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Proclaming independence in a liberated town
By adamg on Wed, 07/04/2018 - 10:24am
The first ever reading in Boston. Image from the National Archives.
On the afternoon of July 18, 1776, Col. Thomas Crafts walked out onto the balcony of what was then called Town House and read a declaration that had been signed by representatives of the 13 colonies two weeks earlier in Philadelphia.
Today, members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Co. recreated the original reading by Crafts, who, as colonel of the Massachusetts Regiment of Artillery played a role in driving the British army out of Boston in March, 1776 (three years after he had helped toss tea into Boston Harbor). Adam Castiglioni captured the reading:
One key difference between the 1776 reading and today's: After the first reading, the crowd tore down the lion and the unicorn - symbols of the British monarchy - and burned them in a bonfire on King Street (later renamed State Street). No such bonfire today; in fact, in 2014, the Bostonian Society put a good deal of time and money into restoring the two symbols.
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Comments
1776-1863
That's back when racists openly flaunted there hate. My people weren't emancipated for close to 100 years later. So July 4th means nothing to me!
National emancipation was 1863
Massachusetts judges decided that slavery was incompatible with liberty and the state constitution shortly after the war - 1790s. Slaves brought suit and won.
Even slightly earlier
Slavery was abolished in Massachusetts July 8, 1783, by a ruling of the Mass.Supreme Court.
http://www.masshist.org/teaching-history/loc-slavery/essay.php?entry_id=504
Sigh
People suck
"That's back when racists openly flaunted..hate" They don't now?
I think that guy is just trying stoke racial animus. I'm not buying into it. He doesn't know the difference between their and there.
This though, you might find interesting:
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery around 1818. He later became a key leader of the abolitionist movement.
On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, he gave one of his most famous speeches, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro.” to the Rochester Ladies Antislavery Society.
Actor James Earl Jones read the speech during a performance of historian Howard Zinn’s acclaimed book, “Voices of a People’s History of the United States.” Zinn introduces him:
NN NB is a bot, probably Russian
NN NB is probably a Russian troll/bot. The post is a theme the known Russian propagandists have been trying to promote this week. Ignore the post, and others like it (anon or brand new poster, no substance to the comment besides the propaganda, no real connection to the topic at hand or Boston, obvious spelling errors, etc.).
If you want to track current Russian propaganda, try the Hamilton 68 Dashboard.
Continue celebrating Independence Day; vote on Sept. 4 (the day after Labor Day) & Nov. 6. Remember to check your voter registration!
This Bot
Is a black man and I know your not by your racist comments.
racism
is a major fucked up evil problem still, that's true. what we would all like though, is for people with your way of thinking to get involved in the electoral process, so we can all find out what things "mean" to you and if the meaning of those things that mean something to you can positively impact society.
we live in a non-hellspace because of old white men with enlightenment ideas (and not insignificantly racist ideas too) that can by the force of their rhetoric be extended to the benefit of everybody albeit so far with enormous imperfection. yes, it still looks like everything is broken. but no, you don't live in a gulag, under white racist authority, nor under a criminal ganglord of any ethnicity. not yet, anyway.
there is no need to be overly sentimental about mean old white bastards with wooden teeth, terminal halitosis, and slave concubines. that won't stop some people however.
you can choose to make someone else's good ideas your own and expand on them. in fact, it is your moral obligation to do so.
I am Not a Racist! I am a Jerk!
(Trigger alert for the African American Dancing part.)
https://youtu.be/ANph32LoXR4
I am Not a Racist! I am a Jerk!
(Trigger alert for the African American Dancing part.)
https://youtu.be/ANph32LoXR4