DATE=12-1-02

NUMBER=7-28332

TITLE=SPECIAL ENGLISH People in America #1902 - Julia Ward Howe

TYPE=Special English Feature

BYLINE=Shelley Gollust

DATELINE=Washington

CONTENT=(Inserts are NOT available from Special English branch.)

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

I'm Ray Freeman.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith with the Special English program, PEOPLE IN

AMERICA. Every week we tell about a person important in the

history of the United States.

Today, we tell about Julia Ward Howe. She wrote one of the great

songs of the American Civil War, the "Battle Hymn of the

Republic."

((MUSIC CUT #1:FIFE AND DRUMS))

VOICE ONE:

Marching soldiers ... no end to the lines of soldiers marching

across the land. They came from the northern states fighting to

keep the union together. And they came from the southern states

fighting for a separate Confederate government that would

protect their right to have slaves. In summer and winter, the

fighting continued. The sun burned like fire. The soldiers

marched on. The cold winter winds blew snow in their faces. The

soldiers marched on.

The United States was a nation cut in two by a bitter struggle

over slavery and a state's right to leave the Union. America's

Civil War lasted four years. It destroyed the land. And it

destroyed the young men of the nation.

VOICE TWO:

Many stories have been told about the soldiers of the Civil War.

They have told of the soldiers fear and terror. . .their great

and heroic acts. . .how they suffered and died. . .and how they

sang before and after battle. One song, more than any other,

caught the spirit of the Union soldiers of the North. The song

is the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Here is the first part of

the song, sung by Odetta:

((MUSIC CUT #2: Odetta "BATTLE HYMN"))

VOICE ONE:

The words are religious. They are like a hymn, a song of praise

to God. This is the story of the woman who wrote the song.

((MUSIC CUT #3: Ken Burns "BATTLE HYMN" long bridge))

VOICE TWO:

The place was Washington D.C. The year was Eighteen-Sixty-One.

It was a wet winter night. There were thousands of soldiers in

the city. The hospitals were full. The field of battle was just

across the Potomac River in the southern state of Virginia.

A woman lay asleep in her hotel room. She had had a long, hard

day. She had come to Washington to visit the Union troops. The

sight and sounds of the soldiers gave her no rest. Even in her

sleep she seemed to hear them. She heard their sad voices as

they sat beside their fires. She heard them singing. They sang

a marching song she knew. It was a song about John Brown, an

activist against slavery. The song told about how his body

turned to earth in the grave. It told about how his spirit lived

on.

VOICE ONE:

The woman's name was Julia Ward Howe. She was a writer and

social reformer. She was born in New York City in

Eighteen-Nineteen. Her father was a wealthy banker. Julia

married Samuel Gridley Howe. He was a reformer and teacher of

the blind. Julia and Samuel Howe moved to Boston. Missus Howe

raised five children. And she published several books of poetry.

VOICE TWO:

Julia Ward Howe and Samuel Gridley Howe were leaders in the

movement in America to end slavery. They published an

anti-slavery newspaper called the "Commonwealth."

Missus Howe had met John Brown. Like him, she was an

anti-slavery activist. She opposed those Americans who used

black people as slaves. Unlike him, she did not approve of using

violence to end slavery.

In Eighteen-Fifty-Nine, John Brown tried to start a revolt of

slaves. He led an attack on Harper's Ferry, a town in what was

then the state of Virginia. [Editor's note: That area did not

become the state of West Virginia until 1863.] The town had a

factory that made guns for the army. It also had a storage

center for military equipment. The attack on Harper's Ferry

failed. John Brown was put on trial for treason. He was found

guilty and was executed.

VOICE ONE:

In the northern states, John Brown became a hero. His story was

told through song. The song was most popular with soldiers. It

became the unofficial marching song of the Union Army.

Julia Ward Howe also liked to sing the song. She felt that the

music was beautiful, but the words about John Brown were not. So

she decided to write different words to the music.

Those words came to her that night as she lay in her hotel room

in Washington. She was awakened by her dreams of marching

soldiers.

VOICE TWO (WOMAN'S VOICE):

"I found to my surprise that the words were forming themselves in

my head. I lay still until the last line had completed itself in

my thoughts.

Then I quickly got out of bed. I thought I would forget the

words if I did not write them immediately. I looked for a piece

of paper and a pen. Then I began to write the lines of a poem:

'Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are

stored,

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword,

His truth is marching on.'

I wrote until I was finished. Then I lay down again and fell

asleep. I felt something important had happened to me."

VOICE ONE:

An American magazine, "The Atlantic Monthly," bought Missus

Howe's poem. She was paid four dollars. The magazine published

the poem in Eighteen-Sixty-Two. The poem became very popular.

It had just the right words for the great marching music. The

soldiers of the Union Army began to sing the words Julia Ward

Howe had written. It soon became their official marching song --

"The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

VOICE TWO:

Julia Ward Howe became famous. She was invited to the White

House to meet President Abraham Lincoln. After dinner at the

White House, the guests talked about the Civil War. They were

sad. The Union army had suffered many defeats. Then someone

began to sing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Missus Howe and

President Lincoln joined in the singing. There were tears in the

President's eyes. Here is the last part of the song, sung by the

Mormon Tabernacle Choir:

((MUSIC CUT# 4: Mormon Choir "BATTLE HYMN" ))

VOICE ONE:

After the North won the Civil War in Eighteen-Sixty-Five, Julia

Ward Howe became involved in other social reform movements. She

became a leader in the movement to gain equal rights for American

women, including the right to vote. She helped establish the New

England Woman's Club in Eighteen-Sixty-Eight. This organization

worked for equal rights for women in education and business. She

served as president of the group for more than thirty years.

VOICE TWO:

Julia Ward Howe also became involved in the movement for peace.

In Eighteen-Seventy, she issued an "Appeal to Womanhood

Throughout the World." This was a call for an international

conference of women to support the peaceful settlement of

conflicts. The next year she helped organize the American group

of the Woman's International Peace Association. She became

president of the group.

Julia Ward Howe continued to write books and make speeches about

the issues she felt were important. Through the years, thousands

of people came to hear her recite her most famous poem. She died

in Nineteen-Ten. She was ninety-one years old.

VOICE ONE :

The "Battle Hymn of the Republic" still is one of America's great

traditional songs. No one knows for sure who wrote the music.

But the song lives on. And so does the name of the woman who

made the music famous with her words: Julia Ward Howe.

(THEME)

VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. It

was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Ray Freeman. Join us again next week for another

PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.