Reimagining Paul Revere's ride to address Trump-era threats
Longfellow, a staunch abolitionist, wrote the poem during the presidential campaign of 1860, perhaps the only period in American history more divided than our own. Abraham Lincoln won that election against Stephen Douglas and two other candidates
Now the group Writers for Democratic Action has reimagined Longfellow's poem, just in time for the 250th anniversary of the shot heard 'round the world. Beginning Saturday, professional actors and ordinary citizens alike will perform free staged readings of a new one-act play, '
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'I'm astounded by the power of reading it in light of our own moment,' said coauthor James Carroll, who wrote the script for 'Paul Revere Resists' with other WDA members. 'It's a perfect way to stamp the universe of Lexington and Concord with fresh meaning.'
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The play is intentionally bare-bones, with a small cast and no props or costumes, meant to be shared in living rooms, church halls, and community centers as a way to muster resolve against President Trump's escalating threats to democracy. A planned performance at
'One of the problems of our moment is that we lack the language to explain to ourselves and each other what we're experiencing with Donald Trump,' said Carroll, 'and lo and behold, the language is right there in the Declaration of Independence.'
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The performances are also meant to strike a blow for history, which Trump is doing his utmost to rewrite, threatening and defunding repositories of American memory from the Smithsonian Institution to the Museum of African American History
In New England, we refer to the celebrations of America's founding as Patriots Day. But what does it mean to be a patriot at a time when, as one character in the play puts it, 'it feels dangerous just to lift up basic American values'? The long unfurling of 250th anniversary celebrations leading to July 4, 2026, is a fine opportunity to reclaim patriotism from its more jingoistic partisans and reconnect it to the ideals of freedom, equality, and the rule of law upon which the nation was established.
Friday evening the bells at Old North Church
Renée Loth's column appears regularly in the Globe.
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