the eye of Nova's mind

flinx relates a passage about tap dancing in the 1840s, to which I directed him to the film Bamboozled.

Then, at iMDb, I come to an article wherein Spike Lee, the director of the above, does in real life what he castigates in that very film.

As my friend Serita would say, shut the noise.

1800s were a strange time for Americans. Their country had just begun a generation ago.

Industrialization was something that the Founding Fathers hadn't taken into consideration when putting together the Constitution. It wasn't a concept that figured into the philosophies of free will. With industrialization came capitalism. Under capitalism, does free will actually exist (see advertising)?

The 1800s were the time of Victorian ideals. The double standard was in full force during this era. With our Puritan streak, this suited the culture very well.

Pirates flourished in the early part of the century, causing the nation to go to war.

The century contained "the Year Without a Summer" (1816).

Bison were nearly eradicated during this time of the American frontier.

Intentional communities sprang up everywhere. The second and third Great Awakenings occurred.

This was a time of slavery and Indian wars. The Gold rush. The railroads. Electricity.

The Civil War.

The controversy of the election of 1876. The failure of Reconstruction.

It was the century that forged us as a nation.