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You probably know Thomas Jefferson's quote - the third president of the United States about Kościuszko:  "He is as pure a son of liberty, as I have ever known," (…),

...but do you remember the continuation: "and of that liberty which is to go to all, and not to the few or the rich alone."

301 Pine Street - this place was forgotten and neglected until the 1960s. Thanks to the efforts of the Polish community, especially Edward Pinkowski and Edward Piszek, who engaged their own funds, bought and renovated this building, and then, so that it could better serve the memory of the hero, they handed it over to the management of the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia in 1976 to create a museum in it . Well, it is - only that it is inaccessible, and the Kościuszko Mound Committee from Krakow deposited several vintage items there - not so that they would not be seen.

 

When the third anniversary of the fall of the Bastille was celebrated in 1792, the celebrations in Belfast began with a parade opened by dragoons carrying flags, as it was then called the Five Free Nations, i.e. Ireland, the United States, France, Poland and Great Britain, followed by a portrait of Benjamin Franklin. That's how Poles were seen once. Do we remember it?

 

In 1793, as described by Jerzy Łojek, Wojciech Mączyński and Józef Wodzicki, talking to Kościuszko in Leipzig, were to hear from him: “Our fault is that we are as unrestrained in premature praise as unrelenting in passionate condemnation. It is easy to say: he is a traitor, but it is difficult to be sure that this judgment is infallible. Everyone is shouting: interest and pride have united and combined against the Republic of Potocki, Branicki, Rzewuski - and I ask, who can conscientiously say that their connection and association was not influenced by the belief that the happiness and existence of Poland lies in the republican government? Finally, both the perpetrators of the Targowica rebellion and the victims seduced by them, the nation curses and curses them on their knees. This divides us into two camps. We must follow in the footsteps of Christ in relation to traitors, perhaps this will turn them to the path of virtue. The insane but well-meaning are worthy of pity, not contempt. We can have different opinions and still respect each other.”

Isn't that still relevant today?

 

Is there in our memory - Jean Lapierre a black, free man, Kosciuszko's adjutant, who voluntarily followed him to St. Petersburg and served him in Russian captivity? Then, after his release, he accompanied him on a winter trip to Stockholm, from where, equipped with letters of recommendation, he returned to Poland and, surrounded by the friendly care of the Zamoyski family, received a share in their property for his merits? Friends.

Would the knowledge that the first school for African Americans in the United States was founded with the money of Kosciuszko, who reproached the possession of slaves to Jefferson, the author of the words of the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...", made people lay flowers on his monuments rather than painting slogans "Black Lives Matter"?

Is there an image of Kościuszko with a waist-length braid in our imagination - that's how he was remembered at the age of about 30? 

And Kościuszko crocheting? A man of war, still.

Would we be able to say what was the difference between the Kosciuszko Revolution of 1794 (about which few people in the world know) from the French Revolution (about which many know)? And it was different in many ways. For instance by humanitarianism.

Do we remember about Berek Joselewicz's first Jewish military unit since biblical times, created at Kościuszko's request, who wrote about him: "...our guardian, Chief of State Tadeusz Kościuszko, truly a messenger of the Eternal..."?

Do we know that it was Kościuszko who was the first in the Western world to recognize women as a political force and to call on them to actively support the revolution?

Do we remember that upon the news of his death, all religions present in all four Polish-Lithuanian-Bialorusian-Ukrainian Commonwealths - Catholic, Orthodox, Judaic and Muslim, announced prayers in his intention?

I dream of a map showing the paths that Kościuszko traveled around the world, and for comparison, for example, Thomas Jefferson's, Benjamin Franklin's or Napoleon Bonaparte's. It would be really inspiring.

This above-average man was endowed with an extraordinary power to connect people and release their best qualities in them. He was able to do this even after death. It is enough to mention the stir caused by the construction of the Mound in Krakow or the patriotic emotions triggered by the celebrations of the centenary of his death in 1917 - actively suppressed by the partitioning powers, and considered by historians as one of the significant nation-building mechanisms on the eve of Poland's rebirth.

 

An excerpt from the book by the Pulitzer Prize winner - Alex Storożyński "Kościuszko. The Peasant Prince" (who, by the way, he assured me, supports the goals of the foundation): “In the fall of 1910, an African-American educator and former slave, Booker T. Washington, visited Krakow during a visit to Poland…

... Kościuszko lies in a crypt under the marble floor of the cathedral, he wrote in his memoirs. “When I looked at his tomb, I thought how small the world is and how strangely intertwined people's bonds are. I found myself in this strange country, farther than I had ever expected to travel in my life, and yet I was paying homage to the man to whom members of my own race owed one of the first schools opened to them in the United States. I laid roses on Kosciuszko's tomb in the name of my race."​

And today, due to lack of knowledge, black paint is smeared on Kosciuszko's monuments instead of flowers.

I managed to trace the fate (and even find descendants living in the USA) of Franciszek Zeltner - the son of the hosts with whom Kościuszko lived in Switzerland, being at the same time his teacher. A few months before his death, Kościuszko sent him to the Zamoyski family in Poland with letters of recommendation to make a career there. What was the impact of Kościuszko's contact with Zeltner that, upon hearing about the outbreak of the November Uprising in 1830, he drops everything and joins the insurgent army. He fights, is wounded, and after the fall of the Uprising, he returns to Switzerland with a letter praising his merits from General Rybiński - last Commander of Uprising, and after a dozen or so years, not being young anymore, he and his family move to the USA with the intention of offering their services in the upcoming war against slavery. When he dies in the press they write about him: "Kościuszko's friend", "Old Soldier of Struggle for Polish Independence". 

And this advices are from Kościuszko's letter to that young Zeltner when he was sent to Poland with letters of recommendation - timeless wisdom:

To ensure the recognition of your family, yourself, and my command, you should read the following words every day to remember them well, for your well-being depends on it:

Get up at four in the morning in the summer and at six in the winter. Let your first thought be to raise yourself up to the Supreme Being with a few minutes of prayer, and set to work at once with prudence and intelligence, whether it be for a duty prescribed to you with the strictest accuracy, or for perfecting in some knowledge which you should know in depth.
Avoid lying in all circumstances of life, be honest and always tell the truth. Never be idle, be modest, thrifty and even hard on yourself, but understanding towards others. Avoid excessive self-love and selfishness. Before you say or answer anything, think carefully and carefully, lest you miss the point or say something foolish. Never neglect to show gratitude in all circumstances to the one who seeks your happiness, anticipate his desires and wishes; be alert with the greatest attention and submission; always look for opportunities to prove yourself useful. Being a foreigner, you should redouble your efforts and efforts to gain worthily, merit and greater knowledge, trust and precedence over the local citizens. Keep the secret entrusted to you as sacred. In all your activities, be righteous, sincere and open, hiding nothing. In all discussions, do not argue, but seek the truth calmly and modestly.
Be polite and honest with everyone, kind and courteous in company, always humane and helping the unhappy as far as possible. Read books of instruction to enrich the mind or ennoble the heart. Never humiliate yourself by making acquaintances with evil people, make acquaintance only with people of good morals and worthy of respect. Finally, let your behavior be such that everyone will approve of it and that the one with whom you will be found blameless.