A Dramatic Reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

December 9, 2010 by · 1 Comment 

Today, in the spirit of the holiday season, I’ll be stepping out of the colonial period and traveling to Victorian era Boston to remember Charles Dickens’ historic visit to the city in 1867 and his highly acclaimed readings of A Christmas Carol. I’ll also be introducing you to a gentleman whose recent dramatic performances of Dickens’ holiday classic in and around Boston received rave reviews with all proceeds going to benefit the Greater Boston Food Bank – the largest hunger-relief organization in New England. First to Mr. Dickens himself – Charles Dickens arrived in Boston on November 19, 1867. It was his second visit to America and to Boston, his first being in January 1842. Dickens stayed at the luxurious Parker House, an earlier version of today’s popular Omni Parker House Hotel. Shortly after his arrival, the author wrote a letter to his daughter commenting on his lodgings. “This is an immense hotel, with all manner of white marble public passages and public rooms. I live in a corner, high up, and have a hot and cold bath in my bedroom (communicating with the sitting-room), and comforts not in existence when I was here before. The cost of living is enormous, but happily we can afford it.” Tickets for the first four readings that Dickens had announced sold out immediately. As his manager had planned, there were a few weeks to relax before the busy tour began. During this period, Charles Dickens attended several dinner engagements and spent a good deal of time rehearsing from the reading script he had created and memorized. He practiced the facial expressions and gestures for all the wonderful characters in his story, including Scrooge, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim, in a tall mirror that hung in his room. (This mirror and other artifacts from Dickens visit can be seen today at the Omni Parker House Hotel.) Dickens is believed to have given his first informal reading of A Christmas Carol on Saturday, November 30, 1867 in the Press Room of the Parker House to a small group of men called “The Saturday Club”. Among the group of writers, philosophers, historians, and scientists that day was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Just two days later, Charles Dickens’ first formal reading would take place.

Opening night in Boston for Dickens American reading tour was Monday, December 2, 1867. As the day dawned, an early winter snow swirled about the city but by evening the roads were in fine shape for the carriages that transported many of the guests to Tremont Temple. Outside the theater, scalpers were offering the prized $2 tickets for $40 – the equivalent of about $400 today! The New York Times of the following day stated, “one of the largest halls in the city was filled to every available part by perhaps one of the most appreciative, fashionable and brilliant audiences ever assembled in New-England.” A Boston paper mentioned that Dickens appeared, “before as large an audience as could be comfortably crowded into that hall, in which all the poets, philosophers, sages and historians of this city and vicinity were mingled like plums in a Christmas pudding.” Charles Dickens walked on stage at about 8 o’clock receiving cheers and applause, and strode to his reading table (shown in this original illustration) that contained a block for resting his elbow and held a glass flask filled with water. For most of his performances, the author was dressed in a suit with a red carnation in its buttonhole and a velvet vest containing a heavy gold chain running from pocket to pocket. The New York Times of December 3 states, “After silence was restored Mr. Dickens proceeded to read his “Christmas Carol,” which occupied about one hour and a half. The novelist did not confine himself to the printed page, but rather spoke from memory. During the rendering of this reading his audience was completely spell-bound, so happily and so true to nature did he acquit himself in all its parts. His wonderful power of delineation, versatility of voice and power of gesture excited the admiration of all.” A link to the complete original article from The New York Times as well as an audio podcast appear at the bottom of this post. Charles Dickens was very pleased with the reception he received on opening night. From the Parker House he wrote, “Success last night beyond description or exaggeration. The whole city is quite frantic about it to-day, and it is impossible that prospects could be more brilliant.” Dickens had three more performances that week in Boston and then took the train to New York to continue his tour. The reading tour covered numerous cities on the east coast and lasted for more than four months before concluding in Boston. During this time, Dickens performed on average four evenings a week.

Some of Charles Dickens’ early performances in England beginning in 1853 were done for charity. In that tradition, since 2006, actor and living history interpreter Al LePage has been giving dramatic reading performances of A Christmas Carol across the United States and Canada to benefit organizations helping those who are hungry and in need. A native of Framingham, Massachusetts who now lives in Portland, Oregon, LePage is the founder of Great Stories Alive! – an organization that brings history to life by portraying people from the past. “Performance with Passion & Purpose” is how LePage defines his work. His recent Boston area engagements included four shows at the Omni Parker House Hotel; one at Converse Hall (Tremont Temple) on the exact date that Dickens performed there in 1867; and one show at Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts that sold out well in advance. Admission for each show was $18.67 with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit the Greater Boston Food Bank. During his shows, Al LePage takes on the role of a fictional Englishman named Thomas Hutchinson – a “traveling thespian” who had seen one of Dickens’ early performances in England. With the famous novelist’s blessing, Hutchinson uses a copy of Dickens’ original speaking script to share his Christmas tale with the masses and cultivate generosity for the needy during the holiday season. LePage as Hutchinson, in correct Victorian period attire, takes his audiences on a journey back in time. Those attending his Boston shows were transported to the year 1876 – just nine years after Dickens’ visit, to experience the same historic events in the same historic spots the author did during his own dramatic readings.

Al LePage, as Dickens did before him, uses voice, facial expressions, gestures and movement to create 26 characters complete with accents. He adds some wonderful sound effects too. From his perfect depictions of the miserly Scrooge and Marley’s Ghost, to his fine portrayals of the loving father Bob Cratchit and his sickly son Tiny Tim, LePage keeps his audience hanging on every word while they feel and experience the suspense, joy, sadness, and fight back the tears. I was fortunate to have a ticket for both an evening performance in the Press Room of the Omni Parker House Hotel, where the actor received a rousing standing ovation, and the very historic and memorable December 2 show at Converse Hall. There were plenty of surprises for the audience before, at intermission, and after each performance. LePage’s creative stories and improvisational style kept everyone fully engaged beforehand, while during the intermission at Parker House shows the hotel graciously supplied warm cider and a very tasty dessert. After each performance, some fun and highly meaningful gifts were given away. At the conclusion of the event at Converse Hall, two lucky audience members were selected to receive an 1838 twopence and an 1817 half-a-crown (both coins were mentioned in the story) while the grand prize was a copy of A Christmas Carol printed in Boston in 1876! All events hosted at the Parker House were sponsored by Omni Hotels/Resorts, Parker House/Boston. The print media sponsor for all Boston performances was GateHouse Media New England.

Learn more about the Greater Boston Food Bank and how your donation can help those who are hungry and in need throughout New England.

An original article from The New York Times with press coverage of Dickens’ opening night performance in Boston. A transcript of the article.

Audio Podcast of the article from The New York Times on December 3, 1867

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Available NOW! A wonderful DVD of Al LePage performing A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens at Martha-Mary Chapel, Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Don’t miss this “Dramatic Reading Performance by Englishman Thomas Hutchinson”. Purchase your copy today. A clip from the DVD is shown below.

Upcoming New England performances of A Christmas Carol by Al LePage:

Longfellow’s Wayside Inn – Sudbury
Two Shows: Friday, December 16 and Saturday, December 17, 2011
Both Shows are SOLD OUT

Omni Parker House – Boston
Sunday, December 18, 2011 – Abbreviated Afternoon Matinee (2-4 pm)

Video link: “A Christmas Carol” – Dramatic Reading by “Thomas Hutchinson” (embedded above)

Video produced by Active Communications

Video link: WGBH TV Boston – “A Christmas Carol Brought to Life”

Resources & Links

Shortcut to this post: AChristmasCarol.com

Promoting this post: Teach History presents

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Unique Private Tours of Historic Boston for Groups

March 16, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Is your group, organization or family planning a trip to Boston in the near future?

Are you looking for a memorable way to see the historic sites at your own pace with a knowledgeable guide?

If the answer to these questions is “Yes” then the six-minute video below on my private tours of Historic Boston will be of great interest to you. As a children’s book author, Boston historian and tour guide, I’ve had the opportunity to introduce thousands of individuals from all over the country and all over the world to Boston’s remarkable history since 2004. Families, civic and corporate groups, and school groups have participated in my Walking Tours of Historic Boston. Read some of their testimonials.

What makes the private tours I offer the obvious choice for your group or family?

This is not your “typical” walking tour. You’ll walk from Boston Common to the North End and see 14 historic sites plus 4 hidden/secret spots as I share photographs, engravings, maps, artifacts, and original colonial newspapers from my personal collection.

Your private tour is truly “private”. Only your group or family will participate and the tour will go at a pace that’s comfortable for you. This personalized approach ensures that you get the most out of your tour experience – plenty of time for questions and the flexibility to stay longer at many of the sites.

Tours are customized to meet your specific needs. Additional tour options are available (see details and pricing below) that allow time for a lunch break at Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market; a visit inside the Paul Revere House; and a trip to Charlestown to tour USS Constitution and see the Bunker Hill Monument and Museum.

Private tour participants receive a free copy of the audio version of my children’s book One April in Boston on 3 CDs. One CD set is given per group while individuals receive free access to download the MP3 audio version. The book tells the tale of my early Boston ancestors and their connection to the Sons of Liberty and Paul Revere.

Along the tour route, you’ll appreciate my genuine passion and enthusiasm for Boston history. This stems in part from the fact that four generations of my Edwards ancestors lived in Boston from 1700 to 1852 and during the tour I truly walk in their footsteps. I also reveal fascinating, little-known stories about early Boston life passed down in my family for over 200 years.

Children in particular enjoy learning about my family’s connection to Paul Revere. My fourth great grandfather Benjamin Edwards was a 10-year-old orphan in April 1775 living right down the street from the Old North Church when the signal lanterns were shown from its steeple and Paul Revere made his Midnight Ride. Ben lived with his uncle, a member of the Sons of Liberty, and toward the end of the American Revolution his older sister Sally Edwards married silversmith Paul Revere Jr., firstborn son of the famous patriot.

Private Tour Options and Pricing

Regular Tour

  • Includes: 14 historic sites; the 3 CD set of One April in Boston plus unlimited downloads of the MP3 audio version. The tour lasts 2.5 hours.
  • Pricing: 10 people or less for a total fee of $160 – additional adults are $15 each and additional children (12 & under) are $12 each.
  • Book your tour today by calling 617-670-1888 or use this form.
  • Tours begin at 10 am on Boston Common – corner of Park and Tremont streets.
  • View a map of the tour route as it appeared in 1775.

Extended Tour Option 1

  • Includes: 14 historic sites; the 3 CD set of One April in Boston plus unlimited downloads of the MP3 audio version; time for a lunch break at Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market; time to tour inside the Paul Revere House (a small admission fee); and a wonderful audio download of Longfellow’s famous poem “Paul Revere’s Ride”. The tour lasts 3.5 hours including lunch.
  • Pricing: 10 people or less for a total fee of $200 – additional adults are $16 each and additional children (12 & under) are $13 each.
  • Tours begin at 10 am on Boston Common – corner of Park and Tremont streets.
  • Book your tour today by calling 617-670-1888 or use this form.

Extended Tour Option 2

  • Includes: 16 historic sites; all of the items listed in Option 1 plus a visit to Charlestown to tour the USS Constitution and see the Bunker Hill Monument and Museum. The tour lasts 5 hours including lunch.
  • Pricing: 10 people or less for a total fee of $260 – additional adults are $18 each and additional children (12 & under) are $15 each.
  • Tours begin at 10 am on Boston Common – corner of Park and Tremont streets.
  • Book your tour today by calling 617-670-1888 or use this form.

Tours/Field Trips and Pricing for School Groups – See the Innovative School Programs post below.

Learn more about your tour guide Ben Edwards.

Email your family and friends this link to my business card.

The video for private tours will be added soon. For now, you can get an excellent sense of what it’s like to work with me by viewing the six-minute video embedded below in the Innovative School Programs post.

Innovative School Programs Your Students will Love

March 16, 2010 by Ben Edwards

Are you a grade school social studies teacher looking for programs and tools that can help you move far beyond traditional textbooks to truly excite, motivate and inspire your Colonial American history students?

Are you interested in accomplishing this even if you have little or no budget?

If the answer to these questions is “Yes” then the six-minute video below will be of great interest to you. It introduces some of the innovative school programs and tools for teachers I’ve developed over the past six years including Boston field trips, school author visits and a blog dedicated to educators of Colonial American history. As a children’s book author, Boston historian and tour guide, I’ve had the opportunity to work with thousands of students and hundreds of teachers in Grades 3-6 throughout New England since 2004. During Boston field trips, I walk in the footsteps of my early Boston ancestors and introduce students to Revolutionary Boston with the aid of photographs, engravings, maps and original colonial newspapers from my personal collection. During school author visits, I discuss my book One April in Boston; teach students about the events that led up to the American Revolution; and discuss the book’s underlying theme of goal setting for children. Every student participating in these programs receives the MP3 audio version of my book for free. Those taking the Combination Tour or attending a school author visit also get a bonus audio download of Longfellow’s poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” – both mentioned in the video.

Perhaps the greatest tool I’ve created for teachers is one that’s absolutely Free – the Teach History blog. This resource, which has proven tremendously popular with technology loving students, contains interactive articles, audio podcasts, and YouTube videos that focus on Colonial American history and Boston history. Many of the articles contain links to rare primary source materials I’ve collected over the past 15 years.

Tours/Field Trips and Pricing for School Groups

Sons of Liberty Tour

On this tour you will be introduced to early Boston and walk in the footsteps of some of its most distinguished citizens including Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. You’ll learn more about the patriot cause, the story of their secret organization, and the events that led up to the American Revolution.

Along the route, you will see the Massachusetts State House, Boston Common, Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground, King’s Chapel Burying Ground, King’s Chapel, Old Corner Bookstore Building, Old South Meeting House, Old State House, Site of the Boston Massacre, Faneuil Hall and 3 hidden/secret spots. Learn more about these sites.

Tour length: 90 minutes (10 am-11:30 am)

Pricing:

Children (12 & under) $9
Adults $11
(One free chaperone for every 10 students)

Book your tour today by calling 617-670-1888 or use this form.

Paul Revere’s North End Tour

On this tour you will retrace the footsteps of 10-year-old Ben Edwards, my direct ancestor, and many of the other people in One April in Boston. Young Ben lived right down the street from the Old North Church in April 1775. You will learn more about the events of April 18-19, 1775 including the lantern signal from the steeple of Old North and Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride. Longfellow’s poem that made Revere famous will also be discussed.

You will see the Old State House, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere House, Old North Church, Copp’s Hill Burying Ground and 2 hidden/secret spots. Learn more about these sites.

Tour length: 90 minutes (10 am-11:30 am or 12:30 pm-2 pm)

Pricing:

Children (12 & under) $9
Adults $11
(One free chaperone for every 10 students)

Book your tour today by calling 617-670-1888 or use this form.

The Combination Tour

This economical tour is our most popular. It combines the Sons of Liberty Tour and Paul Revere’s North End Tour with a lunch break in between at historic Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market.

Tour length: 3 hours with a break for lunch (10 am-2 pm)

View a map of the tour route as it appeared in 1775.

Pricing:

Children (12 & under) $11
Adults $13
(One free chaperone for every 10 students)

Book your tour today by calling 617-670-1888 or use this form.

School Author Visits

My classroom presentations, highly praised by teachers, are interactive, educational, inspirational and fun! I discuss my book One April in Boston and share a copy of the print version with every student. Students meet the characters in the story including 10-year-old Ben Edwards, my direct ancestor, learn about their lives and the events that led up to the American Revolution. Special focus is given to the Sons of Liberty and their fight against British taxation, and Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride.

One April in Boston is the story of an American family and a very special gift that was passed down from generation to generation. This “gift of the spyglass” is given to each child who reads the book and listens to the presentation. Through the story, children learn the value of setting a goal for the future, developing a plan, working hard and never giving up on their dreams. Just like the main character in the book, each child realizes that by utilizing this strategy they can truly be “anything they set their minds to be.”

Students learn about the goals I had when I was their age and read the first book I wrote about Boston history at age 10. They see how taking small steps, even at a young age, can move them closer to their own goals.

Pricing:

$175 for a one-hour classroom presentation
Minimum of 4 classroom presentations per school visit
Travel fees (40 cents per mile) apply to schools outside a 30-mile radius of Boston

Video link: Innovative School Programs on History (embedded above)

Filed under: Audio, Colonial Newspapers, Primary Sources, Technology In The Classroom, Tours, Video
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Colonel Shaw, Sergeant Carney and the 54th Massachusetts

February 28, 2010 by · 4 Comments 

On Boston Common, at the corner of Beacon and Park streets, stands what many consider to be the greatest public sculpture in the United States – The Shaw Memorial. The picture in this post is a shot I took of two of the twenty-three marching African American soldiers featured in the memorial. An excellent video on the sculpture is embedded below. The high-relief bronze memorial created by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens honors Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the African American soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. It took Saint-Gaudens almost 14 years to complete his tribute and the unveiling occurred on Memorial Day in 1897. Thirty four years earlier in January 1863, the same month that President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew sought to create an all-black regiment as part of his quota of troops from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This unit, known as the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, would become the first all-black military unit raised in the North during the Civil War. Governor Andrew elected to commission white officers with military experience and firm anti-slavery principles to lead the unit. He wrote a letter to Francis Shaw, an abolitionist with Boston ties, about his plans and outlined his reasons for offering the command of the 54th to his son Robert Gould Shaw. Governor Andrew enclosed a letter to Robert Gould Shaw and asked his father to be sure he received it as quickly as possible. At this time, Robert was a Captain with the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry and in winter camp in Stafford Courthouse, Virginia. Robert Gould Shaw had enlisted when the war began in 1861 and taken part in several battles including Cedar Mountain and Antietam. Francis George Shaw chose to hand deliver Governor Andrew’s letter to his only son Robert and visited him in Virginia.

Robert Gould Shaw initially chose to decline Governor Andrew’s offer but after more consideration and a desire to please his mother, Sarah Blake (Sturgis) Shaw, he agreed to accept the command and serve as colonel of the 54th Regiment. A few days later, Robert announced his engagement to Annie Haggerty. The two had met just before the war when Susanna, one of Robert’s sisters, invited Annie to a small gathering of family/friends attending the opera. They had kept up a steady correspondence when Robert was away fighting for the Union. Robert returned to Boston on February 15 when effort began in earnest to both recruit and train men for the 54th. Robert did take a short break for his wedding and honeymoon. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and Anna Kneeland Haggerty were married on May 2, 1863 in The Church of the Ascension on Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street in New York City. They spent four relaxing days in the Berkshires of Massachusetts before Shaw learned that he’d have to return before the week was out as the Governor had ordered his regiment to leave for the south in less than three weeks. Departure day was eventually set for May 28, 1863. On that day, at 9 am, 1,007 black soldiers and 37 white officers of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment began a parade march through the streets of Boston in full dress uniform. Twenty-five-year-old Colonel Robert Gould Shaw rode at the head of the column. Twenty thousand people turned out to see the regiment off. In the reviewing stands and peering from balconies along the parade route were such dignitaries as Governor John A. Andrew, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips and Frederick Douglass whose sons Charles and Lewis Douglass were members of the 54th. Robert Gould Shaw’s family, including his mother, two of his four sisters and his wife, stood on the second floor balcony of the Sturgis home located at 44 Beacon Street.  When Colonel Shaw arrived at their location, he looked up and raised his sword to his lips. His seventeen-year-old sister Ellen, recalling how she felt about her brother Rob at that very moment, later wrote, “his face was as the face of an angel and I felt perfectly sure he would never come back.”

After the parade, the men said goodbye to their families, boarded their transport ship and headed for South Carolina. On June 3, the transport arrived at the port of Hilton Head. A week later, the 54th took part in a raid that involved burning the town of Darien, Georgia – something that upset Colonel Shaw greatly. When Shaw learned in late June that his black troops would receive pay of only $10 per month instead of the $13 per month they had been promised (the same as white troops), he protested personally. The men vowed to accept no pay at all until the issue was resolved – and it eventually was, but not until nearly 18 months passed. Concerned that his men might not see any real action and have the chance to prove themselves, Colonel Shaw wrote to General George Strong on July 6 and asked that the 54th Massachusetts be placed under his command. This occurred a few days later and the regiment performed very honorably in its first major engagement at James Island, South Carolina on July 16. Shortly after the battle, the 54th began a two day excursion with only the hardtack they carried in their packs for food. Marching through mud flats and marsh, through thunderstorms and in the blazing sun, with the aid of two transports they made it to Morris Island on the afternoon of Saturday, July 18, 1863. Here, the heavily fortified Confederate Fort Wagner was located. The fort had been under Union bombardment for more than a day. Colonel Shaw met with General Strong and learned that there would be a frontal assault on Wagner that night. The General asked Shaw if the 54th would like to lead the attack. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw replied, “Yes”. Before joining his men, Colonel Shaw located Edward L. Pierce, a correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune and gave him some letters and personal items to pass on to Shaw’s family if he was killed.

The assault on Fort Wagner would begin at dusk. Six Hundred soldiers from the 54th Regiment gathered less than 1,000 yards from the fort and waited. The 54th would lead the first wave of the assault while white troops from Connecticut, New York and New Hampshire regiments would follow in a second wave. What none of the men could have known at that time is the Union bombardment of the fort had been ineffective and its garrison of 1,700 Confederate soldiers would still be fighting at full strength. Both General Strong and Colonel Shaw addressed the men. Shaw encouraged the 54th saying, “I want you to prove yourselves. The eyes of thousands will look on what you do tonight.” At about 7:45 pm, Colonel Shaw stood at the front of his regiment and gave the command to advance at the quick-step. The men had their bayonets fixed and they knew the fort must be taken in hand-to-hand combat. With the Atlantic Ocean to the right and a creek on the left, the 54th moved along a narrow strip of beach and Shaw ordered the pace to double-quick while still some distance away. When they were about 100 yards out, the Confederate soldiers from Fort Wagner began firing with such ferocity that the 54th started to hesitate. But Colonel Shaw rallied the men and led a group of them through a ditch and to the top of the parapet. He was one of the first to climb the walls of the fort. Here, as he waved his sword and urged his men forward, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was shot in the chest and fell into the fort. When the flag bearer for the regiment was killed, Sergeant William Carney of New Bedford, Massachusetts grasped the flag and soon planted it on top of the parapet and held it there as the troops scaled the walls. In this detailed account, Carney mentions that he was shot several times during his attempt to prevent the flag from being captured by the enemy. When he reached the Union lines, Carney staggered into a hospital and amidst the cheers of his fellow soldiers – both black and white – told them, “Boys, I but did my duty; the dear old flag never touched the ground.” He then collapsed from his wounds.

Following the battle, the Confederate commander of Fort Wagner buried Colonel Shaw in a pit with some of his black soldiers in an attempt to dishonor him. When Shaw’s parents learned this, it had the opposite effect. They said there could be no holier place than where he lies surrounded by his brave soldiers and requested that no attempts be made to recover his body. Of the 600 members of The 54th Massachusetts that led the first wave of the assault on Fort Wagner, nearly half made their way into the fort. Two hundred seventy two were either killed, wounded or captured. The charge had certainly proven the courage of black troops under fire and the bravery of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and his fellow officers. Of the assault, even a Confederate officer named Iredell Jones could not help but proclaim, “The Negroes fought gallantly, and were headed by as brave a colonel as ever lived.” The story of Colonel Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts is told in the must-see 1989 movie Glory. In the film, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw is played by actor Matthew Broderick. Below you can read original press coverage of the 54th Massachusetts including articles on recruiting and fundraising, their march through Boston on May 28, 1863 and the attack on Fort Wagner. Transcriptions are also provided.

On Memorial Day in 1897, during the ceremonies unveiling Saint-Gaudens magnificent memorial to Shaw and the 54th, sixty-five veterans of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment marched at the head of the parade. Among those veterans, carrying the American flag, was Sergeant William Carney. Three years later in 1900 his heroic efforts under fire to save the flag would finally be recognized when, nearly 37 years after the assault on Fort Wagner, Carney became the first African American to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor. That Memorial Day in 1897, Sergeant Carney and his fellow veterans marched along the same route they had taken when they left Boston on May 28, 1863. This time, however, they traveled in the opposite direction, symbolically meeting and honoring their fellow soldiers and their leader Colonel Shaw – men who had not lived to see the lasting impact they had made.

Video link: PBS Documentary – Augustus Saint-Gaudens – The Shaw Memorial (embedded above)

Purchase the above video from PBS

A Rare Civil War Camp Pass With the Signature of Robert Gould Shaw

The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment Today — Company A, Boston, MA

“I know not, Mr. Commander, when, in all human history, to any given thousand men in arms there has been committed a work at once so proud, so precious, so full of hope and glory as the work committed to you.”

- Governor John A. Andrew presenting the regimental colors to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw at Camp Meigs in Readville on May 18, 1863.

Original Press Coverage — Recruiting and Fundraising for the 54th

The Liberator (Boston) February 20, 1863 — Meeting at the Joy Street Church

Masthead | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Transcript

The Liberator (Boston) March 13, 1863 — Aid Meeting/Frederick Douglass’s Call to Arms

Masthead | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Transcript 1 | Transcript 2

The Liberator (Boston) March 27, 1863 — Wendell Phillips Speaks at Fundraiser

Masthead | Part 1 | Transcript

“The very flower of grace and chivalry, he seemed to me beautiful and awful, as an angel of God come down to lead the host of freedom to victory.”

- Poet John Greenleaf Whittier’s description of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw leading the 54th Massachusetts Regiment down Beacon Street and off to war.

Original Press Coverage — the 54th Marches Through Boston

The New York Times May 30, 1863

Masthead | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Transcript

The Liberator (Boston) June 5, 1863

Masthead | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Transcript

The Liberator (Boston) June 26, 1863

Masthead | Part 1 | Part 2 | Transcript

“We’re in General Strong’s brigade. We came up here last night, and were out again all night in a very heavy rain. Fort Wagner is being very heavily bombarded. We are not far from it. We hear nothing but praise of the Fifty-fourth on all hands.”

- From Colonel Robert Gould Shaw’s final letter written from Morris Island on July 18, 1863.

Original Press Coverage — the Attack on Fort Wagner

The Liberator (Boston) July 31, 1863

Masthead | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Transcript

New York Daily Tribune August 3, 1863

Masthead | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Transcript

Harper’s Weekly August 15, 1863

Masthead | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Transcript

“I saw them march along to the assault as steadily and sternly as the most veteran of the batallion. I saw them plunge bravely into the terrible abyss of death, which the darkness of night was rapidly concealing from view. As to how they fought, there is the long list of the fallen. As to how far they went, there is the fact of sixty being captured within the fort, and so admitted to me by the rebels under the flag of truce. I can testify that they bore their wounds with the heroic fortitude of the most determined veterans, and they died as nobly.”

-From U.S. Army Medical Inspector A.C. Hamlin’s letter to Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson on the courage of the 54th at Fort Wagner.

A Poem honoring Colonel Robert Gould Shaw

Bibliography and Resources on the 54th Massachusetts

To learn more about the 54th Massachusetts visit Boston’s Museum of African American History

Audio link: Glory Soundtrack – Closing Credits

Shortcut to this post: 54thMass.com

Promoting this post: Teach History presents

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Remembering Alex Haley and Roots

February 15, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Continuing with my series of posts for Black History Month featuring outstanding African Americans, today I’ll be remembering Alex Haley and his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Roots. Whenever he spoke about Roots while giving talks in various parts of the country, Alex Haley would recall how, as a young boy, he sat on the front porch of his childhood home in Henning, Tennessee and listened to his grandmother Cynthia and Great Aunt Liz, Great Aunt Till, Great Aunt Viney, and Cousin Georgia tell stories passed down in the family. These women would sit in their rocking chairs and speak about their earliest ancestor – someone who they always referred to as the “African”. They said his name was “Kintay” and also mentioned other African words he taught to his daughter Kizzy – words like “Ko” which meant “guitar” and “Kamby Bolongo” which stood for “river”. These stories fascinated and intrigued young Alex Haley but little could he imagine that many years later they would forever change his life. In 1939, at the age of 18, Alex Haley withdrew from college and enlisted in the Coast Guard. It was here that he developed his writing skills by crafting letters to those back home and also for his shipmates – essentially love letters that they could send to their girlfriends. After World War II, Haley remained in the Coast Guard and transferred into the field of journalism. In 1959, after 20 years of service, Alex Haley retired from the Coast Guard with the rank of Chief Petty Officer and the title of Chief Journalist. He then began to pursue a career in journalism by writing articles for magazines including Reader’s Digest, where Haley eventually became a senior editor. His first book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, was published in 1965. After that project, an assignment for a magazine took him to Washington, D.C. where in his free time he visited the National Archives. Here he searched the census records of Alamance County, North Carolina and located the family of Tom Murray a blacksmith and his wife Irene. He recalled these names from the stories he heard as a boy. Tom and Irene were his great grandparents and they had been slaves. Wanting to learn more, he decided to pay a visit to the only surviving storyteller from those early days on the front porch of the family home in Henning – Cousin Georgia who was almost 80.

Alex Haley flew to Kansas City, Kansas for a reunion with Cousin Georgia. She relayed some of the same stories he had heard as a child including how the African named “Kintay” was a short distance from his village chopping wood to make a drum when he was surprised by slave catchers. She mentioned that he was taken from his homeland and put aboard a slave ship which landed in “Napolis”. Here he was sold and his name changed to Toby. The African, never accepted that name, and always took pride in his real family name “Kintay” and instilled in his daughter Kizzy a sense of who they really were. At the end of their conversation, Alex Haley recalls Cousin Georgia saying “Boy, your sweet Grandma ‘an all the rest of ‘em, they settin’ up there and watchin’ you. Now you git on outa here and do what you got to do.” Those words inspired Alex Haley to begin his 12-year search for his ancestors – a search that involved extensive travel and countless hours of research in numerous libraries and archives. During that genealogical journey, Alex Haley discovered the name of his first ancestor in America and in 1976 the story of Kunta Kinte and his descendants came to life in a book called Roots. Adapted into a television miniseries, Roots was originally broadcast in one and two-hour segments over an eight-day period in January 1977 and was seen by 130 million viewers. The sequel Roots: the Next Generations, also tremendously popular, aired in 1979. I was one of the millions of viewers who watched both programs and, as it did for countless others, Alex Haley’s work motivated me to learn more about my own family. Many years later I wrote a book that tells the tale of my Edwards ancestors – a children’s story called One April in Boston. A copy of it sits on the bookshelf in my office, side by side with a far larger book that will always mean a great deal to me – a copy of Roots signed by Alex Haley.

Since receiving the Pulitzer Prize in 1977, Roots has been published in 37 languages! Author Alex Haley died in 1992 but his legacy is quite visible today, in two spots in particular – The Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial, located in Annapolis, Maryland and at his boyhood home in Henning, Tennessee. The Memorial is located at the head of the Annapolis City Harbor and marks the location where Kunta Kinte arrived. It is the only memorial in the United States to commemorate the actual name and place of arrival of an enslaved African. The beautiful memorial includes a Compass Rose, a Sculpture Group of Alex Haley reading to three children of different ethnic backgrounds as well as a Story Wall with ten bronze plaques. These plaques “share messages designed to encourage reconciliation and healing from a legacy of slavery, ethnic hatred, and oppression. They include commentary and original art about translated epigraphs from Alex Haley’s messages in Roots. The messages are universal in significance.” A few of the messages on the Story Wall plaques appear below:

When you clench your fist, no one can put anything in your hand, nor can your hand pick up anything.
Omoro Kinte, Roots

Knowledge of history can be the first step away from anger and bitterness. Truth leads to understanding. Understanding and forgiveness lead to reconciliation and healing.
• FORGIVENESS •

Your sweet grandma and all of them – they’re up there watching you.
Cousin Georgia, Roots

Knowing our family is knowing ourselves. Our values and traditions are forged through the struggle, heartache, pain, hopes and dreams of our ancestors.
• FAMILY •

The farthest-back person they ever talked about was a man they called the “African.”
Alex Haley, Roots

Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book Roots inspires all peoples to embrace their heritage. As we discover our personal history, we realize that all members of the human family share a universal bond.
• HERITAGE •

You must hear me now with more than your ears!
Omoro Kinte, Roots

This Story Wall is dedicated to those nameless Africans, brought to the New World against their will, who struggled against terrible odds to maintain family, culture, identity and above all, hope.
• DEDICATION •

Alex Haley’s boyhood home in Henning, Tennessee is now a historical site and museum. It is located at 200 South Church Street and the hours are 10 am to 5 pm, Tuesday-Saturday; 1 pm to 5 pm, Sunday; and the museum is closed on Monday. For more information, call (731) 738-2240. West Tennessee Journal recently did an incredible segment on The Alex Haley Home and Museum and that video appears below.

Listen to excerpts from the album Alex Haley Tells the Story of His Search for Roots

View Four Treasured Video Clips featuring Author Alex Haley

Purchase Roots Today!

The Alex Haley Home and Museum (embedded below)

Video link: Alex Haley Home and Museum

Filed under: Audio, Books, Video
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Young Ben Franklin and the Silence Dogood Letters

January 13, 2010 by · 1 Comment 

I’ve always thought Benjamin Franklin was cool even back when I was in the sixth grade and chose to write a diary about his life for a school assignment. Thanks to my Mom for saving that little book (thirty-nine pages) and to my brother for rediscovering it recently. Brought back a lot of grade school memories – how I loved history and hated math! I didn’t know it back then but young Ben Franklin didn’t do real well in math either – more on that soon. The 10th son of a tallow chandler (candle and soap maker) Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17, 1706. His parents were Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger. Josiah thought Ben was well suited to be a member of the clergy so he sent his youngest son to Boston Latin School, a grammar school, at the age of eight. Here, Ben rose from the middle of his class to the head of that same class in less than a year. Josiah began to have second thoughts though about the ministry as a profession for his son, fearing he would not be able to afford a college education for Ben at Harvard, which would be his eventual destination on that path. Josiah Franklin decided to remove Ben from Boston Latin and send him to a writing school operated by George Brownell. Here he could learn the writing and arithmetic skills required to prepare him for work in a colonial trade. Benjamin Franklin wrote the following words decades later in his autobiography about Mr. Brownell and that school experience: “Under him I acquired fair writing pretty soon, but I failed in the arithmetic, and made no progress in it.” The great inventor Benjamin Franklin didn’t like math as a kid either! At least I was in good company.

At the age of ten, Ben began working for his father at the candle-making shop known as the Sign of the Blue Ball located at the southeast corner of Hanover and Union streets. Here he cut wicks for candles, filled the molds, attended the shop and went on errands. Again from his autobiography, Franklin states “I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination for the sea, but my father declared against it.” Young Ben worked in his father’s shop for two years. Seeing that his son was still not happy as a tallow chandler and concerned that Ben might run off to sea, Josiah took him for a walk around Boston one day so he could see other craftsmen at work hoping that another trade might catch Ben’s interest. Ben loved to read books and Josiah knew this so eventually he decided that working as a printer, apprenticed to his brother James, might be the best trade for Ben. In 1718, at the age of twelve, Ben signed papers stating that he would be bound to James Franklin as an apprentice until the age of twenty-one. Ben learned to set type, operate the press and sold printing in the streets of Boston. In August of 1721, James Franklin started printing a new weekly newspaper called the New-England Courant at his shop located off Queen Street in Dorset Alley. It was only the third newspaper in Boston at the time. By now Ben had become an excellent apprentice but he wanted to do more than set type, print the newspaper and deliver it to customers – he longed to write for it too. Feeling his brother would never let that happen, one day Ben came up with an idea and decided to act on it. He would write for the newspaper – but secretly.

In late March of 1722, sixteen-year-old Ben disguised his handwriting and crafted a letter using the pen name Silence Dogood, a middle-aged widow, and slid it under the print shop door. His brother James was so impressed with the content of the letter that he decided to publish it in that week’s issue of the Courant. On April 2, 1722, the people of Boston first began to read the words of a woman who promised “once a Fortnight to present them with a short Epistle to add somewhat to their Entertainment”. Between April and October of 1722 Ben, as the charming and witty Silence Dogood, wrote a total of 14 letters to “the Author of the New-England Courant” on a variety of topics from love to manners to education. Picture what it must have been like for Ben, while working at the print shop, to overhear his brother James and others praising these letters! Imagine how Ben felt setting the type for something he wrote himself and printing it. In one of the letters Silence Dogood mentioned that as a widow, she would be open to suitors. Men actually wrote to the paper with offers of marriage! When Ben stopped writing his letters after six months, people missed them. At the end of the year James placed an ad in his paper asking if anyone could “give a true account of Mrs. Silence Dogood, whether dead or alive, married or unmarried”. After that, Ben told his brother that he had written the letters and, although people in town thought it was humorous, James was upset. Bad feelings between the two caused Ben to break his apprenticeship and sail to Philadelphia where he continued in the printing trade.

I began today’s post by mentioning my sixth grade school project and my admiration for Ben Franklin. There’s a bit more to the story. Many years after writing that diary of Franklin’s life, my college roommate and I, both of us with degrees in marketing, did something that Franklin himself would have appreciated – we became apprentice printers. Both of us learned the trade from the ground up and operated our own printing shop for twenty years. Although I started on the press, much like Franklin himself I gravitated toward the writing and marketing end of the business. We had a great staff, some outstanding equipment and a well established base of national clients before electing to sell the business in 2004. Today, when I work with students in the classroom and on Boston field trips, they enjoy hearing about the printing connection. They are also fascinated to learn that one of my ancestors, 36-year-old Captain Benjamin Edwards, walked the streets of Boston in 1722 during the time the Silence Dogood letters were published in the New-England Courant. I wonder if he ever bumped into sixteen-year-old Benjamin Franklin? Most of the students are familiar with the Silence Dogood letters thanks to their inclusion in the very popular movie National Treasure. In the film, clues hidden in the letters help lead Benjamin Franklin Gates closer to the most spectacular treasure in history. As a tribute to Mr. Franklin and Mrs. Dogood, the trailer for National Treasure appears below.

Video link: National Treasure Trailer (embedded above)

Filed under: Books, Colonial Newspapers, Primary Sources, Video
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