{"id":59669,"date":"2020-07-02T13:23:18","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T17:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=59669"},"modified":"2020-07-02T13:23:58","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T17:23:58","slug":"meet-america-the-goddess-this-independence-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/meet-america-the-goddess-this-independence-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Meet America the Goddess This Independence Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article \u2013 to help celebrate the Fourth of July \u2013 Jane Hampton Cook writes about the figure of Columbia, long used as a symbol for America. Jane, the former White House webmaster for President George W. Bush, is a presidential historian and the author of nine historical books. She is a consultant for the Women\u2019s Suffrage Centennial Commission.<\/em> Her works can be found at janecook.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

This Independence Day meet America, the aspirational goddess of the American Revolution. The Boston Almanac<\/em> printed an image of America as a resilient Greek goddess in 1782, while also depicting Britannia as a grieving woman who dropped her trident.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: America (Columbia) v. Great Britain, from the \u201cBoston Almanac,\u201d 1782. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another name for this goddess was Columbia, who was the subject of many poems during the quest for independence, as a search of \u201cColumbia and 1776\u201d in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> reveals.<\/p>\n

The Virginia Gazette<\/em> published verses about Columbia from the \u201cFamous Phillis Wheatley\u201d on 30 March 1776. By this time Wheatley had become the first African American published author through a book of her poems.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, Virginia), 30 March 1776, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arriving as a slave when a young child, Wheatley received an education instead of training as a domestic servant. Eventually freed, she was inspired by the promise of liberty and stopped writing poems about King George III and focused on America instead. She wrote a new poem about Columbia guiding George Washington and sent it to him. Washington loved her verses so much that he wrote her a letter and asked an aide to arrange its publication in newspapers in 1776.<\/p>\n

From her poem:<\/p>\n

\u201cCelestial choir! Enthron\u2019d in realms of light,
\nColumbia\u2019s scenes of glorious toils I write.
\n\u2026Fix\u2019d are the eyes of nations on the scales,
\nFor in their hopes Columbia\u2019s arm prevails.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wheatley was not alone. After America won the Revolutionary War, a flurry of poetry invoked the image of Columbia in 1782, as in this article from the Boston Evening-Post and the General Advertiser <\/em>on 19 January 1782.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Evening-Post and the General Advertiser (Boston, Massachusetts), 19 January 1782, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From this poem:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a golden balance weigh\u2019d
\nHave I seen Columbia\u2019s fate,
\nAll her griefs shall be repaid
\nBy a future happy state.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s Freeman\u2019s Journal<\/em> published a poem on 3 April 1782 comparing the masculine English king to a female Columbia, and included the Roman god Jove.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Freeman\u2019s Journal (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 3 April 1782, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From this poem:<\/p>\n

\u201cNow Jove to Columbia his shoulders apply\u2019d.
\nBut aiming to lift her, his strength she defy\u2019d \u2013\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Columbia had a resurgence as an image in 1913, thanks to women activists who tapped her symbolism in the final quest for women\u2019s voting rights. She played a central role in the women\u2019s suffrage parade featuring thousands of women in Washington D.C. in March 1913.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Daily Advocate (Stamford, Connecticut), 3 March 1913, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As this article reports:<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the blast of a bugle died away, Mme. Nordica, famous opera singer and suffragette, attired as \u2018Columbia,\u2019 in the national colors and a \u2018Liberty cap,\u2019 stepped slowly from the shadows of the giant marble pillars on the porch of the Treasury [building].\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While large U.S. flags unfurled, Columbia was resolute and held a staff topped with an eagle as she performed a skit:<\/p>\n

\u201c[Columbia] appeared to hear the approach of the procession \u2013 the crusade of women \u2013 and summoned to her side \u2018Justice,\u2019 \u2018Charity,\u2019 \u2018Liberty,\u2019 \u2018Peace,\u2019 and \u2018Hope,\u2019 all represented by prominent suffragettes attired in artistic flowing draperies.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Columbia\u2019s resilient image from the 1913 women\u2019s suffrage parade is the cover art for my new book, Resilience on Parade: Short Stories of Suffragists and Women\u2019s Battle for the Vote.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: cover of \u201cResilience on Parade: Short Stories from Suffragists and Women\u2019s Battle for the Vote.\u201d Credit: Jane Hampton Cook; Wheelhouse Literary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Columbia\u2019s popularity continued. Her image was depicted on World War I posters in 1917 and as the branding image for Columbia Pictures in the 1920s.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: \u201cColumbia Calls \u2013 Enlist Now for U.S. Army,\u201d designed by Frances Adams Halsted; painted by V. Aderente, c. 1916. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We still see a version of Columbia in the goddess-like Statue of Liberty, which is one of our most popular patriotic symbols and often seen with fireworks on Independence Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this article \u2013 to help celebrate the Fourth of July \u2013 Jane Hampton Cook writes about the figure of Columbia, long used as a symbol for America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":59705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12235],"tags":[6713,1242],"class_list":["post-59669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-american-history","tag-columbia"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/photo-0702-2020-featured-graphic-columbia.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59669"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59703,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59669\/revisions\/59703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}