February 20, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 15 trades, and founded a family. While living at Bell’s house, Brown headed a convention that chose a government of black and white abolitionists who pledged to destroy slavery once and for all. Bell introduced Brown to black men of valor without dependent families who would take part in the uprising. Despite some wavering among both blacks and whites, Brown came up with an “army” of 21 men. The group consisted of 16 white men, including his adult sons, and five black men. Frederick Douglass bowed out. He had a family to support. Bell was not part of the “army,” but donated money and never betrayed the cause. Harper’s Ferry was a spectacular fiasco, but one of Brown’s white supporters, John E. Cook, squealed to cheat the rope and everybody soon knew the names of Brown’s financial supporters -- including Douglass, who beat it for Canada and eventually for Britain, where slavery was seen as a brutal anachronism. Douglass would not be extradited. Bell went to California. He established himself in the San Francisco area as a builder and plasterer, continued to vocally advocate the end of slavery, and started to write poetry. Did he also become Olmstead’s guide? Let’s sift through the evidence. Olmstead never mentioned Bell’s first names. Bell may not have mentioned them, or Olmstead may have wanted to cover a man who, while not a target for the public at large, would have been a select target for a small band of slavery supporters. Bell’s take on what the Indians were saying can easily be read as a spoof of the beliefs of Southern churches of that era. His translation referred to a great white bird that came to take the dead to a meadow with clover that never dried out and lots of grasshoppers. This had nothing to do with the actual beliefs of California Indian tribes like the Miwok and the Maidu, which are mostly about mythical animal heroes and the prevention of incest, which all Indians hold in great dread. Bell clearly made it up. Bell was devout, but in a Romantic way like William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He resented the use of Christianity to justify slavery. In one of his poems, he described the process of creation from “a shapeless heterogeneous mass” as a metaphor for the awakening of human consciousness. The entire surviving collection of his poetry shows a wide vocabulary and rhyme schemes that work without descending into doggerel. He was a first-rate poet, but the elegance of his work went far beyond what most people expected black people to write. His poems have all but vanished, though some of them are excellent and all are touching reminders of the era. Bell died in 1902, following his wife and four of his seven children and shortly followed by most of his reputation as a poet, though his obscurity is due more to a change of tastes than a lack of talent. He may have left a more lasting monument. If James Madison Bell -- builder, plasterer, abolitionist, and resident of California in the 1860s -- was Bell, the cook and guide, he played an important role in helping to establish the National Park System. That is one more reason we should preserve the parks. They are both glorious and relevant to one of the key chapters in American history. Black History Month may be the right time to ask a pertinent question: Did the black poet who passed up a chance to take Harper’s Ferry with John Brown later help found the National Park System? “Revisionist” is sometimes used as a synonym for “bad” among people whose brains hurt when they try to use them. We are all expected to wrap the flag around our heads and believe John Wilkes Booth was a crazy actor who acted alone – four other conspirators were hanged -- and that one man with a junk rifle shot John F. Kennedy twice from two different directions. (Robert Kennedy’s son recently went public and said nobody in the Kennedy family believed the Warren Commission report and its lone gunman theory.) We are expected to believe that Pearl Harbor was a complete surprise even though Oahu was gridded with slit trenches and civilian air raid wardens had been deputized long before the attack. Intelligent people may enjoy the exercise of putting facts together and weighing evidence. They do not get many chances. Here is a good one. Frederick Law Olmstead, the man who designed Manhattan’s Central Park, Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, and a number of other public parks and college campuses, got his first look at Yosemite on a vacation with his wife and children, his English governess Miss Errington, his German nanny Meta, and family friends Mr. and Mrs. Willam Ashburner. The Olmstead-Ashburner party stopped off with white settlers to the region but the mainstay of the trip was “Bell,” a black man who served as cook, wrangler, and guide. He was generally indispensible. Bell was the first man to get out of his blankets, start the fire, and serve the party breakfast. More importantly, he helped keep everyone else from getting lost. Bell also talked to the Indians. Olmstead and Bell watched as the peaceful Indians -- winnowed down to mostly women and children by early sightseers who wanted to say they had shot one -- used soapweed to poison the fish that floated up and were captured in great numbers. When Olmstead wanted some fish, it was Bell who talked the Indians into trading for them. Bell also wryly translated what the Indians were saying for Olmstead’s benefit. Bell was undoubtedly the point man for the expedition that inspired Olmstead to urge that the Yosemite area be preserved from logging and ranching and kept natural. That suggestion resounded through the California legislature, and reached the Lincoln White House. Under Lincoln and other presidents, most notably Theodore Roosevelt, the present National Park system, the jewel of the continent, was launched. But who was Bell? On May 8, 1858, blacks and whites from the United States and Canada converged in Chatham, Canada, opposite Michigan. The stated purpose was to found a black Masonic lodge. The actual purpose was to organize John Brown’s attack on Harper’s Ferry and a slave insurrection in the South. Brown’s host was James Madison Bell, a free black man who had graduated from a black high school associated with Oberlin College, worked in the skilled A liberty Bell: An unknown hero Wyckoff Wanderings Mayor, elected officials to address Chamber Mayor Rudy Boonstra and members of the Wyckoff Township Committee will address the Wyckoff Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Feb. 28. The group will gather at 8 a.m. at the Blue Moon Café located at 327 Franklin Avenue, Wyckoff. A light breakfast will be served. Chamber members will have the opportunity to network and receive the latest information on the township, and Chamber events. RSVP to wyckoffchamber@gmail.com or call (201) 468-1999. Y hosts Membership Open House The Wyckoff Family YMCA will host a Membership Open House Saturday, March 2 through Friday, March 8. Prospective members may meet the staff and visit the Y’s fitness center, collegiate sized gym, two pools, and stateof-the-art child care center. The Y offers over 100 fitness classes per week, programs for children, before and after school care, themed birthday parties, performing arts, summer camp, and Spring Lake. Those who register for a new full membership during the Open House week will receive a $100 Y gift certificate. For more information, call (201) 891-2081 or visit www. wyckoffymca.org. Teens plan Coffee House The Y Teen Group of the Wyckoff Family YMCA will host a Coffee House on Friday, March 8 at the Y’s Lake House, 691 Wyckoff Avenue in Wyckoff. The event will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Teens are invited to sign up to perform music, read a poem, etc. The cost is $5 per person and the program is open to the public. For information, call Danielle Licari, at (201) 891-2081. Military Bridge Night set Eisenhower Middle School will host its annual Military Bridge Night on Feb. 28 at the school on Calvin Court in Wyckoff. The doors will open at 7 p.m. and a light dinner will be served. The event includes the card game and prize basket contests. The cost is $8 per person or $30 for a table of four. To purchase tickets or for more information, call Lora at (201) 410-3959, or visit www.wyckoffpto.org/eis. Celebrate Purim Temple Beth Rishon invites the community to a special Purim celebration on Saturday, Feb. 23. The evening will begin with a family Megillah reading at 6 p.m. and will include Purim songs with the teen and youth choirs, a costume parade, and a Purim dinner at 6:50 p.m. An adult Megillah reading will be held at 7:30 p.m. Dinner is $18 for adults, and $7 for children ages five through 12. The maximum cost for a family is $40. RSVP to the temple office by Feb. 21 at (201) 891-4466 or visit bethrishon.org for more information. Beth Rishon is located at 585 Russell Avenue in Wyckoff. Beefsteak Dinner to benefit Children’s Retreat The Eastern Christian Children’s Retreat will host its Annual Beefsteak Dinner & Special Auction on Tuesday, March 5 at the Brownstone in Paterson. The evening will begin at 6:30 p.m. and feature food, an auction, and prizes. The event will benefit the Eastern Christian Children’s Retreat, a non-profit organization providing residential programs and services for individuals with developmental disabilities. The retreat has facilities in Wyckoff, North Haledon, Hawthorne, and Midland Park. To attend the beefsteak, or to donate tickets, call (201) 848-8005 or visit info@eccretreat.org. Tickets are $60. Preschool holds registration Registration is under way for Wyckoff Christian Preschool and Kindergarten located at 485 Wyckoff Avenue in Wyckoff. The school offers programs for children age 2 1/2 to five, including enrichment for four- and five-year-olds, a half-day transitional kindergarten, full day and specialty classes, and before and after care. Visit wwwwyckoffchristianpreschool.org for details. Violence report (continued from page 10) There were no incidents of harassment, intimidation, or bullying, but there were two incidents that were reported and investigated. Those incidents were found not to meet the criteria for an HIB incident. During the entire 2011-12 school year, there were eight incidents of HIB and 42 incidents that were reported and investigated, but found not to meet the criteria for an HIB incident. As a result of these acts of violence, vandalism, and substance abuse cases, there were 12 out-of-school suspensions and eight in-school suspensions during the first data collection period of the 2012-13 school year. These violence and vandalism reports are required under the 1982 Public School Safety Law that was enacted by the New Jersey State Legislature in response to the problem of violence and vandalism in the New Jersey public schools. They are submitted to the commissioner of education who must submit a report to the education committees of the Senate and General Assembly detailing the extent of violence and vandalism in the public schools and making recommendations to alleviate those problems. F.J. MCMAHON