I’ll admit it: I’m obsessed with the Broadway musical Hamilton. I started listening about a week and a half ago on the way home from work, and I’m pretty sure I’ve listened to the soundtrack at least seven or eight or twelve times since then. Maybe more. Who knows? (Probably my Spotify account, but I’m going to pretend it doesn’t have a record [BUHDUMSHAH] of my mania).
So what does Hamilton have to do with writing and literacy? A lot, actually. Based on the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton, this musical documents how a poor man on a Caribbean island eventually became the first United States Secretary of the Treasury and the role writing played in that transition. Born poor and as a bastard, Alexander spent his young life in the West Indies with his mother until her death when he was around 13 years old. He went to work to support himself. When a hurricane went through and destroyed his livelihood, Alexander wrote a letter to his father who was in the American Colonies. He showed the letter to a local reverend, who had it published. People were so moved by the letter that the took up a collection to send Hamilton to the United States to study at one of the colleges there.
So basically, it was a college admissions essay.
Hamilton’s writing didn’t stop there. He wrote for George Washington during the revolution and he wrote 51 of the 85 Federalist Papers, a series of essays that help people interpret the United Constitution even today. He also helped create the United States Bank, which was one of the first steps toward our country being a single unit instead of a series of colonies/states. No big deal, right?
Recently, Alexander’s life has risen to public attention because of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical. The stage production follows Hamilton’s life through rap music. While this may seem like an odd genre of music to tell the story of a man who lived 200+ years ago, the creator explains his choice:“I got to the part [in the Ron Chernow Biography of Hamilton] where a hurricane destroys St. Croix, where Hamilton is living. And he writes a poem about the carnage and this poem gets him off the island. That is part and parcel with the hip-hop narrative: writing your way out of your circumstances, writing the future you want to see for yourself.”
Hamilton explores how powerful writing can be– how it can change someones fate or change an entire nation. To me, this musical reminds me how awesome literacy and writing can be.
For more fun details about Hamilton, here’s a great article: http://mentalfloss.com/article/71222/20-things-you-might-not-have-known-about-hamilton. The quote above is from this article.
Fellow musical theatre / Hamilton geek here. This show is incredible. We’ve explored in class how literacy can sometimes be considered unnecessary, but I liked your point about how one man’s literacy had an impact on an entire nation and it’s future generations. I hadn’t researched why the creators chose rap, but I found the quote you included to be so thought-provoking. I never thought to define hip-hop as he did, as a reliance upon written word to change one’s life, but considering how many artists today got their start from simply writing about their truth, the definition rings true. What a cool way to tie in theatre with class material!
Careful what you wish for! Reading and writing also got a young man by the name of T.S. Eliot through his dark days. Born in America he eventually moved to England. There in 1939 he wrote a piece called Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Andrew Lloyd Webber later used that book as the inspiration for Cats, the Tony Award winner for Best Musical in 1983 (and six other Tonys that year!). Can you as cats can begin with a “C”?
Not to mention a uniquely American experience of elitist literacy. Only one man in the world was provided with the tools necessary to read the golden plates hidden in a Palmyra, New York, hillside. Joseph Smith’s visit from the Angel Moroni started a religion that has spread across all of the populated continents. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has valued genealogy and encouraged members to keep detailed journals. Much of the church’s history is stored in those journals. The LDS faith spends billions annually on missionaries to bring a book to far corners. Yet, when I hear Book of Mormon it is the 2011 Tony winner for Best Musical that comes to mind and not the adventures of the Lamanites.
Hamilton is incredible, not only for the brilliant music but the way in which Hamilton’s rugged, ‘American’ story can still resonate with us today. I often wonder how Alexander Hamilton would’ve reacted if he could see how his legacy was eventually adapted into the contemporary American cultural sphere!!!