Showing posts tagged history
lastrealindians: Joint Press Release from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Tribe- Historic Reacquisition of Pe-Sla Sacred Site Was Signed Today View high resolution

lastrealindians:

Joint Press Release from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Tribe- Historic Reacquisition of Pe-Sla Sacred Site Was Signed Today

(Reblogged from lastrealindians)
bobbycaputo: Chinese Photojournalist Hid “Negatives” Under His Floor During the Cultural Revolution The New York Times has a fascinating interview with Li Zhensheng, a photojournalist who worked at a local newspaper in China during the Cultural Revolution. In addition to the “positive” propaganda photos he shot for his paper, he also captured “negative” photos that he kept hidden until decades later. Most events I went to there were positive pictures and negative pictures. Some slogans were actually not all that positive but as long the crowd’s mouths were open and fists pumping air — that looks positive in the photographs. And I’d leave some film for “negative,” “useless” pictures. We were given film each month according to a ratio: for every picture published, we earned eight frames. I would process all my own film. And I did all my own enlargements. […] I knew I had lots of “negative” frames, so I would quickly dry them and clip them off, to not let other people see them. The only fear I had was the others would complain that I was wasting public resources, shooting pictures that the newspaper couldn’t use — and I would leave the positive ones hanging to dry. I would put the “negative” negatives into brown envelopes in a secret compartment in my desk. In the spring of 1968, I sensed that I would be [searched] soon, I took batches of the negatives home every day after work. I sawed a hole in the parquet floor at home under desk and hid them there. Li says he spent a week sawing the hole in his floorboards slowly, bit by bit, while his wife kept watch at their window. His secret photo collection is now one of the best records we have of what actually occurred in China decades ago. A Panoramic View of China’s Cultural Revolution [NYTimes] View high resolution

bobbycaputo:

Chinese Photojournalist Hid “Negatives” Under His Floor During the Cultural Revolution

The New York Times has a fascinating interview with Li Zhensheng, a photojournalist who worked at a local newspaper in China during the Cultural Revolution. In addition to the “positive” propaganda photos he shot for his paper, he also captured “negative” photos that he kept hidden until decades later.

Most events I went to there were positive pictures and negative pictures. Some slogans were actually not all that positive but as long the crowd’s mouths were open and fists pumping air — that looks positive in the photographs. And I’d leave some film for “negative,” “useless” pictures. We were given film each month according to a ratio: for every picture published, we earned eight frames. I would process all my own film. And I did all my own enlargements.

[…] I knew I had lots of “negative” frames, so I would quickly dry them and clip them off, to not let other people see them. The only fear I had was the others would complain that I was wasting public resources, shooting pictures that the newspaper couldn’t use — and I would leave the positive ones hanging to dry.

I would put the “negative” negatives into brown envelopes in a secret compartment in my desk. In the spring of 1968, I sensed that I would be [searched] soon, I took batches of the negatives home every day after work. I sawed a hole in the parquet floor at home under desk and hid them there.

Li says he spent a week sawing the hole in his floorboards slowly, bit by bit, while his wife kept watch at their window. His secret photo collection is now one of the best records we have of what actually occurred in China decades ago.

A Panoramic View of China’s Cultural Revolution [NYTimes]

(Reblogged from beeftony)

Imagining Indians in the 25th Century: Paper Dolls, Time Travel, and a Millennium of First Nations History

(Reblogged from nitanahkohe)
“
I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail (via brashblacknonbeliever)
(Reblogged from nitanahkohe)
agirlandherpearls: “We would say to people,you know,you’ve been living here for 40 years,for 50 years.  Your street is not paved.  You have a dirt road.  You don’t have clean water.  If you want to change that,you must register and you must vote.  You can get someone else elected.  Come to a mass meeting,come next Monday.  The neighbors are coming.  Your Uncle is coming.  Your children are coming.  You should be there.  I tell people,we’re going to have a march for the right to vote.  Don’t be afraid.  You may get arrested but a lot of other people will be getting arrested with you.  And some people would be convinced,and some would not.”  John Lewis Waiting to vote in Alabama in 1965, after the Voting Rights Act was passed online.wsj.com

agirlandherpearls:

“We would say to people,you know,you’ve been living here for 40 years,for 50 years.  Your street is not paved.  You have a dirt road.  You don’t have clean water.  If you want to change that,you must register and you must vote.  You can get someone else elected.  Come to a mass meeting,come next Monday.  The neighbors are coming.  Your Uncle is coming.  Your children are coming.  You should be there.  I tell people,we’re going to have a march for the right to vote.  Don’t be afraid.  You may get arrested but a lot of other people will be getting arrested with you.  And some people would be convinced,and some would not.”  John Lewis

Waiting to vote in Alabama in 1965, after the Voting Rights Act was passed

online.wsj.com


(Reblogged from fyeahlilbit2point0)
doveilmiosoldi: blackmanonthemoon: This is the last day of the American Indian War and this is a picture of the Wounded Knee Massacre, those bodies are the Native Americans  “There was a woman with an infant in her arms who was killed as she almost touched the flag of truce … A mother was shot down with her infant; the child not knowing that its mother was dead was still nursing … The women as they were fleeing with their babies were killed together, shot right through … and after most all of them had been killed a cry was made that all those who were not killed or wounded should come forth and they would be safe. Little boys … came out of their places of refuge, and as soon as they came in sight a number of soldiers surrounded them and butchered them there.” - Wašíčuŋ Tȟašúŋke or American Horse of the Oglala Lakota tribe the Indian Wars did not end in 1890. without discounting the horrors of the massacre at Wounded Knee or the subsequent ramifications for US-NDN policy/violence on a national level, as someone who studies indigenous narratives on genocide and massacre, I can tell you that the above account is sickeningly not unique. for example, it’s really truly nauseating to see the unifying thread that is the methodologies of violence connecting Wounded Knee, Camp Grant, Sand Creek, Tuluwat, and other 19th century massacres…tell me why those methodologies were the same that were taught to School of the Americas-educated mercenaries sent to Central America? why they’re the same extrajudicial violence tactics used by US troops to torture Iraqis nearly beyond recognition (important to note that the US military has referred to Iraq as Indian Country)?  the Indian Wars did not end in 1890. smaller-scale massacres similar to Wounded Knee occurred officially thru the 1920s, though it’s arguable that genocide has been the defining characteristic of US policy towards Natives throughout the 20th & 21st centuries and though the methodology of murder may have changed, it’s hardly stopped. Native children were still being held as slaves well into the early 20th century, and they were stolen and enrolled in genocidal boarding schools thru the 1970s. the US gov’t’s initial testing of Agent Orange, nuclear bombs, and an array of toxic pesticides were all done on Native lands. sure, any history of Wounded Knee has to include the horrendous massacre in 1890, but it better also include the 122 years of violence and resistance (including the 1973 incident!) afterwards. the Indian Wars did not end in 1890. considering rates of sexual violence against Native women (34% in the US; not to mention the horrific stats on missing and murdered NDN women), Native teen suicide (3.5x higher than the US average), the vast environmental devastation taking place on Native lands (see: tar sands, mining, radiation testing, toxic waste disposal, water theft, etc), the day to day racism and corresponding cavalier treatment of murder of indigenous peoples, the continued destruction of sacred sites and denial of rights to religion, the refusal to recognize existing tribes and honor treaties, the continued threats to tribal sovereignty, the increasing violence to indigenous peoples along the US borders, and the oftentimes life-threatening conditions in the POW camps reservations Native communities have been relegated to, it’s obvious that the genocidal US gov’t is still fighting their part in the war. Natives, for their part, have similarly not abandoned the fight—the sheer strength and resistance within Native communities shows this to be true.  in the words of Leslie Marmon Silko: “Deep down the issue is simple: The so-called “Indian Wars” from the days of Sitting Bull and Red Cloud have never really ended in the Americas. The Indian people of southern Mexico, of Guatemala and those left in El Salvador, too, are still fighting for their lives and for their land against the “cavalry” patrols sent out by the governments of those lands. The Americas are Indian country, and the “Indian problem” is not about to go away.” (The Border Patrol State—see link in my free education tab) the Indian Wars did not end in 1890. the Indian Wars are an ongoing reality as long as Native peoples have to fight for survival.  View high resolution

doveilmiosoldi:

blackmanonthemoon:

This is the last day of the American Indian War and this is a picture of the Wounded Knee Massacre, those bodies are the Native Americans 

“There was a woman with an infant in her arms who was killed as she almost touched the flag of truce … A mother was shot down with her infant; the child not knowing that its mother was dead was still nursing … The women as they were fleeing with their babies were killed together, shot right through … and after most all of them had been killed a cry was made that all those who were not killed or wounded should come forth and they would be safe. Little boys … came out of their places of refuge, and as soon as they came in sight a number of soldiers surrounded them and butchered them there.” - Wašíčuŋ Tȟašúŋke or American Horse of the Oglala Lakota tribe

the Indian Wars did not end in 1890. without discounting the horrors of the massacre at Wounded Knee or the subsequent ramifications for US-NDN policy/violence on a national level, as someone who studies indigenous narratives on genocide and massacre, I can tell you that the above account is sickeningly not unique. for example, it’s really truly nauseating to see the unifying thread that is the methodologies of violence connecting Wounded Knee, Camp Grant, Sand Creek, Tuluwat, and other 19th century massacres…tell me why those methodologies were the same that were taught to School of the Americas-educated mercenaries sent to Central America? why they’re the same extrajudicial violence tactics used by US troops to torture Iraqis nearly beyond recognition (important to note that the US military has referred to Iraq as Indian Country)? 

the Indian Wars did not end in 1890. smaller-scale massacres similar to Wounded Knee occurred officially thru the 1920s, though it’s arguable that genocide has been the defining characteristic of US policy towards Natives throughout the 20th & 21st centuries and though the methodology of murder may have changed, it’s hardly stopped. Native children were still being held as slaves well into the early 20th century, and they were stolen and enrolled in genocidal boarding schools thru the 1970s. the US gov’t’s initial testing of Agent Orange, nuclear bombs, and an array of toxic pesticides were all done on Native lands. sure, any history of Wounded Knee has to include the horrendous massacre in 1890, but it better also include the 122 years of violence and resistance (including the 1973 incident!) afterwards.

the Indian Wars did not end in 1890. considering rates of sexual violence against Native women (34% in the US; not to mention the horrific stats on missing and murdered NDN women), Native teen suicide (3.5x higher than the US average), the vast environmental devastation taking place on Native lands (see: tar sands, mining, radiation testing, toxic waste disposal, water theft, etc), the day to day racism and corresponding cavalier treatment of murder of indigenous peoples, the continued destruction of sacred sites and denial of rights to religion, the refusal to recognize existing tribes and honor treaties, the continued threats to tribal sovereignty, the increasing violence to indigenous peoples along the US borders, and the oftentimes life-threatening conditions in the POW camps reservations Native communities have been relegated to, it’s obvious that the genocidal US gov’t is still fighting their part in the war. Natives, for their part, have similarly not abandoned the fight—the sheer strength and resistance within Native communities shows this to be true. 

in the words of Leslie Marmon Silko: “Deep down the issue is simple: The so-called “Indian Wars” from the days of Sitting Bull and Red Cloud have never really ended in the Americas. The Indian people of southern Mexico, of Guatemala and those left in El Salvador, too, are still fighting for their lives and for their land against the “cavalry” patrols sent out by the governments of those lands. The Americas are Indian country, and the “Indian problem” is not about to go away.” (The Border Patrol State—see link in my free education tab)

the Indian Wars did not end in 1890. the Indian Wars are an ongoing reality as long as Native peoples have to fight for survival. 

(Reblogged from nitanahkohe)
“

For years, I opened my 11th-grade U.S. history classes by asking students, “What’s the name of that guy they say discovered America?” A few students might object to the word “discover,” but they all knew the fellow I was talking about. “Christopher Columbus!” several called out in unison.

“Right. So who did he find when he came here?” I asked. Usually, a few students would say, “Indians,” but I asked them to be specific: “Which nationality? What are their names?”

Silence.

In more than 30 years of teaching U.S. history and guest-teaching in others’ classes, I’ve never had a single student say, “Taínos.” How do we explain that? We all know the name of the man who came here from Europe, but none of us knows the name of the people who were here first—and there were hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of them. Why haven’t you heard of them?

This ignorance is an artifact of historical silencing—rendering invisible the lives and stories of entire peoples.

[…] In an interview with Barbara Miner, included in Rethinking Columbus, Suzan Shown Harjo of the Morning Star Institute, who is Creek and Cheyenne, said: “As Native American peoples in this red quarter of Mother Earth, we have no reason to celebrate an invasion that caused the demise of so many of our people, and is still causing destruction today.” After all, Columbus did not merely “discover,” he took over. He kidnapped Taínos, enslaved them—“Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold,” Columbus wrote—and “punished” them by ordering that their hands be cut off or that they be chased down by vicious attack dogs, if they failed to deliver the quota of gold that Columbus demanded. One eyewitness accompanying Columbus wrote that it “did them great damage, for a dog is the equal of 10 men against the Indians.”

Corporate textbooks and children’s biographies of Columbus included none of this and were filled with misinformation and distortion. But the deeper problem was the subtext of the Columbus story: it’s OK for big nations to bully small nations, for white people to dominate people of color, to celebrate the colonialists with no attention paid to the perspectives of the colonized, to view history solely from the standpoint of the winners.

Bill Bigelow, Rethinking Columbus: Towards a True People’s History

(via fariyah)

(Reblogged from fourofthem)
booksofthought: picturesofwar: The man who saved the world: Stanislav Petrov was manning surveillance equipment for the Soviet Air Defense Forces when he noticed something strange on the screen.  Soon after, warning signals started flashing with the report of an incoming nuclear missile from the USA. Seeing only one missile, he figured it was a mistake, assuming Americans wouldn’t send only one missile if they wanted a nuclear war.   Soon thereafter, many more started appearing on the screen.  Nevertheless he trusted his instincts, and rather than contact his superiors he waited to see what would happen.  He waited past the perceived time on impact.  There was no damage - the warnings were due to a system malfunction. Had Petrov not defied protocol and contacted his superiors, a real retaliatory strike may very well have been fired in response - igniting nuclear war between the USA and Soviet Union. September 26, 1983 - 29 years ago today. The importance of this man’s singular act of disobedience saved billions of lives. Bravo, good sir. View high resolution

booksofthought:

picturesofwar:

The man who saved the world:

Stanislav Petrov was manning surveillance equipment for the Soviet Air Defense Forces when he noticed something strange on the screen.  Soon after, warning signals started flashing with the report of an incoming nuclear missile from the USA.

Seeing only one missile, he figured it was a mistake, assuming Americans wouldn’t send only one missile if they wanted a nuclear war.  

Soon thereafter, many more started appearing on the screen. 

Nevertheless he trusted his instincts, and rather than contact his superiors he waited to see what would happen.  He waited past the perceived time on impact.  There was no damage - the warnings were due to a system malfunction.

Had Petrov not defied protocol and contacted his superiors, a real retaliatory strike may very well have been fired in response - igniting nuclear war between the USA and Soviet Union.

September 26, 1983 - 29 years ago today.

The importance of this man’s singular act of disobedience saved billions of lives. Bravo, good sir.

(Reblogged from damnsmartblueboxes)
“
1763
End of seven years’ war with Pontiac. The first use of germ warfare takes place against the Anishinaabek. Lord Amherst arranged a meeting with the Anishinaabek in Detroit, Michigan. Many attended, and at the end of the meeting Lord Amherst gave all the Anishinaabe families a gift and instructed them not to open the gifts till they arrived in their communities. These gifts were blankets, but they were infected with smallpox. In Anishinaabe culture, a blanket represents love. Lord Amherst also learned a ceremony called a giveaway and used it against the Anishinaabe people. Many communities of Anishinaabe people died from this disease.
http://www.anishinaabemdaa.com/timeline.htm (via yknowwhatimsayin)
(Reblogged from lastrealindians)
zuky: msavignon: Disgrasian: “Meet The First Asian American Gold Medalist, 91 Year-Old Sammy Lee” The last time the Olympics were in London in 1948 was also the first time an Asian American won a gold medal in the Games. That distinction belongs to 91 year-old Dr. Samuel “Sammy” Lee, who was born in Fresno, CA and is of Korean descent. He won in diving, for those who are interested in such details. It’s worth noting because diving involves jumping into a swimming pool, and swimming pools, as we all know, have a history with racism in the US. From wikipedia: As a twelve-year-old in 1932, Lee dreamed of becoming a diver, but at the time Latinos, Asians and African-Americans were only allowed to use Fresno’s Brookside Pool on Wednesdays, on what was called “international day”: the day before the pool was scheduled to be drained and refilled with clean water. Because Lee needed a place to practice and could not regularly use the public pool, his coach dug a pit in his backyard and filled it with sand. Lee practiced by jumping into the pit. So this guy won an Olympic gold medal after learning to dive while jumping into a fucking sand pit in someone’s backyard because white people wouldn’t allow him to train in a regular swimming pool.

zuky:

msavignon:

Disgrasian: “Meet The First Asian American Gold Medalist, 91 Year-Old Sammy Lee”

The last time the Olympics were in London in 1948 was also the first time an Asian American won a gold medal in the Games. That distinction belongs to 91 year-old Dr. Samuel “Sammy” Lee, who was born in Fresno, CA and is of Korean descent.

He won in diving, for those who are interested in such details. It’s worth noting because diving involves jumping into a swimming pool, and swimming pools, as we all know, have a history with racism in the US. From wikipedia:

As a twelve-year-old in 1932, Lee dreamed of becoming a diver, but at the time Latinos, Asians and African-Americans were only allowed to use Fresno’s Brookside Pool on Wednesdays, on what was called “international day”: the day before the pool was scheduled to be drained and refilled with clean water. Because Lee needed a place to practice and could not regularly use the public pool, his coach dug a pit in his backyard and filled it with sand. Lee practiced by jumping into the pit.

So this guy won an Olympic gold medal after learning to dive while jumping into a fucking sand pit in someone’s backyard because white people wouldn’t allow him to train in a regular swimming pool.

(Reblogged from ushistoryminuswhiteguys)
todayinlaborhistory: Today in labor history, July 17, 1944:  An explosion while loading munitions onto a cargo vessel at the military depot at Port Chicago, California, kills 320 and injures nearly 400 sailors (mostly African-American enlisted men who were part of a segregated unit) and civilians.  Following the disaster, many of the surviving sailors refused to resume loading munitions, citing unsafe working conditions.  Fifty men were convicted of mutiny and received 15-year sentences.  It was the largest mass mutiny trial in U.S. history.  (Photo:  Freddie Meeks, one of the “Port Chicago 50.”) View high resolution

todayinlaborhistory:

Today in labor history, July 17, 1944:  An explosion while loading munitions onto a cargo vessel at the military depot at Port Chicago, California, kills 320 and injures nearly 400 sailors (mostly African-American enlisted men who were part of a segregated unit) and civilians.  Following the disaster, many of the surviving sailors refused to resume loading munitions, citing unsafe working conditions.  Fifty men were convicted of mutiny and received 15-year sentences.  It was the largest mass mutiny trial in U.S. history.  (Photo:  Freddie Meeks, one of the “Port Chicago 50.”)

(Reblogged from ushistoryminuswhiteguys)
lauramcphee: Independence, Algiers, July 2, 1962 (Marc Riboud) View high resolution

lauramcphee:

Independence, Algiers, July 2, 1962 (Marc Riboud)

(Reblogged from nitanahkohe)
coolchicksfromhistory: Patsy Mink (1927-2002) -The first woman of color in the US Congress -The first Asian American to run for president (1972 Democratic primaries) -Represented Hawaii for 12 terms -Authored Title IX -Served as Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs under Carter -As a student at the University of Nebraska, mobilized a coalition to end segregated student housing -Mother of social justice advocate Gwendolyn (Wendy) Mink View high resolution

coolchicksfromhistory:

Patsy Mink (1927-2002)

-The first woman of color in the US Congress

-The first Asian American to run for president (1972 Democratic primaries)

-Represented Hawaii for 12 terms

-Authored Title IX

-Served as Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs under Carter

-As a student at the University of Nebraska, mobilized a coalition to end segregated student housing

-Mother of social justice advocate Gwendolyn (Wendy) Mink

(Reblogged from lusilly)
“
You start out in 1954 by saying “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968, you can’t say “nigger” — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like “forced busing,” “states’ rights,” and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now that you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is that blacks get hurt worse than whites.

Lee Atwater, a head republican strategist, in an anonymous interview in 1981. He is admitting that republicans use coded-language to appeal to the racists in their base. Because, as he always said, “people vote their fears.”

Lee, who would eventually become the head of the Republican National Committee, helped Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush win their Presidential elections by teaching them to use overtly-racist tactics.

When the N-word became taboo, Republicans began referring to black people in less-direct ways, with terms like “welfare queens.” They learned how to say the N-word, without saying the N-word.

Sadly, this still continues today. As seen in Newt Gingrich’s claim that Obama is a “food stamp President” and Rick Santorum’s assertion that he doesn’t “want to make black people’s lives better by giving them someone else’s money.”

(via thesoapboxschtick)

(Reblogged from ushistoryminuswhiteguys)