Mark Rothenberg, Author at Patchogue-Medford Library

TURNing Washington’s Spies from Dramatics Back into History: L.I. in the American Revolution

August 11, 2017 By Mark Rothenberg

TURN TV SERIES LOGO

Saturday, August 12th at 9 P.M. the final episode will air of the AMC dramatic series, TURN: Washington’s Spies – about Long Island’s own Culper Spy Ring, the United States’ first organized espionage ring, during the American Revolution. TURN gets its name from the word “turncoat,” which is another term for a traitor, and can also imply undercover operations. For many people on Long Island, around the country, and beyond its borders, news that Long Island has a history, much less a Revolutionary War spy ring operating at great personal risk behind British lines, came as a shock. The series is well-acted and directed, but the emphasis is largely on dramatics, too frequently at the expense of history, and of personal and family reputations. But, before the screenwriters’ view becomes too firmly embedded as what actually happened, or because it is likely to be so, it’s been time, over the past 4 years, to clear away some of the Ring Baloney.

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Martin Luther King in Context

January 12, 2017 By Mark Rothenberg

Image result for martin luther king .gov
I Have a Dream
Photo Courtesy U.S. National Park Service

We have published a short bibliography with some additional links, of works on Martin Luther King in Context: A Man Who Inspired and was Inspired by Others, Resented by Many, Yet Rarely Marched Alone

Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15-October 15, 2016

September 20, 2016 By Mark Rothenberg

We tend to forget that some of the earliest European settlers of the area that became the United States were of Hispanic origin. Here is something of the surprising range of cultural, food, and historic contributions to the U.S., celebrated during Hispanic Heritage Month.

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Women’s History Month, March 2016

March 1, 2016 By Mark Rothenberg

March is Women’s History Month. This link will take you to some general sites on U.S. women’s history. Then it goes on to some interesting people and shining achievements in Long Island women’s history. Here, you’ll find links and readings on women’s fight for recognition, liberty, and equality, resistance to and fulfillment of the promise of the American Dream.

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Black History Month, February 2016: Some Readings, Viewings, Listenings

January 29, 2016 By Mark Rothenberg

Here’s a document that I’ve compiled for Black History Month, 2016. You can find it here.

Go on an adventure into the rich history of the State, Long Island Region, and Local History of African Americans who lived labored, loved, invented, composed, played, contributed, fought, and died here. Here you’ll find topics raging from slavery, manumission (freedom papers), abolition, emancipation, the Underground Railroad, daily life, the struggle against denigration and segregation, and for civil rights, education, dignity, equality. Jupiter Hammon (America’s first black poet), Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Gerrit Smith, John Brown, Booker T. Washington, Samuel Bolton (the pickle king of Long Island), Lewis Lattimer, Hugh Mulzac, Martin Luther King, Jr., Louis Armstrong, Jr., Jackie Robinson, Whoopie Goldberg, all appear here, and are just the most visible part of the history of the State and Long Island. All have left signature impressions, whether living here, or just passing through. Take a look at the classified links for readings, videos, listenings, that follow, that can only begin to hint at the local African American experience and tremendous contributions to our locale, made from the roots in the contact and colonial eras to our own day.

Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15-October 15, 2015

September 22, 2015 By Mark Rothenberg

Reminders that the U.S. heritage is also an Hispanic one, came very recently, as the oldest city in the U.S., St. Augustine, Florida, celebrated its 450^th birthday, visited this past weekend by King Felipe of Spain, who was enthusiastically greeted there. Spanish conquistadores ranged over much of the American Southeast and Southwest, followed by monastic orders and settlers.

The web links that follow are not comprehensive, but trace a bit of Hispanic/Latino history, current-day political, social, cultural and moral issues, like immigration and naturalization, suffering and suffrage, many in today’s news, echoing in speeches and on the streets. But there are also asides on life, recipes and cuisine, art culture, music, the higher notes of celebration. Some are in Spanish, though most are in English. There are also links to some of the related books in our collections. And expect to find some surprises along the way.

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