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The Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893

Maurice Peress

in Dvorák to Duke Ellington: A Conductor Rediscovers America's Music and Its African-American Roots

The Chicago World Columbian Exposition of 1893 (“The Fair”) celebrated America, its industry, and its people. It was among the first events of its kind to honor the achievements of women. Almost ... More

The Chicago World Columbian Exposition of 1893 (“The Fair”) celebrated America, its industry, and its people. It was among the first events of its kind to honor the achievements of women. Almost overnight, the Fair and Chicago became a gathering place for the nation's gifted and talented from every scientific and artistic discipline. There was a significant Negro presence at the Fair; Dahomey Village from Africa's Gold Coast, the Haitian Pavillion was a gathering place for black intelligentsia — hootchie cootchies doing the belly dance, piano professors exchanging licks and forms — these were soon were to emerge as the new national musical rage, ragtime. On Colored Person's Honor Day, Will Marion Cook, the future mentor of Duke Ellington, meets Dvorák. He is invited to attend the National Conservatory that fall; after that the Dvorák family returns to New York.Less

Empires Ancient and Modern

Christopher Bryan

in Render to Caesar: Jesus, the Early Church, and the Roman Superpower

There are differences as well as parallels between Roman and post-enlightenment imperial experiences. Romans had many shared assumptions in common with those they colonized. Later strife between ... More

There are differences as well as parallels between Roman and post-enlightenment imperial experiences. Romans had many shared assumptions in common with those they colonized. Later strife between Christianity and Rome was not because Christians were or were perceived as political rebels. It was about religion. Romans accused Christians of superstitio and meant it. Pax Romana depended upon pax deorum. Rome’s part was pietas — honoring the gods. Christians (atheoi), by refusing to honor the gods, endangered the empire. Roman imperium was often violent and exploitative, though not more so than other polities of its time; it also had positive elements, notably a measure of peace and security. Men like Pliny, Virgil, and P. Petronius regarded defense of Roman peace as a matter of honor. We must beware of colonizing the past. Jesus, Josephus, Romans, and Jews should be listened to for their own sake before we attempt to apply what they say to ourselves.Less

Desire between “Doing” and “Being”: İbne (Faggot) and Gey (Gay)

Gul Ozyegin

in New Desires, New Selves: Sex, Love, and Piety among Turkish Youth

Chapter 4 explores gey (gay) identification in Turkey with an emphasis on the way connectivity regulates gey identity construction for young, upwardly mobile males. A borrowed global category, "gey" ... More

Chapter 4 explores gey (gay) identification in Turkey with an emphasis on the way connectivity regulates gey identity construction for young, upwardly mobile males. A borrowed global category, "gey" has helped reorganize homosexuality in Turkey in recent decades from a category of behavior into a discrete identity with its own patterns of living and thinking. For the young men fashioning their selves after this global gey subjectivity, being gey is about more than having sex with other men; it is about forging relationships based on versatility of sex roles, egalitarianism, and intimacy. Class also emerges as an important mediator of gey identity for these men - dressing a certain way, visiting particular cafes and bars, and displaying other markers of middle-classness all help constitute one as "gey," while lower-class markers signal belonging to other stigmatized homosexual categories. Yet these young men's identification with global gey ideals is complicated by the strong role family connection and honor plays in their life. For them, coming out as "gey" can mean abandoning family connections or risking bringing shame to their loved ones.Less

A Guest of Honor, 1903

Edward A. Berlin

in King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era

The author argues that, at the time, the very idea of “ragtime opera” was viewed by many as a self-contradiction. Opera was regarded as the highest form of musical art. Ragtime was at the opposite ... More

The author argues that, at the time, the very idea of “ragtime opera” was viewed by many as a self-contradiction. Opera was regarded as the highest form of musical art. Ragtime was at the opposite pole, being the choice of music of saloons and brothels, the coon songs of the minstrel and vaudeville stages. As related by Arthur Marshall, Scott Joplin had difficulties in his marriage with Belle Hayden (or Jones). The author argues that Marshall may have confused Belle with another woman in Joplin's life. Despite the death of his child and the breakup of his marriage, Joplin continued working. On February 16, 1903, he applied for a copyright on his new opera, A Guest of Honor, which was toured in the region.Less

Leaning Forward at Fox

Marilyn Ann Moss

in Raoul Walsh: The True Adventures of Hollywood's Legendary Director

The one-picture deal at Fox turned out to be a three-picture contract at $400 a week—just the salary Raoul Walsh bargained for but never expected to see. At 28, Walsh was poised to seize the day, and ... More

The one-picture deal at Fox turned out to be a three-picture contract at $400 a week—just the salary Raoul Walsh bargained for but never expected to see. At 28, Walsh was poised to seize the day, and certainly to take hold of a new studio. He seemed almost to be leaning forward in directing. Walsh could not have found better material for his first solo outing as a director than what he had in Regeneration. The film is more artful than he would ever admit, especially with its harrowing close-ups, its painterly mise-en-scènes, and its concise, fast-moving storytelling. With the success of Carmen and The Serpent, William Fox was more than pleased with his new hire and, after raising Walsh's salary, also increased his responsibilities at the studio. Additionally, there are conflicting stories about just how Walsh came to direct what would be his great film of this period, The Honor System. However, when Evangeline failed to make money at the box office, he was crestfallen, devastated.Less

Introduction

Robert Elder

in The Sacred Mirror: "Evangelicalism, Honor, and Identity in the Deep South, 1790-1860"

This introduction lays out the way that previous histories of evangelicalism in the South have described the conflict between honor and evangelicalism, rooted in their very different ways of ... More

This introduction lays out the way that previous histories of evangelicalism in the South have described the conflict between honor and evangelicalism, rooted in their very different ways of conceiving and constructing individual identity, one premodern and the other usually assumed to be the essence of modernity. It then lays out the argument for evangelicalism instead as a kind “cultural bridge” between two ways of seeing the self, and defines honor and evangelicalism in the way they will be used in this book.Less

True Honor Comes from God Alone: Evangelicalism and the Language of the Alternative Community

Robert Elder

in The Sacred Mirror: "Evangelicalism, Honor, and Identity in the Deep South, 1790-1860"

This chapter examines how early southern evangelicals redefined the meaning of honor and shame in their society by drawing on the definition of those terms used by the early church and found in the ... More

This chapter examines how early southern evangelicals redefined the meaning of honor and shame in their society by drawing on the definition of those terms used by the early church and found in the New Testament.Less

In the Publick Manner: Honor, Community, Discipline, and the Self in the Local Church

Robert Elder

in The Sacred Mirror: "Evangelicalism, Honor, and Identity in the Deep South, 1790-1860"

This chapter examines how evangelical congregations, Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian, became sources of institutional authority that helped to define and regulate honor and shame in their ... More

This chapter examines how evangelical congregations, Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian, became sources of institutional authority that helped to define and regulate honor and shame in their communities. Practiced differently by different denominations, church discipline intersected with the assumptions of honor in rituals such as excommunication and provided an avenue to address rumors, as well as to defend, or attack, reputations. Church discipline also addressed matters of debt and commerce that were intimately connected to honor and identity in the South. This chapter argues that because of its public nature church discipline became one of the central stages on which communal authority shaped individual identity in the Deep South.Less

Dual Citizens and a Twice Sacred Circle: Men, Women, and Honor in the Local Church

Robert Elder

in The Sacred Mirror: "Evangelicalism, Honor, and Identity in the Deep South, 1790-1860"

This chapter examines how the “moral communities” of honor and evangelicalism intersected for white men and women in the Deep South before the Civil War. It argues that for white women these two ... More

This chapter examines how the “moral communities” of honor and evangelicalism intersected for white men and women in the Deep South before the Civil War. It argues that for white women these two communities overlapped and reinforced one another, while men struggled, often successfully, to navigate the tension between these two communities.Less

Social Death and Everlasting Life: Slave Identity, Honor, and Ritual

Robert Elder

in The Sacred Mirror: "Evangelicalism, Honor, and Identity in the Deep South, 1790-1860"

This chapter argues that while enslaved people lived with the constant threat of social death and the shame of slavery, church membership offered an acknowledgment of their identity as part of the ... More

This chapter argues that while enslaved people lived with the constant threat of social death and the shame of slavery, church membership offered an acknowledgment of their identity as part of the family of God. In contrast to the dehumanizing rituals of the slave trade, which were designed to separate slaves from the world of white honor, Christian rituals such as baptism and the Lord’s Supper recognized enslaved people as part of the church community, while church discipline of enslaved members involved an implicit but deeply significant acknowledgement of enslaved people as independent moral agents.Less

A Voice at Its Full Thunder: Evangelical Oratory, Honor, and the Self

Robert Elder

in The Sacred Mirror: "Evangelicalism, Honor, and Identity in the Deep South, 1790-1860"

This chapter argues that as orators the evangelical clergy participated in one of the most significant public activities related to honor in the Deep South. The goal of southern oratory was both ... More

This chapter argues that as orators the evangelical clergy participated in one of the most significant public activities related to honor in the Deep South. The goal of southern oratory was both self-mastery and the mastery of others, and evangelicals fashioned a unique style that celebrated the orator’s humility alongside his power as he sought to awaken the deep recesses of human identity to the truth of the gospel message.Less

An Everlasting Name: Ambition, Fame, Duty, Death, and the Evangelical Ideal

Robert Elder

in The Sacred Mirror: "Evangelicalism, Honor, and Identity in the Deep South, 1790-1860"

This chapter examines funeral sermons preached for evangelical clergy to argue that evangelical ministers sought fame and lasting reputation in their occupations, especially as evangelicalism became ... More

This chapter examines funeral sermons preached for evangelical clergy to argue that evangelical ministers sought fame and lasting reputation in their occupations, especially as evangelicalism became one of the central pillars of southern society in the antebellum period. The idea of a “name” constructed in life and lasting after death was one of the most significant concerns of a culture of honor in the Deep South, and ministers struggled to adapt notions of ambition, duty, and fame to their identities as humble messengers of God.Less

Epilogue

Robert Elder

in The Sacred Mirror: "Evangelicalism, Honor, and Identity in the Deep South, 1790-1860"

This epilogue narrates the decline of church discipline in the South in the last half of the nineteenth century and connects this decline to the decline of honor as a vital ethical system in the Deep ... More

This epilogue narrates the decline of church discipline in the South in the last half of the nineteenth century and connects this decline to the decline of honor as a vital ethical system in the Deep South during the same period. The rise of new ways of defining individual identity, always present in the evangelical emphasis on personal conversion, came to the fore during this period, even as the burden of maintaining order in these communities shifted from churches to the civil institutions of the court and the state legislature. These shifts combined to make evangelicalism in the Deep South at the beginning of the twentieth century a much different, and more modern, form of religious expression than it had been at the beginning of the nineteenth.Less

Hiero, or The Skilled Tyrant

in The Shorter Writings

Translation of and interpretive essay on the Hiero or the Skilled Tyrant. This dialogue between the tyrant Hiero and the poet Simonides contains Xenophon’s most sustained consideration of tyranny. It ... More

Translation of and interpretive essay on the Hiero or the Skilled Tyrant. This dialogue between the tyrant Hiero and the poet Simonides contains Xenophon’s most sustained consideration of tyranny. It focuses on two questions: whether tyrannical life is preferable to private life and how a tyrant should rule. The questions come together in that Simonides offers his account of how a tyrant should rule in response to Hiero’s criticisms of the tyrannical life. The dialogue thus indicates the ways in which tyrannical governments and the tyrannical way of life may be improved, as well as the essential limits to these improvements, that is, the distinctive weaknesses of tyranny as a form of rule and the dissatisfactions intrinsic to the tyrant’s way of life. The Hiero thereby sheds much light on Xenophon’s view of tyrannical, as opposed to free, governments, political ambition, and the best way of life.Less

Laura Jockusch and Gabriel N. Finder (eds.), Jewish Honor Courts: Revenge, Retribution, and Reconciliation in Europe and Israel after the Holocaust. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2015. 387 pp.

Richard I. Cohen (ed.)

in Place in Modern Jewish Culture and Society

This chapter reviews the book Jewish Honor Courts: Revenge, Retribution, and Reconciliation in Europe and Israel after the Holocaust (2015), edited by Laura Jockusch and Gabriel N. Finder. Jewish ... More

This chapter reviews the book Jewish Honor Courts: Revenge, Retribution, and Reconciliation in Europe and Israel after the Holocaust (2015), edited by Laura Jockusch and Gabriel N. Finder. Jewish Honor Courts is a collection of essays that examines Jewish honor courts within the wider context of retribution and punishment of collaborators with the enemy across postwar Europe. Established by Jewish communities in various European locales, Jewish honor courts were intended to try and sentence Jewish collaborators with the Nazis in a court of their Jewish peers. The book also covers the Israeli trials, known as “kapo trials,” and describes the cooperation between Jews and state prosecutors in bringing Jewish collaborators before the bar of justice. The trials of three individuals are discussed: Stella Goldschlag, Alfred Merbaum, and Hirsch Barenblat.Less

The Mature Seductress

Toni Bentley

in Sisters of Salome

This chapter describes Colette Willy's life after the stage, including her marriage to Baron Henry de Jouvenel des Ursins, an editor at Le Matin, the Parisian newspaper that hired Colette as a ... More

This chapter describes Colette Willy's life after the stage, including her marriage to Baron Henry de Jouvenel des Ursins, an editor at Le Matin, the Parisian newspaper that hired Colette as a journalist at the end of 1910 following her success with The Vagabond. Colette died in Paris at the age of eighty-one in 1954. By then she had written more than fifty novels, was president of the Académie Goncourt, and was a recipient of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. In death she became the first woman in France to be honored with a state funeral; she was declared a national treasure.Less

New Sensibility, New Knowledge, New Institutions

Robert Morrissey

in The Economy of Glory: From Ancien Regime France to the Fall of Napoleon

What might be called the last battle between the Ancients and the Moderns plays itself out on multiple levels. Madame de Staël, a staunch opponent of Napoleon, explores the role of glory in the light ... More

What might be called the last battle between the Ancients and the Moderns plays itself out on multiple levels. Madame de Staël, a staunch opponent of Napoleon, explores the role of glory in the light of modern sensibility. To depict the apotheosis of French heroes, Girodet turns to Ossian rather than the heroes of classical antiquity. Fundamental Napoleonic institutions– the Legion of Honor, Imperial Nobility– all play essential roles in the new economy of glory, which aims to recognize all those who merit recognition,until, that is, the final collapse.Less

“Everybody Wants to Be a Merchant”: Trade, Credit, and Honor

Cécile Vidal

in Caribbean New Orleans: Empire, Race, and the Making of a Slave Society

This chapter claims that commerce contributed more than any other activity to alleviating the racial divide in French New Orleans. On the one hand, participation in the market was to a large extent ... More

This chapter claims that commerce contributed more than any other activity to alleviating the racial divide in French New Orleans. On the one hand, participation in the market was to a large extent determined by status, race, class, and gender; on the other, the surge in commercial exchanges provided a set of circumstances in which social and racial boundaries were more easily negotiated. Yet whites were the ones who benefited the most from this situation: by the end of the French period a powerful corporate body of self-identified merchants and traders of European descent had emerged, and they were able to challenge the traditional conception of commerce as an infamous occupation. In contrast, whereas a few slaves managed to purchase their freedom thanks to their participation in an informal economy, they were unable to weaken the long-lasting association whites made between slavery and dishonor.Less