CELEBRATING GARIBALDI "Eroe dei Due Mondi: Hero of Two
Worlds" In honor of the bicentennial of the birth of Giuseppe Garibaldi,
Father of a Unified Italy, Ted H. Jacobsen, Secretary of the New York City
Central Labor Council, Mason and philatelist, was inspired to design and print
a personalized United States Postal Service stamp to commemorate Garibaldi's birth.
The
stamp will be inaugurated on July 4 (the date of Garibaldi's birth in 1807) in the only city in North America
(Canada, United States, Mexico) to be named after this
charismatic soldier of liberty.
The
City of Garibaldi is in Oregon,
right on the Pacific
Coast. Garibaldi would
have been thrilled because he loved the sea. Born is Savoy Nice, in his early
years he worked on his father's boat
and later plied the seas delivering cargo to as far away as Russia. In his
early twenties, Giuseppe would escape with his life from Italy to Brazil
and Uruguay (each currently
has a city named Garibaldi), having participated in a failed insurrection
against the occupying Austrians in Northern Italy.
The
history of Giuseppe Garibaldi is both fascinating and complex: his life in
South America, his return to liberate the Two Sicilies
and unite them with the Kingdom of Italy and Victor Emanuel II, his sojourn on Staten Island after the death of his beloved Anita and
his return to help complete his vision for a United Italy.
In
association with the Italian Heritage & Culture Month Committee of New York City, the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
on Staten Island
and the Masonic Stamp Club of New York,
there will be a special stamp cancellation ceremony by the U.S. Postal Service
at the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
on Saturday, July 21, 2007, from 10 AM till noon during their wine and cheese
reception.
Immediately
following, Dr. Frank Alduino, professor of history at
Anne Arundel
Community College in Maryland, will deliver a lecture on
Garibaldi. For those desiring to attend on July 21, the Museum suggests a
donation of $5 per person. Garibaldi-Meucci Museum 420 Tompkins Avenue,
Staten Island (NYC) Tel: 718-442-1608 Fax:
718-442-8635
This
message was sent by: Italian American Museum,
28 W. 44th St.
17th Floor, New York,
NY 10036