Many years ago my Dad and I watched the movie Glory together. At the end of the film our eyes glistened with tears. My Great Great Grandfather William Henry Halstead served with the 29th Colored Regiment CT so Glory has a special place in my heart. Descendants of the 54th and the 29th have gathered together many times to honor our brave ancestors.
When it learned that the Federal Government was recruiting African Americans, both free men and former slaves as soldiers the Confederate Congress issued this proclamation:
“Any negro taken in arms against the Confederacy will immediately be returned to a state of slavery. Any negro taken in Federal uniform will be summarily put to death. Any white officer taken in command of negro troops shall be deemed as inciting servile insurrection and shall likewise be put to death.”
Those who doubt that the leaders of the Confederacy fought the war for any “state right” other than the maintenance and expansion of slavery needs to look at the actions and words of that racist republic.
One hundred and fifty-four years ago today one of those African American regiments went into action against the Confederate works at Battery Wagner, outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The 54th was raised…
I can easily get the time off now that I work evenings. The evening shift offers much more flexibility. Saving for the Greyhound Bus or Amtrak is doable. The only sticking point is finding a clean, safe, inexpensive hotel. Guess I’ll have to start using my AARP card for travel!
I’m sure that I can make it to this special exhibit because it’s a One Day Trip so I won’t need a place to stay overnight. A friend knows my Love of Photography and especially the Harlem Renaissance. I often think of what it would be like to be transported back to Harlem in the 1920s rubbing elbows with Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, James Van Der Zee, James Weldon Johnso.
The Smithsonian
National Museum of African American History & Culture
I have been to Washington, DC several times and had the opportunity to see some of the various Smithsonian museums but there are so many you can never see them all in just one visit. Obviously I have a special interest in African American History and Culture so later on when the demand dies down I will go visit. Right now the demand is so high that even though the All the Smithsonian museums are Free they must issue tickets for this one to control the crowds.
Several years ago when I went to Washington, DC with a cousin we visited a Civil War Museum dedicated to African American troops. It was not far from a Monument to Colored Soldiers. Many of you have heard me speak about my Great, Great Grandfather William Henry Halstead who served with the Connecticut 29th Colored Regiment.
William H. Halstead name as inscribed on the Colored Soldiers Monument in Washington, DCWilliam Henry Halstead Headstone ~ Sleepy Hollow
About two years ago the museum where I work had a Civil War Photography special exhibit.
I was posted in the Civil War photography exhibit at the museum. My Great, Great Grandfather William Henry Halstead fought in the Civil War. There was a steady stream of visitors but everyone was quiet, calm, serious, deeply affected by what they were seeing. During the course of the day as I walked through the photographs taking everything in it was like I began to see through the eyes of my Great, Great Grandfather. I could hear the sounds of battle, the screams of pain from injured soldiers, feel his adrenaline and fear as he surged forth with his 29th CT. Colored Regiment brothers. All I can say it was like I was in his head. I had to make an effort to turn off so I could finish my day without freaking out. Even now I feel he is still with me even I never met him. Maybe this is genetic memory. All the memories of our ancestors stay with us though we are separated by time and generations. As a writer it gives a different aspect and flavor to my writing but it is a very strange sensation.
Family Photographs dating from the 19th to 21st Centuries. My paternal Grandmother Eva Gordon Palmer labeled the older photos. The photos from the 19th Century were all taken in Photography studios located in New York City where my Great Great Grandmother settled with her five children after my Great Great Grandfather William Henry Halstead passed away. William Henry Halstead served in the Civil War as part of the 29th Ct. Colored Regiment. Please click on the below links for more information on him and his unit.
My Paternal Grandparents Eva and William Palmer married in Jan. 1919 and had several children. All the boys passed away from polio except my Dad Edward G. Palmer. His nickname was Precious. They had three daughters Helen Louise Palmer Garcia, Thelma Rosalie Palmer Varner and Eva Palmer Stuppard.
All the people pictured except me and my brother Stephen have gone onto Glory and are Living their Heavenly reward.
Stephen Vincent Palmer ~ QCP Christmas Party 2013Ancestor Branches ~ A Photo Collage I made for the Employee Art Show in 2012.Me and My brother Stephen December 1961William H. Halstead name as inscribed on the Colored Soldiers Monument in Washington, DCWilliam Henry Halstead Headstone ~ Sleepy HollowMMC 2002 GraduationMy 56th Birthday Party Celebration Feb. 27thHow I look now at age 56.56th Birthday Party CelebrationFifty-Sexy. Fifty-Sultry.
Henry KeyserFredrick H. Halstead_Sept. 6, 1898_Little’s Brother. Little was my Great Grandmother.Aunt HannahAunt SusanRosalie Palmer_William Palmer’s Sister. William Palmer is my Grandfather.Aunt Carrie_George Gordon’s sisterAunt CarrieMy Grandfather William Junius Palmer in Mt. Morris Park located in Harlem New York circa 1926 with four of his children. The two children in white are twins but the boy died of polio. My father Edward Gordon Palmer is not featured in this picture because he was born in 1930.My Dad Edward Gordon PalmerDaddy Edward Gordon PalmerEdward Gordon Palmer 1935. This photo was taken by the famous Harlem Renaissance Photographer James Van Der Zee.Unknown Ancestor on my Dad’s side. I’m sure my Grandmother did label this photo but the label must have gotten lost. This is a Tin type and at some point the label must have fallen off so I do not know her name.My Mom and Dad Mable and Edward Palmer. They were married Dec. 1955 in Dayton, Ohio. Later my Dad brought my Mom back to New York where my brother Stephen and I were born.My Marymount Manhattan College Graduation photo, 2002.Stephen and I at his residence Queens Centers for Progress in Queens, NY. Stephen has Autism yet works and has a very active social Life. We are very close.Mom ~~ Mable Elizabeth Palmer born 1930 in Davy, West Virginia, raised in Dayton, Ohio.My Aunt Thelma Rosalie Palmer Varner.Eva Sophronia Gordon Palmer — GrandmotherMommy ~~ Mable Elizabeth Palmer
“Kinetic energy is an expression of the fact that a moving object can do work on anything it hits; it quantifies the amount of work the object could do as a result of its motion. The total mechanical energy of an object is the sum of its kinetic energy and potential energy. The total energy of an isolated system is subject to the conservation of energy principle.
Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. An object that has motion – whether it is vertical or horizontal motion – has kinetic energy. There are many forms of kinetic energy – vibrational (the energy due to vibrational motion), rotational (the energy due to rotational motion), and translational (the energy due to motion from one location to another). To keep matters simple, we will focus upon translational kinetic energy. The amount of translational kinetic energy (from here on, the phrase kinetic energy will refer to translational kinetic energy) that an object has depends upon two variables: the mass (m) of the object and the speed (v) of the object. The following equation is used to represent the kinetic energy (KE) of an object.”
Rather than making my Super-Heroine Kinetictra a blind college professor I’ve decided to give her an Identity closer to home. Kinetictra public identity will be as a Security Guard at the Gotham Museum of Art aka One Million Hands Touching. Kinetictra’s Tag Line will be, “It’s time to shiver a little…!” Her Dread Locs will be weapons used to ensnare villains. Her magic spirals will capture and vanquish evil doers. They are composed of Zentangles swirling and whirling. These amazing locs are purple with deep blue highlights and can at will assume all shapes, forms, sizes, types of silky, satin curly koils.
Have not yet decided whether to place her on Early or Late Watch but I’m leaning towards Late/Night Watch. More morose, crazy, quirky, scary, stuff happens at night especially in the wee hours of the morning — between dusk and dawn Angels and demons battle for the souls of humans…………………………………
Two Men Contemplating the Moon Caspar David Friedrich (German, Greifswald 1774–1840 Dresden)
My name is Kinetictra, my day time hustle is as a Protector of Antiquities aka security officer at the Gotham Galleries located in an upscale neighborhood on the Upper North-West Side the Gold Coast of Gotham. A cultural institution where old money and new money meet, shake hands, make deals, and then stab each other behind the back when the other looks away. An eclectic menagerie of worldwide artworks that often seem to have no rhyme or reason in placement with just a focus on aesthetics.
As for our visitors especially the foreigners may as well be named, “One Million Hands Touching.” That’s one of the reasons why I moved from Day Shift to Night Watch. There’s only some much of saying, “Don’t Touch” and fielding questions about where are the bathrooms and restaurants are before you’re ready to pull your hair out and commit hari-kari. Yup, it was a relief to get off days and into the nocturnal peace, calm and tranquility. For me the sun’s rays are sting like an Albino left out on the beach mid-day 95 degree temps with no protection.
For years I dwelt with the bottom feeders. Those moronic visitors who feigned an interest in art but only really wanted to get out of the weather. They were walking cadavers alongside big boob butt bimbo skanky hoes who never had to work a day in their lazy lives.
Now no more cigarette shit breath tourists way too close for comfort invading my personal space with their foul body odors dispensing lame pandering foolish remarks like knives of ignorance into my flesh.
The museum is populated by a wonderful yet mysterious quiet & peace undisturbed by the frenetic masses. Silences punctuated only by flowing water, the endless hum and shifting of building machinery.
Even normal noises can be unsettling. Especially those associated with people. The building has become a living breathing organism Uttering creaks moans sighs groans from over 140 years of footfalls, voices, radios, songs, cantatas, the chiming of clocks, exclamations of awe & wonder. Whispers from a Victorian century long past to digital diversity.
Oh what secrets lie transfixed within these silent walls yearning for release.
The immortality of brick, mortar & steel record the march of ethnicities & nations who roam free these hallowed halls.
Sometimes the sudden interruption of footfalls becomes ominous, invading the sanctity of the Holy Sanctuary. Even the sound of my own steps is somewhat menacing. What spirits accompany me on perambulations among the saints and sinners?
The feeble burbling of the fountain stream’s half-hearted attempts to empty its essence, struggling to pollinate magnificent coins.
The day is at end, the light has faded. Now the night crew enters to continue the evening melody.
Nighttime stillness is the best time to pick up on all the little signals, cries, sighs, moans and whispers recorded by the walls and replayed for my delight during the hours of darkness. Sometimes during my rounds I place my hands upon the 150 year old walls and I listen in on conversations dating back to Civil War times.
The Universe is composed of vibrations. Every living thing has its own unique pulsations which emit tons of information going back minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, decades, and eons well into past lives. Darkness brings not only moonlight but night terrors, fears that become flesh and then my mission begins………
Espiritu en Fuego/A Fiery Spirit 