philosophy on the world

Monday, August 15, 2016

8:26:00 AM Philosophy on the world No comments

Golda Meir (Hebrew: גּוֹלְדָּה מֵאִיר) (born Golda Mabovitz; May 3, 1898 – December 8, 1978) was one of the founders of the State of Israel.

Meir served as the Minister of Labor, Foreign Minister, and from March 17, 1969 to April 11, 1974 as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel. Golda Meir was the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics years before the epithet was coined for Margaret Thatcher. David Ben-Gurion once described her as "the only man in the Cabinet." She is the first (and to date the only) female prime minister of Israel, and was the third female prime minister in the world.[1]

Contents

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1 Born in the Russian empire

2 Emigration to and Life in the United States, 1906

3 Emigration to Palestine, 1921

4 Israel established, 1948

5 Political life prior to becoming Prime Minister

6 Prime Minister

6.1 Operation Wrath of God

6.2 1973 Yom Kippur War

6.3 Resignation

7 Notes

8 References

9 External links

10 Credits

Golda Meir rose from a humble background to a position of leadership on the world stage and was present at her nation's birth, being one of twenty four people who signed the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Inclined toward peace, she was a reluctant war-maker, but in her position as Prime Minister of Israel when the country's athletes were killed at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and also when her country was attacked in 1973 she led the country in responding decisively. Meir was convinced that a strong State of Israel was the best hope for her people's survival, yet despite the belligerent situations faced by her government, she wanted peace with her Arab neighbors.

Born in the Russian empire

Meir was born as Golda Mabovitz in Kiev, Ukraine, then part of Imperial Russia, to Blume Naidtich and Moshe Mabovitz. Golda wrote in her autobiography that her earliest memories were of her father boarding up the front door in response to rumors of an imminent pogrom. The family was very poor and living conditions in the pale of settlement (areas where Jews could live) were tough. She and her two sisters (Sheyna and Tzipke) were often hungry and cold. Her other five siblings had died in childhood.

Moshe left for the United States in 1903. The rest of the family stayed in Pinsk.

Meir looked up to her big sister Sheyna, and admired her Zionist-Revolutionary activity. But the volatile political environment meant Sheyna's safety and perhaps the Mabovitz family was at risk because of her work. Finally this compelled the rest of the family to follow Moshe to the United States in 1906.

Emigration to and Life in the United States, 1906

The Mabovitz family settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, Meir's father worked as a carpenter and her mother ran a grocery store. When Meir was only eight years old, she managed the responsibility of overseeing the store for a short time each morning while her mother bought supplies at the market.

Golda Meir attended the Fourth Street School (now Golda Meir School) across from the Schlitz Brewing Complex from 1906 to 1912. It was here that Meir undertook her first service project, organizing a fund-raiser to pay for her classmate's textbooks. After forming the American Young Sisters Society, she rented a hall and scheduled a public meeting for the event.

When Meir was 14 she began attending North Division High School, taking part-time jobs to pay expenses. She showed unstoppable determination to further her education. When her mother suggested that she give up school to work and marry, Meir ran away to Denver, Colorado, where her older sister Sheyna was living. She stayed for about a year in a duplex at 1606 Julian Street in Denver. Meir attended North High School and met her future husband, Morris Myerson, also a Russian immigrant.

In 1913 Meir returned to Milwaukee and re-enrolled at North Division, graduating in 1915. Despite not knowing English when she arrived in U.S., Meir graduated as valedictorian of her class.

From a very young age, Meir believed strongly in the need for Jewish sovereignty so that Jews could be masters of their fate. She also was passionate about a vision for a society based on justice and equality that did not allow exploitation.

Following high school graduation, Meir became involved in Zionist causes. She was an active member of the youth movement, Habonim (which merged with the like-minded Dror in 1982 to form Habonim Dror). She participated in public speaking at meetings and often advocated for Labor or Socialist Zionism. Meir formally joined the Labor Zionist Organization in 1915.

Upon her graduation from the Milwaukee State Normal School (now University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where the library is named after her) she taught in the public schools.

Meir and Morris Myerson married in 1917 and began planning to make aliyah (emigration) to the land of Israel, then part of various Ottoman provinces. The couple and her elder sister Sheyna emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1921.

Emigration to Palestine, 1921

Meir and Myerson applied to join a kibbutz (communal farm), Kibbutz Merhavia. They were turned down at first, but eventually were accepted into the community. Meir's duties included picking almonds, planting trees, caring for chickens, and running the kitchen. She thrived in this environment where responsibilities were shared equally among members. She also began to emerge as a leader. Her kibbutz chose her to represent them at Histadrut, the General Federation of Labor.

By 1924, Morris had grown tired of the kibbutz life. They left the kibbutz, moving briefly to Tel Aviv, before settling in Jerusalem. There, they had two children, a son, Menachem, and daughter, Sarah.

In 1928 Meir was elected secretary of the Women's Labor Council of Histadrut. This required her to move to Tel Aviv. Morris opted to stay in Jerusalem while the children moved with Meir to Tel Aviv. Morris and Meir grew apart but never divorced. Morris died in 1951.

Meir's influence grew in Histadrut, which evolved into a shadow government for the yet to be born nation of Israel. In 1946 the British cracked down on the Zionist movement in Palestine. They arrested many of its leaders. Meir, however, was never arrested. She gradually took charge of the organization. She negotiated with the British, but also kept in contact with the growing guerrilla movement, demonstrating her natural capacity for diplomacy.

During this time, Meir was keenly aware of the plight of Jews in Europe. She lamented, "We have many grievances against the British government. But the chief accusation that we have is that the policy of Britain's White Paper forced us to sit here helpless at a time when we were convinced we could have saved hundreds of thousands."

Israel established, 1948

September 10, 1948, ceremony in the Kremlin of the first Israeli ambassador, Meir, handing certificates to the Soviet officials

Jewish High Holidays in Moscow, 1948. Meir is shown in the crowd (estimated to be 50,000) of Soviet Jews who gathered to meet her

Meir was one of twenty-four people (and one of two women) who signed the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. She later recalled, "After I signed, I cried. When I studied American history as a schoolgirl and I read about those who signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence, I couldn't imagine these were real people doing something real. And there I was sitting down and signing a declaration of independence."

The following day, Israel was attacked by joint forces from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. Meir was issued Israel's first passport and went to the United States to raise money for the fledgling nation.

When she returned, she was assigned to be the first ambassador to the Soviet Union. She served there briefly, leaving in 1949. During her stay in Moscow, she attended High Holiday services and was mobbed by thousands of Russian Jews chanting her name. Stalin's repression of Jewish identity in the Soviet Union made many observers wonder whether there was still a strong sense of community, but the crowd's welcoming treatment provided the answer. The picture on the back of Meir's Israeli Shekel banknote is that of the crowd in Moscow surrounding her and lifting her in happiness.

Upon her return from Moscow, Meir entered the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) where she served continuously until 1974.

Political life prior to becoming Prime Minister

From 1949 to 1956, Meir was the Israeli minister of labor. In 1956, she became foreign minister under Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. The previous foreign minister, Moshe Sharett, had ordered that all members of the foreign service Hebraicize their last names. Still using her last name of Mabovitz, Meir had ignored that order as ambassador, but now that she was becoming foreign minister herself, Ben-Gurion asked Meir to change her name to a Hebrew name. She chose Meir, meaning "illuminating."

During her tenure as foreign minister, Meir spoke on the world stage, insisting on the need for Arab nations to accept the right of Israel to exist. She also spoke to the United Nations General Assembly in 1956 on behalf of Hungarians being deported by Soviet authorities, saying, "My delegation cannot refrain from speaking on this question. We have had such an intimate knowledge of boxcars and of deportations to unknown destinations that we cannot be silent."

In the early 1960s she was diagnosed with lymphoma, which she kept hidden because she thought others might deem her unfit for service. Meir resigned from the cabinet in 1965, citing illness and exhaustion from her years of service. At first, she returned to her modest life, but she was soon called back into service. She served as secretary general of the Labor Party for eight months and retired again on August 1, 1968.

Prime Minister

After Prime Minister Levi Eshkol died suddenly on February 26, 1969, the party chose her to succeed him as prime minister. Meir came out of retirement to take office on March 17, and served in that role until 1974. When Meir became prime minister, Israel was brimming with confidence, having won a decisive victory over the Arabs and capturing large areas of territory in the Six-Day War. Nonetheless, Meir had to deal with the continuing Egyptian shelling of Israeli forces along the Suez Canal in the War of Attrition. She agonized over the continuing military strife.

Operation Wrath of God

Following the 1972 Munich murders at the summer Olympic Games, Meir appealed to the world to "save our citizens and condemn the unspeakable criminal acts committed" [1]. Meir and the Israeli Defense Committee felt that the world did not adequately respond and therefore authorized the Mossad (Israeli secret service) to kill operatives of Black September and PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) wherever they could be found (Morris 1999).

1973 Yom Kippur War

The 1973 Yom Kippur War was instigated with a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria in an attempt to reclaim the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, which had been captured by Israel in 1967 during the Six-Day War. Israeli intelligence was never entirely sure if war was impending. The day before the war began, Israeli intelligence was finally able to verify that war was indeed imminent.

Six hours before the war was set to begin, Meir met with Moshe Dayan and Israeli general David Elazar. While Dayan argued that the war might not even start, Elazar wanted to launch a pre-emptive strike on Syrian forces. Meir considered both options and then decided not to launch a pre-emptive strike. Meir made this decision because she knew that Israel could not depend on European countries to supply Israel with military goods as European countries were under the threat of an Arab oil embargo and trade boycott.

The only country in the world that would come to Israel's assistance would be the United States. Meir feared that by launching a pre-emptive strike, the U.S. would be less likely to assist Israel if the need arose. This was a good decision, as the U.S. launched Operation Nickel Grass. Henry Kissinger verified Meir's fears by stating that if Israel had launched the pre-emptive strike, Israel would not have received "so much as a nail."

The war lasted 20 days, from October 6 to October 26, 1973, when a UN ceasefire was put in place. Through this conflict, the Arab world felt vindicated after their humiliation in the Six-Day War and conditions were set that helped to make the subsequent peace process and normalized relations between Israel and Egypt possible.

Resignation

Golda Meir's grave

Following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Meir's government was clouded by internal squabbles among the governing coalition and had to face serious questions over strategic misjudgments as well as the general lack of leadership that resulted in the unanticipated Yom Kippur War. On April 11, 1974, Golda Meir resigned leadership, and was succeeded by Yitzhak Rabin.

On December 8, 1978, Golda Meir died of cancer in Jerusalem at the age of 80. She was buried on Mount Herzl, in Jerusalem.

7 Fascinating Facts About Stephen Hawking

8:19:00 AM Philosophy on the world No comments

Few people emerge from the fields of cosmology and theoretical physics with the sort of name recognition equal to that of a celebrity athlete or actor, but that's exactly what's happened with Stephen Hawking. Thanks to his groundbreaking work with black holes and relativity, he's gone on to hold distinguished academic posts, be appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire and earn the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. . .all while his body deteriorates from a crippling disease that was supposed to have killed him 40 years ago. Set to celebrate his 74th birthday on this planet, here are seven facts about the life of this otherworldly scientist:

The Mediocre Student

Hawking didn’t have the sort of sparkling early academic career you'd expect from a Grade-A genius. He claims he didn't learn to properly read until he was 8 years old, and his grades never surpassed the average scores of his classmates at St. Albans School. Of course, there was a reason those same classmates nicknamed him "Einstein"; Hawking built a computer with friends as a teenager, and demonstrated a tremendous capacity for grasping issues of space and time. He also got it together when it counted, dominating his Oxford entrance exams to score a scholarship to study physics at age 17.

The Diagnosis

After falling while ice skating during his first year as a grad student at Cambridge University, Hawking was told he he had the degenerative motor neuron disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and had only 2 1/2 years to live. Obviously that prognosis was light years off, but it seems early onset of the disease was a blessing in disguise, of sorts. Most ALS patients are diagnosed in their mid-50s and live another two to five years, but those diagnosed earlier tend to have a slower-progressing form of the disease. Furthermore, the loss of motor skills forced the burgeoning cosmologist to become more creative. "By losing the finer dexterity of my hands, I was forced to travel through the universe in my mind and try to visualize the ways in which it worked," he later noted.

The Equation

While it’s impossible to sum up Hawking's life in one word, it can be done with one equation:

(Image: http://www.telegraph.co.uk)

This formula, which involves the speed of light (c), Newton’s constant (G) and other symbols that make the non-mathematically inclined run for cover, measures emissions from black holes that today is known as Hawking radiation. Hawking was initially puzzled by these findings, as he believed black holes to be celestial death traps that swallowed up all energy. However, he determined there was room for this phenomenon through the merging of quantum theory, general relativity and thermodynamics, distilling it all into one (relatively) simple but elegant formula in 1974. Already known for establishing important ground rules about the properties of black holes, this discovery kicked his career into a higher gear and set him on the path to stardom. Hawking has since said he would like this equation to be carved on his tombstone.

Stephen Hawking in 2008. (Photo: Doug Wheller [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

The Operation

Although the doomsday predictions of his early doctors were off, Hawking did almost die after contracting pneumonia while traveling to Geneva in 1985. While he was unconscious and hooked up to a ventilator, the option of removing the fragile scientist from life support was being considered until his then-wife, Jane, rejected the idea. Hawking instead underwent a tracheotomy, an operation that helped him breathe but permanently took away his ability to speak, prompting the creation of his famous speech synthesizer.

The Machine

Hawking's original synthesizer was created by a California-based company called Words Plus, which ran a speech program called Equalizer on an Apple II computer. Adapted to a portable system that could be mounted on a wheelchair, the program enabled Hawking to "speak" by using a hand clicker to choose words on a screen. No longer able to use his hands, Hawking now has an infrared switch mounted on his glasses that generates words by detecting cheek movement. He also recently had the communication technology overhauled by Intel, though he insisted on retaining the same robotic voice with its distinctly non-British accent he's been using for nearly three decades, as he considers it an indelible part of his identity.

The Author

Hawking long believed he could write a book about the mysteries of the universe that would connect with the public, a task that seemed all but impossible after he lost the abilities to write and speak. However, he painstakingly pressed forward with his speech synthesizer, receiving valuable assistance from students who relayed draft revisions with his editor in the U.S. via speakerphone. Hawking's vision ultimately was realized, as A Brief History of Time landed on the London Sunday Times best-seller list for 237 weeks after its publication in 1988. It also apparently convinced him that writing a book was no more difficult than breezing through the Sunday funnies, as he went on to pen his biography, several other books about his field and a series of science-themed novels, co-written with his daughter, Lucy.

The Ham

Despite his extraordinary physical challenges, Hawking hasn't been shy about appearing on television. He first appeared as himself on a 1993 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, cracking jokes while playing poker with Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton. He also lent his voice to the animated shows The Simpsons and Futurama, and, fittingly, has surfaced on the hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Of course, screen time hasn’t only been about laughs for the world-renowned physicist, who returned to his bread-and-butter topics of cosmology and the origins of life for his six-part 1997 miniseries Stephen Hawking's Universe. He also provided plenty of stark, sobering descriptions of his life for the 2013 documentary Hawking.

5 Facts About Alfred Hitchcock: Binge Eating, Creepy Pranks, & Snubbing Spielberg

8:15:00 AM Philosophy on the world No comments

Food & Loathing

Alfred Hitchcock was seriously overweight for most of his life, and at one time carried 365 pounds on his 5’8” frame. A typical dinner consisted of “a roast chicken, a small void ham, potatoes, two vegetables, bread, a bottle of wine, salad, dessert, and brandy." "His lifelong craving for ice cream was usually satisfied later in the evening,” one biographer wrote. Besides the pleasure food gave him, he expressed his absolute fear and loathing of eggs in another interview: “. . .I’m frightened of eggs, worse than frightened; they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes and when you break it, inside there’s that yellow thing, round, without any holes… Brrr! have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid?”

Fear of Authority Figures

Hitchcock was terrified of authority and of policemen in particular. He attributed this fear to an experience he had when he was 6 years old. His father had sent him to the local police station with a note. The officer on duty read it and locked him in a cell for several minutes saying, “This is what we do to bad little boys.” Fast forward several decades when he was asked what he would like inscribed on his tombstone inscription, Hitchcock replied, "This is what we do to bad little boys." Hitchcock was cremated and his ashes scattered; there is no tombstone marker for the director.

His Goofy and Sadistic Pranks

Alfred Hitchcock strangles a bust of himself on the Universal Studios lot. It's the same location where he threw a morbid lunch for the cast of Family Plot (1976), among the prop tombstones pictured in the background. (Photo: Universal Pictures/Photofest)

Hitchcock was infamous for his practical jokes, some funny and others twisted and cruel. He once sent Peter Lorre a suit made by London’s most prestigious tailor; the suit, however, was sized for a child. On another occasion, the director sent an actor 400 smoked herrings, and in a much more macabre prank, he gave Tippi Hedren’s 6-year-old daughter Melanie Griffith an eerily accurate doll of her mother wearing a dress from The Birds and lying in a miniature coffin.

Alfred vs. Walt

Walt Disney thought Psycho was a disgusting movie and refused to let Hitchcock film at Disneyland in the 1960s. Although Hitchcock did call on some Disney magic for one of his other creepy films: he hired animation and special effects artist extraordinaire Ub Iwerks, the co-creator of Mickey Mouse, and used Disney’s special camera to film the famous bird attack in The Birds.

Tippi Hedren running from Hitchock's birds. (Photo: Universal Pictures/Photofest)

Snubbing Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg never got to meet his idol Hitchcock. (Photo: Getty Images)

Hitchcock avoided meeting his greatest fan Steven Spielberg. According to actor Bruce Dern’s autobiography, he attempted to convince Hitch: "I said, 'You're his idol. He just [wants] to sit at your feet for five minutes and chat with you'," but Hitchcock refused. "He said, 'Isn't that the boy who made the fish movie?... I could never sit down and talk to him... because I look at him and feel like such a whore.'" Pressing him further Dern asked, “'Why do you feel Spielberg makes you a whore?' Hitch said, 'Because I'm the voice of the Jaws ride [at the Universal Studios theme park]. They paid me $1 million dollars. And I took it and I did it. I'm such a whore. I can't sit down and talk to the boy who did the fish movie... I couldn't even touch his hand."

Ultimate Renaissance Man: 5 Fascinating Facts about Leonardo da Vinci

8:14:00 AM Philosophy on the world No comments

Born on April 15, 1452, Leonardo da Vinci managed to be so many things in one lifetime—painter, engineer, architect and scientist. His painting, Mona Lisa, is one of the world’s most famous artworks. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. With his intensive studies of nature and anatomy, da Vinci used science as a way to revolutionize his art.

This man of vision also imagined many of our modern-day marvels. He sketched ideas for an underwater diving suit, a self-propelled vehicle and a flying machine that was a precursor to the helicopter. To celebrate da Vinci’s special day, let’s delve into some tantalizing tidbits about this remarkable man.

Da Vinci had a complicated family life. He was the illegitimate son of Ser Piero da Vinci and a local woman named Caterina. While Leonardo was their only child together, his parents ended up having 17 other children between them. His mother married someone else and his father, a lawyer and notary, wed four times in his lifetime. He himself grew up in his paternal grandfather’s household, according to David Alan Brown’s Leonardo da Vinci: Origins of a Genius. Da Vinci also developed a close bond with his uncle Francesco da Vinci.

Still da Vinci’s father looked out for him, placing him as an apprentice with artist Andrea Verrocchio in Florence when he was 15 years old. Later his father also likely assisted him in landing a few commissions. When his father died, however, da Vinci inherited nothing, thanks to his half-siblings.

Da Vinci didn’t always like to finish what he started. He had a habit of accepting commissions without actually finishing them. A 25-year-old da Vinci was hired to create the altarpiece for a chapel in the Palazzo della Signoria, a government building. After taking some money for the job, however, he never produced the work. His next big commission came in 1481 for another altarpiece for the monks of San Donato at Scopeto. In this case, da Vinci did actually make some progress. This painting, which would become known as The Adoration of the Magi, depicts a moment between the Christ child and Mary and the three kings. Instead of completing the work, however, da Vinci decided to pursue better opportunities in Milan. Despite being unfinished, this artwork shows his talents and hangs in the famed Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

The Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci on exhibit at The National Gallery. (Photo: The National Gallery via Wikimedia Commons]

His most drawn-out, troubled project, however, was The Virgin of the Rocks. The Milanese Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception commissioned da Vinci and brothers Evangelista and Giovanni Ambrogio da Predis to produce work for their chapel in San Francesco Grande in Milan in 1483. Squabbling between both sides over payment and art depicting the Virgin Mary stretched out over two decades, with da Vinci finally submitting his painting in 1508. In the end, there are two existing versions of The Virgin of the Rocks—one housed in London’s National Gallery and the other hanging in Paris’s Louvre Museum.

For much of his career, da Vinci depended on the kindness of patrons. He spent years being attached to one royal court or another. Around 1482, da Vinci went to work for Ludovico Sforza, the ruler of Milan. He had marketed himself mostly as a military engineer to Sforza, promising to craft him all sorts of weapons. Sforza acted as his patron for many years, and he had da Vinci work on numerous projects for him, including painting portraits of two of his mistresses. One of those women is believed to be the subject of Lady with an Ermine. Da Vinci also created architectural plans for churches and designed a mechanical theatrical set for a festival in honor of a family wedding.

Leonardo da Vinci's painting Lady with an Ermine. (Photo: [Public Domain] via Wikimedia Commons)

In the final years of his life, da Vinci enjoyed the support of French king, Francis I. He moved to France in 1516 to become “Premier Painter and Engineer and Architect of the King” and lived in a manor house called Château de Cloux (now known as Château du Clos Lucé) in Amboise.

For a man known to be a pacifist, da Vinci worked on several military projects. He made sketches of weapons, including a giant crossbow for the ruler of Milan. But, as Stefan Klein pointed out in Leonardo’s Legacy, these designs were more an effort “to impress his patron” than to create “serviceable weapons.”

In 1502, da Vinci got mixed up with Cesare Borgia, a ruthless nobleman and the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI, who commanded the papal army. Borgia wanted to create an empire through conquest, and he asked da Vinci to devise ways to protect his newly acquired lands. Da Vinci made sketches and maps, suggesting different defensive approaches. After spending the winter with Borgia and his army, however, da Vinci took off in February 1503. He may have left even before collecting payment for his work. Fritjof Capra speculates in The Science of Leonardo that da Vinci “must have heard firsthand accounts of Cesare’s many massacres and murders” and “so repelled by them” that he had to flee.

Da Vinci left behind thousands of pages of writings. Leonardo biographer Martin Kemp estimates that there are roughly 6,000 pages known to be da Vinci’s work, and these may only be a fraction of what he produced in his lifetime. He wrote in mirror script, which means he started on the right side of the page and moved to the left. It’s not known for certain why he did this, but some theories include he was trying to prevent others from discovering and possibly taking his ideas or that it was easier for him to write this way because he was left handed. In any case, depth and breadth of his work is outstanding.

A design for a flying machine by Leonardo da Vinci. (Photo: [Public Domain] via Wikimedia Commons)

Many of these notes and observations are collected in books called codices or codexes and make for compelling reading. The largest one of these is the Codex Atlanticus, which features some of his early mechanical drawings in its more than 1,100 pages. Owned by the British royal family, the Codex Windsor includes an array of anatomical studies undertaken by da Vinci. The Codex Leicester made headlines in 1994 when Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates snapped it up from the estate of businessman Armand Hammer for $31 million in 1994. The work highlights da Vinci’s fascination with water—its properties as well as different ideas as for its use and management.

Alex Haley and the Making of the Original “Roots”

8:09:00 AM Philosophy on the world No comments

If you weren’t there—if you’ve only known television in its post-Big Three networks era—it’s hard to understand the impact of the original Roots. Based on Alex Haley’s book of “faction,” the ABC miniseries’ 12 hours (with commercials) were spread across eight consecutive nights in January 1977, an unprecedented programming move that consolidated the show’s status as an event. The subsequent audience ratings were also unprecedented: 85% of television households, or 130 to 140 million Americans (more than half the U.S. population) saw at least part of the series; an estimated 100 million viewers tuned in for the two-hour finale on Sunday, January 30.

The upcoming remake of Roots, which will air on History over four nights beginning May 30th, cannot hope to come close to those numbers, nor is the show likely to inspire the flood of commentary or genealogical research that came in the original’s wake. Whatever its quality (the remake is produced by Mark Wolper, son of the original’s producer David L. Wolper), school curricula will probably not be revamped to the same extent to accommodate it, nor will it influence programming practice for years to come. The media universe is too diffuse, the union seemingly more divided than ever.

Alex Haley, author of Roots:The Saga of an American Family. (Photo: Mickey Adair/Getty Images)

But the emergence of a new Roots does provide an opportunity to look back on the origins of not only the broadcast phenomenon but the literary phenomenon that preceded it.

Alex Haley was born in Ithaca, New York in 1921, but shortly thereafter moved to Henning, Tennessee, from whence his mother hailed. The roots of what became Roots lay in the tales his maternal grandmother and other family members would tell of their slave ancestors, particularly a man named Kunta Kinte who had been captured from his Mandinka village of Juffure (in present-day Gambia). These oral narratives, which had been passed down for generations, provided crucial links to a past that was not otherwise well documented.

Prior to Roots, Haley’s literary reputation rested on a series of interview pieces for Playboy and on The Autobiography of Malcolm X, a collaboration with the subject that was completed and published shortly after the former Nation of Islam leader’s death in 1965. The book became a best seller, which afforded Haley the freedom and opportunity to turn back his own family history, embarking on a decade of research and travel to trace the roots of his ancestor Kunta Kinte, who, the story had it, refused his slave name of Toby. Haley stood on the Annapolis, Maryland docks where Kinte had likely disembarked in chains, examined records of the ship he thought had transported the young African on the harrowing Middle Passage, and most importantly, visited Juffure and spoke with a griot who seemed to connect the dots between his African and American lineage.

The result was the 688-page Roots:The Saga of an American Family, published by Doubleday in October 1976. The book, which was categorized as non-fiction, took up the story of Kunta Kinte with his birth in 1750, depicted his abduction and enslavement as a teenager, and advanced through his generations of descendants, including daughter Kizzy, grandson Chicken George, and great-grandson Tom, who led the family into freedom following the Civil War and became father to Alex Haley’s grandmother Cynthia. Roots immediately took up residence on the New York Times Best Sellers list, and remained there for almost a year, occupying the #1 spot for 22 weeks. Among its honors were the National Book Award and a special Pulitzer Prize.

Even before the book was published, Wolper’s $6-million miniseries was well into production in California and, subbing for West Africa, the coast of Georgia. The cast list read like a Who’s Who of 1970s-era black talent: John Amos (as the adult Kinte), Leslie Uggams (as Kizzy), Ben Vereen (as Chicken George), Louis Gossett Jr., Cicely Tyson, Madge Sinclair, Georg Stanford Brown, Olivia Cole, Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, even O.J. Simpson in a bit as a Mandinka warrior. Nineteen-year-old unknown LeVar Burton was cast as the teenage Kunta Kinte, with Amos taking over the role in episode 3. ABC, uncertain of the show’s ratings potential, also packed the cast with familiar white faces like Ed Asner, Lorne Greene, Robert Reed, Ralph Waite, and Sandy Duncan. The network’s decision to air the entire miniseries in little over a week’s time was also seen as a loss-cutting measure.

Malachi Kirby as Kunta Kinte in History's remake of Roots. (Photo By Steve Dietl/©History 2016)

As it turned out, no such caution was warranted. White viewers who tuned in to Roots night after night were unlikely to have been holding out for appearances by Lynda Day George or Chuck Connors; from the evidence, they were as riveted by its multi-generational tale of oppression and ultimate if conditional freedom as were African-American audiences. Reviews were mixed to favorable — on the negative side, critics cited the melodramatic machinery underpinning the saga as well as the inauthenticity of some of its settings. But everyone recognized it as a cultural landmark. The show was nominated for a record 37 Emmys, winning nine. It spawned a sequel, Roots: The Next Generations, which aired in 1979 to less impact but still sizable ratings.

Inevitably, naysayers emerged very soon after the publication of Haley’s book and the airing of the miniseries: the author’s much-vaunted research had serious gaps and shortcomings; the Gambian griot was unreliable; there were inaccuracies in his depiction of Mandinkan and antebellum Southern life. Haley, who died in 1992 in the midst of charting his paternal ancestry in the book Queen (which itself became a miniseries), was also the subject of two plagiarism suits, one of which he was forced to settle.

Malachi Kirby as Kunta Kinte and LeVar Burton, who played the role in the original miniseries and is co-executive producer of History's Roots remake. (Photo: Casey Crafford/©History 2016)

History’s Roots remake, which counts LeVar Burton as a co-executive producer, and stars Malachi Kirby as Kunta Kinte, Anika Noni Rose as Kizzy, and Regé-Jean Page as Chicken George, is said to correct some of the earlier show’s perceived errors, representing 18th-century Juffure, for example, as a worldly trading center rather than a village of primitive huts. It’s doubtful that some of the other criticisms that adhered to Haley’s monumentally influential work will be so easily shaken. But as historian and Haley friend Henry Louis Gates, Jr. put it in 1998, “Most of us feel it's highly unlikely that Alex actually found the village whence his ancestors sprang. Roots is a work of the imagination rather than strict historical scholarship. It was an important event because it captured everyone's imagination.”

All About Marilyn

8:06:00 AM Philosophy on the world No comments

Marilyn Monroe was born on June 1, 1926 as Norma Jeane Mortenson (also known as Norma Jeane Baker). At age 20, with a blossoming career in modeling beginning to take off, she adopted her mother’s maiden name and assumed her stage name of Marilyn Monroe. Overcoming a tragic childhood and an early marriage at age 16, she went on to become one of the most well-known and in-demand actresses of the 1950s.

Growing up largely in foster homes as her mother battled mental illness, Marilyn probably didn’t know much about the Monroes. Her maternal grandfather had died when her mother, Gladys Pearl Monroe, was just 7 and her grandmother died when Marilyn was just 1 year old. Who were the Monroes? What was their family story? The trail of records we found on Ancestry and on other websites take us back to Mexico, to the Civil War, and early Indiana pioneers.

Norma Jeane Baker around the age of 3, with her mother, Gladys. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Gladys was born in Piedras Negras (at that time called Porfirio Diaz), Coahuila, Mexico, to Otis and Della Monroe. Otis worked for a railroad in that town, which was located just across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. Her civil birth registration on Ancestry tells us that Otis was a painter from Indianapolis, Indiana, and Della was from Bentonville, Arkansas. One of the great things about Mexican civil birth registrations is that they can also name grandparents, giving us information on three generations of the family. Otis’ parents are named as Jacob and Mary Monroe and Della’s are Filford and Jene Hogan.

The birth registration of Gladys Pearl Monroe, Marilyn Monroe's mother, who was born in Piedras Negras (at that time called Porfirio Diaz), Coahuila, Mexico, in 1902. (Photo: Courtesy Ancestry.com)

The Mexican civil birth registration of Gladys Monroe lists her parents, Otis and Della, and their parents. Otis’ parents are named as Jacob and Mary Monroe and Della’s are Filford and Jene Hogan. (Photo: Courtesy Ancestry.com)

Otis Monroe, a painter for the Pacific Electric Railway Co., appeared in a Los Angeles city directory. (Photo: Courtesy Ancestry.com)

The Monroe family didn’t stay in Mexico very long after Gladys’ birth. By 1903, they began appearing in Los Angeles, California, city directories. Otis worked as a painter for the Pacific Electric Railway Co., an occupation he followed until his death in 1909.

Otis had taken up his trade before he married and moved to Mexico. In 1885, Otis and his mother, Mary, lived in Cherryvale, Montgomery Co., Kansas, where Otis worked as a painter, likely for one of the railroads that crisscrossed the town at that time.

Like his daughter Gladys, Otis had lost his own father when he was young, and in 1873 his mother remarried to James H. Stewart. By 1880, Otis and his younger brother were living with his mother and stepfather in Neosho County, Kansas, on a farm.

Otis Monroe listed in the 1880 census. (Photo: Courtesy Ancestry.com)

A record of the Monroe family in the 1880 census. (Photo: Courtesy Ancestry.com)

Going back a little further in time, we find Otis at age 5 living with Mary and his biological father, Jacob Monroe, in the 4th Ward of Indianapolis. Jacob was a farmer and everyone in the household, including Otis, was born in Indiana.

A record of the Monroe family in the 1870 census. (Photo: Courtesy Ancestry.com)

Jacob died soon after that census, at around age 40. While we don’t know what took Jacob’s life at such a young age, we do know that he was a veteran of the Civil War. In July of 1862, Jacob enlisted in the 70th Indiana Regiment, which was mustered in at Indianapolis and led by future U.S. president Colonel Benjamin Harrison. A web database from the Indiana State Archives, which can be searched on Ancestry, reveals that Jacob was injured on May 15, 1864. Research on the 70th Indiana Regiment reveals that on that date they were involved in the Battle of Resaca, which was part of William Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign. Col. Harrison’s report from the field on the engagement can be found in the The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies, which is available on the Making of America website.

Colonel Benjamin Harrison's report from the Civil War battlefield. (Photo: Courtesy Ancestry.com)

In the report, Harrison describes how his regiment successfully charged a Confederate artillery battery under heavy enemy fire. "I would respectfully call your attention to the following points: First, my regiments entered the enemy's works in advance of all others, and my colors, though not planted, were the first to enter the fort; second, the enemy's lines were not penetrated at any point other than that where we entered, although assaulted by other troops on the left; third, my regiment, being in advance and having to bear the brunt of the assault, accomplished all that could have been required of them in entering the works and driving the enemy out." The casualty list that he attached to his report noted that 29 men were killed in the battle, and 4 officers and 140 men were wounded – among them Jacob Monroe.

This photo from the Matthew Brady Collection on Fold3 shows the earthworks and the Resaca battlefield. (Photo: Courtesy Ancestry.com)

A deeper look into Jacob’s life reveals a difficult start for him as well. Jacob’s birth date from census and other records is estimated as 1831, and in October of that same year we also found his father’s will being probated in a Marion County, Indiana, court after he died on September 13. William Monroe’s will had been written just the day before and while we don’t know what caused his death, it appears that he also died at a relatively young age. He left behind his wife, Mary, and six children (all minors) – Sarah, Harriett, George, Louisa,

William Monroe's last will and testament. (Photo: Courtesy Ancestry.com)

It appears that the Monroes arrived in Marion County just before William’s death. The estate settlement mentions property in Switzerland County, Indiana, where we find a William Monroe household that is very close in structure to this one in the 1830 census. Both Switzerland County and Marion County had populations of just over 7,000 people in 1830. When the capital of the state was moved to Indianapolis in 1824, there were only about 100 families in the settlement. The Monroes were pioneers in Indiana, and subsequent generations would take them further westward and south to Kansas, Mexico, and eventually California. That westward journey is the same one millions took, chasing the American Dream. And from what we’ve gathered, it appears that Marilyn’s Monroe grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather all share something in common with her. They all died too young.

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Juliana Szucs has been working at Ancestry for 18 years. She is a regular blogger on the Ancestry blog and is a Social Community Manager and staff genealogist on the Research Team. Juliana has written many articles for online and print genealogical publications and wrote the "Computers and Technology" chapter of The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Juliana holds a certificate from Boston University's Online Genealogical Research Program, and is currently on the clock working towards certification from the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

7 Surprising Facts About King Henry VIII

8:03:00 AM Philosophy on the world No comments

On June 24, 1509, the coronation of Henry VIII was completed. But as his reign progressed, he grew desperate for a son who’d carry on the Tudor dynasty. When the pope wouldn't annul his first marriage so that Henry could wed again, he took matters into his own hands.

Henry was a king who hadn’t been expected to rule — he only took the throne because his older brother had died — but he ended up embarking upon a religious reformation, cracking down on dissent and marrying a grand total of six wives. In honor of Henry’s coronation, and the unexpected chain of events that followed, here are some surprising facts about the Tudor monarch.

1. Henry Just Wanted to Have Fun

When Henry ascended to the throne, he seems to have followed a philosophy of working to live, not living to work. Most mornings he didn’t get up until eight o’clock (making him a late riser for the times). Once he was out of bed, he preferred hunting or hawking over the business of governing.

When his outdoor activities ended, Henry could find time to meet some of his obligations, but work had to be completed quickly — his nights were usually filled with dancing, gambling or playing cards.

This isn’t to say that Henry wasn’t the man in charge — he met regularly with his secretary and ambassadors, and he had a prodigious memory that helped him make an array of kingly decisions. But while ruling the land, he also made sure to enjoy himself.

2. Henry Was an Author

When Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses challenged papal authority, Henry managed to pull himself away from hunting in order to support the church in Rome by writing Defense of the Seven Sacraments (Assertio septem sacramentorum) in 1521. This 30,000-word text became a best-seller.

To thank Henry — who was the first English king to write and publish a book — the Pope named him “Defender of the Faith.” Though Henry later broke with the Catholic Church, he never relinquished this title.

3. Henry Wasn't Great with the Ladies

Besides the whole ruling a kingdom thing, what else made a young Henry attractive? Well, he was tall (over six feet), in good shape (thanks to his love of hunting and jousting) and had beautiful reddish-gold hair.

If there had been a Tudor equivalent of Match.com, Henry also could’ve shared the fact that he was an accomplished musician who sang and played instruments such as the recorder and the lute. In addition, he composed and arranged music himself (his work includes "Pastimes with Good Company," but, contrary to rumor, he wasn’t the man behind "Greensleeves").

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However, all this didn’t make Henry a smashing success with the opposite sex. As Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch of Oxford University told The Telegraph in 2015, "His sexual shenanigans were not all that great by the standards of most monarchs of the time. He had six wives but having six wives is proof that you’re not really good with ladies — not the other way around."

4. Henry the Hypochondriac

Though Henry was a healthy young man, he was still paranoid about getting sick and dying. Given the times, there were plenty of illnesses for him to worry about, but two particular concerns were the sweating sickness (a common and often deadly ailment) and the plague.

During outbreaks, Henry tried to minimize his risk of infection by steering clear of those who might’ve been exposed to disease. When a severe wave of the sweating sickness hit in 1517-18, Henry left London for nearly a year. At one point during the outbreak, the king refused to see ambassadors (however, his isolation was limited because he needed servants to take care of him).

Henry was so committed to self-preservation that when his paramour Anne Boleyn caught the sweating sickness in 1528, he stayed away until the illness had passed (though he did send a physician to check on her). Anne didn’t hold a grudge about this and went on to wed Henry in 1533 — however, considering that their marriage ended with her being beheaded a few years later, perhaps she should have been warier of Henry’s devotion to his own self-interest.

Henry VIII was so taken by Anne Boleyn, he broke with the Catholic Church because the pope wouldn't annul his first marriage, leading to the formation of the Church of England. Anne gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I, but didn't birth a male heir. Henry VIII had Anne arrested on charges of adultery, incest and witchcraft and then had her beheaded. (Images: Stock Montage/Getty Images)

5. Henry Didn’t Age Well

Precautions against the plague and the sweating sickness helped keep Henry safe from those diseases, but he wasn’t able to protect himself entirely against ill health.

As he grew older, particularly once he entered middle age, Henry put on a massive amount of weight. Suits of armor showed that his waistline, which had measured 32 inches in 1512, grew to 54 inches; Henry weighed nearly 400 pounds when he died in 1547. In his later years, the king also suffered from painful ulcers on his legs and had trouble standing and walking.

In fact, given Henry’s health problems, his last wife, Catherine Parr, was often like a nurse to him. Still, she survived her husband with her neck intact, so, all in all, things could’ve turned out much worse for her.

6. The Antigen Hypothesis

Was Henry’s blood responsible for his difficulty in siring a male heir? In 2011, bioarchaeologist Catrina Banks Whitley and anthropologist Kyra Kramer shared their theory that Henry was a member of the rare blood group that is positive for the Kell antigen. This means that if the king impregnated a woman, and the baby inherited Kell-positive status, the mother would build up Kell antibodies. Though that first pregnancy would likely not be affected, future Kell-positive fetuses would be attacked by those antibodies.

The fact that Henry’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, experienced many miscarriages and the loss of children soon after birth fits this theory. (One daughter, Mary, survived; though Mary wasn’t the result of a first pregnancy, winning the genetic lottery could’ve helped her to survive — if she’d been Kell negative, her mother’s antibodies wouldn’t have affected her).

Henry’s other partners fall into the expected pattern. While Anne Boleyn had a healthy firstborn, Elizabeth I, her subsequent pregnancies ended in miscarriage. Henry’s other known children — Edward VI and the illegitimate Henry Fitzroy — were also first pregnancies for their respective mothers.

Obviously the science to prove or disprove this hypothesis didn’t exist in the Tudor era, but it wouldn’t have mattered if it had — anyone who tried to tell Henry that he was the real problem would’ve been risking her head.

7. We Still Don't Understand Henry

Henry’s been dead for several centuries, but researchers and biographers still wonder how to explain the paranoia, volatility and tyrannical behavior he demonstrated in later years. Among the theories:

Henry had syphilis: Probably not, as this speculation has been credibly debunked. For example, if Henry had been given mercury — the go-to treatment for syphilis at the time — it would’ve been almost impossible to hide the side effects.

A jousting accident left Henry with brain damage: The king did have a serious jousting accident in 1536… but he didn’t display a sudden personality change afterward, so this theory is also questionable.

Henry had McLeod syndrome: This syndrome could account for Henry’s later mobility issues; it also results in cognitive impairment. Lastly, it’s tied to the Kell blood group, so the pregnancy problems experienced by Henry’s partners are another indication in its favor.

Whatever future research proves (or disproves), it’s certain people will continue to be interested in uncovering just what made Henry tick.