Herman Melville and Richard Wright: Camaraderie and Revolt

In 1940, Black leftist writer Richard Wright, in his classic Native Son, sought out a great figure in the American Black canon, W. E. B. Du Bois, to understand and delineate double consciousness of Blacks. But it is surprising, perhaps, that Wright also drew from a major figure in the white canon, Herman Melville, in order to explore the overcoming of double consciousness and its effects. Although another tradition might interpret Melville’s Captain Ahab as “predicting” Wright’s story of Bigger Thomas, I suggest that it is the Pequod crew of Moby-Dick, not the driven and driving Captain, which compels Wright’s attention. A spirit of revolt and camaraderie in the world at sea – I enlist in my analysis Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker’s “motley crew” and Paul Gilroy’s Black Atlantic – informs Melville’s 1850s sea stories, and predicts Wright’s interest in Melville and Wright’s advice to emerging Black writers

Break The News To Mother

[Verse 1] While the shot and shell were screaming upon the battlefieldThe boys in blue were fighting their noble flag to shieldCame a cry from their brave Captain Look boys! our flag is down; Who\u27ll volunteer to save it from disgrace I will a young voice shouted, I\u27ll bring it back or die, Then sprang into the thickest of the fraySaving the flag but gave his life. All for his country\u27s sakeThey brought him back and softly hear him say... [Chorus] Just break the news to motherShe knows how dear I love herAnd tell her not to wait for meFor I\u27m not coming homeJust say there is no otherCan take the place of mother,Then kiss her dear sweet lips for meAnd break the news to her [Verse 2] From afar a noted general had noticed this brave deed, Who saved our flag? speak up lads, \u27twas noble, brave indeed There he lies, Sir the captain, he\u27s sinking very fast Then slowly turned away to hide a tearThe general in a moment knelt down beside the boyThen gave a cry that touched all hearts that day It\u27s my son, my brave young hero, I thought you safe at home Forgive me, Father for I ran awa

Journal of an Expedition to the Ohio, Commanded by His Excellency Brigadier-General Forbes in the Year of our Lord 1758

This is a transcript of the daily journal of the expedition, as written by John Forbes in 1758. Friday, 7th of July, receiv\u27d the Governor\u27s Commission appointing me Chaplain to the 3d Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment, commanded by Colonel Mercer; with a Letter from the Secretary apologizing for my not having the Preference of the other two.- Wednesday, July 12th. Set off from my own House in York County, & reach\u27d Carlisle that Night, where I receiv\u27d the General\u27s Letter, with an invitation to attend the Troops under his Command; & promising me his Protection & Encouragement.- [excerpt

Boston University Chamber Orchestra, September 29, 2006

This is the concert program of the Boston University Chamber Orchestra performance on Friday, September 29, 2006 at 8:00 p.m., at the Boston University Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. Works performed were Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183 by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, Three Walt Whitman Songs by Kurt Weill, and Soleriana: Suite para orquesta by Joaquin Rodrigo. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Center for the Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Catherine Mary White Foster\u27s Eyewitness Account of the Battle of Gettysburg, with Background on the Foster Family Union Soldiers

Catherine Mary White Foster lived with her elderly parents in the red brick house on the northwest corner of Washington and High Streets in Gettysburg at the time of the battle, 1-3 July 1863. She was the only child of James White Foster and Catherine (nee Swope) Foster (a former resident of Lancaster county), who married on 11 May 1817 and settled in Gettysburg, Adams county, Pennsylvania. Her father, James White Foster, had served his country as a first lieutenant in the War of 1812. Her grandparents, James Foster and Catherine (nee White) Foster, had emigrated with her father and five older children from county Donegal, Ireland, in 1790, and settled near New Alexandria, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. [excerpt