Happy December! I have an action packed week and season ahead: volunteer appreciation dinner, touring the Cincinnati Observatory, phone interviews, and personal projects, which I disclose at a later time, but it will be major for Cincinnati. Meanwhile, I used a portion of my afternoon to visit the William Howard Taft Historical Site as today marks the 50th anniversary of its National Historic Site designation.
Here are some highlights from the site, also the birthplace and childhood home of the 27th President of the U.S. and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
 |
| Apologies for the appearance; I came a litlle bit too late to take the full picture! |
 |
| This fireplace is of Rookwood tile |
 | ||
| Tile depicting scenes from The Fox and the Crow, one of Aesop's Fables |
.
 |
| George Washington Williams |
Of course, I had to uncover some black history connected to the Tafts. George Washington Williams was an African American politician, historian, Civil War soldier, and minister who studied law under W.H.'s dad, Alphonse Taft. He served as pastor of the Union Baptist Church, Cincinnati's oldest black church, from 1876-1879, and also was the first African American to serve in the Ohio legislature. His big break: He was the first African American to condemn the actions of Belgians, going into the Congo (formerly Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and discovering that King Leopold II of Belgium was using slave labor to bring out ivory, diamonds, and rubber. As a result of a letter he wrote to the king, "An Open Letter to His Serene Majesty Leopold II, King of the Belgians and Sovereign of the Independent State of Congo", nations around the world followed suit.
For all you movie buffs, Williams was played by Samuel L Jackson in the 2016 movie The Legend of Tarzan!
No comments:
Post a Comment