[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 41 (Thursday, March 17, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E525-E526]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING SHEVCHENKO AND ALDRIDGE
______
HON. MARCY KAPTUR
of ohio
in the house of representatives
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, March is a month when Ukrainians worldwide
pay tribute to Taras Shevchenko, whose monument here in Washington,
D.C. bears testament to his prescient writings, prophetic visions for
human dignity, and aspirations for the worth of each individual. It is
with deepest respect for his life after purchase out of serfdom, and
that of his friend Ira Aldridge, purchased out of slavery; that the
very idea of liberty took flame out of the repressive conditions Of
their forbears. Their lives deserve recognition and revelation, decade
after decade, so the world remembers and honors those whose paths
cleared the way for our own.
[From the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation Update, Mar. 8, 2011]
Honoring a Friendship Bonded in Defense of Human Rights From St.
Petersburg, Russia to Washington, DC
(By Robert A. McConnell)
While February is Black History Month, a month when
attention is given specifically to the contribution of Afro-
Americans to our country, our society, and culture, March is
the month that Ukrainians worldwide honor Taras Shevchenko.
For Ukrainian-Americans, both months are a time of reflection
on a very special and unique friendship between one of
Ukraine's greatest historical figures, Taras Shevchenko, and
a famously talented black American, Ira Aldridge.
Although both men died in the 1860s, one in Russia and the
other in Poland, and though both are little known to the
general public in America, both of their images are present
in the capital city of the United States. A mere two and a
half miles apart here in Washington DC stand monuments to
Taras Shevchenko and to Ira Aldridge. The first was born a
Ukrainian serf who was purchased out of bondage in order for
his immense talents to blossom; the second was born a Negro
in New York who, because of the color of his skin, had to
leave his country to find the full glory of his God-given
talent.
At the corner of 22nd and P streets in Northwest Washington
stands the figure of Taras Shevchenko, a monument to the man,
his writing, his profound commentaries on human dignity,
pleas of help for the plight of the downtrodden and his
aspirations for his country, struggling under tsarist
repression. Engraved in the granite is his hope for Ukraine:
``When shall we get our Washington, to promulgate his new and
righteous law?'' On the other side of the city stands The Ira
Aldridge Theatre on the Howard University campus, constructed
in memory of a great thespian talent and as a symbol of
challenges overcome, paths revealed for other talents to
follow.
Portraits of both men hang in that theater, portraits
painted by Taras Shevchenko and donated to Howard University
in 1967 from the archives of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts
and Sciences in the United States.
Born a serf in Ukraine, Shevchenko was destined for a
lifetime of servitude. Yet when his owner left Ukraine for
St. Petersburg, Russia, he took the young Shevchenko along.
In St. Petersburg, Shevchenko's artistic talents were
revealed. In 1838, the city's artistic circles succeeded
in raising 2,500 rubles to purchase Shevchenko's freedom.
Once free, he became a student at the Imperial Academy of
Arts and his artwork and poetic writing flourished. His
poems glorified Ukraine and demanded freedom and justice
for all oppressed nations and classes of people.
Shevchenko returned to Ukraine in 1845 to find great
injustices. His poems criticized the tsarist regime and
chided the aristocracy's oppression of the peasants. For
these expressions, he was arrested and deported from Ukraine
to exile in a remote part of Asian Russia, incarcerated in a
military penal facility and, by the decree of the Tsar,
denied writing and drawing materials. Despite the Tsar's
orders and the incarcerations terrible cost to his health,
Shevchenko secretly composed some of his most powerful works
while imprisoned and in political exile. Moreover, at the
same time, Shevchenko's Ukrainian and Russian friends,
including Count and Countess Fyodor Tolstoy, worked to secure
his freedom again. Finally, ten years after his arrest,
Shevchenko was released. Forbidden to return to Ukraine, he
returned to St. Petersburg, where he soon met the American
Ira Aldridge.
Although Aldridge had been born in New York, as his immense
talents became apparent, he found his opportunities limited
due to the significant discrimination against blacks. He
chose to emigrate to England in 1824 and began acting in
small London theatres. Receiving notice and praise, he was
soon performing in England's finest theatres and began to
tour outside London. By 1852, Aldridge, the first black to
act in white roles in Shakespeare's plays, left for his first
European tour. Receiving acclaim everywhere he traveled, he
returned to London a theatric hero.
In 1858, Aldridge accepted an invitation from the Russian
Imperial Theatre to perform in St. Petersburg. Shevchenko
attended the opening performance and the two men were
introduced.
There are numerous letters and notes commenting upon their
meeting and friendship. One of Tolstoy's daughters,
Katherine, served as an early translator between Aldridge and
Shevchenko and wrote about the experience and their
friendship. Shevchenko attended Aldridge's performances.
Aldridge visited Shevchenko's studio and posed for the
artist. They visited one another often and spent time in the
same social circles, one that included many artists,
performers, intellectuals.
Their friendship was unique since they had in common not
only the creativity of their
[[Page E526]]
personalities and their love of the arts, but their shared
experiences of social oppression and their dreams of a better
future for their people. Though free, famous, with powerful
friends, living in the world of Russian aristocracy, neither
seemed able to forget his past, the plight of his people.
Those who wrote about their friendship noted that they
often sang together. Aldridge greatly appreciated the
sorrowful and melodic Ukrainian songs that captured the
unfortunate plight of the people of Ukraine. Shevchenko, in
turn, loved the songs of the Negro South, no doubt to great
extent for the same reasons.
When Aldridge returned to England, he took with him a
portrait of Shevchenko by a Russian artist. Aldridge returned
to Russia several years later but by then Shevchenko had
passed away. Between 1861 and 1866, Aldridge made several
tours of the tsarist empire including three trips to Ukraine,
to Shevchenko's homeland, trips that had been denied to the
great poet, artist, and patriot. Ira Aldridge never returned
to the United States, however, he did live to know of
President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the end of
the Civil War.
Both of these men, historic giants in their artistic fields
and in their messages about the struggles of mankind for
dignity and the perseverance of individuals, died on foreign
soil far from their homelands. Aldridge's body remains in
Poland. Eventually, Shevchenko's body was returned to Ukraine
from Russia. Their unique friendship remains a story for the
ages; it is fitting that among the monuments to their lives
and contributions there are the two in Washington, DC, just
two and a half miles apart. A friendship that brought them
together thousands of miles from here, eventually finds them
in the capital of Aldridge's native land, respected and
honored, with Shevchenko's question still unanswered: when
will Ukraine get its ``new and righteous law?''
____________________