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photographs used in the creation of this project’s logo and graphics:
Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont, Courtesy of Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
Sacred Nine Project: The Mending Sampler
Lanah Sawyer and the cost of courage in Revolutionary America
Saturday, October 28, 2023, 5:30PM & 7:30 PM, Historic Person Hall, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Inspired by The Sewing Girl’s Tale, by John Wood Sweet
Conceived, Created, and Composed by C. Leonard Raybon
FULL VIDEO
SET 1: A TIME TO GET, AND A TIME TO LOSE (VIOLATION)
SET 2: A TIME TO KEEP SILENCE, AND A TIME TO SPEAK (EDUCATION)
SET 3: A TIME TO MOURN, AND A TIME TO DANCE (ASPIRATION)
SET 4: A TIME TO REND, AND A TIME TO SEW (RESTORATION)
The Author and his Work
Sacred Nine Project is excited to celebrate John Wood Sweet’s, The Sewing Girl’s Tale, with a curated vocal concert at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he is Professor of History.
So far this stellar writing has won the following:
Bancroft Prize
Gotham Book Prize
Langum Prize in American Legal History
New York City Book Award
Book of the Year Award-Journal of the American Revolution
Please click image above to learn more at Professor Sweet’s website.
“Cost of courage,” is Sweet’s turn of phrase. He writes:
As a young woman, Lanah Sawyer had a rare kind of courage. Only seventeen, a stepchild in a working family, she was easy to dismiss as a mere “sewing girl.” Yet, when an affluent gentleman showed an interest in her, she dared to image that he might really be interested in her. Violently, he dashed that dream—leaving her disoriented, distressed, and unmoored. Then, she gathered her courage and did what no one else in the nation’s biggest city had done in half a century: she charged a gentleman with rape. Then, as now, most survivors of sexual assaults by acquaintances don’t make any official complaint—and for good reason. But Lanah Sawyer refused to be shamed. She refused to be silenced. What followed was a harrowing ordeal—and a remarkable vindication. THE SEWING GIRL’S TALE is the story of this remarkable young woman’s search for justice, her determination to move beyond what had been done to her, to rebuild her life—to live with the courage of her conviction that she, too, was someone who mattered.
The Curated Vocal Concert of all original music
All of the music for this presentation is composed, arranged, or transcribed by Raybon, who is drawing on historical sources, early American music, and newly written poetry. One historical source is Report of the Trial of Henry Bedlow for Committing a Rape on Lanah Sawyer, New York, 1793, by William Wyche; this is a first-hand account of the trial. Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth (1791) by Susanna Rowson, containing a narrative not unlike the present account, is a further historical writing. Still another early text, The American Spelling Book (originally published in 1783) by Noah Webster, offers poetry and prose that might shed light on the kind of shame-and-gender-based education that a girl like Lanah would have received. A 1794 tune book, The Harmony of Maine (1794), compiled by Supply Belcher, offers inspiration from the Song of Songs, in which “the voice of my beloved” is seductive, and in our case, dangerous. Finally, Lanah’s story will incite brand new verse to honor her and her legacy.
(visit “performers and contributors” above)
The Performers
Eden Rosenbaum, soprano
Isabelle Kosempa, mezzo-soprano
Cameron Davis, tenor
Ethan Bunch, baritone
C. Leonard Raybon, baritone
Daniel Spiegel, piano
Contributors
John Wood Sweet, Narration Consultant and author of The Sewing Girl’s Tale
E. Katherine Hargrove, Apprentice Milliner and Mantua-Maker, Colonial Williamsburg