On the night of July 26, 2025 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Antifa vandals defaced the city’s monument to Mary Washington—mother of George Washington. The historic 1894 memorial was desecrated with a black spray-painted circled Ⓐ symbol of anarchism along with the word “Antifa.” The criminal misdeed was first reported by Washington Heritage Museums (WHM), a nonprofit citizens group dedicated to preserving…
After his January 20, 2025 inauguration, President Trump addressed the nation in a speech he delivered at Emancipation Hall in the US Capital Visitor Center. If you watched the oration you may have noticed the huge sculpture in the background—what does it portray? Allow me to share the details. Today, many think the statue depicts a Native American, that’s close…
New York City, May 6, 2024. In what they called a “Day of Rage,” pro-Palestinian agitators defaced two of New York City’s finest public sculptures, the107th Infantry Memorial and the William Tecumseh Sherman memorial, both located in New York’s Central Park. On that day anti-Israel militants gathered at Hunter College in New York City for a march meant to disrupt…
One night as an 11-year-old in 1965, I watched an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in the family living room—the CBS sitcom was produced in glorious black and white and ran from ‘61 to ‘66. I was an avid young fan even though I didn’t always understand the story lines, but it was the early ‘60s when “family…
On Dec. 13, 2023, during a ceremony attended by throngs of media reporters, the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in Washington, D.C. unveiled a nearly life-size oil painting of Oprah Winfrey. The painting was created by a 37-year-old Black artist from Chicago named Shawn Michael Warren. The newest painting to grace the National Portrait Gallery was commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution,…
While visiting Boston, Massachusetts in July, 2023, I visited the city’s Museum of Fine Art (MFA). Strolling through the museum’s Art of the Americas wing I happened upon the Artists of African Descent gallery. I was puzzled by an artwork I found there, an acrylic portrait painting created in the red, black, and green colors favored by black nationalists and…
This commentary is a somewhat unusual take on the timelessness of American folk music, with its focus being a young Virginian named Oliver Anthony, a former factory worker who became a farmer that lives off grid, but now hopes to make a living as a country folk singer. On Aug. 8, 2023, Anthony released his song Rich Men North Of…
One this day, June 17, 1775, American patriots fought the Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts against the Red Coat troops of the British Empire. The battle took place during the Siege of Boston. To mark that occasion, allow me to direct you to the website of the Museum of the American Revolution, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its special exhibition,…
