Susan B. Anthony in Adams, MA

Susan Brownell Anthony (1820–1906), women's rights campaigner and abolitionist – was born, and spent the early years of her life – just outside Adams, Massachusetts. Her father Daniel was a tolerant Quaker and her mother a Baptist. Elizabeth Cady Stanton later called Susan an agnostic.

The kitchen. The house was built in 1818 by Susan's father shortly after his marriage.

A section of the original wall.

A reconstruction of the birthing room, using furniture of the period.

Next to the room where Susan was born, Daniel (who also had interests in cotton and education) ran a small store in the other front room. He had been the first Anthony to marry a non-Quaker, but the fact that he sold alcohol in his store was more seriously frowned upon, which he promised to stop.

The newspaper The Revolution was established by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and was in existence for just over four years, between 1868 and 1872. The photo above this is the first issue.

A medallion bearing a representation of Susan B. Anthony.

There were many cartoons and caricatures of the women's rights movement. The photo above is from the Saturday Evening Post, December 30, 1911.

'DON'T WORRY

THE WORST IS YET TO COME'

'There ain't much 'am in that sandwich, 'Arry.'

'No, but there's plenty of mustard.'

'WOMEN

bring all

VOTERS

into the world

~

Let women vote'

We had intended to drive to Seneca Falls on our last day in Elmira, NY. Famously, dress reformer Amelia Bloomer introduced Susan B. Anthony to Elizabeth Cady Stanton in Seneca Falls, and a statue by Ted Aub commemorates the occasion. Unfortunately it rained all day so we gave up on the trip.

Hancock Shaker Village, MA

The Shakers date back to 1747, to Manchester, England, and their original leader Ann Lee (1736–84), known as 'Mother Lee'. Due to their persecution in England, Lee decided to move the religious group – which believed in celibacy, pacifism, gender equality, and simple communal living – to America.

Hancock Shaker Village began in the late 1780s. By the mid-19th century the Shaker community had reached its peak of between 4000 to 5000 followers, of whom more than 300 lived in Hancock just a few miles from Pittsfield. In the early 1900s there were only about fifty mainly female members here, and the community ended in 1960.

This long view just gives an idea of the size of the place.

The huge Round Stone Barn that features on the village's advertising logo.

Not a barn but the Laundry and Machine Shop.

Inside the Machine Shop.

The Drying Room.

The huge Brick Dwelling where the Shakers lived from 1830 to 1959. As outside technology improved, so did the technology here.

'ALL PERSONS

ARE FORBID USING

TOBACCO

IN THIS HOUSE'

The following rules apply to visitors:

'At the table we wish all to be as free as at home, but we dislike the wasteful habit of leaving food on the plate. No vice is with us the less ridiculous for being in fashion.'

'Married Persons tarrying with us over night, are respectfully notified that each sex occupy separate sleeping apartments while they remain. This rule will not be departed from under any circumstances.'

Alcoholic drinks were allowed, and fruit wines and ciders were made here.

A view of the cellar.

During the summer and autumn food was preserved for the long winter.

Part of the dining room, where prayers were said before meals, which were eaten in silence.

The community was nevertheless hierarchical, and Deacons oversaw and supervised the work here. Some Deacons were responsible for work made for the outside world.

The Brethren's Shop.

Although the Shakers believed in gender equality and there were no strict rules about work roles, men and women nevertheless tended to fall into traditional gender work patterns, with the men doing the farming, woodwork, metalwork, stonework, etc, and the women the cooking.

Shakers sold brooms and brushes, and the invention of the flat broom is credited to a male Shaker.

Varnished or painted oval boxes were also a popular Shaker product.

Hired labor from outside was used as early as 1826 (for work on the Round Stone Barn), although the community suffered from a shortage of males from the latter half of the 19th century. Hired hands lodged here, away from the Brick Dwelling, and away from young girls in Shaker care.

'IN LOVING MEMORY

OF MEMBERS OF THE

SHAKER CHURCH

WHO DEDICATED THEIR LIVES

TO GOD AND TO THE GOOD OF

HUMANITY'

The Shaker cemetery is to the north-east of the village, and there are no individual graves.

Links to my Utopia posts:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hancock Shaker Village, MA
Jean-Baptiste Godin and Utopia, Guise, Aisne (02)

Books and Arguments in Great Barrington, MA

I visited the W. E. B. Du Bois National Historic Site after visiting the Bookloft in the Barrington Plaza, which in a way was a good thing because (in spite of the mosquitoes) it allowed me to cool off and concentrate on peace. I've never come across arguments in Barnes & Noble, or Waterstones in England for that matter, but isn't that what independent bookshops are for? A place where you can have a good conversation, argument or whatever?

This is a preliminary to me saying that I really couldn't stand waiting in a line to pay for my books without saying something to the customer in front of me who was yelling at the (rather disinterested, or maybe just plain uninterested, I thought) sales assistant that voting should be compulsory for everyone. Well, when I hear crap like that I just have to react. Politely, I interrupted and said that no one should be forced to vote for the party they least hate, and that as a pacifist I refuse to vote as all political leaders are warmongers. She pretended to partly agree with me, although added that anyone who didn't vote denied their rights to citizenship. Wanting just to pay for my books and get the hell out with my partner Penny,  I then pretended that I didn't know what a citizen is, although this fanatic was obviously more or less trying to tell me that if I didn't support war then I didn't exist, or something like that. (I won't venture to argue much about the opinions on war of the authors of the books I bought.)

The Masachusetts Review (Fall 2013) on 'W. E. B. Dubois in His Time and Ours'.

Edna St. Vincent Millay: Collected Poems. (Yeah, I know all about her support for WWII.)

Catharine Maria Sedgwick: The Linwoods. (An abolitionist, but...)

Finally, I re-post my shot of the mockingbird originally actually taken in Barrington Plaza three years ago. We ended the trip back here (avoiding the bookstore) with me drinking a blueberry smoothie and regretting the absence of any birds this time, but reflecting on the words of Harper Lee (via Atticus Finch).

W. E. B. Du Bois relatives buried in Great Barrington, MA

'"IN 1950 THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY HAD FOR ME SPECIAL

MEANING. I WAS A WIDOWER. THE WIFE OF 53 YEARS LAY

BURIED IN THE NEW ENGLAND HILLS BESIDE HER FIRST-BORN

BOY"

W. E. B. DUBOIS (1868-1963)

PREMIER ARCHITECT OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

ERECTED BY THE GREAT BARRINGTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

1994'

'NINA GOMER DU BOIS

1870  –––––  1950'

Burghardt was Du Bois's infant son. His daughter Yolande was also buried here in Mahaiwe Cemetery, Great Barrington, although I didn't find any grave with her name.

W. E. B. Du Bois in Great Barrington, MA (revisited)

'W. E. B. Du Bois

Boyhood Homesite

University of Massachusetts Amherst'

This leaflet is published by the W. E. B. Du Bois National Historic Homesite and its title states 'It is time to honor this influential African American'. On the reverse it says that this is the 'only public place in the United States' dedicated to the life and ideals of Du Bois (1868–1963). I hadn't been aware of the place when I first visited Great Barrington in 2011, so took the opportunity to do so this time.

A trail with seven information posts like the one above weave through the (this mid-June, mosquito-infested) woods, each giving fresh details about what the leaflet describes as 'a scholar, a champion of civil rights, and an international activist for peace' who 'fought for democracy and freedom in a world of racial and economic injustice'. I can think of no one of his stature who exists today, although the world is still very much in great need of such a person.

This boulder was placed here in 1969 by the W. E. B. Du Bois Memorial Committee to commemorate the man's life and work. By the boulder is a plaque which contains a number of quotations apparently written by Julian Bond, the most chilling of which I thought was this so very true sentence:

'Violence is an economy that believes in socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor.'

This site is a mile or so from Great Barrington itself, where Du Bois was born on Church Street. The small photo on the marker above shows Mary Silvina Burghardt with her son William in 1868. He moved here, with his mother and half-brother Idelbert, to the home of his grandparents Othello and Sally Burghardt when he was two. By the time he was five he had moved back to Great Barrington, although in 'The House of the Black Burghardts' (1928) he says that this is 'the first home that I remember'.

Du Bois always maintained a sentimental attachment for the house, and in 1928, on his 60th birthday, a group of his friends throughout the country gave the house to him. By 1954 the house was in a very bad state of repair and Du Bois, at the age of 84, sold the house to a neighbor who demolished it.

To the left of the platform above this photo, the remains of the chimney.

On another information panel is a beautiful quotation by W. E. B. Du Bois, from his book I Take My Stand for Peace (1951):

'I want progress; I want education; I want social medicine; I want a living wage and old-age security; I want employment for all and relief for the unemployed and the sick; I want public works, public services, and public improvements. I want freedom for my people. And because I know and you know that we cannot have these things, and at the same time fight, destroy and kill all around the world in order to make huge profit for big business – for that reason, I take my stand behind the millions in every nation and continent and cry Peace – No More War!'

Dr. Seuss in Springfield, MA

'FRIENDS OF LIBRARIES U.S.A.

LITERARY LANDMARKS REGISTER

DR. SEUSS

NATIONAL MEMORIAL

at the Quadrangle

Theodor Seuss Geisel, known to the world as the beloved children's author and illustrator, Dr. Seuss, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1904 and drew much of his early inspiration from his hometown. May this memorial serve to spark creativity in future generations.

FRIENDS OF THE SPRINGFIELD LIBRARY, INC.   JUNE 1, 2002'

Dr Seuss died in 1991 and his title was perhaps wishful thinking as he never took the PhD in Literature that was his original intention. His step-daughter Lark Grey Dimond-Cates designed these superb structures, which are in five distinct parts.

Three of these parts are grouped together here, although I shall deal with each separately, naming all of the characters as I go along.

'Dr. Seuss and the Cat in the Hat' occupies the central position in the above group, and is a work of remarkable detail.

Geisel seems to be in his seventies here, although his work of course is ageless.

It's very appropriate that his most well-known creation, The Cat in the Hat, should be standing next to him.

Among several objects on Seuss's desk is a notepad with 'Oh the places you'll go!' written on it. This is the title of his last book published in his life time, in 1990.

'Horton Court', in which several of Seuss's characters emerge from his books.

Horton the Elephant.

It's easy to miss the microscopic community of Whoville held in Horton's trunk.

Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose.

Sally and her brother.

Thing One (top) and Thing Two (bottom).

Sam-I-Am (unhyphenated, now a punk-emo band from Berkeley, CA).

'The Story-Teller', with words from the book Oh, the Places You'll Go!.

With The Grinch and his dog Max coming out of the book, this strongly reminds me of the O. Henry sculpture in Greensboro, NC, photos of which I took here.

Also extremely easy to overlook is Gertrude McFuzz perched top left of the open book.

'The Lorax', on a tree stump.

'UNLESS someone like you

cares a whole awful lot,

nothing is going to get better.

It's not.'

(Just in case anyone may have the idea that Dr. Seuss is 'just' a children's writer, whatever that may mean.)

'Yertel the Turtle'. This final Seuss-related sculpture is behind the D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts, and is another gem.

Beautiful works of sculpture, and free for anyone to view.