21 Matching Annotations
  1. Apr 2019
    1. It is more to the point that Kalakaua’s reign was, in a material sense, the golden age of Hawaiian histor

      This is an important economic context to note, because it establishes a certain legitimacy to Kalakaua in economic terms, but it is also important to consider what other consequences were such as sustainable polices. What specific changes exactly made things shift?

    1. l narrative. The 1860s and 1870s were a truly terrifying time for Yavapais, and the young boy's capture is one episode linked to a larger chain of events. Secon

      The way this is worded effectively and sensitively articulates the violence of the situation

    2. d, Montezuma did not have an "Indian awakening" later in life. He actively searched for his family from a young age, and went through many peaks and valleys in his quest to discov

      This insinuates that during his development, his search for his identity was important, not an afterthought.

    1. Federal Indian policy during the period from 1870 to 1900 marked a departure from earlier policies that were dominated by removal, treaties, reservations, and even war.

      What caused this departure? Was it just that this was the next phase? Previous violence had effectively advanced the agenda to this point to allow 'mopping up' and consolidating the gains that had been won?

    2. On February 8, 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act, named for its author, Senator Henry Dawes of Massachusetts.

      It might be a good idea to follow the link and read the Dawes act, just to get some perspective on what was the contents of this document. [http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=50&page=transcript)]

    1. The dismemberment of tribal land bases has created an enormous range of obstacles to economic development in tribal communities, including those within the Cherokee ation, and has squandered human potential and caused suffering on an immeasurable level.

      This poetic description of 'dismemberment' is quite graphic and evokes images of slaughter and mass graves such as at wounded-knee. The act of land-redistribution was one of violence and it resulted in destroyed lives and culture as well as somewhat 'indirectly,' the literal death of inhabitants from economic factors as well as increase in crime, violence, alcoholism... I need to take a break and go to work, my objectivity is slipping, and emotion is powerful, but not the best historical lens, especially in an academic setting.

    2. Allotment resulted in impoverishment and marginalization, and if desperation was reason to assimilate, then it sometimes caused that, too, although to a much smaller extent than its champions had predicted.

      It is the isolation from traditional social networks and economic systems such as Buffalo that accomplishes this. I just thought of how I will go to food-service work in an hour and administer 'Buffalo Sauce' and the thought and association made me sick. That people's livelihoods were destroyed so they would be replaced by making practically extinct a magnificent species. And now I use that word every work-day in the context of a pungent smelling, spicy, cowboy/country-western themed hot-sauce condiment.

    3. the federal govern-ment sought to compel American Indian people to accept Christianity, the English language, market-oriented agriculture conducted through nuclear family units, Anglo-American social organization, and, even-tually, American citizenship.

      Here the wall of separation between church and state is explicitly broken. The reason is apparent: the federal government seeks allies among a variety of institutions to aid in the ultimate elimination of native peoples, and total control of land and residents.

    4. t was this extended network of relationships and the obligations and hospitality associated with it that brought Lewis Sourjohn to the Chewey area, that account for John and Dora Wolfe's decisions, and that enabled annie to survive the loss of her husband and her farm without ever being destitute or homeless.

      Here is an effective form of collective resistance that allowed individuals such as Nannie to survive. Without this network, she very well may have perished in this harsh environment, no matter how independent she was. No person survives as an island, which is why Allotment policies seek to isolate and control Native peoples made dependent.

    1. To many Cherokees, the old Cherokee Female Seminary building that now stands on the campus of Northeastern State University in Tahlequah remains a symbol of adaptation and progress in a changing, and often inhospitable, world. To others, it remains a symbol of that inhospitable world.

      Both perspectives are authentic, and neither are mutually exclusive. This is a complex and problematic topic, perhaps it is best that it remains uncomfortable, unsettled, and unsettling, especially in an academic context.

    2. In light of the reverence that progressive tribal members felt for the Cherokee Female Seminary and considering the reason for its establishment, it is little wonder that the 211 girls who graduated from the seminary and, to a lesser extent, those who did not gradu-ate but used their seminary education to obtain degrees from other institutions were considered the creme de la creme of the Cherokee Nation.

      Elevation in social hierarchy becomes equated not with resistance or talent within a traditional Cherokee context, but in the context of white cooperation and submission, with real economic incentives for following the program. Within Cherokee society this restructures the social hierarchy, and alters fundamentally the character and beliefs of the new generation of leaders. This creates division and social upheaval within the community.

    3. Two Scenes in Indian Land," Na-Li de-scribes a "wild and desolate" estate of a Cherokee family, composed of "whooping, swarthy-looking boys" and plaited-haired women, all of whom "bear a striking resemblance to their rude and uncivilized hut."

      Here wildness and skin color are consistently connected, but also notice evidence of equating the state of the hut to the inhabitant, compared to the whitewashed houses mentioned in the lecture, with pine floors...

    4. Unsure whether the Cherokees could obtain a high level of civilization by themselves, he asserted that "intermarriage will accomplish the purpose quickly.

      The Cherokee identity is one that is meant to be eventually erased, so hypodescent is treated differently than that of African slaves. Blackness was considered a badge of slavery, so it was carefully portrayed as a contagious quality that one drop would grant an identity, so that it would persist despite intermixing and create a perpetual stock of potential slaves. This attitude persisted in the South even after slavery was abolished. The Cherokees were meant to eventually disappear, so in this case, whiteness was portrayed contagious in at least the sense it would 'erase' the Cherokee identity, if not enough to make them 'equal.'

    5. A Wreath of Chero-kee Rose Buds, girls complained in an editorial about the Townsend, Massachusetts, female seminary's paper, the Lesbian Wreath, which referred to the Cherokee girls as their /1 dusky sisters. "23 A popular practice of the Cherokee seminary's paper was to tell anecdotes and stories in which appearance, particularly blue eyes, featured promi-nently. For example, one story tells of the consequences that young "Kate M.11 faced after plagiarizing a poem for literature class. "Fun and abundance," student Lusette writes, "peeped from her blue eyes ... and the crimson blush stole upon her cheeks." In the same issue, author Inez writes about what her schoolmates might be doing in four years. One student is described as a /1 fair, gay, blue-eyed girl, 11 and another is a "fairylike creature with auburn hair.11

      Here the physical features between Anglo Americans and Cherokees are juxtaposed, and are tied to an essentialist view where the physical characteristics are ranked on a hierarchy that encompasses linked traits such as intelligence, morality, civilization, and spiritual purity. Having Cherokee students write material such as this promotes an internalization of racism, and a normalization of accepting their place within this hierarchy. Ostensibly there would be resistance to this, but resistance would be punished, and acceptance would be rewarded, leading 'clever' Cherokees to follow the least path of resistance and receive praise and be rewarded for submission, while the 'stubborn/backwards' Cherokees would 'fail to learn the truth' and be punished. This suggests an Orwellian dynamic of indoctrination and psychological manipulation.

    6. 68 Colonialism and Native Women was probably because girls of one family attended school together, which helped to alleviate homesickness. Some were even adopted into the "big happy seminary family, 11 a phrase used by a mixed-blood (one-thirty-second Cherokee blood) to refer to the upper echelons of the student hierarchy.16 Because of interruptions such as the Civil War, the destruction of the school by fire, smallpox epidemics, and alternate educational opportunities, not one student, not even a grad-uate (many of whom enrolled for more than ten semesters), remained in the seminary from first grade through graduation.17 Full-bloods who enrolled in the common schools usually learned to speak

      It is important to put into context that the real destruction of Native Peoples was far reaching, and that the Boarding School institution did not exist in a vacuum. The real tragedy was a multifaceted, expansive process of genocide, elimination, and replacement... not just allotments and re-education. Context matters to view the Boarding School institution as an agent of cultural violence.

    7. 4 With the National Council advocating white education, the traditionalists were continually pressured to adopt a different culture if they wanted to attend the seminary.

      Here is a good explicit example of how race and culture are tied together in 19th and early 20th century racial paradigms.

    8. a mixed-blood senior responded to the administration's concerned query "Full-blood girls to do Shakespeare? Impossible!" by saying, "You don't know [teachers] Miss Allen and Miss Minta Foreman!" implying that these instructors were indeed miracle workers.

      The internalization of white racism by mixed-blood students represents one of the major consequences of the divisive nature of the boarding school dynamic. In-group/out-group division as different categories are arranged in proximity to whiteness, creating conflict to promote white interests and gain allies in Native destruction and subjugation in the late-game/end-game strategy.

    9. I haven't got but 2 letters frame home and one frame you and I have writen 6 letters since I have been here and this is the 7 I aint rooming with no body yet here is the picture of the jail house.

      A sense of entrapment, definite negative feelings, and involuntary attendance. This is someone who HAS to be here, they don't want to be.

    10. The establishment of the Cherokee seminaries created a tremen-dous amount of pride among many Cherokees, but not all tribespeo-ple liked the idea of the expensive schools.

      This is an interesting way to phrase it. Did it create pride among many Cherokees, or just a select few? The narrative the federal government and the institution, and Indian Affairs would want to portray certainly suggests this, but is it wise to use this type of language today off hand, and is it historically accurate?

    11. Women such as Belle Cobb, Rachel Caroline Eaton, and Nannie Katherine Daniels went on to graduate from universities (Cobb earned her medical degree in 1892,

      These names may be useful to remember for researching primary history documents.

    12. -Qua-Tay, seminarian, 1855

      The seminarian perspective is one that can be viewed as problematic or controversial, because it is wrong to deny their experiences and their unique perspective of individuals benefiting from boarding schools, but it is even worse to deny the tragedy and the cultural destruction inflicted by this institution.