DOCSLIB.ORG

Fort Dearborn—Conflict, Commemoration, Reconciliation

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Fort Dearborn—Conflict, Commemoration, Reconciliation Fort Dearborn—Conict, Commemoration, Reconciliation, and the Struggle over “Battle” vs. “Massacre” JOHN N. LOW Ohio State University, Newark The 200th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Dearborn in the city of Chicago was celebrated in August, 2012. There have, in fact, been four “battles” over the razing of the fort. The rst was the actual battle itself; the second was over how the settlers of Chicago collectively memorialized the event; and more recently there were struggles in 2009 and 2012 over how the encounter should be commemorated. The resulting conict over how the battle would be remembered reects the powerful and often contentious nature of memorialization. The details surrounding the circumstances and nature of the so-called “Fort Dearborn Massacre,” as it came to be known, appear to have been sub- stantially supported by the literature and histories being written in the late nineteenth century, including Mrs. John Kinzie’s Narrative of the Massacre at Chicago, August 15, 1812 and of preceding Events (1844), Wau-Bun, the Early Days in the Northwest (1873), Joseph Kirkland’s The Chicago Massacre of 1812 (1893), and Heroes and Heroines of the Fort Dearborn Massacre, A romantic and tragic history of Corporal John Simmons and his heroic wife, by N. Simmons (1896). The idea that the battle was a “mas- sacre” was effectively written in stone (okay, bronze) with a monument commissioned in 1893 by industrialist George Pullman. The (in)famous statue of Black Partridge saving a settler, which originally sat across from Pullman’s home, eventually ended up in a Chicago Park District warehouse. That statue came to represent the dominant narrative of the battle as one of “red savages” attacking helpless settlers. In 2007, a local neighborhood association took possession of a small parcel of land near the site of the battle with the intent of creating a green space. Although intending to install the statue in the park and name the lot “Black Partridge Park,” the neighbor- hood association ultimately collaborated with local American Indian groups, 211 212 JOHN N. LOW historians, and others in using the park as an opportunity for reconciliation by leaving the park statue-less and naming it “The Battle of Fort Dearborn Park.” On the 200th anniversary of the Battle, numerous editorials and letters in the local press debated whether or not Chicagoans should let go of their massacre lore. Even politicians weighed in, with the Chicago City Council passing a resolution marking the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Dearborn. The commemoration of the anniversary of the Battle of Fort Dearborn culminated an effort to reconsider and even reinscribe the history of “early Chicago.” ROUND ONE—THE 1812 BATTLE OF FORT DEARBORN The garrison of Fort Dearborn (built in 1803 at the mouth of the Chicago River) was evacuated on August 15, 1812. What or who provoked the hostilities of that day remains unclear, but just south of the fort, the eeing group of military personnel and non-combatants were attacked by Indians (primarily Potawatomi), and in the ensuing battle 28 regular soldiers and 14 civilians were killed. Thirty-eight soldiers and 13 civilians were cap- tured. Approximately 15 Indians are also believed to have died in the battle. Most of the captives were later delivered by the Indians to the British at Detroit. ROUND TWO—MEMORY, MEMORIAL, MONUMENT, AND COMMEMORATION Mikwéndek ‘What is remembered.’ (Potawatomi) Ni je ga je mikwéndek? ‘What was remembered?’ I yé i émikwéndek ‘That is what is remembered.’ Monuments are an opportunity to create a remembrance that is intended to inform the collective memory while marginalizing any counter-narrative (Halbwachs 1992:37). J. B. Jackson, a founder of critical landscape studies, wrote about monuments in his essay, “The Necessity for Ruins” (Jackson 1980:89–103). Monuments in the United States, according to Jackson, are often used as a teaching tool, civic in nature and purpose, which reminds us of some important event or individual that we are obliged to elevate and emulate. FORT DEARBORN 213 Memorials and monuments, as physical manifestations of public his- tory, appear often in the form of edices, obelisks, statues, and other objects of material culture and stand-in as a memory device recalling an entity, indi- vidual, or past event (Bederman 1995:19; Hass 1998:175; O’Brien 2010). The creator(s) of monuments hope to relieve the audience of the necessity of remembering or thinking for themselves. The makers hope the monument shapes “the History” as they wish it to be remembered. While monuments are most commonly thought of as structures, it is also possible to set aside PLACES to commemorate important peoples or events. For Pierre Nora, “sites of memory” are the xed, externalized locations of what was once an inter- nal socialized memory. According to Nora, History (with a capital H and as a national narrative) has the power not only to commemorate events and individuals but also to ossify remembrances (Nora 1989). Memory itself is a process by which some things are remembered, forgotten, imagined, and invented. The authority of memory is often insti- tutionalized in religious traditions, legends, songs, and literature; and our memories are stored in places of worship, museums, and archives, where they can then be reied, and reinterpreted for new purposes and a mul- titude of agendas. Rituals, myths, symbols, images, and practices are all a part of these ongoing engines of memory making and memorializing. Memory becomes “evidence” and we often compete for “who remembers best” (Schwartz 1982; Lipsitz 1990; Foucault 1991:59–60; Hall 1997; Stur- ken 1997; Crane 1997; Megill 1998; Stillman 2001). Collective memories are transferred from one person to another in order to make “remem- bering in common possible” (Connerton 2004). The power of remember- ing and forgetting is of particular importance since it is partly through the collective construction of the past that communal identities emerge ( Taborsky 1990). Collective memory is both metaphoric and legitimizing, and often enshrines a shared past and a national/group identity (Young 1993:7). Most of what we know about the Battle of Fort Dearborn is drawn upon the (often self-serving) accounts of white survivors and family histo- ries. The only written account of the battle from an Indian perspective comes from Simon Pokagon. A Potawatomi Indian, he recounted 60 years after the conict some of the stories his elders who had participated in the Battle had told him. His version of the events of the Battle emphasizes provocations by the United States as the cause of the confrontation (Pokagon 1899; Keating 214 JOHN N. LOW 2011). However, his memories of the accounts of his elders involved in the Battle were largely ignored as the collective memory of settler Chicago preferred to remember and commemorate the Battle of Fort Dearborn as a massacre of helpless white innocents by red savages. While later historians would attempt to complicate this simple storyline, the collective memory of “The Fort Dearborn Massacre” seemed secure (Kinzie 1844; Kinzie 1856; Andreas 1884; Kirkland 1892:111–112; Helm 1912; Quaife 1913; Quaife 1915; Quaife 1933; Barnhart 1945; Williams 1953). There are no shortages of monuments to Fort Dearborn.1 However, as noted above, the most famous memorial of the Fort Dearborn battle was created by Carl Rohl-Smith in 1893. His sculpture portrays the rescue of Margaret Helm from the tomahawk of an anonymous Indian by Potawatomi Chief Black Partridge (Gridley 1966:101). Commissioned by the famous “Captain of Industry” G. W. Pullman of Pullman Railway Car wealth, it was erected in front of his mansion at 18th St. and Prairie Avenue in Chi- cago near the site of the battle. Titled “The Fort Dearborn Massacre or the Pottawatomie Rescue,” the plaque at the front base of Rohl-Smith’s work describes the scene. Black Partridge, the Pottawattomie chief, saving Mrs. Helm from death by . tomahawk. At the back of the group Dr. Van Voorhees, the post surgeon (meets) his death . an Indian . thrusting a spear through his breast (Chicago Daily Tribune 1892). The design was inspired by Juliette Magill Kinzie’s problematic, but popu- lar, family history accounts of the attack of the Fort Dearborn evacuees (Kinzie 1856:16). It remains the most well-known “historical” representation of the events on August 15, 1812. 1. Originally located at the intersection of what is now Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, in Chicago, the fort’s outline is embedded in the sidewalk. The entrance to the London Guarantee Building at 360 North Michigan Avenue has a brass bas-relief of the fort above its doorway. The fort was reconstructed for Chicago’s 1933 Century of Progress Exposition. On the southeastern bridge keeper’s house of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, the battle is commemorated with another bas-relief by Henry Hering titled Defense. The location of the fort was designated a Chicago Landmark in 1971 and Chicago’s city ag contains four red stars on a eld of blue and white—the rst star is in remembrance of Fort Dearborn. Figure 1. “Black Partridge Saving Mrs. Helm,” a.k.a. “The Fort Dearborn Massacre Monument” (Postcard from the personal collection of the author) 216 JOHN N. LOW The statue, a grouping of six gures: two warriors attacking a white woman and man while a white infant reaches out helplessly, is typical of the “red savage” versus “good Indian” trope of the time and ignores the lack of American complicity in the Battle. As with most of the literature of this era, Indians are bifurcated into either noble or ignoble. Typical of the dominant narrative of the battle are the remarks of early twentieth-century historian Milo M.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Fort Dearborn INSTRUCTOR NOTE 2 Ask Students to Locate the First Star on the Chicago Flag
    MMyy ChicagoCChicagoChhiiccaaggoo Fort Dearborn INSTRUCTOR NOTE 2 Ask students to locate the first star on the Chicago flag. Remind stu- dents that this star represents Fort Dearborn. In 1803, the United States built a fort near what is today the Chicago River. One of the people who lived at the fort was Rebecca Heald, the wife of the captain of Fort Dearborn, Nathaniel Heald. This historical fiction narrative is told in her voice. Prior to reading the narrative, review the following vocabulary words with students. Vocabulary allies—groups of people who fight on the same side during a war cede—to yield or grant, typically by treaty explorers—people who travel for adventure or to discover new things settler—someone who moves to a new area and lives there wealthy—rich merchant—someone who buys and sells things established—started mill—a building where grain is turned into flour trading post—an area where people meet to buy, sell, and trade things port—a place where boats come to load and unload things fort—a trading post protected by soldiers evacuate—leave abandoned—left empty mementos—small objects that are important to a person and remind them of past events extraordinary—special 10 2. My CChicagohicago Narrative grounds, a garden and stables, and even a efore I was married, my name was shop where firearms were made and repaired. Rebecca Wells. As a young girl, I Bknew very little about the area that became Chicago. Little did I know that it would be my future home as a newly mar- ried woman.
    [Show full text]
  • Hood by Hood: Discovering Chicago's Neighborhoods
    Hood by Hood: Discovering Chicago’s Neighborhoods Explore the cultural richness of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods through Hood by Hood: Discovering Chicago’s Neighborhoods in this weekly challenge! Each week explore the history of Chicago’s neighborhoods and the challenges migrants, immigrants, and refugees faced in the city of Chicago. Explore the choices these communities made and the changes they made to the city. Each challenge comes with a short article on the neighborhood history, a visual activity, a read-along audio, a short video, and a Chicago neighborhood star activity. Every week, a new challenge will be posted. The resources for this challenge come from our very own Chicago Literacies Program curriculum with CPS schools. You can read more about the program here https://www.chicagohistory.org/education/chiliteracies/. Introduction Chicago is the third-largest city in the United States. The city is made up of more than 200 neighborhoods and 77 community areas. The boundaries of some neighborhoods and communities are part of a long debate. Chicago neighborhoods and communities are grouped into 3 different areas or sides. The Southside, Northside, and Westside are used to divide the city of Chicago. There is no east side because lake Michigan is east of the city. These three sides surround the city’s downtown area, or the Loop, and have been home to different groups of people. The Southside The Southside of Chicago is geographically the largest of all the sides. Some of the neighborhoods that are part of the Southside include Back of the Yards, Bridgeport, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Beverly, Mount Greenwood and many more.
    [Show full text]
  • History of Chicago's Alleys
    Living History of Illinois and Chicago® Living History of Illinois and Chicago® – Facebook Group. Digital Research Library of Illinois History® Living History of Illinois Gazette - The Free Daily Illinois Newspaper. Illinois History Store® – Vintage Illinois and Chicago logo products. The History of Chicago's Alleys. Chicago is the alley capital of the country, with more than 1,900 miles of them within its borders. Quintessential expressions of nineteenth-century American urbanity, alleys have been part of Chicago's physical fabric since the beginning. Eighteen feet in width, they graced all 58 blocks of the Illinois & Michigan Canal commissioners' original town plat in 1830, providing rear service access to property facing the 80-foot-wide main streets. Originally Chicago alleys were unpaved, most had no drainage or connection to the sewer system, leaving rainwater to simply drain through the gravel or cinder surfacing. Some heavily used alleys were paved with Belgian wood blocks. Before Belgian block became common, there were many different pavement methods with wildly varying 1 Living History of Illinois and Chicago® Living History of Illinois and Chicago® – Facebook Group. Digital Research Library of Illinois History® Living History of Illinois Gazette - The Free Daily Illinois Newspaper. Illinois History Store® – Vintage Illinois and Chicago logo products. advantages and disadvantages. Because it was so cheap wood block was one of the favored early methods. Chicago street bricks were also used and then alleys were paved over with concrete or asphalt paving. But private platting soon produced a few blocks without alleys, mostly in the Near North Side's early mansion district or in the haphazardly laid-out industrial workingmen's neighborhoods on the Near South Side.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of the City of Chicago Flag
    7984 S. South Chicago Ave. - Chicago, IL 60616 Ph: 773-768-8076 Fx: 773-768-3138 www.wgnflag.com The History of the City of Chicago Flag In 1915, Alderman James A Kearns proposed to the city council that Chicago should have a flag. Council approved the proposal and established the Chicago Flag Commission to consider designs for the flag. A contest was held and a prize offered for the winning design. The competition was won by Mr. Wallace Rice, author and editor, who had been interested in flags since his boyhood. It took Mr. Rice no less than six weeks to find a suitable combination of color, form, and symbolism. Mr. Rice’s design was approved by the city council in the summer of 1917. Except for the addition of two new stars—one in 1933 commemorating “the Century of Progress” and one in 1939 commemorating Fort Dearborn—the flag remains unchanged to this day. In explaining some of the symbolism of his flag design, Mr. Rice says: It is white, the composite of all colors, because its population is a composite of all nations, dwelling here in peace. The white is divided into three parts—the uppermost signifying the north side, the larger middle area the great west side with an area and population almost exceeding that of the other two sides, and the lowermost, the south side. The two stripes of blue signify, primarily, Lake Michigan and the north Chicago River above, bounding the north side and south branch of the river and the great canal below.
    [Show full text]
  • Immigration and Restaurants in Chicago During the Era of Chinese Exclusion, 1893-1933
    University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations Summer 2019 Exclusive Dining: Immigration and Restaurants in Chicago during the Era of Chinese Exclusion, 1893-1933 Samuel C. King Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Recommended Citation King, S. C.(2019). Exclusive Dining: Immigration and Restaurants in Chicago during the Era of Chinese Exclusion, 1893-1933. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/5418 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Exclusive Dining: Immigration and Restaurants in Chicago during the Era of Chinese Exclusion, 1893-1933 by Samuel C. King Bachelor of Arts New York University, 2012 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2019 Accepted by: Lauren Sklaroff, Major Professor Mark Smith, Committee Member David S. Shields, Committee Member Erica J. Peters, Committee Member Yulian Wu, Committee Member Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Abstract The central aim of this project is to describe and explicate the process by which the status of Chinese restaurants in the United States underwent a dramatic and complete reversal in American consumer culture between the 1890s and the 1930s. In pursuit of this aim, this research demonstrates the connection that historically existed between restaurants, race, immigration, and foreign affairs during the Chinese Exclusion era.
    [Show full text]
  • Reavis High School Curriculum Snapshot/Cover Page for History of Chicago Unit 1: the Physical Setting Unit 2: City on the Make
    Reavis High School Curriculum Snapshot/Cover Page for History of Chicago Unit 1: The Physical Setting Chicago's geographic and geological characteristics will be taught in this unit. Students will gain an understanding of 10 how the area's physical characteristics were formed. The evolution of Chicago and the metropolitan area will also Days be discussed. Other topics covered will be Chicago's grid system and how Chicago compares in size to other metropolitan areas in the United States. Unit 2: City on the Make Students will examine Chicago as the crossroads of economic and cultural exchange from prehistoric time to the present. Students will understand how Native 15 Americans, European explorers, and early Americans Days developed Chicago into a hub of economic and cultural activity. Areas of study will include pre-1871, the I &M Canal, development of the railroad, the Chicago Stockyards, and current economic forces. Unit 3: City in Crisis Students will study how conflicting social, economic, and 15 political forces created disorder and forced changes in the Chicago area. Topics included in this unit will be The Days Chicago Fire, The Haymarket Affair, Al Capone and Prohibition, and the 1968 Democratic Convention. Unit 4: Ethnic Chicago Students will gain an overview of how Chicago's communities have developed over ethnic and racial lines. Students will study past and present community 10 settlement patterns and understand forces that have Days caused changes in these patterns. Other topics of study will include the 1919 and 1968 Race Riots, Jane Addams, and the development of the Reavis community. Unit 5: Unique Chicago Students will explore institutions and personalities that are uniquely Chicago.
    [Show full text]
  • 2 History of Chicago
    KATEDRA ANGLISTIKY A AMERIKANISTIKY FILOZOFICKÁ FAKULTA UNIVERZITA PALACKÉHO V OLOMOUCI THE EMIGRATION OF CZECHS TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Kateřina Entlerová Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Jiří Flajšar, Ph.D. Olomouc 2012 Prohlašuji, že jsem diplomovou práci vypracovala samostatně a uvedla v ní předepsaným způsobem všechnu použitou literaturu. V Olomouci dne ………………… Podpis ………………… I would like to express my thanks to my supervisor, Mgr. Jiří Flajšar, Ph.D. for all his help, valuable advice and useful suggestions given while writing this bachelor thesis. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 1 2 CHICAGO ................................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Chicago Historical Timeline .................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Population ................................................................................................................................ 8 2.3 Etymology ................................................................................................................................ 9 2.4 Chicago aka Windy City .......................................................................................................... 9 3 HISTORY OF THE CZECH EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES ...................... 11 3.1 Beginning of the Emigration until WWI ..............................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Monastery of the Holy Cross (Formerly Immaculate Conception Parish Church)
    Preliminary Summary of Information Submitted to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks In June 2021 Monastery of the Holy Cross (Formerly Immaculate Conception Parish Church) 3101-3111 S. Aberdeen Street CITY OF CHICAGO Lori E. Lightfoot, Mayor Department of Planning and Development Maurice D. Cox, Commissioner The Commission on Chicago Landmarks, whose nine members are appointed by the Mayor and City Council, was established in 1968 by city ordinance. The Commission is responsible for recommending to the City Council which individual buildings, sites, objects, or districts should be designated as Chicago Landmarks, which protects them by law. The landmark designation process begins with a staff study and a preliminary summary of information related to the potential designation criteria. The next step is a preliminary vote by the landmarks commission as to whether the proposed landmark is worthy of consideration. This vote not only initiates the formal designation process, but it places the review of city permits for the property under the jurisdiction of the Commission until a final landmark recommendation is acted on by the City Council. This Landmark Designation Report is subject to possible revision and amendment during the designation process. Only language contained within the designation ordinance adopted by the City Council should be regarded as final. CONTENTS The Bridgeport Community Area 1 Location Map 2 Parish History of Immaculate Conception and the Church Early Parish History 4 Construction of the Church 5 Later History 6 Monastery of the Holy Cross 7 Building Architecture 8 The Gothic Revival Story 14 Architect of Immaculate Conception Hermann J. Gaul 15 Criteria for Designation 20 Significant Historical and Architectural Features 21 Bibliography 22 Acknowledgments 25 Monastery of the Holy Cross (Formerly Immaculate Conception Parish Church) 3101-3111 S.
    [Show full text]
  • Property Rights in Reclaimed Land and the Battle for Streeterville
    Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive Faculty Scholarship Faculty Publications 2013 Contested Shore: Property Rights in Reclaimed Land and the Battle for Streeterville Joseph D. Kearney Thomas W. Merrill Columbia Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Environmental Law Commons, and the Property Law and Real Estate Commons Recommended Citation Joseph D. Kearney & Thomas W. Merrill, Contested Shore: Property Rights in Reclaimed Land and the Battle for Streeterville, 107 NW. U. L. REV. 1057 (2013). Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/383 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Scholarship Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholarship Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Copyright 2013 by Northwestern University School of Law Printed in U.S.A. Northwestern University Law Review Vol. 107, No. 3 Articles CONTESTED SHORE: PROPERTY RIGHTS IN RECLAIMED LAND AND THE BATTLE FOR STREETERVILLE Joseph D. Kearney & Thomas W. Merrill ABSTRACT-Land reclaimed from navigable waters is a resource uniquely susceptible to conflict. The multiple reasons for this include traditional hostility to interference with navigable waterways and the weakness of rights in submerged land. In Illinois, title to land reclaimed from Lake Michigan was further clouded by a shift in judicial understanding in the late nineteenth century about who owned the submerged land, starting with an assumption of private ownership but eventually embracing state ownership. The potential for such legal uncertainty to produce conflict is vividly illustrated by the history of the area of Chicago known as Streeterville, the area of reclaimed land along Lake Michigan north of the Chicago River and east of Michigan Avenue.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Chicago
    Prairie Pages Vol. 4 # 2 Education Services Illinois Historic Preservation Agency Early Chicago Glossary Fort Dearborn Massacre massacre—the After the Revolutionary War, the new federal government violent killing of a decided that Illinois needed protection from the British. Even number of people though Great Britain had lost the war, a treaty in 1783 allowed the British to continue trading for furs with Native Americans in treaty—an agree- Illinois. Having a former enemy still in business on American ment between two soil was a strong reason to build a fort in this region. In 1803, groups or countries Fort Dearborn was built at the mouth of the Chicago River. trading post—a place Before the Revolutionary War, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable had where goods could built a trading post in the same area. Du Sable had married a be exchanged; for Potawatomie woman who helped him run the trading post, a example furs were mill, and a farm. He had to close the trading post during the traded for guns war, but he and his wife returned when the war ended and stayed until 1800. The new trading post operator was John mill—a building provided with ma- chinery for grinding grain into flour DuSable trading post at the head of the Chicago portage. Courtesy Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. Kinzie. From 1803 until 1812, life at the fort and the nearby settlement was fairly quiet. Things changed in August 1812. The British captured a nearby fort, and that frightened the settlers at Fort Dearborn. The soldiers stationed there were ordered to leave the strongly built fort and take the settlers to Fort Wayne, in Indiana.
    [Show full text]
  • The Humble Beginnings, Glorious Peak, and Slow Death of the Ethiopian Clowns
    ABSTRACT ALL THE WORLD LOVES A CLOWN: THE HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, GLORIOUS PEAK, AND SLOW DEATH OF THE ETHIOPIAN CLOWNS The Ethiopian Clowns were founded by a white theater producer, Syd Pollock, in the early 1930s. During the segregation years, there was significant pressure placed on these black baseball clubs to carry themselves in a serious and business-like fashion. Pollock stressed individuality among his ballplayers. He sold his team to black and white audiences alike not only through the talent on the field, but also through creative sideshows which were racially insensitive at times. Drawing from his forerunners, the House of David and the Zulu Cannibal Giants, Pollock established a baseball product that drew fans to the field with tremendous success. He effectively balanced the sideshows with baseball where one did not distract or undermine the other. For Pollock’s critics in the black sports press, however, they saw malice in Pollock’s business model. Black players as “clowns” were a threat to their ultimate goal, the integration of white, organized baseball. The Clowns, who spent much of their first two decades of existence as an independent outfit, were granted entrance into the Negro American League in 1943 and won the league championship in 1950. They were possibly the longest surviving black baseball team, operating as a strictly black team into the 1960s, long after the organized Negro Leagues had dissolved along with the highly respected ballclubs in that industry. However, the Clowns have received little notice from baseball historians and its legacy has rarely been discussed with the seriousness that the ballclub deserves.
    [Show full text]
  • Indian Agency Blacksmiths of the American Frontier
    Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History Volume 3 Issue 1 Article 3 January 2020 Forging Insights: Indian Agency Blacksmiths of the American Frontier Adam G. Novey Liberty University Alumni, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/ljh Part of the Cultural History Commons, Diplomatic History Commons, Political History Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Novey, Adam G. (2020) "Forging Insights: Indian Agency Blacksmiths of the American Frontier," Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History: Vol. 3 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/ljh/vol3/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Crossing. It has been accepted for inclusion in Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History by an authorized editor of Scholars Crossing. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Forging Insights: Indian Agency Blacksmiths of the American Frontier Abstract Following the War of 1812, the United States government sought to more directly deal with the Native tribes in the American interior. The establishment of Indian agency blacksmith shops was one significant component of this endeavor. While it remains a virtually untouched topic in scholarship, the analysis of agency blacksmith services may reveal significant historical insights within topics as diverse as ethnic perception, material culture, frontier government practices, and language dynamics during a time of great upheaval. This case study of the blacksmith shop at the Fort Winnebago sub-agency in pre-state Wisconsin seeks to demonstrate the manner in which these institutions provide new opportunities for a better understanding of the cultural and political dynamics of the American frontier.
    [Show full text]