The Knickerbocker Storm

Washington, DC and surrounding areas are still digging out from the enormous amounts of snow that Snowzilla dumped on us this past Saturday. The center of the storm, Glengary, West Virginia, saw 42 inches of snow fall in a 36 hour time period. At least 42 people have died due to the storm, thousands lost power, roofs have collapsed and federal government employees haven't been able to get to their offices since Friday morning. But while this snow storm has affected millions of people, it was not the most deadly. 

Photo: washingtonpost.com

On January 27, 1922, a winter storm struck the Eastern Seaboard. The storm developed slowly and took three days to move from the south to the mid-Atlantic, dumping snow from the Carolinas up to Pennsylvania, with temperatures hovering around 20º Fahrenheit.  At least 20 inches of snow fell, with 28 inches covering Washington, DC, causing Congress to adjourn. But this was not the worst of the storm. 

Photo: wusa9.com

The Knickerbocker Theatre, built in 1917, was the largest in Washington, DC. On January 28th, the theatre was showing the silent film Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford. During the intermission, at 9:30 p.m., the flat roof of the theatre collapsed under the weight of the snow. Emergency personnel arrived on site quickly and all other theatres in the city were closed to prevent similar accidents. The rescuers worked until the next afternoon to free those who were trapped, but 98 people were killed while 133 more were injured. 

Photo: cinematreasures.org

After the theatre's collapse, the storm was nicknamed the Knickerbocker Storm and it is the worst winter storm in terms of lives lost in Washington, DC history. 

Happy Birthday, Dr. King

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday on January 15th is recognized in the United States as a federal holiday. Dr. King is renowned and revered for his leadership in seeking equal rights for African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. 

Photo: nobelprize.org

The day before we he was assassinated, King gave a speech known as the "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech. In it, King said:

"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop... And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!" (https://youtu.be/Oehry1JC9Rk)

Photo: americanrhetoric.com

As a people, we have not yet reached the promised land. We made great strides during the Civil Rights Movement thanks to Dr. King, John Lewis, Ralph Abernathy and many others. But as we saw this past year, African Americans are targets of police brutality, they are more likely to be jailed than whites and, despite the fact that our President is African American, our politics are dominated by older white men. 

Photos: washingtonpost.com 

However, there is hope. Every year, on Dr. King's birthday, elementary school students from Washington, DC gather on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to recite Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech that he gave in 1963 for the March on Washington. These children will work to achieve Dr. King's dream. It is these children, and others, who will help the nation make it to the promised land. 

"His Name is Alexander Hamilton"

The hottest show on Broadway right now is the hip-hop show "Hamilton," which tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the least known founding father. What most people know about Hamilton is that he is the Founding Father depicted on the ten dollar bill, and that he died in a duel with Aaron Burr. Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway musical is bringing the incredible, mostly unknown life of Hamilton into the light.

Today is Alexander Hamilton's birthday. 

Photo: broadway.com

Hamilton was born on January 11, 1755 on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies to Rachel Faucette, a married French Huegenot and her common-law husband James A. Hamilton, a Scotsman. Faucette had been married to John Michael Lavien when she was a teenager but the two never loved each other. Lavien accused his wife of adultery and threw her in prison to teach her a lesson. When she was released, she left him and met Hamilton, with whom she had a son, Alexander. 

Photo: commdiginews.com

Hamilton was considered to have been born out of wedlock, because his mother never divorced her husband. Despite this, and despite the loss of both his father and mother before his teenage years, Hamilton excelled. For the most part, he was self-taught, and impressed the people of Nevis so much that they collected money to send him to school in the British Colonies in America. 

Photo: pbs.org

In 1773, Hamilton arrived in New York City and enrolled at King's College (now Columbia University). Hamilton did not graduate though, because he became involved in politics and joined the American side in the war against England for independence. He fought in several battles before he was noticed by George Washington, Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, who made him his aide-de-camp. Hamilton held this position for five years, but he was able to convince Washington to finally let him lead at the Battle of Yorktown, in which he was victorious. 

Photo: firstinpeace.com

As a New York Delegate after the Revolutionary War, he worked to improve upon the Articles of Confederation. Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison collaborated to write the Federalist Papers, 85 essays that explained and defended the Constitution. Their efforts helped to convince the people and delegates to ratify the new Constitution that would make the states stronger and unified. 

Photo: loc.gov

As Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton continued his efforts to establish a strong central government. He proposed that the government assume state debts from the war, pay federal war bonds and created a tax collecting system. His efforts established a secure economy and eventually earned him the right to be on the ten dollar bill. 

Photo: washingtonpost.com

By 1800 Hamilton was no longer in the political arena, but his opinions still held power. In the presidential election of that year, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied. Hamilton lobbied for Jefferson, thinking he was the lesser of two political evils.

Later, when he was running for Governor of New York, Burr heard that Hamilton had said unfavorable things about him, which he believed lost him yet another election. Angered, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. 

Photo: presidentelect.org

On July 11, 1804, Hamilton and Burr met in Weehawken, New Jersey. Hamilton fired into the air and hit a branch above Burr's head. Burr fired and hit Hamilton in the abdomen. Due to internal bleeding, Alexander Hamilton died on July12, 1804.

His is the story of an orphaned immigrant who came to America looking to make a life for himself. Unfortunately, the way he died overshadowed much of the success of his life -- until the musical "Hamilton."

Photo: willrabbe.com

12 Days of Christmas

In the United States, the "12 Days of Christmas" are best known as a holiday song, while in the Eastern Christian Church, the 12 days of Christmas are the days between the birth of Christ, traditionally celebrated on December 25, and the arrival of the three wise men, or kings, on January 6, which is celebrated as Three Kings Day or Epiphany, from the Greek epiphaneia, or "manifestation".

Photo: delparson.com

Epiphany is the Christian celebration of the human manifestation of God as Jesus Christ. To most, a birth would represent this, but it is the baptism of Jesus of Nazareth by John the Baptist on January 6th that is the manifestation of God as Jesus Christ. It is also known as the day that God the father revealed Jesus Christ as his son, or as the day that the three Kings arrived and confirmed Jesus Christ to be the king of the Jews and the son of God.

Photo: daysoftheyear.com

While it is primarily an Eastern Christian Church holiday, some western Christian churches celebrate Epiphany as well. Just as the Eastern and Western Churches differ, so do the celebrations of Epiphany. In Orthodox Churches, like in Greece, Epiphany is marked by a parade of crosses to a body of water where a priest blesses the seas by throwing a cross into the water. In Greece, an additional part of the ceremony involves swimmers diving in after the cross. Whoever retrieves it brings the cross to the priest and is blessed.

Photo: Hilary Grabowska (Blessing of a cross in Athens for Epiphany)

In some countries, Epiphany is marked by removing the greenery of Christmas. In South American churches, children leave their shoes at the front door on the night of the fifth and on the morning of the sixth, a present is left by their shoes. In some European churches, children in groups of three go caroling from house to house and receive coins and other small gifts. In England, Epiphany is marked by the performance of plays: Shakespeare's Twelfth Night was written to be entertainment during the Christmas season. 

Photo: thebaronsmen.org

However Epiphany is celebrated, it is a time of revelry and reflection. Happy Epiphany!