He considered himself an artist, but his work, while popular and incendiary, showed little talent or originality. Later in life he took up working with precious metals, and that would be the craft he’s remembered for, but earlier in his career he printed his own engravings, or his version of the work of others. Earlier this year at Brown University’s John Hay Library, something very rare was discovered. One of Paul Revere’s prints depicting the Baptism of Christ was found tucked in an old textbook. While not a particularly valuable work or great art, this rare print does tell us a bit about the man as an artist, and about his faith. [more inside]
posted by Toekneesan on May 7, 2012 - 6 comments

Today is Texas Independence Day On March 2, 1836, the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed at Washington-on-the-Brazos. The document was created by the Convention of 1836 while almost a couple hundred brave Texans at the Alamo held Gen. Santa Anna's army of several thousand at bay for 13 days. On March 6, the Alamo finally fell, slaughtered to the last man. On March 27, 352 Texas soliders were slaughtered at the Goliad Massacre. Finally on April 21, the untrained armies of Texas, outnumbered and under the command of Sam Houston, decisively defeated the much larger and better trained and equipped Army of Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto and captured the Mexican dictator Santa Anna. Happy Texas Independence Day.
posted by dios on Mar 2, 2006 - 89 comments

Mormons versus Indians. Once upon a time, Mormons and Shoshone didn't get along particularly well. Mormon cattle ate Shoshone grass. Shoshone took Mormon cattle as rent. Both sides were poor and sometimes barely able to feed themselves. Help was needed.

Chief Sagwich's Northwestern Band of Shoshone had their world shattered on January 23, 1863 when the US Army's 3rd California Volunteers under the leadership of a bitterly xenophobic Patrick E Connor, killed 250 of the 450 tribal members at the behest of Utah territorial officials to have the tribe disciplined. This slaughter, known as the Bear River Massacre, was the largest such mass killing of natives (even surpassing Wounded Knee) and the only official Civil War battle that took place in what is now Idaho.

The good chief survived along with about 90 of his tribe and, ten years later, converted to Mormonism along with all of his people. The tribe survives.
posted by DeepFriedTwinkies on May 12, 2005 - 8 comments

Greensboro, NC , a relatively progressive southern city, is not without it’s own skeletons.

“On Nov. 3, 1979, Klansmen and Nazis pulled rifles and pistols from the trunks of their cars and opened fire on a group of anti-Ku Klux Klan marchers in the Morningside Homes neighborhood of Greensboro, N.C. Five of the demonstrators were killed by the bullets and several others were injured. The victims had close ties with the local Communist Worker’s Party..”

The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Project, the first of it’s kind in the United States, using the concept of restorative justice, “seeks to heal relations between opposing sides by uncovering all pertinent facts, distinguishing truth from lies, and allowing for acknowledgement, appropriate public mourning, forgiveness and healing.” ( a little more inside)
posted by lyam on Dec 7, 2004 - 34 comments

The Greensboro Massacre: “On November 3, 1979, five people were killed in broad daylight on the streets of Greensboro (NC) by an organized group of men. As they shot into the crowd the killers were filmed by TV news crews and were easily identified by the police. Yet nobody was convicted of a crime for the killings.” (quoted text and links from edcone.com)
posted by jennyb on Aug 4, 2002 - 8 comments

You thought the Holocaust was sickening? Read about the Nanjing Massacre. A very graphic account of the massacre of Chinese citizens by Japanese soldiers in World War 2. I found this tale to be far more sickening than that of the Holocaust.

Don't read it if you don't wish to read and see accounts of how Japanese soldiers sliced up pregnant women and beheaded children in the streets. It is truly awful.
posted by wackybrit on Jan 29, 2001 - 47 comments