“They all laughed at Christopher Columbus/When he said the world was round…” So begins the lyrics of Ira Gershwin for brother George’s 1937 composition “They All Laughed.” The Gershwins wrote the song for the movie Shall We Dance, starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Frank Sinatra famously included the tune in his masterpiece Trilogy album, where he sings the closing lyrics “Who’s got the last laugh now?” with a knowing wink.
From Christopher Columbus to Frank Sinatra, it’s clear that Italians and Italian-Americans have had a tremendous impact on America. Over the next three weeks, we’ll focus on those names history books seem to have neglected.
Did you know Italian-Americans played a prominent role in the founding of America? For example, three of the first five American warships were named after Italians. These were Continue Reading “Declaration of (Italian) American Independence”
Liberty Or Death: Which Would You Choose? (And Why?)
The crowd bustles in St. John’s Church. No scheduled sermon today, though, but they would soon get one. It’s Thursday, March 23, 1775, day four of the Second Virginia Convention in Richmond, Virginia. The air wafts thick with rebellion. Tensions between Great Britain and its American colonies could not have been higher.
Just ten days back, on March 13, British authorities under New York’s Cadwallader Colden, Continue Reading “Liberty Or Death: Which Would You Choose? (And Why?)”