American Philhellenism during the years of the 1821 Revolution

The statue «The Greek Slave Girl,», by American sculptor Hiram Powers stands out in the exhibition. Gennadius Library, on the subject of American Philhellenism and understanding intercultural relations Greece and America the 19th century, a century of revolutions.

It is a porcelain replica of the female sculpture, the first nude by an American sculptor, created in 1843, which was exhibited publicly, provoking reactions from American Puritans. It depicts a young Greek woman, naked and chained in an Eastern slave market.. It became famous in America because it was linked to the long-standing dispute over the issue of slavery in the US.

The exhibition, entitled «Brave and Free. American Philhellenes and the Glorious Struggle of the Greeks» Through rare archives, paintings, engravings, and philhellenic art objects, it explores and examines the relationships and connections between the two countries for more than 200 years.

It brings to life Boston's educated elite and the study of the modern Greek language by American academics, which would lead some to come to fight for the independence of Greece. It refers to the impact of humanitarian aid on the civilian Greek population that created the phenomenon, which the Americans called «Greek fever».

The philhellenic movement began in the US with the promotion by the great Hellenist, academic, and politician, Edward Everett, the appeal sent in March 1821 by Mavromichalis and the Messinian Senate to the American people. Everett was the first holder of the Greek chair at Harvard University.

«Moved by the Greek uprising against Ottoman rule, American philhellenes sparked public sentiment and sympathy for Greece, raised money and supplies to aid the Struggle, and pressured their political representatives to recognize Greek independence. However, due to the government's political neutrality established by the Monroe Doctrine, aid to Greece did not come from the state but from private individuals who supported the Greek Revolution by establishing philhellenic committees throughout the United States, which organized soirées, collected money, clothing, and food for the non-combatant Greek population,» explained Maria Georgopoulou, director of the Gennadius Library and curator of the exhibition, during a guided tour.,

In the exhibition, we follow the story of middle-class American volunteers who traveled from distant America to fight alongside the Greeks, such as young George Jarvis from New York, who came to Greece, dressed in a fustanella and joined a corps of Greek warriors who gave him the name «Captain Zervos».

The most famous American philhellene, Samuel Howe, a doctor from Boston and an opponent of slavery, he was an admirer of Lord Byron and Greek culture. He joined the Greek forces and from 1826 served as a doctor on the flagship of the Greek fleet, Kartéria. With his strong humanitarianism, Haw provided employment to Greeks in the construction of the port of Aegina and then envisioned a model settlement for 200 refugee families from Ayvalik, Chios, and Athens, which, however, was never built. He returned to Boston in 1831, became director of a school for the blind, and returned with his family when the uprising broke out in Crete in 1866 to offer assistance to Cretan refugees.

The exhibition also refers to Lord Byron, a beloved hero of Gennadius, as well as in his correspondence Adamantios Korais with the Thomas Jefferson, also from the collection of Ioannis Gennadius, which belongs to the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.

The exhibition «Brave and Free: American Philhellenes and the Glorious Struggle of the Greeks» at the Gennadius Library (54 Sweden Street, Ioannis Makriyannis Hall) will run until December 19.