Lenora Rogers's Blog, page 108
February 16, 2016
The journey of a lifetime, more than a lifetime ago
Nearly a century ago, as World War I was entering its final stages, a couple from South Carolina made a journey north to perhaps put to rest a ghost of another bloody conflict, one that had ended more than five decades prior.
Mr. and Mrs. Wattie Gaillard Smith of Columbia traveled to Shepherdstown, WV, to visit sisters Annie Licklider and Bettie Licklider Rentch, and to pay their respects at the grave of Smith’s father, Capt. Henry Julius Smith, who had fallen at...
February 15, 2016
Wilde’s Women – by Eleanor Fitzsimons
They say not to judge a book by its cover, however in this case I’d disagree. I really love the cover of Wilde’s Women by Eleanor Fitzsimons, a gorgeous rendereing of Oscar Wilde, his mother Jane, wife Constance & friend Lille Langtry in purple & green hues reminiscent of the Suffragettes. I think it’s brilliant, and as it turns out, so too is the content that lies within.
This is a book about Oscar Wilde, it is also not a book about Oscar Wilde. Wilde’s Women follows the story of Oscar’s l...
African American Folklore, Magical Realism and Horror in Toni Morrison novels
African American Folklore, Magical Realism and Horror in Toni Morrison novels
By Sumiko Saulson
Born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in 1931, eight-four year old Toni Morrison is one of the most prominent voices in African American literature. The bestselling author has won the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize, and earned such an enduring place in in American hearts and minds that she’s already a staple of many college English literature course curriculum in her own lifetime. Although her...
The OTHER Elizabeth Cheney
Lately on Pinterest I have noticed that a certain portrait has become labeled as a member of Queens Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard’s family. The woman in the portrait is being credited as their grandmother (or whatever) “Lady Elizabeth Cheney Tilney“. The link used on each pin belongs to The Royal Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and if clicked on — the title is clearly stated as being “Elizabeth Cheyne, Lady Vaux (1509-1556)“.[1]
The actual Lady Elizabeth Tilney w...
February 13, 2016
“The Blacks Fought Like Hell”: Exploring Racism & Racist Violence through the Words & Actions of Two Union Irish Cavalrymen
What a great post
Irish in the American Civil War
This month is Black History Month in the United States. To mark that occasion, I wanted to once again explore an aspect of the often-fraught relationship between Irish-Americans and African-Americans during the Civil War era. It is a topic we return to regularly on the site (e.g. see here, here,here and here). The concept for this post arose from a recent discovery I made during my work on the letters of Irish soldiers contained within the Wi...
February 12, 2016
February 10, 2016
St Eithne’s Grave, Eileach An Naoimh, Argyll and Bute, Inner Hebrides
Aethne’s Grave on Eileach an Naoimh by Gordon Doughty (Geograph)
OS grid reference: NM 6302 0964. The littleScottish island of Eileach-an-Naoimh (Rock of the Saint) isone of the Garvellach Islands, in the Firth of Lorne, and is thereputed burial place of St Eithne, mother of St Columba, making it a ‘holy island’.On this very remote, windswept island are the scant remains of a Celtic monastery with beehive huts, two chapels and a graveyard with three crosses,and8...
Historic Painting: “Wreck of the HMS Orpheus” by Richard Brydges Beechey, 1868.
You know I love nautical paintings, and so I was amazed to findthis stunning picture by British painter Richard Brydges Beechey not, as I usually do for this series, by searching through various art commons sites on the Web, but by stumbling across it on Wikipedia’s page for historical events that happened on today’s date, February 7. TheWreck of the HMS Orpheus depicts exactly what happened 153 years ago today, on February 7, 1863, off Whatipu Beach in the northern part...
Book Corner: Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville: A True Romance by Amy Licence
History... the interesting bits!
“Traditionally it happened on May Day, early in the morning … two women slipped away from the manor house … They were a mother and daughter … They hurried on foot across the Wydeville land, towards the edge of the estate …. There stood a small priory or hermitage, dedicated to St Mary and St Michael … Waiting inside was a tall, athletic and distinguished young man in rich clothes, a priest and a choir boy and two gentlewomen, to act as witnesses. There, befor...
