Thank you. I'm hoping for the day when we teach our full history, warts and all. We can never fix what is broken if we remain unaware. Here's to the promise of America.
Beautiful reflection. These lines are especially moving:
"Loving the promise of America isn’t the same as loving what it has done and still does to break that promise, over and over. But I’ve come to appreciate the high value of maintaining our gaze upon that North Star, the one that still shines for liberation, fairness and equality.
We inherited both a sacred promise and a big mess from those who came before, and we’re still working on both."
Somewhere in the past week, on one of the many Substacks I subscribe to - it may even have been Jay, himself, the writer stated that the United States was the only country with citizens from ALL of the world’s nationalities. I never thought about it that way. I’ve traveled widely and nowhere have I encountered populations as diverse as ours. We should be more than proud of this. We should promote our wonderful diversity instead of trying to shut down immigration. Happy Independence Day.
Last night’s local (NH) news highlighted the 70 some new citizens who became citizens of the United States. Many colors and nationalities, but all with beaming smiles. It brought tears to my eyes and has made me think carefully about what I have taken for granted most of my adult life.
Thank you. I love this. Captures my sentiments exactly. When I created “Noteworthy American Women” these last few years, it was with all of this in mind. I, too, was spoonfed half truths. It was jarring to find out about internment, sterilization of Native American women by our government, etc. Thank you. If you are interested, www.NoteworthyAmericanWomen.com
Someone who is Abigail Adam’s esc, and very cool, is Dolly Hancock. She was John Hancock’s wife, but in this story fiancé.The night of the first shot in Lexington, they were staying with John’s cousin, who lived in Lexington. Dolly wanted to get her dad from Boston the morning of the battle. So she told, and he essentially said, “Absolutely not. You can’t do that, it’s too dangerous.” Then she said, “Recollect, Mr. Hancock, you’re not under my control yet.” Afterwards, she proceeded to head to Boston and save her dad. She is such a rebel, I love it. This story is literally forgotten, and no one knows it.
Suzanne, I just glanced at your project -- fascinating to me! I look forward to reading through it later. There are a number of parallels between your project and one a colleague and I undertook in 2015 based on Victoria Woodhull and her sister. The astonishing thing was that "spoonful of half truths" we, too, learned. It was shocking how much whitewashing was presented to the contemporary public and how it continued as 'truths' to today.
Oh my gosh, Christina! Thank you for looking at it and sharing your likemindedness! Do you have any link I could look at? The exhibit is going to show again in conjunction with Women’s month (March) in 2024 at Mayo Clinic in N. Phoenix. Would love to connect about your project!
I have a link to a DRAFT page that is not widely publicized, and am happy to share. I've forwarded the link to your project to my colleague -- she will be excited to see this. When I say draft, we have the skeleton built, but collating the research and then editing it into something readable hasn't happened yet so some of the verbiage is dense, to say the least. So apologies in advance :-( https://www.woodhullrising.org/
Thank you, Suzanne and Lainey, for your excellent work to tell women's stories. So many time we, as women, are told our stories don't matter, and what abuse we are fighting against isn't really abuse at all.
Jenn, thank you! It was so important to us to give women a voice and tell stories that may have seemed insignificant to some but life changing to others. Thanks for checking it out. I really appreciate.
Susan, thank you so much! Yes, please share. I’m a little lax on keeping the website current, but when the exhibit shows again in February, I will have tweaked it further. It’s truly a labor of love (sometimes in reaction to hate!).
It's always impressed me that those who some think of as the least "American" - immigrants, formerly enslaved, etc. - have such an ability to hold tight to the faith that despite actions that fall far short of the ideal words, those words are still so worth fighting to make more true.
When I was really young I remember I volunteered a few summers to help watch kids while their parents were taking classes - not sure if they were citizenship classes or ESL, but I do remember they were preparing to become Amierican citizens. The job of us kids was to help the adults supervise because they were busy with the really small children, but the older children just needed someone to play Legos or draw or read to them to keep them busy for a couple hours. I remember thinking even then that they had more reason than anyone born here to be proud, because the only reason I'm an American is that my parents happened to live here when I was born. I had no influence whatsoever on the decision. These were adults fully capable of looking at pros and cons and deciding, yes, I'm going to study and take an exam and become a citizen of this country even though I wasn't born here. If anything they were more American than I was because it wasn't an accident of birth but a deliberate choice. 🙂
Totally enjoyed your essay. It fits within the framework that I have fashioned for myself very well. I am a proud American, and when some people try to take us down a dark rabbit hole, we fight.
I wrote a response to a friend this morning along similar lines. The origial post said the USA doesn’t deserve a celebration. I maintained that we have survived and it is for the survivors. Another jumped in to say, look at everything that has been going wrong. And I said, but look at what is going right. We are not perfect, we fail, we flop, and we get up and try again. I too feel we will have the multi-national country someday, we get closer everyday, it is the one thing that makes the USA so unique. We have a mixing pot of cultures, of people and it is all okay.
The fight continues. Now if we could just get that other 30% of the populations to understand what it is we are fighting FOR, it may not be in vain. A happy 4th to all.
Thank you. You help us in the fight because you are one of the truth tellers. I weep at what is being wrought in our country by corrupt SCOTUS and Congressional GOP, local GOP legislatures, extremist groups like Moms of Liberty, GOP candidates, and more. Their Nazi ideology is not hidden anymore. But I pray that true Americans will stand up against these fascist oligarchs and that our Constitution will stand. Flawed folks working together can make something better than each of our own individual and fallible efforts can achieve. Hive mind, yoked energies, and a shared vision of better-I pray we will come out stronger and better because of these struggles. Thank you for your part in shedding light on the evils hurting so many.
I was a Park Ranger Historian on July 4, 1972 at Independence Hall. I am and was a feminist and a bit of a cynic. The white men in the Continental Congress had a lot to answer for. But, the more I learned of all the pieces that had to fall or be pushed into place, like the delegates with outdated instructions to vote against the Lee resolution who stayed home so it could be unanimous, the more I think miracles do happen. And I am so grateful I can eat my potato salad today without raising a glass to adulturous, flop-eared adenoidal Charles III. God bless America!
Thank you. This year more than others - because of the mounting inequities and the SCOTUS pronouncements - I am more reflective.
In my head, “1776” too rings year ‘round - the story of an ideal, the music (oh the turkey! Or words ending in “ly”, and yes, “Molasses and Rum”), and the reality.
Age too makes me more reflective. Will the country ever achieve some of what we promise many with words but not deeds?
Thank you for thoughtful reflections to add to my own.
Thank you. I'm hoping for the day when we teach our full history, warts and all. We can never fix what is broken if we remain unaware. Here's to the promise of America.
Beautiful reflection. These lines are especially moving:
"Loving the promise of America isn’t the same as loving what it has done and still does to break that promise, over and over. But I’ve come to appreciate the high value of maintaining our gaze upon that North Star, the one that still shines for liberation, fairness and equality.
We inherited both a sacred promise and a big mess from those who came before, and we’re still working on both."
Somewhere in the past week, on one of the many Substacks I subscribe to - it may even have been Jay, himself, the writer stated that the United States was the only country with citizens from ALL of the world’s nationalities. I never thought about it that way. I’ve traveled widely and nowhere have I encountered populations as diverse as ours. We should be more than proud of this. We should promote our wonderful diversity instead of trying to shut down immigration. Happy Independence Day.
Last night’s local (NH) news highlighted the 70 some new citizens who became citizens of the United States. Many colors and nationalities, but all with beaming smiles. It brought tears to my eyes and has made me think carefully about what I have taken for granted most of my adult life.
Thank you. I love this. Captures my sentiments exactly. When I created “Noteworthy American Women” these last few years, it was with all of this in mind. I, too, was spoonfed half truths. It was jarring to find out about internment, sterilization of Native American women by our government, etc. Thank you. If you are interested, www.NoteworthyAmericanWomen.com
Btw, Abigail Adams is one of the portraits. So moved by her strength and intelligence.
Someone who is Abigail Adam’s esc, and very cool, is Dolly Hancock. She was John Hancock’s wife, but in this story fiancé.The night of the first shot in Lexington, they were staying with John’s cousin, who lived in Lexington. Dolly wanted to get her dad from Boston the morning of the battle. So she told, and he essentially said, “Absolutely not. You can’t do that, it’s too dangerous.” Then she said, “Recollect, Mr. Hancock, you’re not under my control yet.” Afterwards, she proceeded to head to Boston and save her dad. She is such a rebel, I love it. This story is literally forgotten, and no one knows it.
Thanks for sharing that, Sabrina!
Suzanne, I just glanced at your project -- fascinating to me! I look forward to reading through it later. There are a number of parallels between your project and one a colleague and I undertook in 2015 based on Victoria Woodhull and her sister. The astonishing thing was that "spoonful of half truths" we, too, learned. It was shocking how much whitewashing was presented to the contemporary public and how it continued as 'truths' to today.
Oh my gosh, Christina! Thank you for looking at it and sharing your likemindedness! Do you have any link I could look at? The exhibit is going to show again in conjunction with Women’s month (March) in 2024 at Mayo Clinic in N. Phoenix. Would love to connect about your project!
I have a link to a DRAFT page that is not widely publicized, and am happy to share. I've forwarded the link to your project to my colleague -- she will be excited to see this. When I say draft, we have the skeleton built, but collating the research and then editing it into something readable hasn't happened yet so some of the verbiage is dense, to say the least. So apologies in advance :-( https://www.woodhullrising.org/
Christina, thank you so much. I am thrilled! <3
Christina, my best email is suzanne@passion4murals, by the way.
Thank you, Suzanne and Lainey, for your excellent work to tell women's stories. So many time we, as women, are told our stories don't matter, and what abuse we are fighting against isn't really abuse at all.
Jenn, thank you! It was so important to us to give women a voice and tell stories that may have seemed insignificant to some but life changing to others. Thanks for checking it out. I really appreciate.
Just now looking at your project and I gotta say, it's amazing. Will be sharing it with friends.
Wonderful work, Suzanne. 👍
Susan, thank you so much! Yes, please share. I’m a little lax on keeping the website current, but when the exhibit shows again in February, I will have tweaked it further. It’s truly a labor of love (sometimes in reaction to hate!).
It's always impressed me that those who some think of as the least "American" - immigrants, formerly enslaved, etc. - have such an ability to hold tight to the faith that despite actions that fall far short of the ideal words, those words are still so worth fighting to make more true.
When I was really young I remember I volunteered a few summers to help watch kids while their parents were taking classes - not sure if they were citizenship classes or ESL, but I do remember they were preparing to become Amierican citizens. The job of us kids was to help the adults supervise because they were busy with the really small children, but the older children just needed someone to play Legos or draw or read to them to keep them busy for a couple hours. I remember thinking even then that they had more reason than anyone born here to be proud, because the only reason I'm an American is that my parents happened to live here when I was born. I had no influence whatsoever on the decision. These were adults fully capable of looking at pros and cons and deciding, yes, I'm going to study and take an exam and become a citizen of this country even though I wasn't born here. If anything they were more American than I was because it wasn't an accident of birth but a deliberate choice. 🙂
Thank you Catherine; this was beautiful to read.
Totally enjoyed your essay. It fits within the framework that I have fashioned for myself very well. I am a proud American, and when some people try to take us down a dark rabbit hole, we fight.
I wrote a response to a friend this morning along similar lines. The origial post said the USA doesn’t deserve a celebration. I maintained that we have survived and it is for the survivors. Another jumped in to say, look at everything that has been going wrong. And I said, but look at what is going right. We are not perfect, we fail, we flop, and we get up and try again. I too feel we will have the multi-national country someday, we get closer everyday, it is the one thing that makes the USA so unique. We have a mixing pot of cultures, of people and it is all okay.
“If you are an American, your heritage is either Native American, slave, refugee or immigrant. That’s it!”
I think you just rescued July 4th for me.
I’m glad to hear that.
The fight continues. Now if we could just get that other 30% of the populations to understand what it is we are fighting FOR, it may not be in vain. A happy 4th to all.
Thank you. You help us in the fight because you are one of the truth tellers. I weep at what is being wrought in our country by corrupt SCOTUS and Congressional GOP, local GOP legislatures, extremist groups like Moms of Liberty, GOP candidates, and more. Their Nazi ideology is not hidden anymore. But I pray that true Americans will stand up against these fascist oligarchs and that our Constitution will stand. Flawed folks working together can make something better than each of our own individual and fallible efforts can achieve. Hive mind, yoked energies, and a shared vision of better-I pray we will come out stronger and better because of these struggles. Thank you for your part in shedding light on the evils hurting so many.
https://fb.watch/lzWKFVfq0M/?mibextid=Nif5oz
I hope this link works. It showed up in my Facebook memories.
This video brought tears to this Canadian’s eyes. So powerful. Thank you for sharing.
You're very welcome.
Thank you!
➡️ "Loving the promise of America isn’t the same as loving what it has done and still does to break that promise, over and over." ⬅️
I was a Park Ranger Historian on July 4, 1972 at Independence Hall. I am and was a feminist and a bit of a cynic. The white men in the Continental Congress had a lot to answer for. But, the more I learned of all the pieces that had to fall or be pushed into place, like the delegates with outdated instructions to vote against the Lee resolution who stayed home so it could be unanimous, the more I think miracles do happen. And I am so grateful I can eat my potato salad today without raising a glass to adulturous, flop-eared adenoidal Charles III. God bless America!
Thank you. This year more than others - because of the mounting inequities and the SCOTUS pronouncements - I am more reflective.
In my head, “1776” too rings year ‘round - the story of an ideal, the music (oh the turkey! Or words ending in “ly”, and yes, “Molasses and Rum”), and the reality.
Age too makes me more reflective. Will the country ever achieve some of what we promise many with words but not deeds?
Thank you for thoughtful reflections to add to my own.
Thank you for such a forgiving farsighted homage to America. May we keep working towards an inclusive, more perfect America!
Thank you. I needed this perspective after a depressing week of setbacks for fairness, equality and justice.