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First Post
11 hours ago
- Politics
- First Post
History Today: How the US constitution was ratified and came to life
On June 21, 1788, the US constitution was ratified and became the law after New Hampshire became the ninth of the 13 states to approve it. Also on this same day in 1990, a powerful earthquake ripped through Iran, killing more than 50,000 people read more The U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1788, with the process concluding on June 21, 1788, when New Hampshire became the ninth state to approve it. Representational image/Pixabay Today, many in America claim that Donald Trump is eroding the values enshrined in America's constitution. But did you know that the constitution in the United States came into law on June 21, 1788? Also, on this day in 1990, one of the world's most devastating earthquakes struck Iran, killing an estimated 50,000 people and injuring another 100,000 people. If you are a history fan, Firstpost Explainers' ongoing series, History Today , will be your one-stop destination to explore key events. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD US Constitution becomes law Until June 21, 1788 when the constitution was ratified, America was governed by the Articles of Confederation. However, this changed when New Hampshire became the ninth of 13 states to ratify it. The journey to ratification was a long and arduous process. Rewind to six months back and in December, five states — Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut — ratified it in quick succession. However, other states, especially Massachusetts, opposed the document, as it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. John Trumbull's painting, Declaration of Independence, depicting the five-man drafting committee of the Declaration of Independence presenting their work to the Congress. File image/Wikimedia Commons It was in February 1788 that a compromise was struck and Massachusetts and other states agreed to ratify the document based on the promise that amendments would be immediately proposed. Finally, on June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the US Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. In June, Virginia ratified the Constitution, followed by New York in July. Today, the US Constitution is recognised as the oldest written constitution in the world. It consists of seven articles and has been amended 27 times until now. Notably, the US constitution's first three words are 'We The People', which affirms that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. Earthquake devastates Iran One of the world's deadliest earthquakes took place on June 21, 1990 causing unprecedented destruction in Iran. On this day, a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck near the Caspian Sea, killing an estimated 50,000 and injuring another 100,000 people. The powerful temblor hit Iran post midnight, shaking people up from their slumber and shattering the night tranquillity. Following the quake, the cities of Rudbar and Manjil lay in absolute ruin with the National Geophysical Data Center estimating that the devastation amounted to a whopping $8 billion. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD A man stands among the the ruins of a building destroyed by the June 21 massive earthquake that killed over 50,000 people in northwest Iran. File image/AFP What made matters worse was that a 6.5-magnitude aftershock the following morning caused a burst dam in Rasht, wiping out a large stretch of farmland. Landslides made many roads impassable and many of the people who initially survived under the rubble could not be rescued before their air supply ran out. An estimated 400,000 people were left homeless by the earthquake. Following the devastation, worldwide relief efforts began with Iran grudgingly accepting assistance from the United States, though it refused help from Israel and South Africa. Greenland assumes self-rule June 21, 2009 also marks the day when Greenland gained self-rule. This came after the people of Greenland held a referendum in November 2008 and subsequently approved the Self-Government Act. Through this, Greenland assumed responsibility for self-government of its judicial affairs, policing matters, and natural resources. Moreover, Greenlanders were recognised as a separate people under international law. However, foreign policy, defence policy, and security policy remains in the hands of Denmark. This Day, That Year >> Battle of Okinawa concludes with the defeat of Japanese forces on June 21, 1945. >> On this day, in 1893, the first Ferris wheel, invented by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr, made its debut, at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
USA Today
17 hours ago
- USA Today
Behind the scenery: Mount Rushmore story goes beyond presidential profiles
Whether it's the sweeping beauty of South Dakota's Black Hills, the camaraderie of bringing together road-trippers from across the country or pondering what it took to blast and carve 60-foot-tall faces out of granite, Mount Rushmore has a way of making an impression. 'It's a bucket list place for so many people,' says Blaine Kortemeyer, operations manager for interpretation at Mount Rushmore National Memorial. 'They don't always get a chance to come here until later in life, and when they do, it's often a magical moment.' Representing eras With the 250th anniversary of America's independence looming in 2026 and this year's 100th anniversary of when the creation of Mount Rushmore was approved, this icon offers an enduring place to ponder patriotism, the complexities of U.S. history and the pivotal times that each of the four presidents was chosen to represent. George Washington led troops in the American Revolution and stands for the birth of a representative democracy after rebelling against Britain's monarchy. Thomas Jefferson helped write the Declaration of Independence and represents the United States' expansion as the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 allowed the young country to double its size and move west. Abraham Lincoln, who championed the end of slavery, represents the preservation of the United States for how he held the nation together during the tumultuous Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Theodore Roosevelt represents leadership during the country's early 20th century economic growth when he played a key role in establishing the Panama Canal shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and became a 'trust buster' to end corporate monopolies. He also fought for the environment by establishing 150 national forests, five national parks and 55 preserves that would become the National Wildlife Refuge System in 1903. Built to draw travelers The concept for Mount Rushmore was proposed by historian Doane Robinson in 1923 as a bold way to draw tourists to the state as more people bought their first motor cars and roads were being expanded across the country. The national memorial was declared completed in 1941 and now draws close to 2.5 million visitors annually. The film at Mount Rushmore's Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center explains the challenges of carving the mountain as well as the pivotal eras represented by each president. The Presidential Trail, which begins at the Grand View Terrace, takes visitors through ponderosa pines and loops closer to the mountain for additional views, such as seeing Washington's face framed by rock. On the trail's last stretch, guests can see Gutzon Borglum's Sculptor's Studio, which includes a scale model of the original carving concept. Borglum intended to carve the presidents to their waists, but the declining quality of rock as crews progressed forced them to reign in the design. An idea for a Hall of Records behind the memorial also didn't reach completion. Most people spend three to four hours at the memorial, with many returning or staying until the evening program in the outdoor amphitheater. It begins at 9 p.m. from the Friday before Memorial Day through early August and at 8 p.m. through Sept. 30. The program can draw up to 2,000 people for a short talk by a park ranger, a film inspired by the presidents and the history they represent and the illumination of Mount Rushmore. Attendees also stand to sing the national anthem and recognize retired and active military members, and Gold Star families who've lost someone in service to their country. Crazy Horse carving continues. The original idea for what became Mount Rushmore would have depicted Western heroes, such as Oglala Lakota leader Red Cloud and 'Buffalo Bill' Cody. Chief Henry Standing Bear proposed a carving of a Lakota leader in the Black Hills, and work began in 1948 on Crazy Horse Memorial about 15 miles from Mount Rushmore. The 87-foot-tall face is finished, along with part of his arm and the top of the horse he rides. Crazy Horse is expected to be the world's largest sculpture when it's complete, rising more than 500 feet tall. Operated by a nonprofit foundation, the site is also home to the Indian Museum of North America, art galleries and Native American cultural programs. Many tribal nations consider Pahá Sápa (the Black Hills) a sacred place, as well as an ancestral home. Here are some tips for enjoying a visit to Mount Rushmore:
The Hill
a day ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Whole Hog Politics: Land of Lincoln? Not so much for Red America
On the menu: Reconciliation bill still sinking with voters; New York mayoral muddle; DNC's chairman agonistes; Crowded field could save Cassidy; Don't sweat it Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here Today is West Virginia Day, the holiday celebrating the 35th state's admission to the union on June 20, 1863. We West Virginians are more eager to celebrate the formation of our own state than are the sons and daughters of most of the other 49. Some of this is genuine pride. I don't know a place more beautiful or a people more kind. Some of it is stubbornness. When your state is treated as a punchline by the rest of the country, you tend to stand up a little straighter so everyone can see that chip on your shoulder. But another piece of it is in the dubious nature of the state's creation. As our great patron, Abraham Lincoln, allowed, 'It is said the admission of West Virginia is secession, and tolerated only because it is our secession. Well, if we can call it by that name, there is still difference enough between secession against the Constitution, and secession in favor of the Constitution.' There's the rub. West Virginia was in 'favor of' the Constitution, but the Constitution couldn't be said to be exactly in favor of West Virginia. Ripping the 55 western counties of Virginia away from the mother state was, as the scholars would say, 'legal but not constitutional.' The Constitution forbids any state to be divided by the federal government against the wishes of its residents, and the residents of the eastern 99 counties surely would not have favored separation. But because Virginia was in rebellion and part of the Confederacy, the breakaway counties could petition Congress to be recognized as the legitimate government of Virginia and then undertake the process of statehood for the new entity. Under that convenient legal fiction, West Virginia had the legal standing to apply as both the separator and separatee. But the West Virginians were certainly seceding in favor of the spirit of the Constitution and the aims of the Declaration of Independence: Indivisible union and the liberty of its people, even those held as slaves at that moment. The celebration of West Virginia Day is, therefore, a fundamentally defiant act. Which makes this year's West Virginia Day celebration a little more complicated. For the first time since the establishment of the Juneteenth federal holiday on June 19, 2021, that holiday and West Virginia Day fall on a Thursday and a Friday, giving state and local workers in West Virginia a four-day weekend. That was until Gov. Patrick Morrissey last week canceled the state's observance of Juneteenth. He cited 'continued fiscal challenges,' but also nixed 'any formal activities' in observance of the holiday, suggesting that there was more at work than just belt tightening. Juneteenth is the celebration of another of Lincoln's lawyerly innovations during the Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation, also issued in 1863, freed the slaves in the places where Lincoln had the legal power but not the practical authority to do so. Lincoln couldn't proclaim slavery abolished in the states that hadn't left the Union. That would require congressional action. But he could, as commander in chief, make a wartime declaration about the slaves in enemy territory. That technicality was enough to let Lincoln define the conflict with Confederacy once and for all as a war to abolish slavery. From the proclamation in January to West Virginia statehood in June to his address at the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa., in November, the year 1863 was the when Lincoln defined the purpose of the war: 'That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.' It took 30 months for the Emancipation Proclamation to reach the farthest point in the Confederacy, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger read out General Order No. 3 at Galveston Bay, Texas, on June 19, 1865. But at its heart, Juneteenth is a celebration of Lincoln's choice to make the war not just about preserving the Union, but of that 'new birth of freedom.' West Virginia this year joins other states in skipping Juneteenth as a state holiday: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming have all resisted the trend. One imagines that the list will grow as other red states, like West Virginia, reject Juneteenth as some kind of DEI holiday. Which is a shame. The Republican Party has a great inheritance from its first and most formative president. But like West Virginia, the GOP nationally has come to revere the rebellious populism of Andrew Jackson or even the heroes of the Confederacy more often than the sober, sacrificial republicanism of Lincoln. This is maybe understandable in the former states of the Confederacy where Republicans took control not as the Party of Lincoln, but as the alternative to the Democrats who had abandoned legal segregation after 90 years of succoring segregation and Jim Crow. But in West Virginia, which wouldn't even exist without Lincoln's legal and political dexterity, it seems more than a little churlish. Holy croakano! We welcome your feedback, so please email us with your tips, corrections, reactions, amplifications, etc. at WholeHogPolitics@ If you'd like to be considered for publication, please include your real name and hometown. If you don't want your comments to be made public, please specify. NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION Trump Job Performance Average Approval: 42.6% Average Disapproval: 55.8% Net Score: –13.2 points. Change from one week ago: -1.6 points Change from one month ago: -3.8 points [Average includes: Ipsos/Reuters: 42% approve, 54% disapprove; Fox News: 46% approve, 54% disapprove; Echelon Insights: 45% approve, 53% disapprove; Pew: 41% approve, 58% disapprove; AP/NORC: 39% approve, 60% disapprove] Tax and budget bill loses luster Overall, based on what you know, do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the tax and budget bill being discussed by Congress, also known as the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act'? All adults Favorable: 35% Unfavorable: 64% Republicans Favorable: 61% Unfavorable: 36% Democrats Favorable: 13% Unfavorable: 85% Independents Favorable: 27% Unfavorable: 71% [Kaiser Family Foundation survey of 1,321 U.S. adults, June 4-8, 2025] ON THE SIDE: WELL, FIDDLEDEEDEE The West Virginia Encyclopedia: 'Clark Kessinger was among the most prolific and influential fiddlers of the 20th century, and one of West Virginia's most important traditional musicians. He [made] made his initial mark as a recording artist between 1928 and 1930, when he recorded more than 60 instrumentals with his nephew, guitarist Luches Kessinger. … The most popular of these 78 rpm releases was 'Wednesday Night Waltz,' though lively dance tunes such as 'Hell Among the Yearlings' and 'Turkey in the Straw' also sold well. The Kessinger Brothers started performing on radio station WOBU (later WCHS) when the Charleston station began broadcasting in 1927. Clark Kessinger remained in the Kanawha Valley and performed locally for the next 30 years, leading up to his rediscovery during the folk music revival of the 1960s. During the next decade, he recorded extensively, played music across the country, and won numerous fiddling contests. In 1966, he was a guest artist on the Grand Ole Opry radio program, on NBC-TV's Today Show, and at the prestigious Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.' PRIME CUTS Antisemitism charges shake NYC mayor race ahead of Tuesday vote: The Hill: 'New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing criticism over remarks he made in which he avoided denouncing the phrase 'globalize the intifada' and compared it to the Warsaw ghetto uprising during the Holocaust. … Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is the front-runner in the race, slammed Mamdani for saying the phrase about the intifada is 'subject to interpretation.' He called on all mayoral candidates to denounce the comment. 'That is not only wrong – it is dangerous,' he said in a post on X. 'At a time when we are seeing antisemitism on the rise and in fact witnessing once again violence against Jews…' Gaming out a muddle in New York's mayoral race: New Yorker: 'No matter who wins on June 24th, New York City could be in line for a competitive general election for the first time in more than two decades. If [Andrew] Cuomo wins, [Zohran] Mamdani may still appear on the ballot in November, on the progressive Working Families Party line. Eric Adams, the beleaguered incumbent, has announced his intention to appear on the ballot as an Independent. If Cuomo ends up losing the primary, he has pledged to do the same. The Republican nominee, the longtime political gadfly Curtis Sliwa, who, in the late seventies, founded the red-beret-clad vigilante group the Guardian Angels, ran four years ago and garnered twenty-seven per cent of the vote in a head-to-head matchup with Adams. This year, some think Sliwa's twenty-seven per cent, or something like it, could be enough to win a four-way race.' Dems pressure term-limited governor to challenge Collins: The Hill: 'Eyes in Maine are on Gov. Janet Mills (D) as Democrats await a final decision from her on whether she will challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), their top target in the 2026 midterms. Mills, subject to months of speculation about a possible Senate run as she's unable to seek a third term in office, is viewed as perhaps Democrats' best chance of finally ousting Collins after several failed attempts in the past. She cast some doubt in April about whether she would run, though she didn't definitively rule it out. Dems tap challengers for Virginia contests: WTOP: 'Ghazala Hashmi, the first Muslim to serve in Virginia's Senate, has won the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in Tuesday's primary election, firming up the Democrats' lineup in statewide races for November's general election. Hashmi won the crowded primary race by a slim margin, beating Democrat Levar Stoney by less than a percentage point…. She will run alongside U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger and former state Del. Jay Jones, who won the Democratic nomination for attorney general on Tuesday night… Some political experts look at Virginia's off-year elections as an early indicator for potential outcomes from the midterms in 2026… Both Spanberger and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears ran unopposed in the gubernatorial race. Conservatives didn't hold a statewide primary this year. Earle-Sears was the only candidate to qualify for the governor's race. Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares easily secured his reelection bid. And despite some earlier controversy in his candidacy, talk-radio host John Reid became the de facto lieutenant governor nominee for Republicans.' SHORT ORDER Miseries multiply for embattled new DNC chairman — New York Times Another Senate primary challenger for Cassidy in Louisiana — The Hill Florida Democrat Josh Weil announces Senate bid —Miami Herald Former Ambassador to Ukraine announces Democratic congressional candidacy in Michigan—Politico TABLE TALK Moose on the loose 'He probably needs to go in butt first.' — A staffer in the office of New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen discussing how to get Marty, a life-sized plush moose, onto an elevator in the Hart Senate Office Building. Marty, along with his black bear friend, Kodak, came in from New Hampshire for a celebration this week. MAILBAG 'I just wanted to ask your opinion about estrangement between friends and families, specifically due to political differences. I have personally seen this type of estrangement in my life and it fascinates me. It seems like it's getting more coverage than ever in the media, and being a bit of an expert in that field yourself, I was curious if you believed that that extra attention is warranted. Do you think it's becoming more common now? Do you think it's ever justified? Other than general polarization, what about politics is breaking people apart to the extent of going no contact? Do you think there are any decent solutions? Or do you think the entire topic is blown out of proportion? I know this is a lot of questions, but like I said, the topic fascinated me.' — Justin Bliley Washington Court House, Ohio Mr. Bliley, There's probably no way to quantify whether political estrangement is getting worse. It's an inherently subjective question since it relates to the feelings people have about each other. But I can't imagine that political estrangement is worse now than it was 50 years ago, when a generational clash over Vietnam, the draft, Watergate, civil rights, women's liberation, abortion and everything else had just taken place against the backdrop of economic contraction and crushing inflation. The baby boomers, then mostly in their 20s, had just completed one of the most successful youth movements in American history. It was the end of an old consensus about how people in our country lived, loved, worshiped, worked and served. Now those same baby boomers, mostly in their 70s, are fighting like hell against the next revolution, and for the moment seem to be winning. I hope that in another 50 years, people look back on the 2010s and 2020s as a similarly transitional period in which a new, useful and durable consensus got hammered out. That way that happens is that some fights are won and lost while others simply fade away, obviated by technology or just run out of steam. A consensus is born out of a great deal of exhaustion. When people get tired enough of fighting, they can become amenable to compromise. Another similarity to 50 years ago is that America was getting ready to celebrate a big birthday, the bicentennial of 1976 then and the semiquincentennial of 2026. What I saw in the Army parade last week that kicked off the festivities gave me some reason to hope that the hokey, homey patriotism of which we are very much in need these days might make a comeback. And none too soon. All best, c You should email us! Write to WholeHogPolitics@ with your tips, kudos, criticisms, insights, rediscovered words, wonderful names, recipes, and, always, good jokes. Please include your real name—at least first and last—and hometown. Make sure to let us know in the email if you want to keep your submission private. My colleague, the resolute Meera Sehgal, and I will look for your emails and then share the most interesting ones and my responses here. Clickety clack! FOR DESSERT Follow the simple, printed instructions CTV News: 'A motorcyclist last seen wearing a 'come get me' sweater has been arrested by Guelph [Ontario] Police. On May 29, an officer spotted a bike with no licence plate driving erratically on Stone Road West and Edinburgh Road South. Police pulled up beside the motorcycle at a red light and told the rider to pull over. Instead, he took off. Police said he was going approximately [75 mph] on Stone Road and, in the interest of public safety, they stopped their pursuit. They then turned to social media to find the motorcyclist. Police noted he was wearing a sweater with 'come get me' written across the back. That post, they said, was viewed 575,000 times and several tips were reported, which led to the identification of the rider. On Friday, a 20-year-old Guelph man was arrested and charged with dangerous driving, flight from police, stunt driving and offences under the Highway Traffic Act.' Chris Stirewalt is political editor for The Hill and NewsNation, the host of The Hill Sunday on NewsNation and The CW, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of books on politics and the media. Meera Sehgal contributed to this report.
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Juneteenth celebrations across the US commemorate the end of slavery
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Celebrations around the U.S. are marking Thursday as Juneteenth, the anniversary of the day in 1865 when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Texas. An organization that promotes African American history and culture in New Hampshire got an early start commemorating the holiday, even as President Donald Trump's administration works to ban diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, or DEI, in the federal government and is removing content about Black American history from federal websites. The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire orchestrated a weekslong celebration that will culminate with a community dance and rededication of the African Burying Ground Memorial Park in Portsmouth. The Illinois town of Plano made history in its celebration of Juneteenth, but now the party's getting moved to YorkvilleThose who planned the history tours, community discussions and other events in New Hampshire said they wanted to highlight contradictions in the familiar narratives about the nation's founding fathers ahead of next year's 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 'Although they are historically courageous, smart men, they were also human. They held people in bondage. They had children with their enslaved,' said JerriAnne Boggis, the Heritage Trail's executive director. 'What would the story look like if the story of America was told from these Black descendants?' Juneteenth has been celebrated by Black Americans for generations, but became more widely observed after former President Joe Biden designated it a federal holiday in 2021. It is recognized at least as an observance in every state, and nearly 30 states and Washington, D.C., have designated it as a permanent paid or legal holiday through legislation or executive action. During his first administration, Trump issued statements each June 19, including one that ended with 'On Juneteenth 2017, we honor the countless contributions made by African Americans to our Nation and pledge to support America's promise as the land of the free.' This year's celebratory events come amid bitter national debates about Trump's travel ban on visitors from select countries and his administration's many anti-DEI initiatives. New Hampshire, one of the nation's whitest states, is not among those with a permanent, paid or legal Juneteenth holiday, and Boggis said her hope that lawmakers would take action making it one is waning. 'I am not so sure anymore given the political environment we're in,' she said. 'I think we've taken a whole bunch of steps backwards in understanding our history, civil rights and inclusion.' Still, she hopes New Hampshire's events and those elsewhere will make a difference. 'It's not a divisive tool to know the truth. Knowing the truth helps us understand some of the current issues that we're going through,' she said. And if spreading that truth comes with a bit of fun, all the better, she said. 'When we come together, when we break bread together, we enjoy music together, we learn together, we dance together, we're creating these bonds of community,' she said. 'As much was we educate, we also want to celebrate together.'
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- General
- Los Angeles Times
Rebuilding one of the nation's oldest Black churches to begin at Juneteenth ceremony
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — A ceremonial groundbreaking will be held Thursday for the rebuilding of one of the nation's oldest Black churches, whose congregants first gathered outdoors in secret before constructing a wooden meetinghouse in Virginia. The First Baptist Church of Williamsburg officially established itself in 1776, although parishioners met before then in fields and under trees in defiance of laws that prevented African Americans from congregating. Free and enslaved members erected the original church house around 1805, laying the foundation with recycled bricks. Reconstructing the 16-foot by 32-foot building will help demonstrate that 'Black history is American history,' First Baptist Pastor Reginald F. Davis told The Associated Press before the Juneteenth groundbreaking. 'Oral history is one thing but to have an image to go along with the oral history makes a greater impact on the psyche of oppressed people,' said Davis, who leads the current 215-member congregation in a 20th Century church that is less than a mile from the original site. 'Black Americans have been part of this nation's history before and since the Declaration of Independence.' The original building was destroyed by a tornado in 1834. First Baptist's second structure, built in 1856, stood there for a century. But the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, a living history museum, bought the property in 1956 and turned the space into a parking lot. Colonial Williamsburg had covered the costs of building First Baptist's current church house. But for decades it failed to tell the church's pioneering history and the stories of other colonial Black Americans. In recent years, the museum has placed a growing emphasis on telling a more complete story about the nation's founding. Colonial Williamsburg's rebuilding of the church is an opportunity to tell Black history and resurrect the stories of those who originally built it. Rebuilding First Baptist's original meetinghouse will fill an important historical gap, while bolstering the museum's depiction of Virginia's 18th century capital through interpreters and restored buildings. More than half of the 2,000 people who lived in Williamsburg at the time were Black, many of them enslaved. Rev. James Ingram is an interpreter who has for 27 years portrayed Gowan Pamphlet, First Baptists' pastor when the original church structure was built. Pamphlet was an enslaved tavern worker who followed his calling to preach, sermonizing equality, despite the laws that prohibited large gatherings of African Americans out of fear of slave uprisings. 'He is a precursor to someone like Frederick Douglass, who would be the precursor to someone like Martin Luther King Jr.,' Ingram said. 'Gowan Pamphlet was leading the charge.' The museum's archaeologists uncovered the original church's foundation in 2021, prompting Pastor Davis to say then that it was 'a rediscovery of the humanity of a people.' 'This helps to erase the historical and social amnesia that has afflicted this country for so many years,' he said. The archaeologists also located 62 graves, while experts examined three sets of remains and linked them to the congregation. Scientists at William & Mary's Institute for Historical Biology said the teeth of a Black male in his teens indicated some kind of stress, such as malnutrition or disease. 'It either represents the conditions of an enslaved childhood or far less likely — but possibly — conditions for a free African American in childhood,' Michael Blakey, the institute's director, said in 2023. In the early 1800s, the congregation acquired the property for the original church from a local white merchant. The land was low, soft and often soggy — hardly ideal for building, said Jack Gary, Colonial Williamsburg's executive director of archaeology. But the church's congregants, many of whom were skilled tradespeople, made it work by flipping bricks on their side and making other adjustments to lay a level foundation. 'It was a marvel that they were able to build a structure there, but also that the structure persists and even grows bigger,' Gary said, adding that the church was later expanded. Based on their excavation, archaeologists surmise there was no heat source, such as a fireplace, no glass in the windows and no plaster finish, Gary said. About 50 people could have sat comfortably inside, possibly 100 if they were standing. The congregation numbered about 500, which included people on surrounding plantations. Services likely occurred outside the church as well. White planters and business owners were often aware of the large gatherings, which technically were banned, while there's documentary evidence of some people getting caught, Gary said. Following Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831, which killed more than 50 white people in Virginia's Southampton County, the congregation was led by white pastors, though it was Black preachers doing the work, Gary said. The tornado destroyed the structure a few years later. The museum is rebuilding the 1805 meetinghouse at its original site and will use common wood species from the time: pine, poplar and oak, said Matthew Webster, the museum's executive director of architectural preservation and research. The boards are already being cut. Construction is expected to finish next year. The windows will have shutters but no glass, Webster said, while a concrete beam will support the new church directly over its original foundation, preserving the bricks. 'When we build the earliest part of the church, we will put bricks on their sides and will lay them in that strange way because that tells the story of those individuals struggling to quickly get their church up,' Webster said. 'And then when we build the addition, it will be this formal foundation that really shows the establishment of the church.' Janice Canaday, who traces her lineage to First Baptist, said Williamsburg's Black community never forgot its original location or that its graves were paved over in the 1950s. 'They will never be able to expunge us from the landscape,' said Canaday, who is also the museum's African American community engagement manager. 'It doesn't matter if you take out the building. It doesn't matter if you ban books. You will never be able to pull that root up because that root is so deep.' Finley writes for the Associated Press.
