The City that Never Sleeps

The Dutch first explored the area that became New York City in 1609 under the direction of Henry Hudson. Hudson was attempting to discover the Northwest Passage but instead he found an opportunity for the lucrative beaver pelt trade. 

It wasn't until 1624 that the Dutch began to settle in the area. In 1625, Fort Amsterdam was established on Long Island to protect the Dutch settlers from attack by other colonial powers. 

The Dutch maintained their settlement and control of the area for only 40 years, until 1664 when the English, a greater colonial power in the New World, demanded New Amsterdam be turned over to the crown. And with that, New "York" came to be. 

Under British rule, New York City grew as a trading port. From there, NYC grew in importance: freedom of the press was nurtured here, the city was the new nation's capital for a time and it was a major point of entrance for immigrants. 

Today, NYC is known around the world because it is home to the United Nations, Wall Street, the major financial district in the United States (and the world), Broadway, and New York City is the most populous city in America. The Big Apple!

America's Greatest Idea

98 years ago today, the National Park Service was created by Congress. While the Service was established in 1916, the first National Park, Yellowstone, had been created in 1872 and was protected by the US Army. As more and more National Parks came into being, the need for an agency just for the parks became clear.

Stephen Mather, along with other conservationists, pushed for an agency to protect and care for the popular National Parks. Mather was a successful and influential businessman who used his money and power to run a publicity campaign to have the National Park Service created. When it was, he was named the first director.

Mather established the workforce of the Service, making them civil servants from a variety of backgrounds to operate, manage and preserve the parks. When the US Cavalry had protected the Parks in the late 1800s, they wore their uniforms of riding boots, olive tunics and campaign hats, known today as "flat hats." When the Park Service decided to adopt uniforms, the style remained very similar to the original cavalry uniform. 

In the 1930s, management  of Civil War battlefields was added to Park Service responsibilities under the Reorganization Act. Under Mather, only locations of incredible natural beauty had been protected, but now the NPS preserves historical, natural and recreational sites.

The National Parks and their iconic Park Rangers are known throughout the world and have inspired other nations to establish similar systems. Creation of the National Parks has even been called "America's Best Idea." Happy Birthday, National Park Service! 

High on a Hill

Vicksburg's All Saints' Episcopal College was established in 1907 as a finishing school for girls—white girls. The school was planned in the mid-1800s but the outbreak of the Civil War and subsequent Reconstruction delayed the doors opening until 1909. Church fathers selected a location high on a hill above the Mississippi River.

While it was called a college, the school offered prep school and college courses including the subjects of mathematics, Latin, Greek and ethics. In 1911, the school was accredited and a number of higher education institutes accepted the courses. 

In 1961, while Freedom Riders were traveling through the South, the Episcopal Church maintained what was termed a “deafening silence” on civil rights. Objecting to this, a group of clergymen formed within the church, the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity, and organized their own bus ride: a “Prayer Pilgrimage”, to visit segregated Episcopal schools and encourage acceptance of black students. They visited All Saints’ in Vicksburg with this goal but received a cool reception.

All Saints’ School was not integrated until 1967 when a tobacco heiress funded a $1 million program to desegregate “exclusive” Dixie prep schools. All Saints' started accepting boys a year later. The school finally closed in 2006, only to reopen in 2009 as a training campus for AmeriCorps, which is more diverse than the school founders could ever have imagined, with students of all races, religions and ethnicities.

AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps 

Class 21a, Atlantic Region

The Gibraltar of the South

Yesterday, my AmeriCorps team visited Vicksburg National Military Park, situated on a dramatic bluff above the Mississippi River in what is now the Deep South, but during the Civil War was considered the "Western Theater." The Siege of Vicksburg resulted in a Union victory, giving control of the important waterway to the Union.

A fortress city dominating the Mississippi River, Vicksburg was wealthy and cosmopolitan prior to the war. Its position made it a necessary target for the Union but also made it very difficult to assault. Between 1862 and 1863, the Union continually attacked the stronghold to no avail. Finally, Ulysses S Grant decided to out-camp the Confederates, which caused the city to surrender after 47 days. The Union victory opened the river to northern shipping and, coming one day after the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg, is considered a turning point in the Civil War.

With the surrender, the town was occupied and life became dramatically different. Civil liberties were suspended and African Americans were given jobs within the military and back on plantations, but they were all paid. 

After the war, Union and Confederate veterans managed to protect the battlefield as a military park. Almost immediately, artists and architects began working on memorials for the fallen of the battle. The park has been described as "the art park of the world" and encompasses over 1000 monuments to soldiers from the North and South. 

Artists, Poets, and Presidents

This week the nation was stunned to learn that entertainer Robin Williams had died. There have been many tributes to the beloved actor/comedian, many which reference some of his most memorable roles. One is "O Captain! My captain!" The line comes from the film Dead Poets Society but it originally came from a Walt Whitman poem. 

Walt Whitman wrote distinctlively about American and is one of the most influential poets in American literature. He lived through the American Civil War and was a strong supporter of abolishing slavery. 

When Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, the nation was stunned. The war had ended only a week earlier and no other president had been killed while in office. The South held no love for Lincoln, but the North did and mourned for him. Whitman, along with other literary figures, wrote a poem to honor the president. His eulogy for Lincoln was "O Captain! My captain!" 

Thus, it is fitting that the world bids adieu to Robin Williams with this poem, recalling how the film reminded us of Whitman and Lincoln. Artists, actors and poets, as well as political leaders, can have a deep impact on human society. 

Discovering the World

495 years ago, Ferdinand Magellan began his circumnavigation of the world. Like Columbus, Magellan wished to find a route to Asia by sailing West, because sailing around Africa was time-consuming and the Portuguese had a monopoly on the routes due to the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. 

Magellan had fallen out of favor with the Portuguese, so he went to Spanish King Charles I with the proposal to fulfill Columbus' original plan of sailing West to reach the spices of the East. The king approved the mission and had the Spanish crown fund Magellan and provide the necessary ships. 

On August 10, 1519, Magellan and his fleet of five ships set sail from Seville and began the first circumnavigation of the world. Sailing south, Magellan found a passage through South America that he named the All Saints Channel but is today called the Straight of Magellan. He had found the passage through the Americas. 

Upon reaching the Philippines, Magellam became involved in local politics and attacked the enemy of his hosts. In the attack, Magellan was killed. One of his men wrote "...they killed our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide." 

Despite the fact that the leader of the expedition was dead, his fleet completed the first circumnavigation of the globe. It had not been Magellan's goal to go all the way around the world, but his diminished crew had no other choice but to sail West to Spain. The survivors of the expedition discovered the true size of the planet -- as well as a need for an international date line because, despite keeping careful notes in the ship's log, the crew was a day behind Spain since they had traveled West. 

Only You

80 years ago this Saturday, Smokey Bear was created. He is the longest-lasting public service advertising image and one of the most well-known icons of America. But how did this come about?

During World War II, the Japanese attempted to attack the west coast by starting fires. In addition, the Forest Service, which had been fighting wildfires before the war, felt that with so few men at home, people needed to know that they could help protect America by following safe fire practices. 

The first image of Smokey was drawn by and donated by American animal cartoonist Albert Staehle. Staehle created many other animal cartoons, but his image of Smokey pouring a bucket of water on a fire is his most well-known and he never earned any money from it. Instead, after the image of Smokey Bear was removed from the public domain in 1952 with the Smokey Bear Act, all money made from the image is donated to fire education. 

Today, Smokey's message has shifted because forest ecologists feel that his message was giving fires a bad name. Some types of tree seeds require fire in order to be released, and at other times, preventing fires results in a dangerous buildup of leaves and other detritus on the forest floor. Controlled, prescribed fires are good for the forest ecosystem, so now Smokey' message indicates that out-of-control wildfires, not all forest fires, are dangerous and that citizens should be sure that their camp fire is actually put out.

The Rape of Belgium

100 years ago today, Germany began its invasion of neutral Belgium, which lasted until October. Almost immediately, the Germans began committing war crimes against the Belgian citizens, earning the invasion the name "the Rape of Belgium." 

    

The Germans victimized women, evacuated the citizens, burned libraries, shot people where they stood and forced a group of nuns to strip naked.

    

The Rape of Belgium was quickly made into propaganda to garner support for war against the Germans. Prior to the invasion, the British had difficulty justifying their declaration of war when the whole affar was sparked by the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand. 

 

The Rape of Belgium allowed British propagandists and recruiters to exploit the people's morals. In addition to gaining British support, it was hoped that the Americans would feel compelled to support the war effort on behalf of the Belgian people who had been so terrorized. 

   

Since the war, the atrocities committed by the Germans have been brushed aside as only British propaganda but recent research says otherwise. There were some fabrications, but there was also truth behind many of the stories.