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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, novelist and dramatist, born today in 1749, famous as a man of words, but who knew he was a man of colours too? I shall return to this.
Bruno Bettelheim, psychologist, born today in 1903
Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist, born today in 1913
Saint Augustine of Hippo died, today in 430; and I find him described as a "Roman African" in this encyclopedia, and as a "philosopher from Numidia" in that almanac, anything to avoid having to use that word which pains so much, the MLK word, the Desmond Tutu word, the very idea of a man (or it could, though even less likely, have been a woman) who reached a point of significant significance in that White Male religion of Christianity - a black; or more probably a North African Berber.*
* Not to be confused with St Augustine of Canterbury, who gave his name to the Augustinian canons, also known as the Austin Friars.
On which subject, the kidnap and lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till took place today in 1955, a piece that goes alongside one (not yet written, but ambered on June 12) on Medgar Evers; and linked to the Nat Turner piece on October 2, though that really belongs on August 21; all of which, plus plus plus, is why:
The Reverend Martin Luther King led a civil rights rally in Washington DC, today in 1963 (and Dylan sang that day: The Ballad of Medgar Evers actually, not The Ballad of Emmett Till; but does it really make a difference?). For which they did the next-best-thing to lynching him as well (see April 4).
You can hear Dylan's full account of Emmett Till's murder here
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