Month: February 2020

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Coronavirus and the Last Supper in Italy

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This week the news hit that the novel coronavirus that has plagued central China continued its expansion around the world, with the northern Italy Lombardy region the hardest hit. A friend in Venice posted a note saying her family opted to drive to the Italian Alps rather than take a chance flying in an incubation tube. I’m happy that my trip to Italy was several years ago and I have great memories.

Milan is the capital of the Lombardy region, which also encompasses Como and the lakes. My time in Milan was precious. Our arrival by train brought us into Duomo Station, not far from the intricate façade of Milan Cathedral, the largest church in Italy. As soon as we entered the square we were besieged by men giving out “free” colored thread wrist bands. Free in the sense that they tied them to your wrists for free before haranguing you for payment. Still, the square was lively and the cathedral magnificent. Between eating pasta near the Duomo and dinner on Via Dante, a pedestrian side street featuring international flags and a plethora of sidewalk cafes, we explored the Castello Sforzesco (Sforza Castle) and environs. As much as we enjoyed it, the next day in Milan provided the highlight.

After a morning roaming the new architecture of the Missori neighborhood, and the archeological ruins along Via Ticinese, we made our way to Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie with its famous convent. Entering the attached refectory at our ticketed time, we joined a small group waiting for entrance into a anteroom separated from the main hall by glass doors. These elaborate precautions are taken to limit the number of people – and more importantly, volume of warm air – allowed in the refectory at any given time. Inside we are given a scant fifteen minutes to view, and be awed, by Leonardo da Vinci’s pseudo-fresco masterpiece, The Last Supper.

The Last Supper

Perhaps the world’s most recognized painting (in competition with Da Vinci’s other masterpiece, the Mona Lisa), The Last Supper is even more amazing to see in person. Taking up one wall on the short end of a long ancient dining room, the painting depicts Jesus dining with his twelve apostles, moments after he says that one of them will betray him. This dramatic moment is perhaps exceeded only by the drama the mural has undergone during its over 500 year history. Surviving a bombing that destroyed much of the building during World War II, the delicate nature of fresco (or in this case, da Vinci’s modified version of fresco) has meant repeated damage and restoration. At one point a doorway was cut in the wall, chopping off the feet of Jesus and others originally seen under the table.

I’ve been to Rome several times, as well as Venice on a separate visit, but this trip offered me the greatest appreciation of the wonders of Italy. Taking trains between cities, I saw the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City; the Leaning Tower in Pisa; Michelangelo’s David, Brunelleschi’s Dome, and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence; the two towers of Bologna; and now The Last Supper in Milan.

As I read about the encroaching coronavirus in Italy, South Korea, and the world, I’m reminded that my travel schedule has been lessened in recent months. Perhaps it has been a good thing to stay home for a while, but hopes are that the current epidemic doesn’t turn into a pandemic and limit travel for much longer. My heart goes out to friends in China who have been sequestered by government order for many weeks, especially knowing how small most homes are there.

Italy will again be on my radar once I get back out into the travel world, as will the other two dozen “must-see” places I still haven’t seen. Until then, it’s write, write, write.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln

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Mark Twain 1909 Wiki CommonsSamuel Clemens, known to most of us by his pseudonym Mark Twain, was born in Hannibal, Missouri on November 30, 1835, shortly after Halley’s Comet had made its regular but rare pass by the Earth. The 26-year-old Abraham Lincoln – an amateur astronomy buff who two years earlier had marveled at the Leonid meteor showers – may very well have been gazing at the skies when Mark Twain came into this world. At that age Lincoln lived in New Salem, Illinois, just a stone’s throw across the Mississippi River from Hannibal. In 1859, Lincoln rode the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad to give a speech in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The railroad just happened to be formed in the office of Mark Twain’s father thirteen years before.

Abraham LincolnLincoln floated flatboats down the Mississippi River to New Orleans as a young adult, then took steamboats back upriver. He often piloted steamboats around shoals near his New Salem home. Mark Twain had worked on steamboats on the river for much of his younger years, first as a deckhand and then as a pilot. Being a riverboat pilot gave him his pen name; “mark twain” is “the leadsman’s cry for a measured river depth of two fathoms (12 feet), which was safe water for a steamboat.” In 1883 Twain even titled his memoir, Life on the Mississippi. As we have already seen, Lincoln’s time traveling on and piloting steamboats eventually inspired his patent for lifting boats over shoals and obstructions on the river.

Lincoln would not have read any of Mark Twain’s stories (his first, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, was published in 1865, about seven months after Lincoln had been assassinated). But Twain says his humorous writing style was strongly influenced by another pen named-humorist, Artemus Ward, and the Jumping Frog story was published in the New York Saturday Press only because he finished it too late to be included in a book Artemus Ward was compiling. This is the same Artemus Ward that was so often read by Abraham Lincoln to break the tensions of the Civil War.

In fact, Lincoln was so entranced by the humor of Ward that on September 22, 1862 he read snippets from one of Ward’s books to his cabinet secretaries before settling into the business of the day – the first reading of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

Ironically, Mark Twain’s piloting job ended when the Civil War started, as much of the Mississippi River became part of the war zone. So what is a writer/river-boatman to do? Well, join the Confederate army of course. His unpaid service lasted only two weeks in 1861 before disbanding. He then left for Nevada to work for his older brother, out of harm’s way for the rest of the war, though his brief service for the confederacy did give him material for another of his humorous sketches, The Private History of a Campaign That Failed.” Later, Mark Twain would publish the memoirs of Civil War hero and President, Ulysses S. Grant.

Like Lincoln, Mark Twain was very interested in science and technology. Twain actually had three patents of his own, for a type of alternative to suspenders, a history trivia game, and a self- pasting scrapbook.

Lincoln and Twain never met, but I think they would have gotten along famously.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Lincoln in Ecuador – Wiegers Calendar February

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Lincoln in QuitoAs Lincoln’s birthday week begins I turn to the David Wiegers calendar for another international statue of Abraham Lincoln. This one is in Quito, Ecuador.

Shockingly, I have yet to make it to Ecuador. I say shockingly because the Galapagos Islands are part of Ecuador and my past history as a marine biologist almost demands I make a pilgrimage. I have two potential options for doing so this year, which makes David’s February calendar photo even more appropriate.

So why does the capital of a South American country have a statue of the 16th President of the United States? Certainly the Union had diplomatic relations with Ecuador during the war. Lincoln authorized a “Convention for the mutual adjustment of claims between the two parties,” although it’s unclear what claims he was referring to. Oddly, Frederick Hassaurek, editor of a German-language newspaper in Cincinnati, was appointed Minister to this Spanish-speaking nation. [Lincoln would later free Hassaurek’s half-brother from Libby Prison at his request]

But that isn’t why there is a statue in Quito. Instead, in 1959, to mark the sesquicentennial of Lincoln’s birth, the statue was donated by a committee of Americans living in Quito. The dedication was part of a city-wide renovation to make way for a large international conference. A re-dedication ceremony was held on Lincoln’s 200th birthday in 2009.

Lincoln in Quito

The statue itself depicts Lincoln from belly-button up hovering over the top of a lectern, presumably giving one of his great speeches. He is beardless so he had not yet been elected President. The half-figure sits on top of a stone pedestal. In the background stands a wall with a plaque, although the wall sits back a ways and off to the side so is only visible in photos taken from a certain angle. As you might expect, the statue sits in Abraham Lincoln Plaza just off Calle Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln in Quito

Unlike last month’s photo from Scotland (and some upcoming photos), I didn’t miss seeing this because I haven’t been there yet. But I will (go there, not miss it). I’m thankful that David Wiegers has been to these places and taken such great photos.* For more of his wonderful Lincoln photos, check out his Facebook page, “Images of Abraham Lincoln.”

Until next month!

*In a comment left on Facebook, David clarifies: “This picture is of the original statue on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, TN. The one in Ecuador is a copy of this original.” After checking my photos I realized I had seen the original at LMU during my visit a couple of years ago.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

Photo credits: Two photos by me of David Wiegers 2020 calendar photos. Photo on pedestal from Frederic Calvat on Twitter.

 

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Black History – Abraham Lincoln and Black Voting Rights

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Lincoln MemorialAbraham Lincoln is best known for his Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address, and saving the Union during the Civil War. But in this Black History Month it’s important to remember that Lincoln also pushed for black voting rights.

The Emancipation Proclamation declared “that all person held as slaves” within the states in rebellion “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Issued as a war measure – the only authority he had under the Constitution – Lincoln then began work that led to the 13th Amendment to permanently end slavery in all the United States. The struggle to pass the amendment was dramatically characterized in Steven Spielberg’s 2012 movie, Lincoln.

These two major steps set the stage for further African-American rights, which were enhanced by passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. While these two acts occurred after Lincoln’s assassination, they were set in motion by Lincoln’s leadership at the end of the Civil War.

Most notable was Lincoln’s April 11, 1865 speech from the White House. Among other points, Lincoln spoke about reconstruction efforts in Louisiana. He encouraged all Louisianans to join in the process of bringing the state back into the Union. He pressed for black voting rights:

It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers.

While this seems a rather mild support for African-American suffrage, it was actually radical for its time. Lincoln understood that for many, if not most, Northerners, being anti-slavery did not necessary mean they were for equal rights for free or freed black men. [The fact that women of any color were not allowed to vote was not lost on Lincoln, who years before had suggested women might also be allowed to cast their ballots. This is an important point in this 100th anniversary year of women’s suffrage.] In any case, Lincoln was pushing as gently as he could the idea that black men should have the same rights under the law as did white men, including but not exclusively the right to vote.

His inclusion of this point in the speech was not an ad lib. The previous night when a gathering crowd had asked for a speech he deferred, stating that such a speech should be thought out and not given off-the-cuff. He spent the next day carefully wording his remarks, from which he read verbatim, dropping each page behind him as he orated out the White House window. He meant to push the idea of black voting rights. This was his first public statement of such, and one member of the audience on the White House lawn who heard it – John Wilkes Booth – stated that Lincoln’s advocacy for the black vote was what made Booth decide to assassinate the President.

Lincoln had also been pressing the Louisiana government and the U.S. Congress in private letters to allow African-American voting. It was not a popular sentiment, and as such Lincoln walked a fine line between pushing the idea and not wanting to force the issue for fear of losing any progress toward reconstruction. He was careful, but he still encouraged the idea. April 11th was his way of bringing the pressure public so the public themselves could start getting used to the idea. He knew, like the Emancipation itself, that leading the public with small doses of progressivism made it easier to swallow large changes. Pressing too hard created defensive postures and worked against progress.

Black leaders like Frederick Douglass were understandably impatient with incremental approaches like Lincoln’s, but Douglass himself understood the limitations of coercive force. It would be for Douglass and his fellow activists to keep the issue public, while allies like Lincoln pushed internally for change. We see this repeatedly in history, including the sometimes painful but effective interactions between Dr. Martin Luther King and President Lyndon Johnson to pass the 1960s era Civil Rights Acts.

Current presidential candidates would be wise to study Lincoln and his times (and Lyndon Johnson and his times) as they deal with a resurgence in voter suppression activities that strive to disenfranchise the votes of racial, religious, and other minorities in this nation.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!