Benjamin A. Railton's Blog, page 56

January 3, 2024: 2024 Anniversaries: The 1874 Midterms

[As I’vedone for each of thelast few years, this week I’ll start 2024 by AmericanStudying a fewanniversaries for the new year. Leading up to a special post on the 200thanniversary of a frustratingly familiar election.]

On extending ourconcept of historical turning points, but also resisting ideas ofinevitability.

I’ve written bothhere and elsewhereabout our tendency to focus too much on presidents to narrate our eras andhistories, and there’s a corollary and complementary trend (one I’m as frequentlyguilty of as anyone, to be clear) of focusing on presidential elections assingular and key historical moments and turning points. A particularly clearcase in point would be the hugely contested and controversial presidentialelection of 1876, the eventual results of which, as I’vewritten before in this space, seem to have directly produced one of themost significant turning points in the nation’s history: newly electedPresident Rutherford B. Hayes’s 1877 decision to endFederal Reconstruction throughout the South. Whether Hayes did so as adirect result of a “crookedbargain” to secure the presidency remains a point of contention amonghistorians and perhaps always will; but even if he did not, there’s no doubtthat ending Reconstruction was one of his first actions as president, and thus thatthis particular moment reinforces the broader narrative that it is presidentialelections which especially represent and contribute to historical turningpoints. 

But while it wasHayes who made that particular 1877 call to end Federal Reconstruction, therewas of course a long, complex series of moments and events that led up to thattragic decision. Any such list would have to include many of AndrewJohnson’s white supremacist actions as president and many of the and racially motivated massacreswith which the white South so thoroughly resisted Reconstruction. But alongsidesuch longstanding historical trends we could also locate the contested andinfluential 1874 midtermelections as a direct predecessor to 1876’s electoral result. Due in partto those broader Reconstruction-era trends (which among other things greatlylimited African American voting throughout the South), and in part to a numberof other factors (the Panicof 1873, the Grant Administration’s manyprominent scandals), Congressional Republicans lost 93 seats and theirmajority in the House of Representatives (the second-largest swing in Househistory), with Southern Democrats in particular dominating the elections atevery level. Congressional Republicans’ abilities to work with Grant and helpadvance Reconstruction’s goals were severely curtailed, and the stage was setfor 1876’s contested results and their tragic aftermaths.

Or was it?Another historical move we tend to make a bit too quickly (and again, I’m justas guilty of this as anyone) is to read back from what we know happened intoprior events that can thus seem to foreshadow those future trends. Certainlyit’s fair and important to think about the relationship between differentmoments and events, and it seems clear that the 1874 election results reflectedsome shifting regional, national, and political realities that continued toinfluence subsequent events such as (especially) the 1876 presidentialelection. But of course a great deal can happen over the two years betweennational elections, and it would be both inaccurate and highly dangerous tosuggest that 1874 led in any direct way to 1876. Highly dangerous, that is,because it might lead to inaction or apathy in the aftermath of a midtermelection that doesn’t go as we hope, rather than a renewed commitment to thebattle ahead of the next elections (and everything else still to come). We canand should learn from historical moments, but should never treat them asnecessarily or inevitably predictive of what follows.

Nextanniversary tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?

January 2, 2024: 2024 Anniversaries: The First Continental Congress in 1774

[As I’vedone for each of thelast few years, this week I’ll start 2024 by AmericanStudying a fewanniversaries for the new year. Leading up to a special post on the 200thanniversary of a frustratingly familiar election.]

Oninteresting stories from three of the less well-known of the 56men who served as delegates to the FirstContinental Congress in Philadelphia.

1)     SilasDeane (1738-1789): Connecticut delegate Silas Deane is likely the best-knownof the three figures I’ll highlight in this post, thanks to the strange and mysteriouslate-life (and thus late-Revolution, since Deane only lived a few years pastthe Revolution’s end) circumstances detailed in that hyperlinked piece surroundingDeane’s supposed opposition to the Revolutionary cause and even potentialtreason. Those ambiguities become even more strange when we remember thatDeane played as pivotal a role in the Revolution as any individual, when henegotiated (alongsideBen Franklin) the 1778Treaty of Alliance that helped ensure the French as a vital ally to theU.S. throughout the Revolution. A good reminder that each and every delegate,like each Revolutionary figure, had a complex identity and story that makes theidea of a unified “Founding Fathers” community pretty silly.

2)     Christopher Gadsden(1724-1805): South Carolina delegate Christopher Gadsden left as lasting aninfluence as any Revolutionary figure, if one that has become significantlymore complicated in the last couple decades: he designed the “Don’tTread on Me” Gadsden Flag that has come to be so fully associatedwith right-wing extremism in 21st century America. But flagdesigner was only one of many impressive roles that Gadsden played during andafter the Revolution, including serving as aBrigadier General in the Continental Army, helping draft South Carolina’s firstConstitution in 1778, and becoming the state’s first Lieutenant Governorshortly thereafter. The states, like the new nation, didn’t just randomlyemerge—they were created by the contributions and efforts of figures likeGadsden.

3)     RobertTreat Paine (1731-1814): Massachusetts delegate Robert Treat Paine holds aspecial place in my heart because Stonehurst, the Waltham estate highlighted atthat hyperlink and which belongedto Paine’s descendant of the same name, was just a few minutes from where Ilived for 6.5 years and was an impressive spot I visited frequently. But Painehimself was also very impressive as a legal mind andvoice in the Revolutionary era, and a reminder of how many ways such legalthinkers could influencethe new nation: in Paine’s case he not only attended the ContinentalCongress and signed the Declaration of Independence but also served on multipleMassachusetts courts including the state Supreme Court, served as Speaker ofthe Massachusetts House of Representatives, helped draft the 1780 state constitution,and was MA Attorney General for more than a decade during and after theRevolution. Like his 55 fellow delegates, a figure well worth remembering morefully!

Nextanniversary tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?

January 1, 2024: 2024 Anniversaries: New Netherland in 1674

[As I’vedone for each of thelast few years, this week I’ll start 2024 by AmericanStudying a fewanniversaries for the new year. Leading up to a special post on the 200thanniversary of a frustratingly familiar election.]

On twoimportant legacies that endured when New Netherland became a permanent part ofAnglo America with the 1674Treaty of Westminster.

1674 wasonly the final moment in a decade-long back and forth between the English andthe Dutch over who would take control of the mid-atlantic region known as NewNetherland. In 1664, at the outset of the continental as well as transatlantic conflictthat became known as the SecondAnglo-Dutch War (1665-1667), the Englishgained control of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island and thus of NewAmsterdam, the de facto capital of New Netherland. But the Dutch held onto muchof the rest of the region at that time, and when the ThirdAnglo-Dutch War (1672-1674) began a few years later, the Dutch retook thefort and island as well. It was only at the culmination of that latter conflictwith the Treaty of Westminster that the Dutch permanently ceded not justManhattan Island/New Amsterdam but the entirety of their New Netherland colonyto the English, essentially trading it for the South American colonyof Suriname.

As usualwhen a place officiallychanges hands from one national entity to another, however, a great deal ofthe existing community of New Netherland remained after the handover. One ofthe most defining elements of New Netherland society was its striking level ofdiversity, particularly religious diversity due to the Dutch Republic’soverarching policy (from the1579 Union of Utrecht) that “everyone shall remain free in religion andthat no one may be persecuted or investigated because of religion.” That meantfor example that New Netherland had a sizeable Jewish community, which was grantedfullresidential rights in 1655. But the community, like the Dutch coloniesthroughout the Western Hemisphere, was also notably diverse in terms of bothnationality and ethnicity: on the first note, the term “New Netherland Dutch”referred to immigrants from a variety of European cultures; while on thesecond, New Netherland included a significant refugeepopulation from Brazil as well as sizeable Native American and African communitiesamong others. The diversity of modern Manhattan is truly a legacy of its NewAmsterdam roots.

The policyof religious freedom didn’t just help create that foundational diversity,though—it also reflected a broaderculture of tolerance (in the Dutch Republic overall, but certainly extendedto its colonies as well) that was at least somewhat unique among Europeancolonies in the Americas and served as an inspiration for future U.S. ideals. TheDutch Republic’s Constitution, which guaranteed such liberties as well ascitizenship to most of its residents, was cited by Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers No.20 as a direct influence on the proposed U.S. Constitution. Likewise,the 1581Act of Adjuration through which the Dutch Republic declared itsindependence from Spain was similar enough to the American Declaration ofIndependence that JohnAdams later declared, “the origins of the two Republics are so much alikethat the history of one seems but a transcript from that of the other.” Allways that New Netherland remained very much part of the evolving United Stateslong after the 1674 handover.

Nextanniversary tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?

December 30-31, 2023: December 2023 Recap

[A Recapof the month that was in AmericanStudying.]

December4: Board Game Studying: Scrabble: A series for Scrabble’s 75thanniversary kicks off with three of the moments and stages through which ahomemade game becomes an icon.

December5: Board Game Studying: Monopoly: The series continues with point,counterpoint, and counter-counterpoint when it comes to a complex game of capitalism.

December6: Board Game Studying: Careers: What my sons and I learned about Americansociety by playing two earlier iterations of Careers, as the series plays on.

December7: Board Game Studying: War Games: Three board games through which a youngAmericanStudier learned a lot about war histories and stories.

December8: Board Game Studying: Collaborative Games: The series concludes with themost common form of collaborative board game, and a unique and beautifulalternative.

December9-10: Crowd-sourced Board Game Studying: My first crowd-sourced post in awhile, and a really full and fun one!

December11: Boston Tea Party Studying: Causes: A series for the Tea Party’s 250thanniversary kicks off with a few key 1773 moments along the way to thatDecember protest.

December12: Boston Tea Party Studying: The Adams Boys: The series continues withhow the two famous cousins complemented each other at the Tea Party.

December13: Boston Tea Party Studying: Playing Indian: How the Tea Party connectsto a fraught and frustrating American tradition, and one other layer.

December14: Boston Tea Party Studying: The Peggy Stewart: What differentiates theAnnapolis Tea Party, and what it adds to the Boston story.

December15: Boston Tea Party Studying: The Shoemaker: The series concludes with whywe should all read a great narrative history about one of the Tea Party participants.

December16-17: A Tribute to BostonStudiers: I couldn’t share a series on the BostonTea Party without paying tribute to some of the many folks from which I’velearned a great deal about such histories!

December18: Fall Semester Finds: Nguyen’s Novel in Capstone: For this semester’sreflections series I wanted to highlight new texts & ideas I encountered,starting with Eric Nguyen’s Things WeLost to the Water in my Capstone course.

December19: Fall Semester Finds: Espada’s Poem in Ethnic American Lit: The seriescontinues with a bracing and vital poem I rediscovered in my Ethnic AmericanLit course.

December20: Fall Semester Finds: New Music in Writing I: A couple examples of howmuch I always learn from a First-Year Writing assignment, as the seriesreflects on.

December21: Fall Semester Finds: A New Take on Hughes in Am Lit II: How a Bluesmusician student opened up new layers to a very familiar poem in my onlineAmerican Lit survey.

December22: Fall Semester Finds: Douglas Stuart from an MA Thesis: The seriesconcludes with a new author to whom I’ve been introduced by a great currentGraduate student.

December23: Spring Semester Previews: The first of two weekend follow-ups to theseries, on three courses I’m looking forward to in Spring 2024.

December23-24: Hamza Suleiman’s Guest Post on Mohja Kahf: And I’m so excited toshare another great Guest Post from one of Robin Field’s King’s Collegestudents!

December25: Christmas Stories: “A Visit from St. Nicholas”: For a particularlysentimental holiday series this year, I wanted to highlight Christmas stories Ishared with my sons over the years, starting with the classic poem celebratingits 200th anniversary this December.

December26: Christmas Stories: The Father Christmas Letters: The series continueswith three distinct ways to contextualize Tolkien’s classic Christmas texts.

December27: Christmas Stories: The Night Before the Night Before Christmas: A delightfulnew Christmas classic from the legendary Richard Scarry, as the series readson.

December28: Christmas Stories: Ezra Jack Keats and the Snowy Day: On the birthdayof my favorite early childhood educator, a tribute to one of the mostinfluential children’s books of all time.

December29: Christmas Stories: A Christmas Carol: The series, month, and yearconclude with two vital lessons from one of the most enduring Christmasstories.

New Year’sseries starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Topicsyou’d like to see covered in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to contribute? Lemme know!

December 29, 2023: Christmas Stories: A Christmas Carol

[ThisDecember we commemorate the 200th anniversary ofClement Clarke Moore’s “A Visitfrom St. Nicholas” (well, maybe we do—see Monday’s post!). Thatwas one of many Christmas stories I read to my sons when they were young, sothis week I’ll AmericanStudy it and four other such holiday classics!]

On twovital lessons from one of the most enduring Christmas stories.

Four yearsago this week, I started one of my favorite SaturdayEvening Post Considering History columns,on Dorothy Day and the true spirit of Christmas, by quoting my favorite moment fromCharles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol(1843). I’d ask you to check out that column and opening if you would, and thencome on back here for further thoughts on that spot and Dickens’ iconic story.

Welcomeback! As I wrote there, I think Dickens’ central anti-poverty themes have beenunder-remembered despite his story’s enduring popularity. It’s not only that anawareness of the horrifying ubiquity of extreme poverty is one of the mainlessons that Ebenezer Scrooge must learn, nor even (as that particular quoteexemplifies) that he likewise is forced to realize that he is in no way betterthan (and indeed in many ways worse than) his most impoverished fellowcountrymen and humans. Along with those key takeaways, Dickens also makes acompelling and crucial case that if we don’t address those realities and makethings significantly better for those in the worst situations, it spells doomfor all of us—that, to quoteanother of my favorite artists, “in the end, nobody wins unless everybodywins.” As I always note when I use that Bruce quote, it’s an ideal, and toooften perhaps an unattainable one—but I don’t know that any ideal is more worthfighting for, and that’s certainly a central lesson of A Christmas Carol as well.

But whatmakes Dickens’ story so powerful isn’t just that Scrooge learns such things,but that he changes, becoming (in another top-tierquote) “as good a friend, as good amaster, and as good a man, as the good old city knew.” And to me, one of thewisest elements of A Christmas Carolis its recognition that such change requires both empathetic epiphanies aboutother people (like Scrooge’s care for Tiny Tim and his future) and concern forone’s own welfare (Scrooge’s fears of dying alone and unredeemed in everysense). The latter might seem far more selfish than the former, and in aliteral sense it is; but the truth is that asking people to entirely abandontheir self interests, to think only and entirely of others, is unrealistic, if notindeed impossible. The true spirit of Christmas is to receive as well as togive, to feel loved and cared-for ourselves as well as to share those feelingswith others, and it is when Scrooge realizes that his life, past, present, andespecially future, is devoid of all those layers of goodness that he becomesdetermined to “keep Christmas well,” all year round. I don’t know any moreimportant story and message to share than that.

DecemberRecap this weekend,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Christmas or holiday readings you’d share?

December 28, 2023: Christmas Stories: Ezra Jack Keats and The Snowy Day

[ThisDecember we commemorate the 200th anniversary ofClement Clarke Moore’s “A Visitfrom St. Nicholas” (well, maybe we do—see Monday’s post!). Thatwas one of many Christmas stories I read to my sons when they were young, sothis week I’ll AmericanStudy it and four other such holiday classics!]

[NB. Thispost isn’t about a Christmas story, and it’s a repost of one from many yearsago. But today is my Mom’s birthday, and this author and book were among themany to which she introduced me and which I then passed on to the boys, so theyfeels very appropriate to include here!]

On one ofthe most iconic and influential children’s books and authors.

Given how significant a percentageof my daily life—and an even higher percentage of my reading time, over thelast six plus years at least—is dedicated to children’s books, it feels overduefor me to dedicate a week of posts here to them as well. My Mom Ilene Railtondid so in my first GuestPost, on Margaret Wise Brown and GoodnightMoon (1947); I also spent a paragraph analyzing the family dynamics of The Cat in the Hat here,and discussed one of my all-time favorite chapter books, David and the Phoenix, as part of the Valentine’s post here.Each of those books and their authors would certainly qualify for a tributepost; my Mom’s post in fact focused on Brown’s hugely innovative theories andstyles, and the same could of course be said of Dr. Seuss’s literary creations,as well as those of numerous other children’s authors (my short list would includeMaurice Sendak, Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad books, and Marjorie WeinmannSharmat’s Nate the Great series). But I’m not sure any American children’sauthor is more tribute-worthy than EzraJack Keats (1916-1983).

Keats’ early life and careerread like a newsreel of American culture and identity in the early 20thcentury: born in Brooklyn to Polish American immigrants, he won a nationwideartistic contest in high school with a Depression-era painting of theunemployed; after graduation he went to work for Roosevelt’s WorksProgress Administration (WPA) as a mural painter, then turned to providingillustrations for the exploding new comic books industry; he served in the armyduring World War II, designing camouflage; spent a year in Paris, where heproduced many paintings that were later exhibited there and in the States; andthen returned to America toillustrate many of the era’s most prominent magazines, including Reader’s Digest and Playboy. His first jobs as a children’s book illustrator were justanother facet of this expanding career—in fact he was offered the first suchjob after a publisher saw another illustration of his—and as of the end of the1950s, despite the clear facts of his artistic talent and resume, there was noapparent evidence that Keats had anything especially unique to offer the worldof American children’s literature.

Keats’ first authored as well asillustrated children’s book, My Dog is Lost(1960), instantly proved that perception false. The book featured as itsprotagonist a young Puerto Rican boy, a recent immigrant who speaks onlySpanish, as he travels New York City in search of his lost dog; during hisjourney he meets numerous other city dwellers and communities. My Dog’s introduction of a multiculturaland multiethnic urban world, without sacrificing a bit of story or beauty oraudience appeal, set the stage for a long career in which Keats continued tostrike that balance, most especially in the many books featuring the AfricanAmerican protagonist Peter; introduced in 1963’s Caldecott Winning The Snowy Day, Peter would reappearin many more books and grow from a young boy to a teenager on New York’sstreets. His world and experiences and stories were recognizably specific tohis race and urban setting and time period, but were also always universal andhuman and full of the wonder and mystery and humor that defines the bestchildren’s books. More than, I believe, any other single American author (inany genre), Keats helped bring the nation’s burgeoning post-1960 multiculturalidentity into the mainstream, not with polemics or arguments, but withbeautiful illustrations and engaging stories of city life and childhood.

LastChristmas story tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Christmas or holiday readings you’d share?

December 27, 2023: Christmas Stories: The Night Before the Night Before Christmas

[This Decemberwe commemorate the 200th anniversary ofClement Clarke Moore’s “A Visitfrom St. Nicholas” (well, maybe we do—see Monday’s post!). Thatwas one of many Christmas stories I read to my sons when they were young, sothis week I’ll AmericanStudy it and four other such holiday classics!]

Look, I’mnot going to pretend that I can devote three thoughtful paragraphs to RichardScarry’s silly but fun TheNight Before the Night Before Christmas (1984). Mostly I wanted to includeit in this week’s series for two relatively straightforward but good reasons:it was maybe my sons’ favorite Christmas story for many of their youngchildhood years; and I don’t think nearly enough people know that RichardScarry created a number of Christmas books set in his wonderful Busytown world. Likeevery Busytown character, Mr. Frumble, the pig at the heart of Night Before, is a flawed and flusteredfigure who means well, messes up most of the time, but ultimately gets the jobdone (and thus saves Christmas in the process, natch). And like every RichardScarry classic, Night Before featuresincredibly full and multi-layered illustrations that reward the kinds ofconstant revisiting that come with a book that we read again and again, overmultiple nights in every holiday season. If you’ve got young kids, of your ownor in your life, you won’t find a better holiday read

NextChristmas story tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Christmas or holiday readings you’d share?

December 26, 2023: Christmas Stories: The Father Christmas Letters

[ThisDecember we commemorate the 200th anniversary ofClement Clarke Moore’s “A Visitfrom St. Nicholas” (well, maybe we do—see Monday’s post!). Thatwas one of many Christmas stories I read to my sons when they were young, sothis week I’ll AmericanStudy it and four other such holiday classics!]

On threedistinct ways to contextualize J.R.R. Tolkien’s classicChristmas texts.

1)     Father Christmas: I’m sure Tolkien wasn’t thefirst to use that particular phrase for St. Nicholas/Santa Claus, but as witheverything Tolkien wrote it was still a purposeful and powerful choice. Theseletters were texts that Tolkien created for his own children, sending them aletter (with hisown accompanying illustrations) each holiday season for more than twodecades (and were only published decades later, after his death and edited byhis daughter-in-law andformer secretary Baillie). As such, they were not only from the children’sfather, but also represented a powerful reminder that Santa himself is in manyways (or at least had evolved into by the 20th century) a parentalalter ego, an expression of what parents and parental figures want to offer andbe for their children at their best.

2)     Fantasy: Tolkien created the Father Christmasletters every year from 1920 to 1943, and over that same period he wroteanother, slightly more famous text: TheHobbit, which he began in the early 1930s and publishedin 1937; at that time he also immediately began work on The Lord of the Rings, although itwouldn’t be published until the 1950s. Since he envisioned that fantasy novelas a children’s book first and foremost, it’s difficult not to see a connectionbetween these two creative works; moreover, the Father Christmas lettersincluded a number of elements that Tolkien brought into his fantastic world ofMiddle-earth, from elves, goblins, and giant bears to characters who lived inholes in the ground (the network of underground rooms at the North Pole was mysons’ favorite Father Christmas letters illustration). Seeing these foundationsfor one of the mostfoundational fantasies is an added bonus for any reader of the FatherChristmas letters.

3)     Reality: Tolkien stronglyresisted any analyses of The Lord ofthe Rings as an allegory for World War II, and I always try to honor thatauthorial perspective even if I don’t entirely agree. But of course the FatherChristmas letters are set on Earth in the 20th century, fantastic asmany elements of them are, and so in this text Tolkien did not resist makingsuch world-historical connections: mentioningthe war overtly in his 1939 letter, and then adding battles againstthreatening goblins into the subsequent letters. When I teach my Intro to SciFi and Fantasy course (as I will get to again this Spring), we talk a lot aboutthe relationship of the fantastic to the realistic in each and every text andgenre we engage, and it’s fascinating to see how Tolkien navigated that balancein these two fantastic texts and worlds he was creating side-by-side in thelate 1930s. One of many reasons to share the Father Christmas letters with ourown families every holiday season!

NextChristmas story tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Christmas or holiday readings you’d share?

December 25, 2023: Christmas Stories: “A Visit from St. Nicholas”

[ThisDecember we commemorate the 200th anniversaryof Clement Clarke Moore’s “AVisit from St. Nicholas” (well, maybe we do—see Monday’s post!). That wasone of many Christmas stories I read to my sons when they were young, so thisweek I’ll AmericanStudy it and four other such holiday classics!]

On animportant AmericanStudies takeaway from the controversy over the classic Christmaspoem’s authorship.

To beclear, and so you don’t think I was the most obnoxiously academic Dad ever, Ididn’t include thorny authorship debates when I shared “A Visit from St.Nicholas” with the boys. We focused on all the elements that have made thispoem such an enduring hit since its 1823 publication: the legendary openingline that has eventually given the poem its new title “’Twas the Night BeforeChristmas”; the rhyming couplets and rhythm that move reader and audience alikethrough the rest of the poem’s structure after that opening; the naming of thereindeer which has become such an iconic part of the Santa Claus mythos (ashave other aspects of this poem to be sure). And at the risk of getting on thenaughty list, I’ll note that the boys’ favorite moment was an invented one Istole from my own Dad’s reading of the poem to me: revising the second line inthe couplet “And laying a finger aside of his nose,/And giving a nod, up thechimney he rose;” to “He pulled out a booger as long as a hose.” What can Isay, boys will be boys, at all ages.

So likegenerations have before us, my sons and I greatly enjoyed our own annual renditionof “Visit.” But from its very first appearance, as the anonymously authored poem“Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” published in the Troy, NewYork Sentinel on December 23rd,1823, the question of who created those iconic lines has been an uncertain one.It remained publicly anonymous for 14 years, until the professor and authorClement Clarke Moore claimedauthorship in 1837; Moore subsequently included “Visit” in an 1844collection of his poetry. But over the centuries an alternate theory hasemerged: that fellow New Yorker (and distant relative of Moore’s by marriage) Henry Livingston Jr. was the authorof the original poem. As you might expect for a work as enduring and popular asthis poem, a small cottage industry has developed among scholars making the case for oneor the otherof these men as the first author, and I’m not going to pretend to be ableto weigh in with the knowledge nor the authority that those folks have broughtto their works.

Whoeverpenned that December 1823 poem, however, it’s important to note that itappeared anonymously in a daily newspaper, and not even one in a major city andliterary hub like Boston (or, increasinglyin that era, New York, where both Moore and Livingston spent their lives,literary and otherwise). Poetry in early 19th century America was aprofoundly public and communal enterprise, not quite akin to the oral traditionsof Homer and his ilk but certainly not yet consistently the domain of iconicindividual authors that it would become and largely remains (although the firstAmerican professional poets were just beginning to ply their trade in thisperiod). That collective tradition could be found in most every Americancommunity, and was most commonly shared in mass media like newspapers. It wasthus far from abnormal for a poem to appear without a named author, although ofcourse it’s particularly apt that that was the case for this specific poem,which so fully established some of the collective images and narratives aroundSanta Claus and Christmas that have endured for the two centuries since. To alla good night indeed.

Next Christmasstory tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Christmas or holiday readings you’d share?

December 23-24, 2023: Hamza Suleiman’s Guest Post on Mohja Kahf

[Hamza Suleiman is a Physican Assistant major at King’s College, class of 2027,who aspires to be a PA radiologist. Born and raised in America, hecurrently lives in Clifton, New Jersey. His parents are immigrants fromPalestine. He writes: “My family and I are proud Arabs, and we all follow theIslamic faith. In ‘The Spiced Chicken Queen of Mickaweaquah, Iowa,’ MohjaKahf addresses stereotypes about the Arab and Muslim communities, with themesaimed to educate both American and minority groups. Kahf’s story and messagesresonated with me, as they are important and clear up misconceptions about mycommunity.”]

Learning Islam in a Different Light andDebunking Stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims in “The Spiced Chicken Queen ofMickaweaqua” by Mohja Kahf

“I can’t believeshe is still wearing that wrap around her head; her life is so sad” is a commonphrase people would say when they see a Muslim woman wear the hijab. This isone of the many racist beliefs that Americans have about Muslims. The hijab isa religious obligation that Muslim women wear as commanded by their God, Allah.However, people fail to take the time to be educated about the Islamic practiceand Arab culture, stirring hatred and biases towards Arabs and Muslims. In “TheSpiced Chicken Queen of Mickaweaqua”, Mohja Kahf debunks myths aboutArabs and Muslims through the parallel of two distinct Muslim married couples,along with portraying themes relevant to all her readers.

Mzayyan and Ranaserve as foil characters in “The Spiced Chicken Queen of Mickaweaqua” tocontrast the reality of Muslim women versus how they are perceived by in theAmerica. Mzayyan is married to an abusive husband and originally appeared offas scared to get her husband in trouble. When Mzayyan is expressing herconcerns to Rana over the phone, Rana replies, “‘Mzayyan!...His beating you isthe digrace, Mzayyan. It’s un-Islamic. This is what you tell them at themosque: it’s contrary to the teaching of the Prophet’” (Kahf 145). Ranaexplains to Mzayyan that Muslim men mistreating their wives is against theIslamic religion. In Islam, there are obligations that a Muslim man must followregarding his wife. A widespread misconception is that is normal for Muslim mento oppress their wives because that is what their religion entails. However, inIslam Muslim men are prohibited to hit or abuse their wives. In fact, Muslimmen are supposed to be the protectors of their wives, providing them safety andtaking care of them financially. Additionally, Muslim women have rights inIslam, such as the right to work. While Mzayyan did not have a job in thebeginning of the story and seemed to be deprived of freedoms, Rana was workingas a diligent physicist, referred to as Dr. Rashid, at a nuclear power plant.Dr. Rashid is a prime example of how Muslim women are allowed to enroll inschool and pursue higher education to get their dream career. Likewise, despiteMzayyan appearing as helpless, she was secretly rescuing herself from theabusive marriage and created an entrepreneurship for herself. When Dr. Rashidwas trying to get Mzayyan’s husband convicted, Mzayyan gave Rana a stack ofpapers to give to the INS and informed her, “‘Here are tax returns for the lasttwo years. He’s a great con artist...Do you think...I could have the title tohis property transferred to my name’” (Kahf 147). Through Mzayyan’s actions, itis evident that she was never defenseless, but has been plotting her freedom byherself for a while. She was conducting a plan for her husband’s conviction andaspired to have her own business. In the end, her goal was reached, and sheowns her husband’s store selling spiced chicken. Even before, the strength forMzayyan was always there when she defended herself during one her husband’sattacks. This contradicts the normal beliefs of the West that when a Muslimwoman is abused from her husband, that she accepts it and is submissive. No,this is false because Muslim women are intelligent and strong and are supposedto go against their abusive partners in Islam. All in all, through thecomparison between Rana and Mzayyan, the readers unlearn about themisconceptions of Islam and are enlightened with the truth about Muslim women.

Similarly,Mzayyan’s husband and Rana’s husband Emad, act as foil characters to displaythe truth about Muslim men compared to the Western’s beliefs about them. Emadand Rana are both Muslims and are of Syrian-descent. Emad earned his Ph.D andis a cardiologist. He is very well respected by his family and has had asuccessful career and life. As a matter of fact, Emad and Rana have a veryhealthy relationship with each other. When Emad arrives home one day, heexcitedtly tells Mzayyan, “‘Picked up your apricots at the farmers’market...Organically ripened to perfection’” (Kahf 141). Emad’s benevolentgestures to his wife represents the truth of how Muslim men treat their wivesin Islam. Emad is never seen harming his wife or even disrespecting her. Hecares for her by doing these acts of kindness to show his love, respect, andpride over his spouse. Vice versa, Rana loves her husband and confides in himover matters that are serious to her. More so, he is outraged by the way Mzayyan is being treated by herhusband. When Rana tells Emad about the situation between Mzayyan and herhusband, Emad replies, “‘So why didn’t she call the cops?’” (Kahf 140). Emad isclearly against Mzayyan’s husband’s actions and wants Mzayyan to get herjustice. In addition, him wanting Mzayyan to stand up for herself proves thatMuslim men are not misogynistic. In addition, more bigotry towards Muslim menarises in the story after the 9/11 incident. For instance, Emad’s brother wasquestioned from the FBI about why he named his son Osama. The FBI interrogatinganyone who they see as Muslim or Arab looking is racist and generalizes a largegroup of people based off on a few actions of others. Kahf incorporated thisscene in her story to resemble the real-life discrimination towards Muslims.NBC news recently published an article “For Muslim Americans, a spike in hateincidents feels reminiscent of post 9/11 Islamophobia” where they described ahate crime done by an Illinois man “after he demanded that two Muslim men getout of the country and threatened to shoot them” (2023). This hateful incidentis a reminder that Islamophobia is still prevalent today in the United States.This parallels with Emad’s brother and his son as they are real life examplesof how Arab men are targeted, due to similar physical characteristics with thehijackers of 9/11. Overall, Kahf created Emad’s character to demonstrate thecorrect Muslim men representation in contrast with Mzayyan’s husband, alongwith refuting prejudice ideas about Muslim men post 9/11.

In “The SpicedChicken Queen of Mickaweaqua Iowa”, Mohja Kahf offers themes that are relevantto the reader, despite ethnicity. These themes include preserving one’sculture, seeking help, and eliminating biases towards minority groups. In thestory, Rana and Emad were friends with an Arab couple named Joseph and Jocelyn.Joseph and Jocelyn are obvious non-Arab names. It is explained in the story how“so many generations removed from the slightest hint of Arabic accent or whiffof cardamom, that no one would notice if you dropped the ‘Arab’” (Kahf 143).Kahf offers a specific theme aimed towards ethnic groups of the importance ofholding onto one’s roots, despite the racism. Joseph and Jocelyn were normalArabs that lived a simple life. Unfortunately, their parents gave themdifferent names and they removed their cultural aspects to appear American.People carrying this mindset is detrimental because everyone should feel proudof their ethnicity and visibly show off their heritage, culture, and religion.If this keeps up for multiple generations, then there would be no need for afamily to hide their background because all cultural traditions would be longlost. Moreover, the more people accept who they are and portray themselves astheir native background, the more it will help normalize all minority groups.If Joseph and Jocelyn showed themselves in their town as Arab, then it would beanother positive representation causing more people to be less biased. Anotherprominent theme for all people is to seek help whenever trapped in a toxicrelationship. Kahf utilizes Mzayyan to give all other abused women strength andcourage to rise over their partner and leave to make a better life forthemselves. There are multiple cases in America, where the couples are notarab, where a partner is being mistreated and assaulted. Therefore, the bestsolution is for the partner to recognize their worth and leave therelationship. Lastly, Kahf used a variety of Arab countries to emphasize themultitude of different cultures in the Arab regions. For example, Rana and Emadare Syrian, Mzayyan and her husband are Omani, and Joseph and Jocelyn areLebanese. Many people assume that Arabs all come from one country, but thereare Arab countries thatcomprise of four hundred and fifty-six million people. Additionally, not everyArab person is Muslim as they are a large Christian and Jewish population.Therefore, it is absurd to put Arabs under one category because there arenumerous distinct cultures and practices within the Arab nations. Tying it alltogether, Moja Kahf teaches to her audience multiple messages that are relevantto all people despite their background.

By contrastingthe two Muslim couples in “The Spiced Chicken Queen of Mickaweaqua”, MohjaKahf was able to shed light about the truth and beauty of Islam, whileeliminating stereotypes and problematic assumptions that people make aboutthem. Emad represented how Muslim men are to their wives, while Mzayyan’shusband is what Americans think how Muslim men are to their wives. Also, Dr.Rashid and Mzayyan are both strong independent women who have their careers andfreedoms, just like any other individual. Most importantly, Kahf has three Arabcouples from different countries to highlight the large nation of Arabs and howthey all come from different backgrounds. Thus, it is crucial to not generalizeArabs because they all come from different cultures. It is important to note aswell that not all Arabs are Muslims and not all Muslims are Arabs. This can bean issue when the American media is discussing a crime that an Arab man did,and everyone assumes that he is Muslim, when he is not, and is fed into theirIslamophobia. On a large scale, Kahf addresses serious issues that apply toeveryone, such as seeking help from Domestic Violence and maintaining one’sculture, no matter the ethnicity. Kahf leaves her readers with a call to actionto end racism towards, not just Muslims and Arabs, but for all minority andethnic groups around the world.

References

Venkatraman,Sakshi, and Mirna Alsharif. “For Muslim Americans, a Spike in Hate Incidents FeelsReminiscent of Post 9/11 Islamophobia.” NBC News, 31 Oct. 2023, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/muslim-americans-spike-hate-incidents-feels-reminiscent-post-911-islam-rcna122570.

[Holidayseries starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?]