paris 074 Jean-Claude Vannier - L'enfant La Mouche Et Les Allumettes 075 Fantomas -  Charade 076 DÉLUGE - Appâts 077 Berurier noir - Salut à toi 078 Sweet - The Six Teens 079 Les Discrets -  Effet De Nuit 080 David Bowie - Station To Station (French Single Edit) 081 Vanessa Paradis - Joe Le Taxi France 082 Fantomas - Page 11 [10 Frames] 083 Little River Band - Seine City 084 Loudblast - Cross the Threshold  * 085 Dokken - Paris is Burning 086 BLUT AUS NORD - Epitome II 087 Pixies - Alec Eiffel 088 Army of Lovers - Ballrooms Of Versailles 089 Metal Urbain - Paris Maquis 090 Hante. - Nobodys Watching (feat. Marble Slave & Fragrance) 091 Jonathan Richman - Give Paris One More Chance 092 Un Monstre à Paris - La Seine OST 093 Sheena Easton - Weekend In Paris 094 Domenico Modugno - Un sicilien à Paris 095 Amelie OST - Lautre valse dAmélie 096 Queen - Killer Queen 097 Jean Ferrat - Un enfant quitte Paris 098 Trini Lopez - Made In Paris 099 Anathema - Parisienne Moonlight 100 Mike Patton - Jean Claude Vannier - Browning 101 Tygers Of Pan Tang - Paris By Air 102 The Angels - Storm The Bastille 103 April March - La Chanson de Prevert 104 UK Subs - Party in Paris 105 Fantomas -  Page 14 [4 Frames] 106 Marie-France  - Déréglée 107 Therion - Poupée De Cire, Poupée the Son 108 Grant Lee Phillips  - Mona Lisa 109 Obsequiae -  L'amour dont sui espris 110 erge Gainsbourg -  Qui est "in" qui est "out" 111 SABINA - TOUJOURS 112 Pierre & Bastien - Pilule pour mec 113 Vulcain - Ebony 114 Fantomas -  Page 15 [22 Frames] 115 Don Ellis - theme from the French Connection 116 Jean Yanne - Coït 117 Trust - Par Compromission 118 David Bowie - Rosalyn 119 Alain Goraguer -  Deshominisation (II) 120 Fantomas -  Page 16 [11 Frames] 121 Michel Magne - Route de nuit 122 Fantomas - Page 17 [14 Frames] 123 R.E.M. - Talk About The Passion 124 Sortilège - Civilisation Perdue 125 Zoot Sims Quartet - Evening in Paris 126 Madeline - Im Madeline 127 Sapho - Train de Paris 128 Hobbs' Angel Of Death -  Marie Antoinette 129 Carpenter Brut - Turbo Killer 130 Fantomas - Page 18 [20 Frames] 131 Kraftwerk -  Tour De France Etape 2 132 Huata - Diving In A Swamp 133 Brigitte Fontaine -  Areski_Depuis 134 Dark Moor - Maid Of Orleans 135 Joan of Arc  - Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes 136 Arcade Fire - Joan of Arc 137 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Maid Of Orleans 138 Tom Waits - Cemetery Polka 139 Fantomas -  Page 19 [21 Frames] 140 Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm 141 Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene 10 142 Charles Aznavour - Desormais 143 Monolithe - Anechoic Aberration 144 The DUBROVNIKS - French Revolution 145 Iron Maiden - Montsegur 146 Joey Starr - JArrive 147 Nino Ferrer - Le Sud 148 IQ - Dans Le Parc Du Chateau Noir 149 Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes Ame Debout 150 Fantomas  - OST main theme 151 Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers 152 La Femme - Sur la planche 153 Deerhoof - Fête Dadieu 154 Johnny Hallyday - Souvenirs souvenirs 155 Joan Jett - French Song 156 PIL - Cest La Vie 157 Arkhon Infaustus - Amphessatamine Nexion 158 Spektr - Teratology 159 Jacqueline Taïeb - 7 Heures Du Matin 160 Kylie Minogue  - Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi 161 Dillinger Escape Plan - Farewell Mona Lisa 162 TELEPHONE - Un autre monde 163 Indochine - Laventurier 164 Les Démons de Minuit - Images 165 Benjamin Biolay - Lyon presquîle 166 Fantomas - Page 21 [11 Frames] 167 The Police - Hungry for You (Jaurais Toujours Faim de Toi) 168 Army Of Lovers - Crucified 169 Arcturus -  La Masquerade Infernale 170 Arcturus -  Master Of Disguise 171 mio - mao 172 Yves Montand - Les Canuts 173 Alcest -  Percées De Lumière 174 ZEN ZILA - Les Invisibles 175 Mike Patton - Ford Mustang (Serge Gainsbourg Cover) 176 Asphodèle - Gueules Crasses 177 Rage - French Bourree 178 Raison D'etre -  Auto-dafe 179 Iggy Pop - Sister Midnight 180 Fantomas -  Page 22 [7 Frames] 181 Henri Renaud - Venez Donc Chez Moi   ** 182 Mary Bell - Band-Aid Baby 183 Sébastien Tellier - La Ritournelle 184 Debussy & Wright - Claudine (In a french cafe) 185 ELEND - Nocturne 186 Les Lèvres Rouges (Daughters of Darkness) - Theme from film 187 Tristania -  Heretique 188 Marseille sans bateau   - Nicoletta   189 Tino Rossi - Marseille mon pays 190 Bagarre générale -  Furvent 191 Henry Mancini & His Orchestra - French  Provincial   * 192 The Angels - Marseilles 193 Deftones - Riviére 194 Claude François - Le temps que jarrive à Marseille 195 Tais - toi Marseille paroles 196 Elton John - I'm Still Standing 197 The Stranglers - Nice in Nice 198 Motörhead -  Coup De Grace 199 Fantomas -  Page 23 [17 Frames] 200 Igorrr -  ieuD 201 Therion -  Polichinelle 202 Obsequiae -  Des Oge Mais Quer Eu Trobar 203 Alain Goraguer -  La Femme 204 Talking Heads - Psycho Killer 205 Lafayette Afro Band - Malik 206 Putumayo French Cafe. Georges Brassens - Je MSuis Fait Tout Petit 207 La Femme - Elle ne taime pas 208 Benighted - Versipellis 209 Fantomas -  Page 24 [19 Frames] 210 Abigail - Je Taime 211 Bill wyman - je suis un rockstar 212 Françoise Hardy - Comment te dire adieu 213 Burgundian court (middle XIV) - Tourdion 214 Carnivale en Coal - Entrez le carnaval 215 Melissa Auf Der Maur -  Taste You (French Version) 216 Death In June -  C'est Un Rêve 217 Chris Cornell - Cant Change Me (French Version) 218 Cortex - Troupeau bleu 219 Eddie Vartan - Tatoo Strip Tease    ** 220 Iggy Pop - Je Sais Que Tu Sais 221 Les Darlings  - Le Tourbillon 222 King Diamond - The Trees Have Eyes 223 Joni Mitchell - In France They Kiss On Main Street 224 Lovage - Pit Stop (take me home) (/w Mike Patton) 225 Billy Idol - Eyes Without A Face 226 Mick Harvey - Intoxicated Man 227 Vulcain - Rock 'n Roll Secours 228 Mike Oldfield & Maggie Reilly    - To France 229 Serge Gainsbourg - Overseas Telegram 230 Fantomas - Page 25 [34 Frames] 231 Ponctuation - La re´alite´ me suffit 232 Gloria - You had it all     ** 233 The Adicts - Viva La Revolution 234 Ataraxie - Dread the Villains 235 The Stranglers - La Folie 236 weird al yankovic - Genius in France 237 Secret Chiefs 3 - La Chanson de Jacky 238 Sonic Youth - French Tickler 239 The Reels    - La Mer 240 Fabienne DelSol -  Vilaines Filles Mauvais Garcons 241 camera silens    - pour la gloire 242 Charles de Goal - exposition 243 City of Lost Children & Angelo Badalamenti - Lexecution (The City of Lost Children OST) 244 Blondie - Sunday Girl 245 Fairport Convention - Si tu dois partir 246 Fantomas -  Page 26 [7 Frames] 247 Hippie Hippie Hourrah -  Jacques Dutronc 248 Mars Red Sky - Strong Reflection 249 Rita Mitsouko - Cest comme ça 250 Mike Patton, Jean-Claude Vannier Chansons D'Amour 251 The Faces - Ooh La La 252 The Algorithm - Trojans 253 Magma - Da Zeuhl wortz Mekanik 254 Fantomas -  Page 27 [15 Frames] 255 Iggy Pop - La Javanaise 256 Brigitte Bardot - Ne Me Laisse Pas L'Aimer 257 Corpus Delicti - Saraband 258 Frank Zappa - In France 259 Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains - La Ve´rite´ 260 Year Of No Light - L'angoisse du veilleur de nuit d'autoroute les soirs d'alarme à accident 261 Pere Ubu - Non-alignment Pact 262 Georgia Satellites - Mon Cheri 263 The Limiñanas - Prisunic 264 Martin Dupont - Inside Out 265 Sanseverino - Mal ô Mains 266 Andre Poppe - La Polka Du Roi 267 The Fixx - Cameras In Paris 268 Regarde Les Hommes Tomber - The Renegade Son 269 Asterix - Intro 270 Michel Magne - Tamouré 271 Maurice Jarre - The Paris Waltz 272 Celeste -  Les mains brisées comme leurs souvenirs 273 Fantomas -  Page 28 [20 Frames] 274 Fabienne DelSol -  Le Roi Des Fourmis 275 Gary McFarland/Gabor Szaro - Simpatico    ** 276 Blue Oyster Cult - Les Invisibles 277 Refused - Françafrique 278 Iggy Pop - Les Feuilles Mortes 279 Fabulous Trobadors - Toulouse est sarrazine 280 Loudblast - Manifesto   ** 281 Drei Oklok - Les petits vauriens 282 Sektemtum  - Aut Caesar Aut Nihil 283 Les Discrets - Virée Nocturne 284 La Femme - Sphynx 285 Elend - Le Dévoreur 286 Daft Punk  - Around the world    ** 287 KUKL with Bjork - France (A Mutual Thrill) 288 Fantomas -  Page 29 [39 Frames] 289 Charlotte Leslie - Les Filles CEst Fait (Pour Faire LAmour) 290 Kreator - Under The Guillotine 291 ABBA - Voulez-Vous 292 Agathe ou Christie - Laume 293 Anna Karina - Rollergirl 294 Diamanda Galás -  Sono L'Antichristo 295 Blondie - French Kissin in the USA 296 Pere Ubu - Final Solution 297 Alber Jupiter - Fangs [We Are Just Floating in Space] 298 La Fraction - Aussi Long Sera Le Chemin 299 Nightmare - Prowler in the Night 300 SERGE GAINSBOURG - Aéroplanes 301 Ravel - Arithmétique 302 Temple Of Baal - Dead Cult 303 Volkor X - This Means War 304 Iggy Pop - Les Passantes 305 Fantomas - Page 12 [31 Frames] 306 Anorexia Nervosa  - Codex Veritas 307 Gojira - The heaviest matter of the universe 308 Prince - Raspberry Beret 309 Les Rita Mitsouko - Marcia Baila 310 Igorrr - Camel Dancefloor 311 the Conchords  -  Foux Da Fa Fa 312 Jef Gilson - Enfin    *** 313 Burzum -  The Portal 314 Misanthrope - Visionnaire 315 April March - Laisse Tomber les Filles 316 The Stranglers - Goodbye Toulouse 317 Magma - De Futura 318 NIGHT - Déliant ses Lacets 319 Jean-Luc Ponty - Sunday Walk   ** 320 Perez Prado - Paris 321 Vosegus - Honore les Dieux 322 Les demoiselles de Rochefort - Le pont transbordeur 323 Vladimir Cosma Pebbles and Bubbles 324 Edith Piaf - Sous le ciel de Paris 325 Schizo - Schizo (And the Little Girl) 326 La Toya Jackson, Moulin Rouge Cast - A Paris Les Femmes Ressemblent A Des Fleu 327 Departure Chandelier  - Forever Faithful to the Emperor 328 The Liminanas - Migas 2000 329 Adam And The Ants -  Young Parisians 330 Asmodée - Black Drop Journey 331 Les joyaux de la princesse - Le petit garçon 332 Melvins -  Joan Of Arc 333 H Bomb - Coup De Metal 334 Malicorne - L'écolier assassin 335 Donald Byrd - Parisian Thoroughfare 336 Thin Lizzy - Parisienne Walkways 337 Miles Davis / Art Blakey & The MEssengers - Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud  ** 338 Monarch - A Look At TomorrowMass Death and Destruction 339 Georges Brassens  -   Les copains d´abord 340 EARTHA KITT - UNDER THE BRIDGES OF PARIS 341 Blaspheme - Vivre libre 342 KaS Product - Sober 343 Mike Patton - Jean Claude Vannier -  Corpse Flower 344 Tony Allen - On Fire 345 Funerarium - Prayer For The Dead 346 SVART CROWN - Thermageddon 347 Alan Stivell - Tri Martolod 348 Les Misérables - Le bagne, pitié pitié (French) 349 The Great Old Ones - The Omniscient 350 Henry Mancini - Bateau Mouche 351 Style Counci l - Down In The Seine 352 Begin Says - Arbeit 353 Husker Du - Eiffel Tower High 354 Peter Sarstedt - Where Do You Go To My Lovely 355 Cécilia - Chocolat 356 Cradle of Filth - The Death of Love 357 ZARAH LEANDER - CABARET PARIS 358 David Bowie -  Speed of Life 359 Celine Gillain - Fight or Flight 360 Kosmos - Revelations Le Voyage 361 Bernard Parmegiani - Pop Eclectic 362 Dominique Laurent, Pinok Et Matho - L'Appel de la Terre 363 Pharoah Sanders - Love Is Here 364 SLIFT - UMMON 365 HANGMAN'S CHAIR - CUT UP KIDS 366 Les Baxter - The Clown On The Eiffel Tower 367 Throane - Plus Une Main A Mordre 368 John Zorn - Bateau Ivre 369 Mezzanotte - Midnight 370 GONG  - You Never Blow Yr Trip Forever 371 Klone - Breach 372 Les Calamités -  Toutes les nuits 373 John Cale - Paris 1919 374 Alcest - Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles 375 Heldon - MVC II 376 Aluk Todolo - V 377 Moving Gelatine Plates - Funny Doll 378 Alesia Cosmos  -  H-Co 379 Caravelli - Metamorphose Demientelle 380 Martial Solal joue Michel Magne - Organique 381 Cerrone - The Real World The Collector 382 The Nathan Davis Quintet -  The Hip Walk 383 Fantomas -  Page 30 [2 Frames] 384 Monsieur Goraguer - Sexy Dracula (Instrumental) 385 Orquesta De Las Nubes - El Orden Del Azar 386 Francoise Hardy - Tous Les Garcons et Les Filles 387 Pierre Eliane - Isadora Duncan (A Quoi Tu Penses Quand Tu Danses) 388 Rémy Couvez - Rêve de Voyage 389 Rush - Bastille Day 390 Doris Laïze - For Ever 391 Mr Bungle - Carousel 392 Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk in Paris   ** 393 VUUR - Reunite! - Paris 394 Guy Lafitte - Jambo!   ** 395 Prince - kiss 396 My Dying Bride - De Sade Soliliquoy 397 Francisco Semprun & Michel Christodoulides - Ebullition 398 Hacride - Act Of God 399 Jane Birkin - Lolita Go Home 400 The Doors  - End of the Night 401 Bernard Estardy - Cha tatch ka (La Formule du Baron) 402 Ennio Morricone - Peur sur la Ville OST 403 SOGGY - Waiting for the War 404 Birds in a Row - I don't dance 405 Miles Davis - Sur l'autoroute (BOF Ascenseur pour l'échafaud) 406 Michel Legrand -  Legrand Jazz   ** 407 Anna - Rien rien j'disais ça comme ça 408 VOUS AUTRES - Onde 409 Les Marquisis - Shape the Wheel (feat. Rémy Kapriélan) 410 Iron Maiden - The Longest Day 411 Satan - Toutes Ces Horreurs 412 Jean-Pierre Decerf - Light Flight 413 Delicatessen OST Carlos D'Alessio - Tika Tika Walk 414 Richard Pinhas - Rhizosphere Sequent 415 Hexvessel - Dues to the Dolmen 416 Guy Skornik - Lile de Paques 417 Crown - Illumination 418 Ferat 80 - La Bilan 419 TERRITOIRE- sourd 420 Year of no light - Tocsin 421 Klone -  The Dreamer's Hideaway 422 Christophe - Les Mots Blues 423 IGORR - Cheval 424 Me Solar - Qui seme le rent recoltele 425 Pierre Eliane - Ou Que Tu Ailles 426 Lalo Schiffrin - Marquis de Sade    ** 427 Les compagnons de la chanson - Bleu, les jours heureux 428 Georges Brassens - La Parapluie   ** 429 Albert Marcœur - Appalderie   ** 430 Cenotaphe - Entre quatre cierges de cire et de sang   ** 431 Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene, Pt. 2   ** 432 Heldon -  Ouais, marchais, mieux qu'en 68   433 Daft Punk - Get Lucky    ** 434 End of Data - Sarah 435 Musique Expérimentale - Volumes 436 Deathspell Omega - Synarchy of moleten bones 437 Serge Gainsbourg - L'hôtel particulier (BOF "Melody Nelson") 438 Magma- Kobaïa 439 Jo Moutet & Strawberrie's Pot - "...comme un pot de fraises 440 Nino Nardini · Roger Roger - Jungle Obsession ** 441 Richard Pinhas - Paris: Beautiful May 442 François Bayle - Jeîta pt.2 443 Deluge - Soufre 444 Trust - Certitude, Solitude 445 Sortilège - La Hargne Des Tordus 446 Macabre - The Black Knight 447 Red Noise - Caka Slow / Vertebrate Twist ** 448 Eider Stellaire - Tetra   ** 449 Gojira - Born for one thing    ** 450 Jean-Claude Vannier - Chasser La Bête Noire 451 Celtic Frost - Into crypt of rays 452 Hexvessel - Journey to Carnac   ** 453 Kraftwerk - Tour de France (Etape 3) 454 IGORR - Au Revoir 455 Megadeth -  A Tout le Monde 666 The Pink Panther Theme - Reprise

[sciencespies]

America's First Black Physician Sought to Heal a Nation's Persistent Illness

https://sciencespies.com/history/americas-first-black-physician-sought-to-heal-a-nations-persistent-illness/

America's First Black Physician Sought to Heal a Nation's Persistent Illness

James McCune Smith was not just any physician. He was the first African American to earn a medical degree, educated at the University of Glasgow in the 1830s, when no American university would admit him. For this groundbreaking achievement alone, Smith warrants greater appreciation.

But Smith was also one of the nation’s leading abolitionists. In 1859, Frederick Douglass declared, “No man in this country more thoroughly understands the whole struggle between freedom and slavery than does Dr. Smith, and his heart is as broad as his understanding.” A prolific writer, Smith was not only the first African American to publish peer-reviewed articles in medical journals; he also wrote essays and gave lectures refuting pseudoscientific claims of black inferiority and forecast the transformational impact African Americans were destined to make on world culture.

John Stauffer, a Harvard English professor who edited The Works of James McCune Smith, says that Smith is one of the underappreciated literary lights of the 19th century, calling him “one of the best-read people that I’ve encountered.”

“The closest equivalent I really can say about [him] as a writer is [Herman] Melville,” adds Stauffer. “The subtlety and the intricacy and the nuance…and what he reveals about life and culture and society are truly extraordinary. Every sentence contains a huge amount.”

Smith was born enslaved in New York City, in 1813, to Lavinia Smith, a woman born in Charleston, South Carolina, who historians believe was brought to New York in bondage. While James McCune Smith never knew his father, a white man, university records indicate he was a merchant named Samuel Smith. (Amy Cools, a University of Edinburgh scholar who has conducted the most extensive research into Smith’s paternity, maintains, however, “Meticulous research has thus far failed to yield any records of [such] a Samuel Smith…indicating the name “Samuel” may possibly have been entered into [the] university records for convenience or respectability’s sake.”). Smith received his primary education at the African Free School #2 on Lower Manhattan’s Mulberry Street, an institution founded in 1787 by governing New York elites. Their aim was to prepare free and enslaved blacks “to the end that they may become good and useful Citizens of the State,” once the state granted full emancipation.

The school graduated a roster of boys who would fill the upper ranks of black intellectual and public life. Smith’s cohort alone included Ira Aldridge, the Shakespearean tragedian and first black actor to play Othello on the London stage; the abolitionist minister Henry Highland Garnet, the first African American to address Congress; Alexander Crummell, an early pan-Africanist minister and inspiration to W.E.B. DuBois; and brothers Charles and Patrick Reason, the first African American to teach at a largely white college and a renowned illustrator-engraver, respectively. These men’s achievements would be exceptional by any standard, but even more so, for a group who were born enslaved or deprived basic rights as free blacks.

They were also all leading abolitionists, contributing their varied talents to the cause. University of Connecticut literature professor Anna Mae Duane, who tells the intertwined life stories of Smith and his classmate Garnet in her book Educated for Freedom, says the boys at the African Free School spurred each other on to great success and that the school’s innovative method of teaching contributed to that. The schoolmaster, a white Englishman named Charles C. Andrews, brought with him from his home country the Lancasterian system to help one or a handful of teachers instruct a class of 500 boys. “The boys would teach other,” Duane says. “They were all deputized as assistant teachers, basically.” This had a galvanizing effect on their confidence.

“When you are learning something, you are learning from another black person,” Duane says. “There was so much they did for each other because of way the school was run. It gave this incredible sense of authority and community.” Just as they elevated each other, the boys were destined to do the same for their people. Garnet formed a club of among the boys, Duane says, and the boys took an oath to “get their education and free everyone down south.”

Even among this exceptional group, Smith stood out as the school’s star pupil. In 1824, the school selected him to address the Marquis de Lafayette when the abolitionist Revolutionary War hero visited the school during his farewell tour of America. Freed by New York’s Emancipation Act of 1827, and after graduating the African Free School at 15, with honors, the next year, Smith apprenticed to a blacksmith, while continuing his studies with area ministers.

He took instruction in Latin and Greek from his mentor, the Reverend Peter Williams, Jr., another African Free School alum, and the pastor of St. Philip’s Church, the leading black church in the city. Garnet recalls his friend working “at a forge with a bellows in one hand and a Latin grammar in the other.” In time, Smith would master French, and demonstrate proficiency in Spanish, German, Italian and Hebrew.

When Columbia University and Geneva College (now Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York) refused Smith admission because of his race, Smith’s benefactors raised funds so he could attend the University of Glasgow, which Stauffer describes as “a deeply abolitionist university at the time,” with ties to the abolitionist movement in New York. “Glasgow was a far better university than any American college at the time,” Stauffer said, and “on par with Oxford and Cambridge.” The university had been the seat of the Scottish Enlightenment just decades earlier, and had graduated pioneering thinkers including Adam Smith and James Watt.

At Glasgow, Smith was a charter member of in the Glasgow Emancipation Society, joining just before Britain abolished slavery in 1833. In a span of five years, he earned his bachelors, masters,’ and medical degrees, graduating at or near top of his class. Then, he completed his residency in Paris. The African American press heralded his return to the U.S. in 1837.

In New York, Smith established his medical practice at 55 West Broadway, where he also opened the first black-owned pharmacy in the United States. He saw both black and white patients, men and women. “[Whites] were willing to go to him because of his reputation,” Stauffer says. “He was widely recognized as one of the leading medical doctors in New York.…Even white doctors who were racists couldn’t help [but respect his expertise] because of his publications.” In 1840, Smith authored the first medical case report by an African American, titled, “Case of ptyalism with fatal termination,” but was denied the opportunity to present this paper on fatal tongue-swelling to the New York Medical and Surgical Society, “lest it might interfere with the ‘harmony’ of the young institution,” the society insisted. His paper, “On the Influence of Opium upon the Catamenial Functions,” was the first publication by an African American in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

While the foregoing represents Smith’s contributions to conventional medical research and treatment (and concerned mostly white patients), Smith dedicated considerable attention to challenging pseudoscientific justifications for African American oppression. The moment he stepped back on U.S. soil, he delivered a lecture titled “The Fallacy of Phrenology,” where he attacked the notion that head shape and size dictates the relative intelligence of different racial groups.

Having embraced at Glasgow Adolphe Quetelet’s pioneering application of statistics to social science, Smith frequently marshaled sophisticated statistical analysis to make his case. When the federal government used data from the 1840 census to argue that emancipated blacks in the North, when compared to those still enslaved, were “more prone to vice and pauperism, accompanied by the bodily and mental inflictions incident thereto—deafness, blindness, insanity and idiocy,” Smith mounted a campaign to refute the claim.

The Harvard-trained physician Edward Jarvis, who had initially supported these government findings, later joined Smith in exposing fundamental errors in the census. For example, Smith demonstrated that the census often tallied more infirm or “insane” black persons than there were black persons in a given state (“to make 19 crazy men out of one man”). More fundamentally, he showed the census failed to account for the higher mortality rate among the enslaved population—the murder of blacks, he charged, at young ages. In an 1844 letter to the New York Herald on the topic, he writes, “What mockery it is for men to talk of the kindness of masters in taking care of aged slaves, when Death has relieved them of so large a share of the burden!”

Smith served for 20 years as the medical director of the Colored Orphan Asylum, a position he assumed some years after he accused the asylum’s previous doctor of negligence for concluding that the deaths among his charges were due to the “peculiar constitution and condition of the colored race.” Smith made great improvements in the medical care at the institution, containing outbreaks of contagious diseases by expanding the medical ward to allow for greater separation and isolation of sick children. He saw the Quaker-run institution as one of the best schools in the city for black children, providing for them what the African Free School provided for him, with a critical difference: Duane says the philosophy of the African Free School was, “You need to admire a version of history that disconnects you from the history of slavery in this country…your own mother… You’re not orphaned but you orphan yourself. You leave the past behind.”

The leaders of the African Free School contemplated the children would educate themselves, gain freedom and repatriate to Africa. By contrast, Smith, says Duane, “saw education [at the orphanage] as a way of supporting families, of putting down roots in the U.S. And fighting for citizenship.”

He also knew an educated black population marked the beginning of the end of slavery. Slavery, Stauffer says, relies on a “totalitarian state” where no one is permitted to question the status quo. So, in the case of enslaved persons like Smith and his cohort who become free, he says, “That’s when they start speaking and writing profusely, and that’s what really fuels or creates the abolition movement.” Education and freedom of expression is anathema to slavery. “All slave societies do their best to prevent slaves from having a public voice, because if they do it’s going to wreak havoc on the society.”

Havoc was necessary if abolition could not be achieved by other means. Smith defied the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, which required that citizens in free States aid in the recapture of persons fleeing bondage, as he met with other black activists in the back room of his pharmacy to arrange for the protection of runaways. In 1855, he co-founded the interracial Radical Abolitionist Party, with Frederick Douglass, former Congressman Gerrit Smith, and John Brown, the abolitionist man-in-the-arena, who in 1859 would lead a foiled attack on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to instigate a revolt among the area’s enslaved population. The party advocated a pluralistic, egalitarian society, for men and women of all backgrounds.

Unlike William Lloyd Garrison advocated “moral suasion” as the means to rid the nation of slavery, these radical abolitionists were prepared to use violence if it would liberate their brethren from bondage. Smith reasoned in an 1856 essay in Frederick Douglass’ Paper, “Our white brethren cannot understand us unless we speak to them in their own language; they recognize only the philosophy of force. They will never recognize our manhood until we knock them down a time or two; they will then hug us as men and brethren.”

Smith predicted the institution of slavery would not give up the ghost on its own. “African Americans recognized that violence is at the heart of slavery,” Stauffer says. “Without violence, slavery cannot exist…And so, [African Americans] were practical.”

In general, Smith and the Radical Abolitionist Party believed that white Americans needed to embrace African-American perspectives in order to see America in its true light and redeem it. He wrote, “[W]e are destined to spread over our common country the holy influences of principles, the glorious light of Truth.” This access to truth, he predicted, would be manifested in African American oratory, poetry, literature, music and art. Stauffer says that one of Smith’s lifelong interests was to reveal to people the unrecognized influence of Africans and African Americans in the advance of scholarship and culture. An 1843 publication records Smith proclaiming in an 1841 lecture:

“For we are destined to write the literature of this republic, which is still, in letters, a mere province of Great Britain. We have already, even from the depths of slavery, furnished the only music this country has yet produced. We are also destined to write the poetry of the nation; for as real poetry gushes forth from minds embued with a lofty perception of the truth, so our faculties, enlarged in the intellectual struggle for liberty, will necessarily become fired with glimpses at the glorious and the true, and will weave their inspiration into song.”

Indeed, as Smith observed, songs among the enslaved were already shaping American music in his time. “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” a haunting spiritual about the separation of children from their mothers during slavery, would later, as musicologists acknowledge, form the basis for George Gershwin’s 1934 song, “Summertime.”

Smith himself made significant contributions to the American literary canon with a series of narrative sketches in Frederick Douglass’ Paper, which he called, “The Heads of Colored People.” With its title mocking the attempts of phrenology to diminish the worth of African Americans, Smith paints dignified portraits of everyday black people—a bootblack, a washerman—as examples of the unique personalities inherent to every human being.

Smith died in November 1865 of congestive heart failure, living his final years in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He and many black families fled Manhattan after the 1863 Draft Riots, where largely working-class Irish draft resisters assaulted and killed black New Yorkers and attacked charitable institutions associated with African-Americans and the war. Most distressing for Smith were these events of July 13 of that year, as reported by the New York Times:

“The Orphan Asylum for Colored Children was visited by the mob about 4 o’clock. … Hundreds, and perhaps thousands of the rioters, the majority of whom were women and children, entered the premises, and in the most excited and violent manner they ransacked and plundered the building from cellar to garret.”

The rioters burned the building to the ground. Fortunately, the staff managed to escort all the children to safety through a back exit. An ailing Smith was not at the asylum that day, and despite attacks in the vicinity of his home and pharmacy was not harmed. But he and other black New Yorkers were shaken. The mob ultimately killed an estimated 175 people, including many who were hanged or burned alive. It’s estimated that in the riot’s aftermath, Manhattan’s black population declined by 20 percent, many departing for Brooklyn.

“I didn’t know he was my ancestor,” says Greta Blau, a white woman who learned about Smith when she wrote a paper on the Colored Orphan Asylum for a class at Hunter College in the 1990s. While she had seen his name in her grandmother’s family Bible, he was a “Scottish doctor” in family lore. Only later did she make the connection. “I think all his children “passed,” she said, meaning that Smith’s descendants hid their black ancestry in order to enjoy the privileges of whites in a segregated world. The 1870 U.S. census recorded Smith’s children as white and they, in turn, married white spouses.

Knowledge of Smith’s achievements as an African American might have endured had he published books, but his essays from periodicals were more easily forgotten. Whereas Douglass was the most photographed American of the 19th century, only one portrait of Smith exists. Blau realizes why Smith’s children did not seek to keep his legacy alive: “In order for his children to be safe and pass, he had to be forgotten,…which is tragic.” In 2010, Blau arranged for the placement of a new headstone at Smith’s grave in Brooklyn’s Cypress Hill Cemetery.

Remarkably, several white descendants of Smith are interred in the same section established by St. Philip’s Church, the black church Smith attended. Blau’s grandmother, who died in 2019 at 99 years old, joined her for the ceremony at the gravesite, as did descendants from Smith’s other children, whom Blau first met when she contacted them to share the news of their ancestor. While other descendants she contacted did not welcome the news of her discovery, these distant cousins who joined her for the ceremony made the journey from the Midwest to be there. “They were proud of it. Just proud.”

#History

[nordleuchten]

La Fayette hold at least one quite peculiar (and quite sad) record. By the time he visited America in 1824/25 he was the last surviving Revolutionary War General. There was no other British, American, Hessian (German) or French General or any other General still alive. La Fayette had also been the youngest Revolutionary War General at just 19 years of age and his youth and relative longevity made him also the last Revolutionary War General.

Imagine what world record your favorite historical figure would break

[hiidkwhatimdoing7525]

My first day at Yorktown for Lafayette’s bicentennial anniversary of his tour part 1/?

It started with Lafayette’s ship coming into the dock

and when he was walking to the stage place he saw me, and no joke he asked me how I was doing, hugged me and KISSED ME ON THE CHEEK!!!!! (he kinda knows me) MY BRAIN DIED AT THAT MOMENT ASHEJJAHAGJSSJBSDH I MALFUNCTIONED!

i g o t a k i s s o n t h e c h e e k f r o m m a r k s c h n e i d e r

I didn't notice the phone was sideways but still !!!!

I got my membership pin!!!

Then there was the speeches

then I was introduced as a new AFL member to all those important speaker people (FUCK I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS HOW HAPPY I AM!!!) by that guy on the podium in the pic

got to go eat dinner part two coming soon!!!

[nordleuchten]

I can really recommend this website as a whole, you can find great informations there!

If you are from America I can especially recommend the Event section. Maybe you find something there that you want and can attend. :-)

[marq-de-laf]

Hello! As I’ve been trying my best to find an answer to this question, do you know of any sources stating where Lafayette stayed when he was visiting America? I know he stayed in Monticello at one point, but I don’t know anything else. Thanks!

Hello!!!

Lafayette stayed in a plethora of places during his various treks across America. Most historians trace his path by referencing the letters written at the time. Here’s a good reference for some of those:

https://founders.archives.gov

While I don’t personally have a list, my good friend Julien Icher has created a movement called The Lafayette Trail, which traces the 1824-1825 path of the tour the marquis took across the US. Here’s his website:

https://thelafayettetrail.org

((PS: If you’re interested in furthering his research, you can always donate at this website as well.))

[nordleuchten]

I think I can @my-deer-friend and @binch-i-might-be :-)

La Fayette twice met relatives of his dear friend Hamilton while in America 1824/25.

The first time was in Albany. La Fayette left New York after celebrating the 47th anniversary of the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1824. He travelled up the Hudson River to Albany. I can not tell you exactly when La Fayette arrived in Albany but it was no later than mid-September. He and his party travelled on the steam boat James Kent and although the boat had some 100 beds, many men were required to sleep on deck because there were many ladies in the entourage. Anywhere, the destination of the drip was the military academy at West Point. As soon as he reached the shore, La Fayette went into an open carriage and travelled to West Point where Major Thayer, General Scott and General Brown showed him around and introduced him to the all of the cadets. Here is what La Fayette’s secretary Auguste Levasseur wrote about the meeting:

He was taken in an open carriage, and the widow of General Hamilton placed at his side; and then followed by a long procession formed by the ladies who had accompanied him (…)

Auguste Levasseur, Lafayette in America, Volume 1

We see that Eliza accompanied him and it is more than possible that he met some of her children during this occasion. Some of her daughters lived with her and Alexander jr. had returned to Albany in March of 1823 after losing against Richard Keith Call in the bid for the position of Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Florida Territory. Several secondary sources about the Farewell Tour 1824/25 mention that La Fayette met Alexander jr. in Albany. I can very well believe that. In fact, I would assume that he two met. Whether they met or not though, neither Levasseur nor La Fayette himself found the occasion notable enough to record it.

Next up is La Fayette’s stay in St. Louis in Illinois. There he met another son of Hamilton, William Hamilton. Again turning to Levasseur, we read:

He was attended by Mr. Augustus Choteau, a venerable old gentleman by whom St Louis was founded, Mr. Hempstead, an old soldier of the revolution and the mayor. These gentlemen conducted him to the house of the son of Mr. Choteau, prepared for his reception, which was thrown open to all citizens without distinction, who desired to visit the national guest. Among the visiters, the general met with pleasure Mr. Hamilton, son of General Alexander Hamilton, the former aide de camp to Washington, whom he so much loved, and an old French sergeant of Rochambeau's army named Bellissime. This last could not restrain the joy he felt on seeing a countryman thus honoured by the American nation.

Auguste Levasseur, Lafayette in America, Vol. 2

So, La Fayette and William met at the reception at the house of Mr. Choteau’s son - not completely by coincidence. William had served on a joint state house and senate committee to draft the declaration by which La Fayette should be invited to Illinois. At this point in time, William was the aide-de-camp to Governor Edward Coles and Coles sent William to greet La Fayette as soon as the latter arrived in St. Louis (St. Louis is situated on the shores of the Mississippi River and as La Fayette travelled the Mississippi, St. Louis was the first town in Illinois he set a foot in). Cole send along a letter of introduction.

Edwardsville, April 25, 1825

Dear Sir: ‑ This will be handed to you by my friends and aid-de-camp, Col. William Schuyler Hamilton, whom I take pleasure in introducing to you as the son of your old and particular friend Gen. Alexander Hamilton. As it is not known when you will arrive at St. Louis or what will be your intended route from thence, Col. Hamilton is posted there for the purpose of waiting on you as soon as you shall arrive and ascertaining from you and making known to me by what route you propose to return to the eastward and when and where it will be most agreeable for you to afford me the happiness of seeing you and welcoming you to Illinois.

I am, with the greatest respect and esteem, your devoted friend,

Edward Coles

In conclusion, we have two meetings with the Hamilton’s, and at least one meeting with a son of Hamilton - but no fainting and no crying, no shock. The statement that La Fayette fainted probably derives from Lafayetteby Howard Giles Unger. He wrote in his book:

He all but fainted, however, at the governor’s banquet when a young man approached, looking every bit like the ghost of the young Alexander Hamilton. It was Hamilton’s son.

Unger does not give a source for this statement so I do not know where he acquired the information. It is certainly not unbelievable that La Fayette cried, he did that quite often during the trip and Levasseur or other bystanders recorded it time and time again, but I could not find any proof that he cried when seeing William (or potentially any other child of Hamilton).

That is all I know about the matter. There may be something more in some of the letters from that time (I would be especially happy to see some mentions by Georges Washington de La Fayette because he lived for a short time with the Hamilton’s and was during this time more or less raised alongside the Hamilton-boys) but searching them would require a bit more time.

I'm going to murder someone I'm looking for accounts of Lafayette coming back to america in 1824 but every time I search for him and a specific person all I get is "Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton" BITCH THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE RAT MAN LEAVE ME ALONE

[streetsofsalem]

Lafayette Fangirls

I just love the idea and the historic reality of the “Farewell Tour” taken by the Marquis de Lafayette in 1824: the exuberant reception, and the deep appreciation expressed by both Americans and Lafayette again and again and again, everywhere he went. I also like all the things that were produced for this occasion: prints, plates, paintings, ribbons, all manner of print and material commemorative…

[readingrecap]

Lafayette's Tour Trail Marker 65 Unveiled

Lafayette’s Tour Trail Marker 65 Unveiled

On Friday August 19th, the latest Lafayette Trail marker was unveiled in Reading in the garden area in front of the Latham Law Offices on Main Street. Lafayette Trail, Inc documents, maps, and mark General Lafayette’s footsteps during his Farewell Tour of the United States in 1824 and 1825. It aims to educate the public about the national significance of Lafayette’s Tour and to promote a broader…