Draft #2
There was a time, once, when the bustling and growing city of Birmingham did not exist, when There exists only a few remaining landmarks that precede the establishment of the Magic City. One often neglected one is the Elyton Cemetery. Being the oldest cemetery in Birmingham, it holds much history. But, the question lingers, does it also hold a priceless work from the most famous artist to work in Birmingham?
Its story begins in 1821, fifty years before the city was officially established. This was the year the government granted a tract of land to the American Asylum for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, located in Connecticut. William Ely, attorney of the Asylum, negotiated sale of 40 acres of the property to Colonel John M. Dupuy. This was the year that the city of Elyton was established, a nod to the attorney who negotiated the original sale. Dupuy would own this property for over thirty years until 1853, when he sold twenty-five of those acres in a deed to Mitchell T. Porter except, as is noted, “one acre including the graveyard near the east end”. While there is not an exact year for the establishment of the cemetery, it is presumed to have occurred in those twenty years. Though most of the gravestones have since become indecipherable, the oldest marked grave is from the year 1834, that of Mrs. Nancy E. Scott. Three years later, in 1856, Porter granted to Joseph R Smith twelve of those acres, all except “one acre at the graveyard” which had apparently been reserved to the town of Elyton by Colonel Dupuy. However, the cemetery had quickly fallen in disrepair. By 1891, a group raised $450 for the cleanup effort. Until 1965, there would be three more cleanup efforts, and as can be seen today, they were never eff...
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...am, since it merged with Elyton in 1871. Since this was the case, the question arises of who could have ordered the commission of the laughing girl. It seems more likely that the statue was commissioned in the earlier years of the cemetery, before it became dilapidated.
Regardless of whether the laughing was really the work of the esteemed Moretti, there remains the bigger issue that has been cause for concern for over a hundred years, the same that troubled the concerned citizens of 1965. The Elyton Cemetery is one of the last remaining relics in Birmingham that predates its inception. While the laughing girl was ultimately destroyed, it is not too late for the cemetery to be restored. As one citizen was quoted in the 1956, “we have so little of the past generation left in Birmingham, we ought to do what we can to preserve it.” I think that still applies today.
Ernie Barnes was and still is one of the most popular and well-respected black artists today. Born and raised in Durham, North Carolina, in 1938, during the time the south as segregated, Ernie Barnes was not expected to become a famous artist. However, as a young boy, Barnes would, “often [accompany] his mother to the home of the prominent attorney, Frank Fuller, Jr., where she worked as a [housekeeper]” (Artist Vitae, The Company of Art, 1999). Fuller was able to spark Barnes’ interest in art when he was only seven years old. Fuller told him about the various schools of art, his favorite painters, and the museums he visited (Barnes, 1995, p. 7). Fuller further introduced Barnes to the works of such artists as, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Correggio, which later influenced Barnes’ mannerist style of painting.
Moundville has been the focus of a large amount of archaeological interest due to its impressive earthworks. Clarence B. Moore produced well-publicized works. During his time in Moundville in 1905 and 1906, Moore pierced the mounds with “trial holes,” finding numerous burials and related artifacts. Unlike many treasure hunters, Moore donated the majority of his find...
Ever take a midnight train to Georgia? No, well ever drive through Georgia? When driving through Georgia on State Road 49, there is a little town called Andersonville that is very easy to miss. To many it is just another town. Yet this town has its own trail. The Andersonville Trail is a small brown dirt road that leads visitors to the Andersonville National Historic Site (Roberts xi). This National Historic Site looks like a “well- tended” national cemetery. On closer examination, this cemetery is nothing like Arlington (Roberts xi). “In this national cemetery, the marble headstones are so close together, they almost touch. The markers appear to be one long head...
Debi Faris recently made the sad drive, again, from her home in Yucaipa, California, to the Los Angeles County coroner's office to retrieve the body of a baby boy who had been left by a dumpster. Ms. Faris, her husband, Mark, and others laid baby Jacob (who was named by the police officer who found the child) to rest in the Garden of Angels, a small portion of a local cemetery the Farises established for abandoned infants in 1996. With the help of donations, they bought 44 plots four years ago. Baby Jacob was the 45th abandoned child buried there, forcing them to look for new space among the tombstones. "I never thought in our lifetimes we'd use them all," said Debi Faris.
There is no safe place in the world. “Ballad of Birmingham” proves that by telling the tragic tale of a young girl and her mother. No matter what a building symbolizes or how much determination is spent on keeping love ones safe, life or destiny will occur. “Ballad of Birmingham” approaches the bombing of Birmingham in 1963 from a sentimental point of view, providing a unique insight into the story. The story of a mother and daughter, as described in the “Ballad of Birmingham,” cannot be understood unless the loss of a loved one has been experience first-hand.
The tragic poem, “The Ballad of Birmingham,” begins with a young child asking an imploring question to her mother, “May I go downtown instead of out to play” (Randall, 669)?
Bearden, Romare, and Harry Henderson. A History of African-American Artists: From 1972 to the Present. New York: Pantheon, 1993.
I repose in this quiet and secluded spot, not from any natural preference for solitude; but finding other cemeteries limited as to race, by charter rules, I have chosen this that I might illustrate in my death the principles which I advocated through a long life, equality of man before the Creator.
The history of Art has continuously changed over time, and will continue to do so as long as humanity continues to evolve and time continues to go on. The author of Art History, Marilyn Stokstad, eases the reader into this mindset very early on. She explains that slight changes in the economy, climate, what is expected socially or cultural differences can shift the way Art is viewed and created forever. Early African Art and Gothic Art, both of which Stokstad clearly and concisely summarizes within two enthralling chapters, are both two unique genres, so different from one another that it seems nearly impossible to relate the two at a first glance. The way they structured architecture and artwork are vastly different, and are from incredibly different times yet somehow it is still incredibly to link the two together - whether it be through similar aspects of art or their subtle differences, these two styles are connected in more ways than one.
Let’s examine the short story of “Killings” by Andre Dubus. The story begins on a warm August day with the burial of Matt and Ruth Fowler’s youngest son Frank. Frank was only twenty-one: “twenty-one years, eight months, and four days” (Dubus, “Killings” 107). Attending the funeral were Matt, his wife Ruth, their eldest son Steve, his wife, their middle daughter Cathleen and her husband. Frank was buried in a cemetery on a hill in Massachusetts overlooking the Merrimack. Across from the cemetery is an “apple orchard with symmetrically planted trees going up a hill” (107), a symbol of how nice and serene the cemetery actually is and the peace Frank now has. Matt’s family is extremely distraught over the murder of their youngest son/brother, so much to make comments of wanting to kill the killer themselves, “I should kill him” (107), stated the oldest son Steve, while walking from the grave site along side his father Matt. This comment is considered a fore-shadow to what is to come in the thought process of the family members.
For years the burial ground was a forgotten part of American history until it was rediscovered in 1991. The site was then designated as historical landmark and later a national
As the database will be used for research as well as town-planning by a wide variety of people, including historians, local councils, genealogists, sociologists and epidemiologists, it is anticipated that it will include not only information about the graveyards themselves, but also the buildings, individual gravestones and the records of people buried there. [Emphasis added]
to the Pet cemetary. Louis answers her honestly and later Rachel and him have an
I chose to describe Jacob Lawrence because of the theme of relatable characteristics that each painting that I reviewed to brought to my remembrance For example the Barber Shop rendering from Jacobs spun my thoughts back to the simpler times of my youth. I would spend hours at the barbershop listening to all the stories and news of the day. Many of relatives had paintings similar to Lawrence’s style and looking over Mr. Lawrence’s work has a certain familiarity that I find comforting. Additionally, his attention to color, pattern and his detail research prior to producing a painting, certainly peaked my interest in becoming more familiar with the man and his works. His works were more recently viewed at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Nebraska at Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, and Museum of Modern Art (Phillips Collection)
As portrayed above, poverty is the misery of life. “No gravestone, no name, no identifying mark of any kind. The burying-ground is merely a huge waste of hummocky earth, like a derelict building-lo...