 A Moment in History ~ Nancy Jean I was so very moved and inspired by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s handling of her confirmation hearing. She was composed, knowledgeable and patient, even when subjected to several senators’ acrimonious questions. If confirmed, which at this writing is likely, she will become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.  "Judge Jackson a "Harbinger of Hope" - Senator Cory Booker ~ Shelly Michell Senator Cory Booker praised her “grit and grace” in withstanding the series of attacks from Republicans and spoke emotionally of our history; the Irish immigrants that endured decades of persecution here, the Chinese Americans forced into near slave labor building railroads to connect our country, LGBTQ+ Americans that were rejected and oppressed and died silently with their secrets, the “hidden figure” women who did critical research for our government, yet were never given credit or recognition until portrayed in a Hollywood movie. He mentioned that throughout our history, America did not love these people, yet they all loved and believed in this country and persevered to make it a better place. "You are a person that is so much more than your race and gender – you are a Christian, you are a mom, you are an intellect, you love books. You have earned this spot. You are worthy. You are a great American." He ended his impassioned speech by saying that Ms. Jackson is “My harbinger of hope that the United States could live up to its promises of freedom and equality and that the United States of America, the greatest country in the world, will be better because of you.”  All Jokes Aside
~ Kristine Schwartzman When I first heard that President Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court, I joked, "Well, at least she won't cry, and tell us how much she likes beer, like Brett Kavanaugh did." I was wrong, at least in part. After being grilled for several days over supposed "light" sentences for child pornographers, which are, in fact, in the same range as sentences handed down by GOP judicial appointees, defining her views on Critical Race Theory, and fending off Ted Cruz's ridiculous implication that she knows all Black people, especially those he doesn't like, Senator Booker's heartfelt speech of support made her cry. She deserved it. She'd taken it all in, handled herself with the utmost aplomb, and shown the world exactly why she is qualified. As of this writing, Judge Jackson's confirmation appears likely. If she is confirmed, we will have one of the most qualified judges ever to begin serving on the Supreme Court, white or Black, male or female. The question is, why did it take so long?
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 James Baldwin & William F. Buckley Often when I read books, view interviews and listen to debates a second time, I learn something new. That’s what happened when I recently re-read “The Fire is Upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley, Jr. and the Debate over Race in America” written by Nicholas Buccola. In “The Fire is Upon Us” the author contrasts William F. Buckley Jr. and James Baldwin’s views on race. Could two people be more different? To get a better understanding about why the debate was such a landmark event in America's conversations on race, listen to a podcast with the author. See below for additional podcast links.  The celebrated debate between Margaret Mead and James Baldwin is another recent re-visit. One could hardly debate a more opinionated person as Mead. As I listened to “A Rap on Race,” I couldn’t help but admire James Baldwin’s grace and poise. I recently caught Scott Simon's NPR interview with Azar Nafisi, author of “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” another must read. When Simon asked her about James Baldwin, whom she references in her latest book, “Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times,” she was enthusiastic and animated. “Oh, I LOVE James Baldwin” she said. I sat here and thought, “Oh, so do I!” No matter where we stand on issues of race relations and critical culture, we’ve had this discussion for a very long time. Revisiting the past often gives us new revelations, and stepping stones to build on. Because, we know, we’ll be in this discussion for a long time to come. Listen to The Fire is Upon Us podcasts with author Nick Buccola on the following services: SoundCloud Audible 
Dear Readers, As we head into the holiday season, I can’t help but ponder the whole first Thanksgiving issue. In fact, I cringe when I remember the nostalgic, myth-soaked rendition vs the Thanksgiving that I had encouraged in the classroom during my teaching years. It seems particularly apropos to examine our beliefs as our nation carries on with the continuing conversation about race relations in the schools. In the “olden days” we so enjoyed the idea that the first white people who were settling in New England, hosted that wonderful, large banquet meal for their new friends, the Indians. A true coming together of cultures, we were told. They surely would enjoy peace and prosperity for all the years to come. We love to think about the original menu. By now we agree that there may have been some dishes we make every year, you know, pumpkin, cranberries and turkey, even at the first Thanksgiving. While I still cook these dishes, nothing wrong with adding a bit of romance as we enhance the menu a bit, right? It’s kind of fun to compare our new version of the menu to, say, Edward Winslow’s diary notes about the feast. His writings were the only mention of a dinner in any of the letters and diaries from that era. William Bradford didn’t even mention a dinner in his seminal piece, which was a complete diary of the entire pilgrim’s experiment from the time they boarded the Mayflower and reached the shores of the new world. What we do know is that the story we've heard and told for generations is largely a romanticized myth. Listen, I’m not giving up Thanksgiving. I still believe in it. We must continue to try to forge peace between ethnic groups. And yes, let’s continue to gather together, as family and friends. Maybe we can change the narrative a bit, though? For a more in-depth perspective, see the PBS American Experience episode: The Myth of Thanksgiving: Native American Perspectives on the Pilgrims. To view time-stamped segments, follow the topics list below: Introduction 0:26 Who are the Wampanoag and the Narragansett? 6:02 When Pilgrims arrive what happened to Natives due to Europeans? 8:50 What really happened to the Natives of this region before 1620? 13:11 Did the Pilgrims really mean to go Massachusetts? 16:31 What did Native Oral Tradition pass down about the Pilgrims? 19:03 What Earlier Europeans did to Native American of the New England region before 1620: 22:54 Alliances between Pilgrims and Natives: 24:59 Myth of Thanksgiving: Pilgrims view: 28:45 Natives view: 31:28 What is Thanksgiving from the Native American point of view? 33:24 How did Thanksgiving become a national holiday? 38:18 Thank you to Mica 1990 for the segment breakdown.  Dear Readers,
In July 2020, when I began telling Nancy Kendall's story in a blog on Grandfather's Gift, I had no idea what lay ahead. Her story, while important, seemed easily told. I couldn't see the blog lasting more than a few months at most. Imagine my surprise to still be publishing posts on Grandfather's Gift a year and a half later. What I didn't realize then was how so many of the topics in her journal still resound today. People of color are still fighting for a level playing field. Jim Crow attitudes are still alive and well. Politicians still try to push through voting laws that keep people of color, the poor, and others from having a say in their own futures. When Nancy Kendall wrote down some of her memories from the Underground Railroad days, I think she knew it was a memorable period in history. She wanted her stories told, so she shared them with my grandfather, who then shared them with me. Nancy Kendall's journal is a gift from which we can learn from our past, and work toward a more equitable future. It is a gift I treasure, and that I'm honored to share. Thank you all for coming along on this journey with me. ~ Nancy Jean  Few of us look at a photo or drawing of Abraham Lincoln without seeing the sorrow and sadness in his eyes. I've often thought you could drown in those eyes. In historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's TED Talk, "Lessons from Past Presidents," Goodwin points out that so many years after his presidency and the turmoil of the Civil War, we think of Lincoln as a deeply wounded, melancholy man who suffered unimaginable loss. I think most of us have experienced a type of grief, and even guilt for feeling happy when so much suffering goes on in the world. I know I have. Sometimes, grief and sorrow become the catalyst for action. My great-great-grandmother, Nancy Kendall, used her sorrow over slavery to help fugitive slaves escape. Most of us don't fall into a hole and hide when we're sad. Not for long, anyway. That sorrow is not our complete essence, but a part of who we are as people. And, it wasn't Abraham Lincoln's complete essence, either. Often forgotten when we look into those eyes, is the humor, affability and wit that was Abraham Lincoln. He was a storyteller. And, he was a great one. “Miss Todd, I should like to dance with you the worst way.” The young woman accepted the inevitable, and hobbled around the room with him. When she returned to her seat, one of her companions asked mischievously: “Well, Mary, did he dance with you the worst way?” “Yes,” she answered, “the very worst.” --Abraham Lincoln on dancing with his future wife, Mary Todd, in Springfield, IL Undoubtedly, much of the charm is lost in simply reading Lincoln's yarns. What's missing is the way he told them. He was animated and laughed as he told his tales. Listeners were captivated. Not a storyteller in the traditional sense, Lincoln wasn't apt to just sit and "tell a story." Instead, says Doris Kearns Goodwin, in her book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln '"Lincoln’s form of storytelling demonstrated his “extraordinary ability to convey practical wisdom in the form of humorous tales his listeners could remember and repeat.”'  The Gutenberg Project's "Lincoln's Yarns and Stories," by Alexander K. McClure, is available free online. It's a vast collection of stories, witticisms, humor, and illustrations that give us a different side of the sad, sorrowful man we think we know. Perhaps it's time to look at Lincoln's eyes and see beyond the sorrow. * From the story, Getting Rid of an Elephant, related by Charles A. Dana, 1819-1897, Assistant Secretary of War.  President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, but that was only the first chapter of a very long struggle with chattel slavery. Following the annexation of Texas from Mexico in 1845, the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) resulted in a treaty in which the United States obtained Texas and part of California. The United States paid Mexico $50 million for Texas and a section of California, the same amount that they paid France for the Louisiana purchase. Mexico was anti-slavery. Plantation owners from the south quietly slipped chattel slavery into Texas as the war for possession of the territory raged. The practice of owning people spread across the eastern two fifths of the state. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed on January 1, 1863, but slavery in Texas didn't end. For two years after the Proclamation, most slave owners in Texas kept quiet about the fact that the enslaved were, in fact, free.  It wasn't until June 19, 1865, now commemorated in the Juneteenth celebration, when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston with the news – the Civil War was over and the enslaved were free.
I was gently reminded, by a good friend from Texas, that Texans have begun to sort out romanticized hero history stories. And of course, many events in our nation’s history have been glossed over and romanticized. Studying and recording our history with much more attention to accurate detail, as our teachers loved to remind us in school, is often a painful lesson. Discussions of cancel culture spark debates, but it’s truth that matters. Facing the reality of our past gives us a greater understanding, and a chance to work toward fairness and equity for all. 
My heart swelled with relief and pride, as our President Biden attended this year's G7 Conference, held in Cornwall, United Kingdom. We are again a nation concerned with the environment, and committed to working with the distinguished representatives of the 6 other member countries.
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish environmental activist, admonished world leaders for failing to address the urgency of climate change. Her organization, Fridays for Future, is a youth-led group that fights for more equitable and powerful laws regarding climate and the environment. She is right to admonish all nations for not doing enough to deal with climate change. And, we should be ashamed of ourselves.
Planning for future generations is not a new concept, by any means. In fact, the Seventh Generation plan developed by the ancient Iroquois Haudenosaunee became the guiding principle by which the tribes governed.
Dating back to at least 1500 AD, the Seventh Generation principle, also called The Great Law, became the social, political and ceremonial fabric of the Five (later Six) Nation Confederacy. In fact, the American Constitution contains contributions from The Great Law, possibly thanks to Ben Franklin, who greatly admired the way the Haudenosaunee governed. The Seventh Generation Principle in modern times is often brought up when decisions about water, natural resources and energy are made whether participants realize it or not. How will what we do today affect later generations? The idea that what we do now impacts future generations is an ancient one. The following brief, but engaging video further explains how Native Americans lived to honor people "seven generations" into the future using the Seven Generations Rule. Coming soon: Other ways early Native American principles not only impacted our past, but teach us about the future as well. Guest post by Kristine Schwartzman “Vaccines have the potential to be the equalizer of health disparities, especially around infectious diseases. I could never sleep at night if I developed anything — if any product of my science came out — and it did not equally benefit the people that look like me. Period.” - Kizzmekia Corbett, Immunologist  Kizzmekia Corbett, Imunologist Kizzmekia Corbett is an immunologist at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is one of the many scientists who worked in collaboration with biotech firm Moderna to develop a COVID-19 vaccine now used around the world. Her role in developing a vaccine to fight COVID-19 began in early 2020. But, her current challenge in that fight is nearly as important. As a Black scientist, Corbett understands all too well the vaccine hesitancy of people of color. Medical research consistently exploited Black communities in particular. You only have to look back as recently as the 1970s, when conducting a long-term study that began in the 1930s, doctors withheld syphilis treatment from hundreds of Black men in Tuskegee, Alabama without their knowledge. Or, look at the massive amounts of research and curatives that resulted from the cells of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman who died of cancer. Neither she, nor her family, were asked permission for her cells to be used in research or received any type of monetary compensation until recent attempts at reparations came forth. Kizzmekia Corbett is in a unique position to reach out to communities of color. She knows exactly what’s in the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as the undeniable history of medical research exploitation. She understands. But, as she says in an interview with Nature.com: “I have studied health disparities since I was in college. I’m a double major in sociology. I understand the intricate interlacing of science and health, particularly for disparities, and particularly for people of color. So it’s near and dear to my heart. It’s actually the reason vaccine development is important to me, and is where I chose to take my viral-immunology career.” How does Kizzmekia Corbett see her role now? “My role is to deliver science in a digestible fashion. When I present a bar chart, I say, “This is the axis, and this is what you’re seeing, and this is how it was tested.” So, the goal is that eventually people see enough of this, and we get to a point where we don’t have to do that anymore.” - Kizzmekia Corbett, interview with Nature.com. Nancy Kendall’s parents died of typhoid in two short days. They left a family of young children behind. Over the centuries, plagues like typhoid, yellow fever, smallpox, cholera and many other scourges literally wiped out entire masses of people, leaving devastation in their wake.  In an earlier post, We Heard the Bells, I mentioned Dr. Johan Hultin and his incredible journey to discover and research the virus strain responsible for the deaths of millions during the Influenza Epidemic of 1918. It took decades of persistence for Dr. Hultin to finally succeed in capturing and studying live virus tissue. Of course, he is not alone in his mission to protect the human race from deadly disease. It’s because of people like Dr. Hultin, Dr. Fauci and other dedicated scientists that many of mankind’s deadliest diseases are now nearly eradicated - all because we have vaccines that came out of their meticulous research. The CDC lists 14 Diseases You Almost Forgot About due to vaccine development. The list includes polio, tetanus, mumps and chicken pox. The complete U.S. vaccine list includes vaccines against cholera, diphtheria, small pox, tuberculosis, yellow fever and typhoid, the disease that killed Nancy Kendall’s parents. Some advancements in the science of health and prevention take years of scientific detective work. Others, like Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, are accidents. After coming home from a holiday with his family, Fleming, who was studying staphylococcus, a bacterium that causes boils, abscesses and sore throats, was surprised to discover a blob of mold in one of the petri dishes. What’s more, the area around the mold was completely clear of bacterium. He dubbed his discovery “mold juice.” This accidental discovery saved, and continues to save the lives of millions. I recently listened to an Audible podcast narrated by Alan Alda entitled, “Soldiers of Science.” Synopsis: “It’s the height of the Vietnam War when a new generation of doctors, including a young Dr. Anthony Fauci, arrive at the National Institutes of Health as part of the doctor’s draft. What happens next is a hidden history of American medicine that could not be more revelatory or prescient.”  Audible subscribers can listen here. If you’re a non-subscriber, listen free with a trial subscription. It’s a fascinating story.
 As I follow the life of my great-great-grandmother, Nancy Kendall and her husband, Andrew, I am profoundly affected by the dangers that the work of a single dissident, or a group of dissidents faces. That kind of courageous behavior takes great strength of character and a deep love of fellow human beings. The penalties for helping the enslaved were very real for freedom seekers and helpers alike. To take a stand for an issue which causes pain and hardship to other humans, even if the tide of society may be part of that condition is difficult, and frightening. Nancy's parents raised her to act when she saw injustice. The Jones family and, after Nancy and Andrew married, the Kendall family were often "on the run" during the years when enslaving persons was in full swing. Slavery was a key factor in the country's growth in the 1800s and long before. The Jones and Kendall families were but a few of the thousands who abhorred slavery and assisted the enslaved as they sought freedom.  Mstislav Rostropovich with wife Galina Vishnevskaya, 1965. Prints and Photographs Division/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital file no. LC-USZ62-115062) A friend in my local poetry society recently mentioned a painting of Mstislav Rostropovich, (1921-2007), which hangs on her living room wall. Not only was he one of the greatest cellists who ever lived, he was known for his activism in Russia, much to his peril. When the Berlin Wall went down, Rostropovich took a chair and his cellos, sat amid the rubble and played Bach. I love that. And, I will never forget my experience of studying under David Dellinger of the Chicago 7 in 1975. A new film called "The Trial of the Chicago 7" about the group's activism during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago and subsequent trial tells the story. I recommend it.  The Trial of the Chicago 7 |
Nancy JeanNancy Jean is a woman of several lives and careers, including school teacher, homemaker, parent, amateur musician and writer. Read more... Archives
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