Thomas Jefferson’s Iftar. 29 July 2011 In 1805, Thomas Jefferson hosted what some consider the first iftar at the White House. “Ramadan,” said President Obama at a White House iftar dinner in 2010, “is a reminder that Islam has always been a part of America. The first Muslim ambassador to the United States, from Tunisia, was hosted by President Jefferson, who arranged a sunset dinner for his guest because it was Ramadan — making it the first known iftar at the White House, more than 200 years ago.” The dinner to which the president referred took place on December 9, 1805, and Jefferson’s guest was Sidi Soliman Mellimelli, an envoy from the bey (chieftain) of Tunis who spent six months in Washington.
The context of Mellimelli’s visit to the United States was a tense dispute over piracy on American merchant vessels by the Barbary states and the capture of Tunisian vessels trying to run an American blockade of Tripoli. Jefferson’s knowledge of Islam likely came from his legal studies of natural law. The American Experience | The Duel. Unit 11: Cold War. Africans in America/Part 1/The Stono Rebellion. South Carolina, September 9, 1739: A band of slaves march down the road, carrying banners that proclaim "Liberty! ". They shout out the same word. Led by an Angolan named Jemmy, the men and women continue to walk south, recruiting more slaves along the way.
By the time they stop to rest for the night, their numbers will have approached one hundred. What exactly triggered the Stono Rebellion is not clear. In mid-August, a Charlestown newspaper announced the Security Act. Whatever triggered the Rebellion, early on the morning of the 9th, a Sunday, about twenty slaves gathered near the Stono River in St. The slaves stopped in a large field late that afternoon, just before reaching the Edisto River. Around four in the afternoon, somewhere between twenty and 100 whites had set out in armed pursuit. Uncomfortable with the increasing numbers of blacks for some time, the white colonists had been working on a Negro Act that would limit the privileges of slaves. Previous | next. Anne Hutchinson. Getting the Civil War Right. Printer-friendly version William Faulkner famously wrote, “The past is never dead.
It’s not even past.” He would not be surprised to learn that Americans, 150 years after the Civil War began, are still getting it wrong. During the last five years, I’ve asked several thousand teachers for the main reason the South seceded. They always come up with four alternatives: states’ rights, slavery, tariffs and taxes or the election of Lincoln. When I ask them to vote, the results—and resulting discussions— convince me that no part of our history gets more mythologized than the Civil War, beginning with secession. My informal polls show that 55 to 75 percent of teachers—regardless of region or race—cite states’ rights as the key reason southern states seceded.
These results are alarming because they are essentially wrong. The issue is critically important for teachers to see clearly. The Lost Cause Confederate sympathizers have long understood the importance of getting the Civil War wrong. Our Home Town - TAMI. Independent and entrepreneurial filmmakers have always played an important role in the larger American motion picture heritage. Unfortunately, many of their films remain unknown and undiscovered. Not included in corporate or state archival collections, they are often forgotten or lost in private homes and abandoned warehouses.
The films of Shadrack (Shad) Graham serve as excellent examples of these independent, entrepreneurial films. A former Hollywood director, Graham produced documentary films about daily life in small towns across the United States throughout the Depression years. After filming an award-winning documentary about the disastrous Texas City explosion in 1947, Graham relocated to Missouri City, TX, and focused on his "Our Home Town" series -- films that encouraged commerce and civic activity in rural communities.