Stand At Ease, Then Forward, March!

(First paragraph) I enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1985. After reporting for basic training, I learned to execute military formation maneuvering commands. Military formations help organize ceremonial parades, gain tactical advantage, and create discipline. It occurs to me that the same elements that contribute to effective functioning of a military unit- ceremony, tactical planning, and discipline- also contribute to achieving one\u27s goals after completing graduate school

A soundtrack to the insurrection : street music, marching bands and popular protest

What happens in social movements when people actually move, how does the mobile moment of activism contribute to mobilisation? Are they marching or dancing? How is the space of action, the street itself, altered, re-sounded? The employment of street music in the very specific context of political protest remains a curiously under-researched aspect of cultural politics in social movements.... By looking at the marching bands of different socio- political and cultural contexts, primarily British, I aim to further current understanding of the idea and history of street music itself, as well as explore questions of the construction or repositioning of urban space via music'how the sound of music can alter spaces'; participation, pleasure and the political body; subculture and identity

The 1789 Saint Augustine Celebration

One of the most elaborate celebrations of Saint Augustine’s colonial history occurred in December, 1789, when the civilian and military populations joined in honoring Charles IV’S ascension to the Spanish throne. Parades, theatricals, religious services and soirees with dancing till dawn were features of the three day festival beginning the afternoon of December 2

A Short History of Irish Memory in the Long Twentieth Century

The Cambridge History of Ireland, vol. IV: 1800 to Present, edited by Thomas Bartlett (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 708-725: A survey of changing obsessions in Ireland with remembrance of various episodes in the past, identifies moments of heightened commemoration and charts the development of modern memorial practices over the twentieth century. Growing awareness to the multifaceted and multilayered expressions of memory in Irish culture ultimately reveals the necessity to rewrite the history of the twentieth century

Learning the Fighting Game: Black Americans and the First World War

The experience of African American veterans of the First World War is most often cast through the bloody lens of the Red Summer of 1919, when racial violence and lynchings reached record highs across the nation as black veterans returned from the global conflict to find Jim Crow justice firmly entrenched in a white supremacist nation. This narrative casts black veterans in a deeply ironic light, a lost generation even more cruelly mistreated than the larger mythological Lost Generation of the Great War. This narrative, however, badly abuses hindsight and clouds larger issues of black activism and organization during and immediately after the war. This study explorers early NAACP activism, the Garveyite movement, and the early foundations of the Civil Rights Movement

St. George's Day Military Parade

Outdoor photograph of mounted cavalry in parade.King Boris III at a military tattoo. St. George's Day (23 April in the Julian calendar, which corresponds to 6 May in the Gregorian calendar) is the day of the Bulgarian Army, made official by a decree of Knyaz Alexander of Bulgaria on 9 January 1880. Parades are organized in the capital Sofia to present the best of the army's equipment and manpower

Civil War, 1861-1865 - Lexington, Kentucky (SC 3173)

Finding aid and full-text typescript (Click on Additional Files below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3173. Letter, 4 October 1863, from “Albert” to his wife Nellie. From Lexington, Kentucky, he discusses arrangements for her forthcoming visit, describes a painful inflammation affecting his face, and tells her of his military accommodations. He also notes the “howl” of a band in camp expected to play at guard mountings and dress parades

Learning the Fighting Game: Black Americans and the First World War

The experience of African American veterans of the First World War is most often cast through the bloody lens of the Red Summer of 1919, when racial violence and lynchings reached record highs across the nation as black veterans returned from the global conflict to find Jim Crow justice firmly entrenched in a white supremacist nation. This narrative casts black veterans in a deeply ironic light, a lost generation even more cruelly mistreated than the larger mythological Lost Generation of the Great War. This narrative, however, badly abuses hindsight and clouds larger issues of black activism and organization during and immediately after the war. This study explorers early NAACP activism, the Garveyite movement, and the early foundations of the Civil Rights Movement

Warriors of Bronze: The Virginia Monument and Remembrance Day

Memory is a peculiar thing. To recall it is to remember, and there are two days dedicated to this activity in mid-November in Gettysburg. On November 18 and 19, reenactors and keynote speakers gather here to honor the sacrifices of millions of soldiers and sailors during the American Civil War. November 19 rings throughout the history of oration as the date of Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address, itself an exercise in remembrance. The recent Remembrance and Dedication Days have encouraged me to think of my work on the Virginia Monument Wayside Project in light of the celebrations. Just as much as the parades and memorial wreaths, the monument speaks to a complex, ever-evolving memory of one of the defining moments in American history. [excerpt