Boston Globe: "On the streets of Watertown, a Black Civil War soldier tells the rest of the story"

From the Boston Globe, an article of interest for Franklin:

"In this pandemic year, reimagining theatrical performance means exploring not just the digital space but that infinitely roomy analog space known as the outdoors.

In any year, heightening theater’s relevance and immediacy means grappling with urgent social issues such as the kind of entrenched racial injustice that has spawned massive nationwide protests in 2020.

New Repertory Theatre tackles both the performative and thematic sides of that equation with its premiere of “The Charles W. Lenox Experience,” copresented with the Watertown Free Public Library and the Historical Society of Watertown. Scripted by local dramatist Ken Green and directed by Michael Ofori, it’s a solo play set in the 19th century that has the ongoing struggles of the 21st century very much on its mind. 

The estimable Kadahj Bennett plays Lenox, a Black barber in Watertown who served in the Civil War with the storied 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, rising to the rank of sergeant. As Bennett leads patrons on a one-hour stroll to notable sites in and around Watertown Square, Lenox’s first-person narrative outwardly resembles one of those tourist-friendly guided expeditions.

But this is no anodyne history tour. Embedded throughout “The Charles W. Lenox Experience” are pointed reminders of how little the nation had done to deserve the service of Black soldiers — and how little it appreciated their sacrifice once they had helped to save it."

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/28/arts/streets-watertown-black-civil-war-soldier-tells-rest-story/

 

Kadahj Bennett portrays Charles Lenox, a Watertown barber who enlisted in the Union army, in "The Charles W. Lenox Experience."New Repertory Theatre

"Everyone has a stake in ensuring that the workers we all depend on are secure and healthy"

From CommonWealth Magazine we share an article of interest for Franklin: 

"It’s simple. If the workers who make our economy run aren’t healthy and secure, then our economy isn’t healthy and secure. Especially in the absence of any leadership or plan from the Trump administration, we need Massachusetts leaders to walk the walk when it comes to our workers, and not just talk the talk.

Essential workers need a bill of rights. They deserve hazard pay for the dangerous and critical work they are performing for the public. Everyone agrees on the importance of people with symptoms staying home from work and school, but that should come with the guarantee that nobody will lose their job or the ability to feed their families should they need to stay home.

Essential workers here in Massachusetts, like many of their counterparts in other states, deserve a presumption that if they contract COVID-19 they did so in the line of duty so they are covered by workers compensation. Workers need a reliable place to turn to if they think their workplaces are unsafe, and they need protection from employer retaliation for whistleblowing.

We need comprehensive data collection on the infection rates of workers — by occupation, industry, and employer — which are crucial data points to identify new outbreaks and guide future responses to protect these workers and the public they serve.  And we need science, workers, and occupational safety experts to guide how our workplaces and economy reopens, definitely not CEOs. "

Continue reading the article online
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/essential-workers-need-a-bill-of-rights/

Franklin's Single Soldier

How many times have you gone by the Town Common and wondered why there are two Civil War monuments? 

There is one along Main St with the Gettysburg Address on a bronze plate

Civil War Memorial with Gettysburg Address

And then there is the tall one in the center and set back along the High St side of the Common.

Civil War Monument - single soldier

It was 150 years ago this April 9, in a house at a dusty crossroads in rural Virginia, that the Civil War ended. Even all these decades later, that struggle remains, for better and for worse, the sovereign event in American history.

The article in Yankee Magazine goes on to talk about the single soldier monument that many New England commnities have. Franklin is one of them.

Civil War Monument - single soldier 1

Civil War Monument - single soldier 2

Civil War Monument - single soldier 3

Hence, the unfailing presence all over our region of memorials to local men who served in the war, in particular the ubiquitous “Single Soldier,” a freestanding figure of a Civil War infantryman cast in stone or bronze, equipped with the familiar kepi-style cap, a coat or cape, a cartridge box and bayonet on his belt, and a rifle. If you live in New England, then at least one of these soldiers is your neighbor.

Read the full article here
http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/the-single-soldier-monument-civil-war-memorial#_

For more about the life and times of our Franklin neighbors
http://www.historynet.com/civil-war-soldiers