World War I

• Trump is unlikely to wind up in an orange jumpsuit, at least not on this indictment, and probably not before November 2024, in any case.
• Yet if he does, he would not be the first candidate to run for the White House from the Big House.
• In the election of 1920, Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist Party presidential candidate, polled nearly a million votes without ever hitting the campaign trail.
• By the time he was imprisoned for sedition, Eugene Victor Debs had enjoyed a lifetime of running afoul of government authority.

Representing American socialism

• For the next 30 years, Debs was the face of socialism in America.
• He ran for president four times, in 1900, 1904, 1908 and 1912, garnering around a million votes in the last cycle.
• In April 1917, when America joined World War I’s bloodbath in Europe, Debs became a fierce opponent of American involvement in what he saw as a death cult orchestrated by rapacious munitions manufacturers.
• One June 18, 1918, in an address in Canton, Ohio, he declared that American boys were “fit for something better than for cannon fodder.” In short order, he was arrested and convicted of violating the Sedition Act.

A ‘front cell’ campaign

• Yet Debs did not let incarceration keep his message from the voters.
• In a wry response to Harding’s “front porch” campaign style, in which the Republican candidate received visits from the front porch of his home in Marion, Ohio, the Socialist Party announced that its candidate would conduct a “front cell” campaign from Atlanta.
• The New York Times was aghast that a felon might canvass for votes from the motion picture screen.

Public opinion turns

• Debs was a distant third, but he had won 3.4% of the electorate – 913,693 votes.
• Debs’ personal best showing was in the presidential election of 1912, with 6% of the vote.
• But public opinion had turned emphatically in favor of the convict-candidate.
• He raised his hat in one hand, his cane in the other, and waved back at them.

• South African artist William Kentridge became world famous for his charcoal drawings and hand-drawn animated films, but his work continued to grow in scope and he began staging performances.
• The production was first performed in London in 2018; its South African premiere was delayed by three years because of the COVID pandemic.

How was the idea for the production hatched?

• It’s an old military structure 85 metres long – so the idea came for a processional piece using that length, connected to the military.
• And that brought us back to the idea of the First World War.

What did you find out about Africans in WW1?

• So the idea was to look at this hidden history of Africa in the First World War.
• And the Head & the Load is an attempt to note their actions and give recognition and record them.
• They were not inscribed in stone in the way that so many European names are, both in Europe and in the former colonies.

How do you achieve the combination of so many art forms?

• We used that letter as part of our text.
• And there are dances done in the north of South Africa in skirts, based on the kilts of Scottish soldiers.
• This mixture of African dance and military drilling is still performed today, a remnant of the war.
• So we used all these mediums to try to make a collage of experience for a viewer watching the play.

Where did the title come from?

• It implies that there is both the physical load on the shoulders and a historical load of history which is borne by people going through the world.
• And there is a psychic load – the sense of being ignored, of being silenced, of being invisible.

• CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America announced today that 23 cultural institutions have been named as recipients of the 2023 Bank of America Art Conservation Project .
• Since 2010, Bank of America's Art Conservation Project has supported the preservation of paintings, sculptures, and archeological and architectural pieces of critical importance to cultural heritage and the history of art.
• The Art Conservation Project is one demonstration of BofA's commitment to promoting cultural sustainability and making the arts more accessible and inclusive in communities.
• For a full list of museums receiving grants through the 2023 Bank of America Art Conservation Project, please view the 2023 Art Conservation Project brochure .

• During the two-day 2023 Conference on Texas at the Witte Museum , the 12th annual Texas Trailblazers Award Luncheon honored the Steves family for their history of philanthropy and community involvement.
• In 1919, Edward’s son Albert Steves Sr. then opened Steves Sash and Door Company and began manufacturing millwork in San Antonio, which was later managed by his grandson, Marshall Steves, Sr.
• In 1955, Marshall Steves Sr. made the decision to exclusively manufacture hollow core doors, which remains the core business of Steves & Sons today.
• “While entrepreneurism was passed on generation to generation, so was the need for public service,” said Edward G. Steves, CEO of Steves & Sons, at the Texas Trailblazers Award Luncheon.