Topic 6 of 11: Forgotten History
Tue, Mar 14, 2000 (14:11) |
Marcia (MarciaH)
The origins of catch-phrases and such
116 responses total.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 1 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Mar 14, 2000 (14:11) * 45 lines
* Don't Shout Fire in a Crowded Building! *
We have all heard the saying, "you can't shout fire in a
crowded building," Does anybody know the story of the origins
of that catchphrase? The United States decided to enter the
first world war almost three years after the war began in
Europe. The public did not immediately respond to president
Wilson's call to "make the world safe for democracy." Despite
75,000 speakers, giving 750,000 speeches in more than 5,000
towns and cities, the public did not rush to sign up for the
war. So Congress instituted a draft which was the first since
the civil war. The conservative Akron Beacon Journal reported
that the country "never embarked on a more unpopular war."
Protest and rallies against the war appeared throughout the
land. The Socialist party, who opposed the war, gained strength
in cities like Chicago and Buffalo where they gained more than
30% of the popular vote. Something had to be done. The first
amendment is quite clear. "Congress shall pass no law abridging
the right of speech or of the press." So Congress passed the
Espionage Act which was aimed, despite its clever title, at
denying citizens their right to freedom of speech.
Two months after the law was passed a man named, Charles
Schenck was arrested for passing out leaflets that opposed
both the draft and the war. He was promptly tried, convicted
and sentenced to a six-month term. This sentence was upheld
by the Supreme Court. The majority opinion was written by
liberal scholar Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes who wrote:
"The most stringent protection of free speech would not
protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and
causing panic." He ruled that Schenck words constituted
a clear and present danger that Congress had a right to
prevent. Over 9,000 people were arrested for the opposition
to the first world war. The law was used to prevent any
publication that was critical of the war to use the mails.
This ended the magazine The Appeal to Reason which was a
very popular publication of the time. Later Holmes upheld
the conviction of Eugene Debs, who was considered the Martin
Luther King of his generation. Debs was 66 and remained in
jail until 1921 when he was pardoned by President Warren
Harding; a republican.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 2 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Mar 17, 2000 (14:08) * 67 lines
Forgotten History - Friday, March 17, 2000
The Plot to Take over the United States
General Smedley Darlington Butler had twice been the recipient
of the Congressional Medal of Honor. He had spoken to the
Bonus Army in 1932 when, in the depths of the depression,
veterans had marched to Washington and demanded to be paid a
bonus that was promised to them for their service in World WarI,
but not scheduled to be paid until 1945.
In 1933, he was approached by two American Legion officials
and they wanted him to lead a rank and file revolt against
the Legion's leadership. Butler was interested but he felt
that it would be difficult for the average veteran to get to
the convention considering the state of the economy. American
Legion official Gerald MacGuire told him not to worry, that
nine wealthy businessmen had put up more than $100,000 for the
campaign and told him there was a great deal more where that
came from. MacGuire gave him a copy of a speech he was to
deliver before the convention and it called for a return to the
gold standard. Butler was suspicious and soon was visited by
Wall Street broker Robert Sterling Clark. After a brief
conversation Butler informed Clark that he should probably find
another man. They did, and the Legion adopted a plank calling
for a return to the gold standard.
Later that year, MacGuire spoke to Butler again and told he
of how he had studied the roles of veterans groups in the
formation of the Nazi party in Germany, and the Fascist party
in Italy. He felt that veterans could do the same here.
Maguire felt that an immediate change of government was needed
to save the United States from communism. He informed Butler
that he and the man Maguire represented felt that Butler could
lead a march of 500,000 veterans on Washington and then
stage a coup d'etat on the Roosevelt government.
While Butler felt this was treason; he asked for more details,
like how it would be financed. "In two or three weeks,"
Maguire told him, "you'll see it come out in the papers."
Two weeks later, the formation of the American Liberty League
was formed. Its stated purpose was to oppose radical movements
in the U.S. and its members included: Lammont du Pont,
Alfred P. Sloan-[I bet this is one The American
Experience that won't be televised]- E.F. Hutton, Goodyear,
J.C.Penny and others.
Butler knew he needed independent verification so he contacted
Paul Comly French of the Philadelphia Record. Posing as a
sympatric party, Maguire met with him at the offices of his
boss Wall Street financial Grayson Murphy. There Maguire
told French the same story. He added this information that all
arms and ammunition could be attained on credit from the
Remington Arms Company which was owned by the du Ponts.
Butler first took his story to FBI Czar J. Edgar Hoover.
Hoover did nothing. In November of 1934 Butler appeared
before what would come to be called the House on Un-American
Activities. There, French and James Van Zandt, who was
the national commander of the Veteran of Foreign Wars,
told the same story. Only Maguire was called before the
house and claimed that he had been misunderstood. No more
questions were asked and the plot has slipped out of
the official stories of American history but the record
is there for those who seek the truth.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 3 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Mar 21, 2000 (14:12) * 63 lines
Forgotten History - March 21, 2000
The Story of Dusan Popov
He may have been the prototype for Ian Fleming's character,
James Bond, and if the former director of the FBI J. Edgar
Hoover had listened to him, the disaster at Pearl Harbor
might have been avoided. Dusan Popov was a Yugoslav playboy
who became a double agent. His German code name was Ivan,
and his British Tricycle.
Popov came across legendary writer Ian Fleming while working
for British intelligence. Fleming was following Popov at the
time and watched him embarrass a very wealthy and loud
adversary at the Casino. Fleming was taken by this bold
Yugoslav and introduced himself to Popov after the game. Popov
went on to do various tasks for the British and was sent to
the USA in 1941 to set up a spy ring for the Germans. The
British saw the possibilities of controlling German
intelligence as they had in Europe through Popov.
Dusan was carrying a coded message from Abwehr, which carried
a request from the Japanese government asking specific
questions about the U.S. navel installation at Pearl Harbor.
J.C. Masterman, chief of the British XX (Double Cross) system,
felt the Germans were planning to attack the Americans at
Pearl Harbor urged Popov to pass along this information
to the Americans. Popov checked into the Plaza Hotel in New
York, not knowing that the FBI had followed him, and then
set up a meeting with J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover disregarded his
dispatch and immediately began to berate Popov about his
playboy ways.
Popov tried to explain that he was a double agent and that
the Germans expected him to live this lavish lifestyle.
Hoover would have none of this and dismissed Popov.
When Popov heard about the attack by the Japanese he was
sure that it had been repelled. To Popov surprise the
American fleet laid in ruins. Dusan now moved in a penthouse
on Park Avenue and Sixty-third Street, and began to renew
his affair with French actress Simone Simon. Hoover later
threatened to charge him with violating the Mann Act and
nearly cost him his cover.
Popov returned to Europe in 1942 his mission to the U.S.
a failure, but his days as a spy continued. He helped
set up a network of double agents whose deceptive tactics
were instrumental in getting the Germans to believe that the
allied invasion of Europe would come at Calais. On June 7th,
1944 the invasion did come at Normandy fooling the Germans.
Hitler wasted precious time believing that the main thrust
was still to come at Calais and the allies bought enough
time to establish a beachhead in France. Was Popov Bond,
probably not, Fleming had many influences but this suave
spy certainly was one of the many characters that influenced
him. Hoover for his part consolidated his power during the
war and when it was through used that power to provide
information for the reactionary forces that would attack the
New Deal under the guise of anti-communism.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 4 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Mar 24, 2000 (12:19) * 50 lines
Forgotten History - Friday, March 24, 2000
"Little known facts and overlooked history"
Origins of the Slave Trade
Everybody knows that Columbus set sail in 1492 to
find the riches in the east. He had one thing on his mind
and that was gold. "I was very attentive to them and
strove to learn if they had any gold," said Columbus. He
went on to say, "I conquered the whole of them with fifty
men and governed them as I pleased." Columbus kidnapped
some of them and took them back to Spain. When Columbus
returned to Spain the next year he landed in what is now
known as Haiti. There he demanded gold. Every man, woman,
and child would be held responsible for a certain amount
of gold. To ensure cooperation he used punishment as an
example for the natives. When an Indian committed a
perceived offense, he was brutally punished.
The usual punishment was disfigurement. Finally,
the Indians fought back but Columbus' men chased the
natives and then killed them. They then became slaves
of the Spanish. Columbus dispatched many of them to the
West Indies. Sickness, brutality and the diseases that
the Europeans brought with them led to genocide. The
men raped women and hunted the natives down for sport.
Women killed their young to protect them from the rule
of Columbus and his men. Soon whole nations began to
disappear.
The Indians lived peacefully without
monarchs, or hierarchy but their peaceful way of life
was destroyed by the Spaniards who sought gold. The
decreasing Indian population now created problems for
the Spanish. New crops, such as sugarcane, needed a
large labor force but the Indians were dying.
The Spanish now turned to Africa. Inhabitants there,
because of their centuries old contact with the Europeans,
were immune from the diseases that killed the natives. Plus,
the gold the Spaniards had stolen from the New World made
some of the trade with the great African nations expendable.
After all, if you can steal gold why trade for it? The only
commodity in the newly emerging mercantile system for the
African nations was lives. The nations did not expect the
European form of slavery to be different so the Africans
were quickly sold as slaves. This was how the slave trade
started. So the next time your community celebrates Columbus
Day, it would be safe to ask why?
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 5 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Mar 28, 2000 (13:33) * 58 lines
Forgotten History - Tuesday, March 28, 2000
"Little known facts and overlooked history"
Much has been written about the Vietnam Veteran. He has been
characterized as dangerous, isolated, guilt-ridden and
angered over the treatment that he received upon coming home.
But he has rarely though of as part of the anti-war movement.
This fact has been sadly missing from the history of the
Vietnam veteran. Veterans who fought the war in Vietnam came
home to protest that same war and their involvement proved to
be an important component to the anti-war coalition. By 1967
coffeehouses began to appear around bases across the country
but the movement didn't really take hold until the formation
of a group called the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
The VVAW was made up of mostly combat veterans. They gained
a following over 50,000 members at one time. Their first
national action took place in Detroit, Michigan where the
VVAW conducted a war crimes hearings. Veterans came up and
testified to the atrocities they had committed or had
witnessed. Their contention was that the Mi Lai Massacre
was standard operating procedure. This was, in essence,
the Vietnam War. The national press dismissed them but they
couldn't ignore their next action, Dewey Canyon III. While
the press was slow to report the activities of anti-war
veterans the Nixon administration clearly understood their
potential power. The up-coming demonstrations in Washington
by the VVAW could be disastrous for the administration.
The VVAW was determined that their voice would be heard.
They marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to cheers. Nixon had
wanted to attack them but White House advisor Pat Buchannon
objected, "this would be a mistake" and that the last thing
Nixon needed was for Vietnam Veterans to be attacked by the
Washington police.
So the Veterans came to the steps of the Supreme Court to
stand in line, say something at the podium if they wished,
and then throw their medals away. The same medals that they
had recently gained for their valor during the Vietnam
War. One by one they spoke: "I pray that time will forgive
me and my brothers for what we did. " Paul F. Wither spoke
clearly, " Spec 4, army, retired. I'm taking in nine Purple
Hearts, Distinguished Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star and a
lot of other shit. This is for my brothers," Withers threw
the medal away and limped off. One newsman grabbed one of the
medals but was quickly told by a veteran. "Listen, you newsmen,
we're not giving you the medals. We're turning them over to
the country." On and on they went. By the end of the day they
had caught the attention of a nation. Membership applications
skyrocketed. The veterans brought with them a moral authority
that could not be matched by the administration. Nixon sent
the FBI after the VVAW but their ranks swelled. Finally
historians did what Nixon could not do, that is write them
out of history. But their story is not forgotten. Those
of us who saw them on that spring day will never forget.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 6 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Mar 28, 2000 (14:10) * 30 lines
HOW MANY PEOPLE SPEAK BASQUE?
About 7,000 people speak Basque. Most of them live in a
narrow area of about 3,900 square miles in Spain and France.
Basque is not Indo-European; it is the only remnant of the
languages spoken in southwestern Europe before the region
was Romanized.
WHAT COUNTRY FIRST INTRODUCED INCOME TAX?
For 41 years, under the reign of the Medicis, citizens of
Florence, Italy, paid what we know as an income tax. Called
the Scala, the tax was instituted in 1451, supposedly on a
progressive scale. The tax turned into an easy type of
political blackmail, and as such it was repealed when the
court of the Medicis was overthrown in 1492.
WHAT WAS GERONIMO'S REAL NAME?
The Apache leader (1829-1908) was known to his tribe as
Goyathlay, meaning "One Who Yawns." The nickname Geronimo
is probably a corruption of the Spanish name Jeronimo.
WHAT ARE THE PRESIDENTS CARVED ON MOUNT RUSHMORE,
SOUTH DAKOTA, MEANT TO REPRESENT?
The four 60-foot-high likenesses, sculpted between 1925 and
1941, are meant to represent the following: George
Washington, the nation's founding; Thomas Jefferson, its
political philosophy; Abraham Lincoln, its preservation; and
Theodore Roosevelt, its expansion and conservation.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 7 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Mar 29, 2000 (13:11) * 22 lines
WHEN DID THE TROJAN WAR OCCUR?
According to scholars, it took place during the thirteenth
century B.C. The Iliad, Homer's epic account of the war, is
thought to have been written in the ninth century B.C.
WHAT WAS THE RUM RATION?
It was an allotment of the liquor appointed daily to the
members of the British navy. The practice, introduced in
1731, was discontinued on August 1, 1970.
WHERE DID THE GYPSIES ORIGINATE?
Probably India. Romany, the gypsy language, is Indic; but
it is not known when or why the gypsies left India. Living
as aliens in every country, they reached Persia by A.D. 1000
and northwest Europe by the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
WHO CAN BE BURIED IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY?
There are no fixed rules that only royalty or noted public
leaders may be interred there. The decision rests solely in
the hands of the deans of the Abbey.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 8 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Mar 29, 2000 (13:55) * 17 lines
Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns.
There are more plastic flamingos in America than real ones.
Lee Harvey Oswald's cadaver tag sold at an auction for $6,600 in
1992.
The three best known western names in China are Jesus Christ,
Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley.
In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on
when patients would die.
Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark.
And Susan Lucci is NOT the daughter of Phyllis Diller!!!
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 9 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Mar 29, 2000 (20:29) * 92 lines
An 1898 novel by Morgan Robertson foretold the sinking of the
Titanic, 14 years before the great ship went down. In
Robertson's book, a ship full of wealthy and powerful people
is on its maiden voyage when it strikes an iceberg in the
North Atlantic on an April night and sinks. The two ships
shared many other eerie similarities. The most interesting
is the name of the ship in Robertson's book: the Titan.
Five Jell-O flavors that flopped: celery, coffee, cola,
apple, and chocolate.
One acre of hemp will produce as much paper as four acres of
trees (and can be replaced next season).
Men in the U.S. who drink alcohol receive about 7% higher
wages than do abstainers, according to data from the national
Household Survey on Drug Abuse (United States Department of
Health and Human Services). Women who drink receive about
three and one-half percent higher wages than do abstainers.
***
----------- Brewery Produces Alcoholic Employee ------------
SAU PAULO - Residing in the "What Were The Odds?" category,
a Brazilian court ordered Brahma Brewing Company to pay
$30,000 in damages plus a life-time pension to their former
senior brewer Bernd Naveke. Unable to work due to his
alcoholism problem, the brewer endured twenty years of tasting
where he was required to drink six to eight liters of beer
each day beginning in the morning. His daily intake was as
high as 3.1 gallons per day forcing him to retire at the age
of 40. Naveke's lawyers stressed Brahma's negligence for
failing to warn him of the risks associated with the job.
[The element of surprise must have been daunting!]
-------------- Canada Battles Cow Flatulence ---------------
CALGARY - A benchmark for both the environment and
agriculture was reached Thursday when an agreement was signed
to reduce cow flatulence which contributes to the greenhouse
effect. TransAlta power company reached a multi-million
dollar agreement with U.S. based Global Livestock Group to
produce a feed supplement that would reduce both belching
and flatulence. This additive would be sprayed on their hey
and feed with the potential to decrease methane gases equivalent
to 30 million tons of carbon dioxide. Environmental groups
question how much other pollutants will increase by producing
this additive. The cows offered no comment.
[TZ's wife may be interested in this additive.]
------------- Feds Catch Phony Plastic Surgeon -------------
MEXICO CITY - His specialty was scamming credit cards until
Roman Quinteros decided to work in the lucrative field of
plastic surgery. A school drop-out before the ninth grade,
Quinteros dabbled in other vocations such as trading stolen
U.S. cars, and falsifying documents. His most recent offense
included making women pose for nude sketches, and performing
operations that posed a huge risk for his victims. The arrest
should curb his medical career while serving as a reminder to
always check credentials.
------------- Giant Problem For Little Aussies -------------
MELBOURNE, Australia - A few weeks back we spoke about a
midget boxing match and it has taken us until now to find a
suitable "midget" follow-up story. So when this story was
discovered, we just had to bring it to you. It appears that
the Australian National Little People Anti-Defamation Society
organized a protest that featured over 1000 "little" people.
The cause that aroused the ire of the group was a movie house
concession stand sign that called small orders of soft
drinks, "midget size." The organizer of the march said, "A
thoughtless phrase like that is degrading to little people
everywhere."
[There's just no pleasing midgets from Australia.]
--------------- Burger King - Have It My Way ---------------
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has sent a letter
of protest, prompting the re-write of a Burger King radio
spot. The most recent bit of advertising wizardry has a
gentleman named Rashid extolling the mouth-watering virtues
of the bacon-cheddar Whopper. The problem? Rashid is a holy,
Muslim name. Muslims are forbidden from eating any bacon
or pork.
Classic Bizarre Moments from the Archives
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
A British government agency has issued a health warning:
don't buy sperm on the internet. The Human Fertility and
Embryology Authority warns that there is no way of ensuring
that the sperm is of good enough quality... I guess it's
just the same old candy and flowers again this year.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 10 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Mar 30, 2000 (13:18) * 26 lines
DO TARANTULAS SPIN WEBS?
It depends. The Italian species of wolf spider first given
the name tarantula (from the town of Taranto) catches its
prey by pursuit. In the American Southwest, tarantulas live
in burrows; they eat anything from insects to toads and
mice. However, certain South American tarantulas do build
large webs; their diet includes small birds.
DO SIAMESE FIGHTING FISH FIGHT?
The males do. They nip each other's fins and show off their
extended gill covers and intensified colors. Their battles
are exciting enough that the Thai are have domesticated the
fish for contests.
DO BIRDS SING ONLY IN TREES?
No - some species sing on the ground. Shorebirds such as
turnstones sing from mounds called hummocks. Some species
of American field sparrows, such as the savanna sparrow of
the eastern United States, sing from the ground, as does the
wood thrush.
Why do you sometimes see large red (or orange) balls attached to power lines?
These balls are found in areas where there are low-flying
aircraft, adn they are put there to mark the wires so the pilots
won't fly into them.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 11 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Mar 31, 2000 (14:24) * 67 lines
Forgotten History Louisiana Purchase
The idealism emanating from the American Revolution proved
to be a spark to people all over the world. In France, the
French revolution was born. In South America, independence
movements began to take hold. However, in the United States,
that desire was muted by our slavery question. Instead the
idea of dominance of hierarchy began to take hold. Slave
owners protected by the constitution of the United States
sought to expand their territory.
In the 1790's, the island of Haiti began a revolt against
France. Whether a president owned slaves or not determined
his policy towards the revolt. Washington, a slave owner,
loaned hundreds of critical dollars from the new republic to
French planters in Haiti. This was to be used to suppress
the revolt. slaveholding politicians in the south deeply
feared a slave uprising. They had grown rich under slavery
and their ideology had became dominant throughout the young
country.
When John Adams replaced Washington our policy changed.
Adams supported the black revolt and lent it considerable
support. When Jefferson became president all that changed.
Jefferson preferred a French colony to a black republic and
in 1801 he gave the French the go-ahead to rule Haiti.
He promised the French all the help it needed. In doing so
the U.S. was acting against its own self-interest and its
heritage.
It did not worry Jefferson that if Napoleon was successful
so might his dreams of an American Empire. This empire would
challenge the young government and surround it with England
to the north, Spain to the south, and France to the west.
But planters feared that this revolt would inspire slaves
in America to revolt. It did but the revolts were crushed.
The Haitians fought back and in the process burned their
island to the ground rather than succumb to the French.
When the Haitians won their independence, the United States
refused to send representatives to the new republic.
Jefferson, fearing a black revolts throughout the Caribbean,
proposed annexing Cuba and making it a territory of the
United States.
For Napoleon and the French, who were caught up in a series
of wars in Europe, the war ended his dream of an American
Empire. It had proved too costly to maintain the empire so he
sought out his ally Jefferson. The United States then made
the most successful real estate deal of all time. It purchased
the French holdings in North America. Lewis and Clark were
sent out to survey the newly acquired land. Their exposition
proved to be crucial in the development of the United States.
Fate had smiled upon the U.S. It had acquired millions of acres
of land. Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri became slave states
and the pressure for expansion into Kansas and other
territories became one of the reasons for the civil war.
Jefferson himself became an advocate of the expansion of
slavery into the newly acquired lands. When he died he owned
267 slaves. He had freed only three in his lifetime and many
times had them whipped and sold as punishment. Upon his
death he freed five but not any of his own children.
Washington, however, freed all his slaves at the time of his
death and the issue of slavery would divide the country and
lead to most bloody conflict in American history.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 12 of 116: Wolf (wolf) * Sun, Apr 2, 2000 (17:42) * 5 lines
and they romanticized jefferson's hush-hush relationship with one of his slaves...huh!
george gave his slaves skills so when they were freed, they could make a good living. for all his generosity, the slaves still lived in poverish conditions. (saw this at mount vernon)
thanks for that louisiana purchase info....
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 13 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sun, Apr 2, 2000 (17:59) * 1 lines
Thanks for visiting to see what I was posting. There's all sorts of interesting "trivial" (nothing is truly trivial if it involves oneself) information out there. I try to find the most interesting and share it.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 14 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sun, Apr 2, 2000 (18:02) * 1 lines
Re Thomas Jefferson - Sally is not a relative!
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 15 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Apr 3, 2000 (14:46) * 0 lines
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 16 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Apr 3, 2000 (19:13) * 1 lines
Apparently, I forgot...*grin*
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 17 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Apr 5, 2000 (17:09) * 56 lines
Forgotten History THE WAR OF 1812
Does anyone know what the war of 1812 was about? Our early
textbooks describe the war in terms of British disrespect for
American shipping rights. But this doesn't seem to be the
case because, if New England held the largest shipping
populations, why were they the most opposed to the war? A
good question. The real story is much more complex and
damning to the United States. It was a war for Indian land.
They had it and we wanted it. No textbooks call the European
occupation of native soil an invasion but it was. From the
Pequot Wars of 1636 to the King Philip Wars of 1676 through
the French and Indian Wars of the 1760's. The war of 1812
was an extension of the European invasion.
The British had been aided by many of the great Indian
tribes during the American Revolution. The Iroquois nation
sided with the British and continued their fight after the
war. The British saw the Indians as a buffer zone but the
young United States saw things differently. Indian rights
of property were never respected. Think, for a second,
about the Louisiana Purchase. Whose land were the French
selling?
So the U.S. set out to conquer the Indian nation. Five
of the seven largest land battles were fought against the
Indians. The key outcome of the war was that, in return
for leaving Canada alone, the British would not support
the Indians. Without international support the Indians
were left alone. Then began the most brutal ethnic
cleansing operation of all time. The natives were driven
from their land and relocated. Sound familiar. What was
lost was the knowledge that we had gained from the
Indians. They were no longer a significant other so their
existence could be ignored. Indeed, before the War
of 1812, the term American was used to describe the
Indians. After the war it meant Europeans.
Over a 100 years later a great admirer of our
ethnic-cleansing plan emerged from war torn Europe,
Adolph Hitler. That's right, him. He often praised
American methods of extermination and used starvation
and uneven combat as his model for the extermination
of Jews and Gypsies. Was there an alternative to what
happened? Yes, but the racist ideology left the young
nation without that option. In 1778, the Delaware
Indians proposed a creation of an Indian state within
the new United States. Congress refused to even consider
the idea. If they were citizens then they would have
legal rights and the framers of the constitution did
not want this. So the genocide continued until
finally the Indians were subjugated and the European
invasion successful. That was what the war of 1812
was about.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 18 of 116: Cheryl (CherylB) * Wed, Apr 5, 2000 (17:38) * 3 lines
The United States is a racist society, in that racism is so deeply imbedded in its history, coloring much of the policy that would build the United States. It's one of the things you never learn in American History below the college level if you're an American. But they never cease to tell expound on DeTouqueville's quote that "America is good".
Another badly taught topic in American schools is the American Civil War. It is taught ad infinitum and ad naseum, but it all comes across as so boring and with so much expunged. The New York Draft Riots are rarely taught below the universtity level. Most Americans never learn that New York City wanted to break from the Union and become a free city. The purpose was financial, as a free city, New York would be free to trade with both sides and their respective supporters. Most Americans also don't know that Abraham Lincoln had no moral postition against slavery. His intent was to save the Union. He noted that if he could save the Union and keep slavery, he would do it; if he could save the Union and maintain some slavery, he would do it; if he could save the Union only by abolishing slavery he would do it. What ever means was the most effective in keeping the Union intact was the course he would follow.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 19 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Apr 5, 2000 (18:22) * 3 lines
The end never justifies the means. But, to know this we must learn the means with which the ends were achieved. You make very valid points, Cheryl. Thanks for the thougtful post. I hope it makes others think, as well.
The even sadder point than poor teaching below the college level is that teachers-in-training are not taught these things unless they elect them. Usually, they do not. Don't know...don't even want to know... Disgraceful!
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 20 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Apr 7, 2000 (12:46) * 58 lines
The Seminole Wars
The Seminole Nation existed as a tri-racial society.
Native-Americans, runaway slaves, and poor whites lived
together in what was called the Seminole Nation. In the 1830's,
Indian land removal took a giant step forward under President
Andrew Jackson. Jackson's campaign of Indian removal had
left only 22,000 Creeks in Alabama, 18,000 Cherokees in
Georgia and 5,000 Seminoles in Florida. The Creeks and the
Cherokees were put on a forced march, many died of starvation
along the way. The Seminoles however choose to fight and
refused to leave Florida.
The US offered land settlements to some Seminole chiefs.
To these chiefs it was lucrative offer. They kept estates
along the coast of Florida. Others in the tribe were forced
to leave their land and go into the interior of Florida.
It was difficult to grow crops there and soon members of the
tribe began to resist. A young chief named Osceola led them.
Osceola's wife had been chained and sold into slavery by an
Indian agent named Thompson. When Thompson ordered the
Seminoles to depart, no one left. Instead, the Seminoles
declared war, and ordered a series of raids on white
settlements. They murdered white families, captured slaves
and destroyed property. Soon the US army was sent after them.
But the Seminoles resisted. On Dec 28, 1835, they attacked
an army regiment of 110 soldiers including Thompson.
Only three survived.
Congress now asked for funds to fight the Seminoles.
William Clay, a political opponent of Jackson's was the
only dissenter, and General Winfeld Scoot took command of
the expedition force. They marched handsomely off into
the Florida swamps. Only they didn't find any Seminoles.
What they found was disease and hunger. No one wanted to
go fight the Seminoles. In 1836, 103 commissioned officers
resigned leaving only forty-six left. In 1837, Major
General Jesup moved in with 10,000 men. The Seminoles faded
into the swamps of Florida to continue their guerrilla raids.
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This went on for years. The army hired other Indians
to go fight the Seminoles. That didn't work either. One
officer commented, " The adaptation of the Seminole to his
environment is only matched by the alligator and the
crane." It became an eight-year war that ended up costing
the United States 20 million dollars and 1,500 American
lives. Finally, in 1840, the Seminoles began to get tired.
They were, after all, fighting the resources of an entire
nation. They asked for a truce. When they appeared with
truce flags, they were promptly arrested and put in chains.
Chief Osceola was captured, thrown into prison, and died
there. The war was over but they had held out for eight
long years. A haven for runaway slaves was gone now
and the flight of fugitive slaves could now only lead north.
Tensions soon increased and the tri-racial society of the
Seminoles vanished from the scene.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 21 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Apr 7, 2000 (13:36) * 45 lines
WHAT WAS THE FIRST MONOPOLY IN THE UNITED STATES?
It is considered to have been John Jacob Astor's American
Fur Company, which made him the wealthiest person in the
United States and allowed him to found the Astor Library,
one of the cornerstones of the New York Public Library.
WHEN WAS THE FIRST DEPARTMENT STORE BUILT?
In 1848, the Marble Dry Goods Palace opened on Broadway in
New York City. Its proprietor and developer was Alexander
Turney Stewart, formerly a schoolmaster in Ireland. By the
Many sailors used to wear gold earrings so that they could afford
a proper burial when they died.
Coffee is the second largest item of international commerce in
the world. The largest is petrol.
Custer was the youngest General in US history. He was promoted at
the age of 23.
The Seven Deadly Sins are lust, pride, anger, envy, sloth,
avarice, and gluttony.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange,
silver, and purple.
The word "set" has the highest number of unique definitions in
the English Language ~ 192 according to the Oxford English
Dictionary.
The ZIP in Zip-code stands for Zoning Improvement Plan.
A Boeing 747's wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first
flight.
The Seven Virtues are prudence, courage, temperance, justice,
faith, hope, and charity.
The world's largest alphabet is Cambodian, with 74 letters.
time of his death in 1876, the blocklong store yielded
annual earnings of $70 million.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 22 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Apr 7, 2000 (13:39) * 9 lines
My server got some of this mixed up:
WHEN WAS THE FIRST DEPARTMENT STORE BUILT?
In 1848, the Marble Dry Goods Palace opened on Broadway in
New York City. Its proprietor and developer was Alexander
Turney Stewart, formerly a schoolmaster in Ireland. By the
time of his death in 1876, the blocklong store yielded
annual earnings of $70 million.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 23 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Apr 11, 2000 (11:55) * 49 lines
LSD and the CIA
Back in the early 1960's the CIA developed a plan called
MK-ULTRA which was designed to use LSD as an aid for
interrogation of captured enemy agents. Its other uses were
for training purposes and to use as a way to discredit foreign
leaders, usually of a leftist slant, to quivering, deranged
morons, thereby discrediting them to the public. The CIA claims
that such use was never intended for use against domestic
targets but their history says otherwise.
The CIA gathered domestic intelligence right from its outset
although they were prohibited in doing so by their own charter.
At the height of the Vietnam War they, intercepted mail.
Coordinated operation Chaos with the CIA, worked with local
police departments, ran smear campaigns, and tapped phones.
All of this was done outside the law. Their activities were
aimed at antiwar groups, the civil rights movements, and all
of those pesky troublemakers. They even used it against each
other as guinea pigs. Other times they gave it to people
without there knowledge. This often drove people insane.
The army used this drug often on their own men. They were
called field operations. One classic example is the torture
of James Thornwell, a black American soldier stationed in
France. In 1961, Thornwell was suspected of stealing
classified documents. This and other programs were labeled as,
"Operation Third Chance." How many were given LSD without
their knowledge we will never know but we do know about Mr.
Thornwell.
Thornwell, who was 22 at the time, was first exposed to
extreme measures. This included beatings, solitary confinement,
denial of food and water coupled with a constant stream of
steady abuse. After six long weeks of this kind of torture,
he was given a dose of LSD without his knowledge. Imagine
this. Then he was continuously verbally abused and threatened.
The interrogators threatened to extend this delusional state
indefinitely. According to army documents, they said they
would drive him into a permanent state of insanity. In the
late 1970's when CIA terror tactics became public during the
Church Committee hearings, Thornwell learned what had happened
to him back in 1961. He sued the US government for 10 million
dollars. The case was settled out of court and the House of
Representatives approved a compromise settlement of $650,000.
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Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 24 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Apr 18, 2000 (19:10) * 15 lines
WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE FATHER OF SIOUX INDIAN LEADER SITTING BULL?
Jumping Bull.
HOW MANY CHESTS OF TEA WERE DUMPED OVERBOARD AT THE BOSTON TEA PARTY
ON DECEMBER 16, 1773?
342 chests.
WHERE WERE THE FIRST PARKING METERS IN THE U.S. INSTALLED?
In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1935. Motorists paid a nickel
for a 20-foot space.
WHAT DOES THE WORD "AMEN" MEAN?
"So be it," or "Let it be."
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 25 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Apr 18, 2000 (23:59) * 7 lines
Joseph Priestly is immortal in the history of chemistry as the
discoverer of oxygen in 1774.
Lost in the glory is the fact he also discovered soda water, and
gave the name "rubber" to that soft, bouncy stuff because it
could be used to rub out pencil marks.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 26 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Apr 21, 2000 (17:44) * 53 lines
The Tuskegee Experiment
In 1932, the Tuskegee Institute along with the U.S. Public
Heath Service began an experiment which promised poor black
men, who were inflicted with syphilis, free heath treatment
and a proper burial. This seemed a good idea to the afflicted.
The men, mostly poor sharecroppers, were never told that
they would become part of an experiment, which would track
the disease throughout their life. They were never given any
treatment for the disease, even after penicillin was
discovered in the 1940's, the officials just watched them,
kept charts, and documented the progression of the disease
until they died. After they died the doctors conducted
autopsies on the men and then compared their condition to
that of two hundred healthy black men. They were used as
guinea pigs.
This went on for forty years. In that time 400 men had
participated, without their knowledge, in the experiment.
In 1972, an investigative reporter named Jean Heller broke
the story for the Washington Star. Officials at first tried
to deny the allegations or sought to justify their
participation on the basis that racist views were prevalent
at the time. It is a classic example of institutional racism
and its effects. The public was outraged. Neither contrite
nor apologetic the senior physicians continued to offer
morally offensive justifications for their acts. Finally,
after much public outcry, the government appointed a panel
to investigate the forty-year program.
The study was closed in October of 1972, and a class action
suit was soon filed on behalf of the men who were involved
with the experiment the case was settled out of court for
the amount of 12 million dollars. The survivors received
$37,000 a piece. Others who were involved were given lesser
amounts. When you think of the damage done, it is a paltry
amount of money. Sexual partners of the disease were not
told; as a result many black children were born with
congenital syphilis.
This led to charges that the government program was an act
of genocide. Was it? Certainly it fits the definition and the
government had used such tactics towards Native-Americans
throughout the years. There has been much discussion within
the black community about that, and how the government has
been responsible for the introduction and spread of aids
among African- Americans. This, when coupled with accusations
against the CIA for the spread of crack, has led many in the
established media to attack as delusional those who raise
these questions. Are they delusional? The record and past
speak indicate that they are not.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 27 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Apr 21, 2000 (19:32) * 16 lines
WHAT IS THE FOGGIEST PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES?
Cape Disappointment, Washington. It's foggy there an average
of 2,532 hours a year - or 106 complete days.
WHAT IS THE MOST POPULAR FIRST NAME IN THE WORLD?
Muhammad.
WHERE DID THE PINEAPPLE PLANT ORIGINATE?
In South America. It didn't reach Hawaii until the early nineteenth century.
WHAT ARE THE FIVE MOST FREQUENTLY CONSUMED FRUITS IN THE UNITED STATES?
The banana, apple, watermelon, orange, and cantaloupe - in
order of their greatest consumption, according to the Food
and drug Administration.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 28 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sat, Apr 22, 2000 (16:41) * 80 lines
Saturnday, Sunday, Moonday
The ancient Greeks inherited the practice of astrology from the
Babylonians, but introduced many new features. For example,
where the Babylonians tended not to place the major planets in
any physically significant order, the Greeks ordinarily listed
them on horoscopes like this
Sun Moon Saturn Jupiter Mars Venus Mercury
Even though they didn't have a heliocentric model of the solar
system, they were still able to deduce the order of the planets,
beginning from Saturn as the furthest out and descending to Mercury
as the closest in, based on the their periods of their "wanderings"
across the night sky.
On this list the Sun and Moon are placed somewhat arbitrarily at
the beginning, since their apparent motions obviously aren't of the
same nature as those of the planets. It was also common for the
Greeks to place the Moon last, so that it was considered to be
even "lower" than Mercury. In addition, the Greeks could distinguish
between the "interior" planets (Venus, Mercury) and the "exterior
planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars) based on their apparent motions,
and they sometimes placed the Sun in the "center" between these
groups. This led to the arrangement
Saturn Jupiter Mars Sun Venus Mercury Moon
Now, each of the 24 hours (an Egyptian invention) of the day was
though to be "ruled" by one of these 7 planets, and the rulers would
cycle around in the arrangement shown above. Thus, if we denote
the planets by the symbols T,J,R,S,V,Y,M respectively, and begin
the first day with the Sun, we have
Hour
Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
1 S V Y M T J R S V Y M T J R S V Y M T J R S V Y
2 M T J R S V Y M T J R S V Y M T J R S V Y M T J
3 R S V Y M T J R S V Y M T J R S V Y M T J R S V
4 Y M T J R S V Y M T J R S V Y M T J R S V Y M T
5 J R S V Y M T J R S V Y M T J R S V Y M T J R S
6 V Y M T J R S V Y M T J R S V Y M T J R S V Y M
7 T J R S V Y M T J R S V Y M T J R S V Y M T J R
After the 7th day the cycle repeats, so the 8th day is the same as
the 1st, and so on. (Fortunately, 7 if coprime to 24.) Each day
in the cycled was said to be "ruled" overall by the planet that
rules the first hour of that day, so the rulers of the seven days
were S,M,R,Y,J,V,T, which is to say
Sun Moon Mars Mercury Jupiter Venus Saturn
According to Neugebauer, this is also the arrangement of the planets
that was used most often in Hindu astronomy. From this we get the
names of the days in the week
Latin French Saxon English
Sun Dies Solis Dimanche Sun's day Sunday
Moon Dies Lunae Lundi Moon's day Monday
Mars Dies Martis Mardi Tiw's day Tuesday
Mercury Dies Mercurri Mercredi Woden's day Wednesday
Jupiter Dies Jovis Jeudi Thor's day Thursday
Venus Dies Veneris Vendredi Frigg's day Friday
Saturn Dies Saturni Samedi Seterne's day Saturday
Wodin (or Odin) was one of the principal gods in Scandinavian and
Teutonic mythology, and he seems to have somehow become identified
with the Roman Mercurius. Likewise Tiw was identified with Mars.
Frigg was the wife of Odin, and likened to Venus. The Germanic god
Thor is similar to Jupiter, in the sense of being regarded as the
"main" god in most northern European countries. This shows how
the common names for our days of the week have been influenced by
a wide range of peoples and traditions, including the Babylonians
(astrology), Egyptians (24 hour division of the day), Greeks
(arrangement of the planets), Romans (Latin names of the gods),
and Scandinavian mythology (for the Germanic names).
http://www.seanet.com/~ksbrown/kmath138.htm
Tbank, Maggie. Let's hope it posts as pretty as it looks pasted in the submit box...
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 29 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Apr 24, 2000 (17:25) * 30 lines
1800 Library of Congress Established - April 24
President John Adams approved legislation that appropriated
$5,000 to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use
of Congress," and the Library of Congress was born. The first
books, ordered from London, arrived in 1801 and were stored in
the U.S. Capitol, the library's first home. The first library catalog,
dated April 1802, listed 964 volumes and nine maps. In 1814, the
British army invaded the city of Washington and burned the
Capitol, including the 3,000-volume Library of Congress. Former
president Thomas Jefferson, who advocated the expansion of the
library during his two terms in office, responded to the loss by
selling his personal library, the largest and finest in the country, to
Congress to "recommence" the library. The purchase of
Jefferson's 6,487 volumes was approved in the next year, and a
professional librarian, George Watterston, was hired to replace
the House clerks in the administration of the library. In 1851, a
second major fire at the library destroyed about two-thirds of its
fifty-five thousand volumes, including two-thirds of Thomas
Jefferson's library. Congress responded quickly and generously to
the disaster and within a few years the majority of the lost books
were replaced. After the Civil War, the collection was greatly
expanded, and by the twentieth century the Library of Congress
had become the de facto national library of the United States and
one of the largest in the world. Today, the collection, housed in
three enormous buildings in Washington, contains more than
seventeen million books, as well as nearly ninety-five million
maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, audio and video
recordings, prints and drawings, and other special collections.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 30 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Apr 25, 2000 (01:26) * 14 lines
Why is a horse race over obstacles called a steeplechase?
In the 18th century, a group of fox hunters were returning from a
fruitless hunt when one of the hunters, deciding the day should
not be a total waste of time, suggested an interesting race. He
bet he could ride straight to a steeple that was visible in the
distance and touch it with his whip before any of the other
hunters. Everyone agreed the race to the steeple had to be
straight, meaning the riders had to jump obstacles long the way.
The bet was accepted, and the first steeplechase race began.
Later, this term was used to describe overland races between
several steeples. Today, it just means an obstacle course.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 31 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Apr 25, 2000 (14:22) * 56 lines
Myths and Presidents
As the campaign of 2000 nears, the ad agencies are busy at
work producing mythmaking commercials about their candidate,
which will invariably describe them in the most glowing
terms. To enhance their stature George W. Bush will point to
his stint in the National Guard and congratulate himself on
his service. Al Gore will go one step further, he will
point to his tour in Vietnam, to try to upstage George.
However, neither one of them can hold a candle to the late
President Kennedy when it comes to myths. When Kennedy ran
for president the public was told he was a war hero, a scholar,
and a best-selling author. None of which is true.
President Kennedy began his war service in Washington as a
navel intelligence officer. The dashing Kennedy soon became
involved with a beautiful German woman named Inga Arvid.
They became a most talked about couple, the handsome
millionaire and the blond Nordic beauty. The problem was
that she was most likely a German spy. Their escapades soon
caught the attention of FBI czar J. Edgar Hoover who had
Kennedy followed and bugged. Hoover was close to Joe
Kennedy, the president's father, and recorded the conversations
of Jack and Inga. While no secrets were passed (they were
interested in other things) Joe decided that the young
Jack might be better off away from the night life of
Washington. So he sent him to the Pacific theatre where his
skirt chasing would be difficult.
The future president became a PT-boat commander. His duties
were minimal but he even managed to screw that up - no pun
intended. One day his boat was attacked and sunk by a
Japanese destroyer. Kennedy claims to have saved three men,
but records indicated that he saved only one, and that the
boat sank because of his own negligence. It seems that they
were caught napping - I didn't see that in the movie - and
were outmaneuvered by the destroyer. The stories about the
scholar Kennedy are not much better.
Kennedy's prize winning undergraduate thesis, While England
Slept, was based partially on research that was provided by
a friend of the Kennedy family, Arthur Krock. Kroch was a
friend of Kennedy's father and later gave the book a glowing
review in the New York Times. The Pulitzer Prize winning
book, Profiles in Courage, which helped enhance the legend
of Kennedy the scholar, followed Kennedy's thesis. It's
success however, was largely due to the organization of
Kennedy supporter Jules David, and written for the most part
by his speechwriter Theodore Sorenson. So when the mythmakers
in both parties try to explain to you why their candidate is
the stuff of legends and are more virtuous than the other,
remember Jack Kennedy and Camelot; then reach for the clicker.
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Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 32 of 116: the history of spring (sprin5) * Tue, Apr 25, 2000 (18:31) * 1 lines
Sounds a lot like the Earnest Hemingway myth, the notable difference being that Hemingway obviously wrote his own books.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 33 of 116: Plutarch of the Spring (MarciaH) * Tue, Apr 25, 2000 (22:30) * 1 lines
I thought it was common knowledge that Kennedy had help with his books...
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 34 of 116: Plutarch of the Spring (MarciaH) * Fri, Apr 28, 2000 (13:36) * 80 lines
Before Castro
Cuba was controlled by Spain from the 16th century until
its independence after the Spanish American War. In the
1870's, Jose Marti considered the father of Cuba, helped
stage a revolt against Spain. It was finally crushed after
ten long years, but trouble soon resurfaced again in 1898
when the USS Maine was sunk under mysterious conditions.
Soon, the US was at war and the Spanish-American War
rallying cry became "Remember the Maine." The US easily won
the war, although that was not the case in the Philippines,
and replaced the Spanish in Cuba.
While Cuba was granted independence the United States,
through the Platt Amendment, reserved the right to intercede
in Cuban affairs. The US maintained economic control of the
island and by 1928 US firms controlled 75% of the sugar
cane crop. In the 1930's, Cuba challenged American
dominance and elected Ramon Grau San Martin as their
president. The socialist president promised land for the
peasants, an eight-hour workday, and a limit to foreign
investment. The US quickly backed a coup-d'etat, which was
led by Fulgencio Batista, to replace him. Batista ended
all talk of reforms and imposed a corrupt dictatorship on
the island.
By the 1950's, the US controlled two of the three oil
refineries in Cuba, 90% of the telephone and electric
facilities, and most of the tourist industry, which was run
by the mafia. The mafia set up operations in Cuba and was
given a free hand by Batista. Bastista's regime spent
little on social programs and Cuba stood at the bottom of
the list in infant mortality rates as well as illiteracy
rates. Health care was unheard of for the peasants. A small
minority benefited from the dictatorship but most of the
population suffered.
In 1959, Castro's army defeated Batista and took control of
Cuba. Castro quickly moved to lessen its island's dependence
on the US. He nationalized some industries while throwing
the mob out of Cuba. Waves of immigrants left Cuba and
settled in Miami. Who were they that left? They were the
supporters of a brutally corrupt dictatorship. Think about
it; who joined the revolution? Wasn't it the best of the
best? Remember, this was before Castro imposed a Soviet
style communist government, so the coalition included many
who were not communists but who sought justice for their
people. Opponents of Castro sided with a government that
was corrupt, provided little or no social service, and was
ruled by the mob.
One example of the many changes in Cuba was the creation
of a national film industry that became respected throughout
the world. What Castro did was take the existing pornography
industry from the mafia and then turned it over to Cubans to
make pictures that had social significance. In 1960, Castro
came to the United States and addressed the UN. He said that
the US was planning an invasion of Cuba. The American press
called him delusional, and within the year Cuba was invaded.
Castro then moved closer to the Soviet Union, cancelled
elections, and declared Cuba to be a Marxist-Leninist state.
While Castro's mistakes have been many, statistics show that
the revolution has also brought gains in education, heath
and welfare services, infant mortality rates and the arts.
While ranking at the bottom in per-capita income, Cuba has
stayed at the top in social services. Has his revolution
been successful? Yes and no. Socialist economies have been
historically good at providing social services but bad at
creating wealth. But whether Castro has been successful or
not, Cuba is better off without the corrupt dictatorship
that preceded it. As for the exile community, they have been
involved in Watergate break-in, spied on the Vietnam
Veterans Against the War, and in general made life very
difficult for African-Americans who live in Florida.
This past week they showed they did not believe in the
rule of law. Funny thing is, they never did.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 35 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, May 2, 2000 (13:29) * 81 lines
Co-Intelpro
In the mid 1960's, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began
a program named Co-Intelpro. Its aim was to destroy, disrupt,
and discredit Black Nationalist groups. The manifesto
proclaimed, "We must prevent the rise of a black messiah."
It was first directed at Dr. King and Malcolm X, and soon
came to include Stoakley Carmichael (Kwami Ture), Fred
Hampton, Huey P. Newton, and Geronimo Pratt. The FBI, along
with the Nixon administration, soon targeted the Black Panther
Party. On December 4, 1969, it conducted a raid on the Black
Panther headquarters in Chicago. The result was the killing
of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark Hampton. During the raid, the
FBI had worked closely with local law enforcement officials.
This would become a pattern. Four days later a similar raid
occurred in Los Angles and after a long gun battle with the
police, the panthers surrendered. The target of the raid was
a man named Geronimo Pratt.
Pratt was a highly decorated Vietnam Veteran, had returned
home to the United States and settled with his sister in Los
Angles. He soon began attending classes at UCLA. There, he
met Bunchy Carter and began hanging around with the Los
Angles chapter of the Black Panther Party. This began to
attract the attention of the FBI and the Los Angles Police
department. In 1972, Caroline Olsen and her husband were
attacked by two men resulting in Caroline's death. The
husband was shown pictures of Pratt. At first he said Pratt
was not the man but later changed his testimony after
continuously being presented with Geronimo in various
line-ups, his accounts changed. The descriptions of the
two men that he had given the police were completely at
odds with Geronimo's appearance but the LAPD wanted
Pratt. The problem was Pratt was 400 miles away at a Black
Panther party meeting in Oakland.
Wesley Swaeringen was a veteran FBI agent who had performed,
by his own admission, over fifty illegal break-ins for the
bureau He was assigned to the LA office at the time and
overheard one of his fellow agents exclaim, "The sonava bitch
was in Oakland." Later on wiretaps of the meeting would be
discovered only to find the days where Pratt had been in
Oakland were mysteriously missing. During the trial an FBI
informant named Julio Butler appeared. He testified that
Pratt had written him a confession, which he passed the
information over to Sgt. Rice who was instructed to open the
letter only if something happened to Butler. The FBI
approached Rice and asked him for the letter but Rice was an
honest cop who then refused the FBI's
request. How did the feds know it was a letter? Because,
they wrote it.
After a long trial Pratt was sentenced to life in prison.
The death penalty was not in effect in California at the
time so Pratt escaped the chair. He protested his innocence
throughout the trial and upon his conviction was thrown in
solitary confinement for seven years. For over twenty-five
years Pratt languished in prison with many people, convinced
of his innocence (as I was). I met Pratt in a San Quentin
prison where we interviewed him for a documentary named The
FBI's War On Black America that I was co-producing at the
time. There, I learned of his tale of injustice. I wrote
Pratt from time to time but like so many others, I drifted
away.
In 1995, new evidence revealed that Butler repeatedly lied
on the witness stand. That, when coupled with former juror
Jeanne Kilpatrick's and FBI agent Wesley Swearingen's
statements, caused Superior Court Judge Everett Dickey, a
Ronald Reagan appointee, to rule for a new trial. He stated
that the credibility of prosecution witness could have
been undermined if the jury had known Butler was an ex-felon
and FBI informant. Two years later, District Attorney Gil
Garcetti announced he would not try to bring Pratt to trial
again. Pratt then sued the government, and on April 27th
the federal government and the city of Los Angles agreed
to a 4.5 million dollar settlement. Sometimes, history has
a happy ending. Geronimo now lives in Morgan City, La.,
where he is working to convert his former school into a
youth center.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 36 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, May 3, 2000 (17:41) * 20 lines
HOW FAST DOES LIGHTNING TRAVEL?
It travels 90,000 miles a second - almost half the speed of
light. (186,000 miles a second).
EXACTLY HOW LONG IS ONE YEAR?
365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds.
ON DECEMBER 31, 1970, SOMETHING DISAPPEARED FROM TELEVISION. WHAT WAS IT?
The cigarette commercial.
WHO WAS BASEBALL'S FIRST ROOKIE OF THE YEAR?
Brooklyn Dodger great Jackie Robinson, was given the award
in 1947. Forty years later, it was officially renamed the
Jackie Robinson Award, although it's still widely called
Rookie of the Year.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 37 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, May 4, 2000 (19:24) * 15 lines
HOW MANY SONNETS DID WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE WRITE?
154.
WHO WAS THE FIRST GUEST HOST OF NBC TV'S SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE?
Comedian George Carlin, on October 10, 1975.
IN WHAT YEAR WAS JANUARY 1 USED TO MARK THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW YEAR?
In 153 B.C., by the Romans. Previously, New Year's Day was in March.
WHAT U.S. CITY WAS THE FIRST TO HAVE A TEAM IN THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE?
Boston, in 1924. The league was organized in 1917 with
Canadian teams.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 38 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 5, 2000 (15:20) * 66 lines
Bacon's Rebellion
One of the first cash crops of the new continent was
tobacco. It's value, and its labor-intensive nature,
required a need for workers in the new world.
So many indentured servants were sent to Virginia. They
were considered the dregs of the continent. Many came
from Ireland where they were picked up and often sent,
against their will, across the Atlantic to the new world.
The English would pick up those that they saw as
troublemakers, and send them on a boat. The conditions of
the newly arrived servants were appalling. They were often
beaten, made to wear shackles, treated unfairly and taken
advantage of by the upper classes. In the beginning, they
worked with slaves in the field often side by side. Their
fraternization and mixing began to cause alarm within the
ruling elite. Soon the commonwealth began to take action to
separate the races.
What the planters feared most was what they called,
"the giddy multitude." They feared class anger amongst
servants. The slaves had a longer degree of
servitude than the whites so they became more valuable
to the tobacco growers. So why did the planters prefer
servants to slaves, even while using slave labor was
more profitable? Why did the change occur? Bacon's
Rebellion is the answer.
Bacon was a member of the Virginia council. Seeking
to protect the settlers from the natives and
increase his own lot, he set out to raise a militia.
Bacon felt that this would serve a dual purpose. It would
re-direct anger towards the Indians and eliminate a foe.
Bacon's action shocked the Virginia council. They were
afraid of what they described as, "the armed rabble."
He had unleashed a class anger that threatened the very
foundation of the Virginia government. Bacon soon became
ill and died but his followers marched on Jamestown and
burnt it to the ground. The British returned with armed
ships to crush the rebellion. Finally, the whites and
blacks laid down their arms except for a contingent of
eighty blacks and twenty whites.
The Virginia elite were faced with a problem. They could
share their wealth and provide better conditions for the
servants or they could use more slave labor. They chose
slave labor because the gentry could control them easier.
This would serve another purpose as well. They would
employ many of the white settlers as slave hands. The
planter class could be more effectively controlled by
state power the slaves rather than their white counterparts.
It was also easier to enact laws that denied certain
rights based on the color of one's skin. Blacks were made
subordinate to white rule. This was not the case for
the white servants. To prohibit any mixing of the races,
white women were targeted. Any mulatto child would be
categorized as black and the mother fined 15 pounds. The
legislature denied blacks the right to vote, own land
or testify in court. A racist culture was born. Laws
legitimized racism and the brutal treatment of blacks.
For the next three hundred years we would pay a price for
this decision.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 39 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 5, 2000 (17:13) * 14 lines
WHAT LAKE, ONCE PART OF A SEA, HAS THE ONLY FRESHWATER SHARKS IN THE WORLD?
Lake Nicaragua, in Nicaragua.
WHEN IT COMES TO WAVES IN THE OCEAN, WHAT IS A WAVELENGTH?
The linear distance between the crests of two successive waves.
WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE LAWYER WHO NEVER LOST A CASE ON TV'S CARTOON SITCOM THE FLINTSTONES?
Perry Masonry.
WHAT GREAT RULER DIED OF A NOSEBLEED ON HIS WEDDING NIGHT?
Attila the Hun, in A.D. 453.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 40 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sun, May 7, 2000 (21:56) * 43 lines
The Iceland Man Cometh?
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Iceland embarked on a mission to melt the
hearts and minds of hard-bitten Hollywood on Thursday and turn its ancient
sagas into the stuff that movie makers' dreams are made of.
President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, making his first visit to Los Angeles,
launched a week-long festival of Icelandic culture, food and music as part of
celebrations marking the 1,000th anniversary of the discovery of America not
by Christopher Columbus, but by Icelander Leif Ericsson.
Columbus was acclaimed for centuries as the man who discovered America
in 1492 when he sailed the ocean blue. But in recent decades, more evidence
has come to light showing that Ericsson and the Vikings were the first
Europeans to set foot on the American continent in the year 1,000.
Ericsson's voyage was reported in the epic poems known as the Icelandic
sagas and Grimsson visited several Hollywood studios in a bid to encourage
writers and producers to turn those adventures into movie material.
``The Icelanders have always been a nation of great storytellers, starting with
the Icelandic sagas. The movie business is always looking for a great story to
tell and we have for more than 1,000 years preserved some of the greatest
stories in Europe,'' Grimsson told Reuters in an interview.
``I think there is a new interest in Hollywood in the international aspect of
movie-making. I sense they are now looking to other countries for creative
talent, good stories, and movie-making possibilities. Therefore I think we in
Iceland can contribute a lot because we have unique stories to tell and a
unique landscape,'' Grimsson added.
Iceland, a nation of just 270,000 people, is also bringing its own movies to
Hollywood with a retrospective of its leading director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
and a slate of new films.
Icelandic cuisine heavy on fish but also including lamb is on the menu at the
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel for a week and the nation's pop music gets a
showcase on Friday in a concert featuring GusGus and Icelandic hip-hop
band Quarashi.
An exhibition on the Vikings and North America will travel across the United
States in the next two years celebrating their long, and mostly forgotten, links
between America and Europe.
Grimsson, elected in 1996 with a pledge to promote Iceland on the world
stage, said the exhibition and his visit are not simply aimed at celebrating the
past but also at looking to the future.
``In many ways the 21st century will be a century of discoverers, in genetics,
in science and in outer space,'' he said.
``Do we enter the 21st century without the culture of discovery to sustain us
or do we go back into our own heritage and try to understand what it was that
made people great adventurers 1,000 years ago?''
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 41 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, May 9, 2000 (12:57) * 58 lines
The Myth of Education
Recent polls report that Americans believe our children
are poorly educated. Some reflect on a golden age of
education that assimilated non-English speaking immigrants
into American culture. Schools were supposedly so effective
that it didn't matter what ethnic background they were from,
or what their native language was, the school would teach
them. People are somewhat vague about when this enlightened
period existed, but most concede it was in the early part of
the 20th century. When my grandfather came to this country
he didn't speak any English, but he managed without the
inclusion programs they have today. Did this golden age ever
really exist? What were our schools like during this period?
In the early part of the century, the school system was
divided into the public and private sectors. The private
sector provided education for the elite and the public
schools were meant for the rest of us. Well, what was
left for the rest of us was not good. In fact, it was
awful. Studies show that most students attending schools in
Chicago, New York, Boston, Detroit, and Philadelphia could
not read, write or do arithmetic in spite of what some
people claim. The schools that existed were largely
ineffective.
One example of the schools utter failure was the drop out
rate. In the 1920's and 1930's, a federal study showed that
only 56% graduated high school. In New York, where these
mythic schools passed people along a generation to the
American dream, only 40% finished high school. Philadelphia
was worse. Here, only 19% of those who entered high school
graduated. Keeping those dismal figures in mind, lets go
back to those days and examine what a classroom in New York
City might look like. Is it the classroom of neatly scrubbed
children sitting behind their wooden desks in a tidy row?
Hardly.
What we would really find is squalor that would be equal to
the conditions that the young immigrants came from. First,
it would be difficult to keep them in school due to the
financial strains that forced many to find jobs. This robbed
many of their youth, their lives, and their future. Next, we
would find the schools to be tremendously overcrowded with
standard essentials in short supply. The stench would be
overpowering. The schools, like the neighborhood , were infested
with rats. It would be quite common to see a rat run across
the room. Furthermore, the schools were so dimly lit, that
it would be difficult to read the textbooks, even if enough
of them could be found. This is why reformers of the period,
John Dewey, Jacob Riis, and many others made public education
such a priority. The schools were grossly substandard or
didn't exist. In the 1890's, the federal government reported,
that only about half of the children even entered school. So
the next time you hear some politician lament about the golden
era, remember it never existed.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 42 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 12, 2000 (18:17) * 73 lines
The Story of Gregorio Cortez
Gregorio Cortez was a farmer who lived with his brother
Romuldo. Romuldo owned two sorrel mares. One was lame and the
other was fit. A local Texas rancher kept pressuring him to
sell one of his mares, but Romuldo refused. This angered his
neighbor and when Romuldo rejected his overtures, the white
Texan took this as an insult. Mexicans should know their place.
However, Romuldo decided to trick him. He would trade him the
lame mare instead of the healthy one. The Texan was furious
at being taken in a horse trade and demanded that the sheriff
do something about it. The sheriff disregarded the protest but
went to the Cortez ranch to ask them about a reported horse
theft.
Gregorio asked his brother to go see what the sheriff wanted
and Romuldo told Gregorio that someone wished to speak with
him. One of the posse, a man called Choate, mistranslated what
Romuldo said to Gregorio. He thought Romuldo said, "You are
wanted." Choate then asked Gregorio if he had recently acquired
a horse. Gregorio said no. He had just gotten a mare, but a
mare was not a horse to Gregorio; it was a mare. Sheriff Morris
then informed Gregorio that he was under arrest. Again, a
mistranslation occurred, Morris thought he said, "no white man
is going to take me alive." What Gregorio really said was,
"you can't arrest me for doing nothing." Morris drew his
weapon as Romuldo charged him. He fired and the bullet went
right through his mouth. Morris then turned and fired at
Gregorio, he missed. Gregorio shot back and hit the sheriff.
Morris crawled to the nearby bushes and eventually bled to
death. Choate fled the seen and described the incident as an
attack by the "Cortez Gang." This began the chase of Gregorio
Cortez.
The newspapers reported that Cortez had headed for the border
but Gregorio had gone north instead. He dropped off his
brother and friends and continued north. A posse headed by
Sheriff Robert Glover soon found the family and proceeded to
torture them until somebody talked. The posse numbered over
fifty men and when they finally reached his friend's house,
they were drunk. Glover charged the building with his guns
blazing. Cortez fired and shot Glover right off his horse.
He then hurried into the brushes. Deputy Swift now entered
the house and began firing. The posse heard shots coming from
the house and fired into the house. In the confusion, the posse
began to shoot at each other. Two of the men died and they
now grabbed 13 year-old Encarnacion and hung him from a tree
until he finally talked.
When they arrived back in town. The posse informed the
newspapers that they had found ten Winchester rifles and a
bucket of ammunition. None of this was true. Cortez now turned
his attention south. He rode and rode, eluding the chasing
posse. The posse now grew to over 800 men. Still they could
not find Cortez. Once he walked right by them. The posse
complained to the press that his gang was supplying Cortez
with fresh horses so he had an advantage. All across Texas
any crime that happened was blamed on the "Cortez Gang."
The San Antonio press reported, "The only hope was to fill
up the whole country with men and search every avenue for
escape." Finally, Cortez was captured. The trial and the
appeals process lasted 12 long years. Cortez protested his
innocence. He was convicted for the killing one of the posse,
who was actually killed by one of his own men, and later
Glover. He was convicted in the Glover case. Finally, after
years of appeals, the Governor of Texas pardoned him. All
Gregorio Cortez had ever asked for was justice. He died at
his wedding at the age of 41. Some say he was poisoned but
no one knows for sure. What we are sure of is, that Gregorio
gave them one heck of a chase.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 43 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, May 16, 2000 (16:05) * 62 lines
The Trail of Tears
In the beginning, the Cherokee believed that the earth was
covered with water and that beavers came from the sky to drag
the mud from the oceans bottom and bring it to the top. The
beavers attached it to the sky and created the land. The
"great buzzard" then flew to the ground where he flapped his
wings and the valleys and mountains were formed. It was on
one of these flights that the "great buzzard" created the
land on which the Cherokees lived.
The Cherokee's had taken to the white man's ways. They were
farmers who cultivated the land while living peacefully with
those around them. But this was not good enough for some, who
envied their land, and others like President Andrew Jackson,
whose racial hatred towards the natives drove them to
rationalize any excess. In 1829, the Georgia legislature passed
laws that would extend its authority over the land of the
Cherokees. The Indians were given a choice either the Cherokees
could leave the state or they could succumb to white rule.
Chief John Ross protested against this unjust policy. He
went to President Jackson and asked for federal protection.
The Cherokees had signed a treaty with the U.S. government
that promised them protection but their protest fell on deaf
ears. Jackson not only refused their request but the old Indian
hater, who once carried a pouch made from a squaws breast,
sent his Secretary of War, Lewis Cass to negotiate a new
treaty with a minority faction of the tribe who favored removal.
The removal faction was granted $3,000,000 in payment. The
treaty had to be ratified by the whole nation so Cass
proclaimed that only the pro-removal faction would be eligible
to vote. The vote was a sham with only about 4% of the
Cherokee nation approving of the treaty. Congress, despite
protests from Chief Ross, quickly passed the accord.
This set off a tidal wave of land grabbers who plundered the
new land often killing the natives in the process. Most of
the Cherokees refuse to leave and federal troops under the
command of General Winfield Scott were sent in to remove the
natives. Their tactics could only be described as genocide.
The Cherokees were given no time in which to gather their
belongs before they were ordered on a forced march in which
25% of the tribe would perish. Their homes were ransacked as
plunderers stole their belongings and then sold them right
in front of their eyes. The sellers and the buyers conspired
to cheat the Cherokee.
The march took place in the middle of the winter as one of
the exiles commented: "Looks like maybe all will be dead
before we get to new Indian country." The removal took them
from their sacred home where the "great buzzard" had come and
left them in a land that they knew nothing about. Their land
went to speculators and slave owners. The Cherokee were left
alone for a while but white settlers would again take their
land in the Oklahoma land rush at the end of the century.
This injustice haunts our history, reparations have never
been made to the Cherokee, maybe it is time they should?
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 44 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 19, 2000 (19:44) * 14 lines
Why is extorting money called "blackmail?"
When the English owned the majority of the farmland in
Scotland, they charged the Scottish farmers rent called
"mail," from a Scottish word meaning rent or taxes.
Payments were normally made in silver, and this was called
"white mail."
When a farmer could not make his payments, the payment had
to be made in produce, and this was called "black mail."
During the threat of eviction, some landlords demanded more
produce than was actually needed to cover rent, which coined
the term "blackmail" in its present negative connotation.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 45 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 19, 2000 (20:51) * 11 lines
Why is something in your area of specialty called "right down your alley?"
This expression origninally came from the American game of
baseball. In baseball, an alley is one of several paths a
ball can take into the outfield which makes the ball
difficult to catch. A player who feels his (or her)
specialty is hitting a ball down a particular "alley" might
promise to hit one 'right down my alley.' This phrase
eventually was generalized to refer to any sort of
specialty.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 46 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 19, 2000 (22:17) * 59 lines
The Forgotten Helen Keller
Helen Keller is one of the most misunderstood women in
history. While we are familiar with her story about how a
deaf and blind girl overcame these handicaps through the
force of will. Her adult life remains largely forgotten.
She is held up to school children across the country as an
example of what one can do if they put their mind to it.
Patty Duke won an academy award for her portrayal of Helen
Keller in "The Miracle Worker." But much is left out. What
schools don't speak about is her politics. She was a radical
with a firm belief in social justice. One of the most
effective forms of censorship is to omit what one finds
troublesome. The story of Helen Keller demands a more
truthful telling.
Helen Keller was a radical socialist. She joined the party
in 1909, but she had come to her radicalism before then. Her
blindness, and work with the blind, taught her that blindness
was not distributed equally throughout the population.
Industrial accidents and poor conditions were the main cause.
"I have visited sweatshops, factories, crowded slums. If I
could not see it, I could smell it." When Keller became a
socialist she already was one of the best-known women in the
world. Her convictions created a hailstorm of controversy. Once
admired by the press, she now was attacked and her handicaps
blamed for her beliefs. The Brooklyn Eagle commented, "mistakes
spring out of manifest limitations of her development." To
which Keller replied, "Oh ridiculous Brooklyn Eagle!
Socially blind and deaf, it defends an intolerable system,
a system that is the cause of physical blindness and deafness
that we are trying to prevent."
Helen Keller devoted her life to change. She helped found
the American Civil Liberties Union. As a white woman,
who grew up in the south during the time when three black
people were being lynched a week, she supported the NAACP.
Helen Keller spoke out against the First World War and
supported Eugene Debs in each of his campaigns for president.
She wrote essays on the women's movement.
In 1929, at the age of 49, she wrote her book Midstream. In
it she described her philosophy, about how she had visited
mill towns and met with strikers. She wrote of how she once
believed that if one threw themselves into life's struggles,
they could overcome anything. She now said that she did
not believe that anymore, "I learned that the power to rise
in the world is not within the reach of everyone." Helen
Keller's story is too often told as if her life stopped as a
child. We are not presented with the adult Helen Keller, and
quite interestingly, we drain the life out of her story.
She becomes an icon without meaning. Her humanity is covered
up, and she is treated like a child. The real Helen Keller was
much more complex and insightful. "Conclusions are not always
pleasant," she once said. Sadly, neither are the losses to
humanity from omissions of history.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 47 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, May 22, 2000 (23:36) * 8 lines
Why is a white flag used as a symbol of a truce or to give up?
The white flag represents untouched purity, and the color white
has long been used in religious ceremonies over the world as a
sign of innocence and goodwill. due to this image, the color
white has almost universally become acknowledged as a symbol of
peace and is, as a result, a natural symbol for a flag of truce.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 48 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, May 25, 2000 (13:05) * 62 lines
Port Chicago
Joe Small joined the navy in 1943. He was stationed at Great
Lakes navel station, just outside of Chicago. Small was then
assigned to Port Chicago, California. Port Chicago was an
ammunition depot throughout the Second World War. All of its
petty officers were white and the munitions handlers were
black. Their main job was to take the boxes of ammunition from
the train and pack them onto the ships, which were then sent
to the Pacific for the war effort.
Joe Small learned that the work was hard and dangerous with
each division being pitted against one another. The navy
refused to employ union stove handlers because the union men
would demand safety precautions, with the black sailors; the
navy would not have to worry about that. The officers bet
against each other on who would win, punishing the losers,
rewarding the winners. Any complaints about the conditions
were met with threats of KP or extra duty. When a boxcar came
in it would be filled to the top. Someone would have to crawl
up, build a ramp, and then slide the ammunition down the ramp.
The navy assured them that, because the bombs lack detonation
devices, there was nothing to worry about. Still the men
worried, many going AWOL, with one sailor even going so far
as to fake a section 8. This meant he was mentally unsound.
On July 17, 1944, Joe Small was awakened by a tremendous blast
that could be heard all the way to the Berkeley Hills. Some
320 sailors were killed, the base destroyed and the town of
Port Chicago, over 1 1/2 miles away, was heavily damaged. The
scene was horrendous with arms and legs scattered everywhere.
At first the men who survived did nothing. But they were very
afraid and with good reasons for after ten days they were sent
back to work. They were given no indication that any safety
precautions had been taken.
The men held a vote and Joe Small was elected as their
representative. He gathered petitions and it was decided that
the men would not go back. They refused the order and over
300 of them were thrown into the brig. The marines showered
racial slurs and threats at them and many fights broke out.
Fifty of the men, including Joe Small, were charged with mutiny.
The military trial was a sham. They were found guilty and
sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, but their case was taken
up by future Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, who
had observed the case.
The case had aroused the ire of the black community. Walter
White, who was then chairmen of the NAACP, and Marshall,
raised a public outcry until the navy was forced to rescind
the sentence and give the men dishonorable discharges. The
discharges were later up-graded to discharges under honorable
conditions. This meant that they would receive no benefits,
no insurance and would not be able to partake in the up coming
GI bill. It was the largest mutiny trial in the history of the
United States and one of the greatest miscarriages of justice
in military history. Joe Small, however, considered himself
lucky. He had survived.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 49 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, May 25, 2000 (19:28) * 0 lines
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 50 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, May 25, 2000 (19:34) * 83 lines
Most people got married in June because they took
their yearly bath in May and were still smelling pretty
good by June. However, they were starting to smell,
so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
**
Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. The man
of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water,
then all the other sons and men, then the women and
finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the
water was so dirty you could actually loose someone in it. Hence the saying,
"Don't throw the baby out with the bath water".
**
Houses had thatched roofs. Thick straw, piled high,
with no wood underneath. It was the only place for
animals to get warm, so all the pets..dogs, cats and
other small animals, mice, rats, bugs lived in the roof.
When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the
animals would slip and fall off the roof.
Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."
**
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the
house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where
bugs and other dropping could really mess up your nice
clean bed. So, they found if they made beds with big posts
and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem.
Hence those beautiful big 4 poster beds with canopies.
**
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other
than dirt. Hence the saying "dirt poor".
**
The wealthy had slate floors which would get slippery in
the winter when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to
help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they kept
adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would
all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the
entry way, hence a "thresh hold."
**
They cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always
hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added
things to the pot. They mostly ate vegetables and not
much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner leaving
leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start
over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it
that had been in there for a month. Hence the rhyme:
Pease porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge
in the pot nine days old."
**
Sometimes they could obtain pork and they feel really
special when that happened. When company came over,
they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off.
It was a sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring
home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with
guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."
**
Most people didn't have pewter plates, but had trenchers:
a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl.
Trencher were never washed and a lot of times worms got
into the wood. After eating off wormy trenchers, they would
get "trench mouth." (Oh my)
**
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the
burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and
guests got the top, or the "upper crust."
**
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination
would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days.
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead
and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen
table for a couple of days and the family would gather around
and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.
Hence the custom of holding a "wake".
**
England is old and small and they started running out of
places to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and
would take their bones to a house and reuse the grave.
In reopening thee coffins, one out of 25 were found
to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they
had been burying people alive. So they thought they would
tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and
up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Some one would
have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell.
Hence on the "graveyard shift" they would know that
someone was "saved by the bell" or he was a "dead ringer".
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 51 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 26, 2000 (00:32) * 15 lines
Why are playing cards made up of hearts, spades, clubs, and
diamonds?
Although playing cards were invented in China centuries ago, in
their present form they only go back to 14th century France. It
has been speculated the four standard suits represent the four
major classes of 14th century Frencn society.
Hearts, shaped like a shield, represented the nobility and the
church. Spades, shaped like a spear tip, represented the
military. Clubs, shaped like a clover, represented the rural
peasant. Diamonds, shaped like the tiles associated with
merchants' shope, represented the middle class.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 52 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 26, 2000 (00:34) * 9 lines
Why is doing something thoroughly or all the way called "going whole hog?"
A definition of "hog" is a young sheep not yet shorn. Many moons
ago (that means a long time ago), many farmers chose not to shear
their hogs completely because the fleece was very short and
difficult to get to. Other farmers, thinking differently, chose
to "go whole hog" and shar the entire sheep. According to many
popular theories, this is where we got the expression.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 53 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 26, 2000 (15:08) * 62 lines
Woodrow Wilson
When asked about President Woodrow Wilson, the answer
usually is that he led the country quite reluctantly, into
World War One, and that he was the former President of
Princeton University. He is thought of as an idealist who
after "the Great War" led a courageous attempt to get the
U.S. Senate to ratify his vision for a "League of Nations."
The rejection of Wilson's polices in the 1920 election is
reflected as a reaction to Wilson's idealism. We were tired
of the reforms of the so-called progressive era and the
electorate longed for a return to a simpler time. What is
left out is that it was also a reaction against Wilson's
racism, reactionary domestic activities, foreign
intervention and lies.
Under President Wilson the United States intervened in Latin
America more than at any other time in its history. In fact,
after Wilson's term the U.S. sought better relations with
Mexico under the guise of a good neighbor policy. During his
term we landed troops in Cuba, Haiti, Panama, the Dominican
Republic and ten times in Mexico. Both sides condemned
Wilson's intervention in Mexico in the Mexican Revolution.
Wilson may have said that he believed in self-determination
but his actions tell another story. In Haiti, U.S. marines
invaded and forced the legislature to install our
candidate as President. Later when the Haitians refused to
declare war on Germany, we got ride of the Haitian
legislature. It is not that Wilson failed to bring democracy
to Haiti. The problem was that he never tried.
On the domestic front, we have Wilson to thank for creating
segregation within the Federal government. When Congress
refused to pass his racist legislation, Wilson went ahead
and refused to appoint blacks to federal offices; even the
jobs that had historically gone to African-Americans. He
used his power to segregate the Federal government and when
blacks in the government protested, he had them fired. In
1914, D.W. Griffith made his ode to the Ku Klux Klan,
"Birth of a Nation." It was screened at the White House
afterwards Wilson said, "It was like writing history with
lightning."
Woodrow Wilson campaigned as a peace candidate in the 1916
elections, and by 1917 we were at war. During the war,
President Wilson attacked all those who opposed him. He
passed into law the Espionage Act in 1917 and the Sedition
Act of 1918. This gave Wilson the mandate to arrest anyone
who spoke out against the war. It went to absurd lengths.
Once a filmmaker was arrested for making a film about the
American Revolution. In it, the British were accurately
portrayed as the enemy, but this logic did not faze
Wilson's justice department who said that it was anti-British
and therefore in violation of the Sedition Act. The court
upheld the decision. Wilson's government refused to mail
publications that were critical of his policies, he jailed
suffragettes when they asked for the vote, and his justice
department broke into the homes of citizens across the
country. By the 1920's many were tired of Wilson and he was
hated in his time so why do we revere him. Beats me?
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 54 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, May 30, 2000 (14:32) * 66 lines
The Panic of 1873
Jay Cooke was a banker. He had made over three million
dollars in commissions for selling U.S. government bonds
during the civil war, and was a friend of President Grant. The
closing of his banking houses in 1873, which took place while
Grant slept at his house, set off a wave of panic throughout
the country. People could not pay their loans or mortgages
and 5,000 businesses closed their doors leaving workers out
on the streets. The depression lasted through the 1870's.
In 1874, 90,000 people had to sleep in police stations in
New York. They were limited to two days a month in any one
police station so they had to move around. In Chicago, twenty
thousand people marched in the streets demanding clothing and
bread. Police attacked workers in New York when they
attempted to march to city hall in New York. Strikes were
called throughout the country. Employers reacted by bringing
in new immigrants to break the strikes.
In the summer of 1877, with the country in the depths of
the depression, the New York Times wrote: "Already the cry
of dying children begins to be heard." Soon, to judge from
the past, there will be a thousand deaths of infants per
week in the city." In Baltimore, with sewage in the streets,
139 babies died. 1877 also saw a labor war begin in the
United States that would be more violent than anywhere in
the world. It would last until the late 1930's and thousands
would lay dead in its wake. It began with cuts in wages to
railroad workers. They received only $1.75 per day while
working twelve hours a day and the work was dangerous.
Men were crushed between trains and often lost limbs.
In West Virginia, workers stopped the rails from moving and
the Governor asked President Hayes for help. Hayes had just
become president and the nation had no money allocated to
send federal troops but J.P. Morgan offered to foot the bill
and the strike was broken. People became aware that the army
was being used against them. In Baltimore, they surrounded
the National Guard armory. The guard had been called out to
protect B&O Railroad and the soldiers came out firing. Ten
men were killed. Half of the troops quit and an enraged crowd
attacked the other half. The rebellion spread across the
country. In Pittsburgh troops were called in and a pitched
battle resulted in ten dead. Now the whole city rose up in
anger and another battle began; this time 29 people were
killed, including four soldiers. Police attacked crowds in
Chicago firing into them and killing four people. The next
day an armed crowd fought the police resulting in three more
dead.
Karl Marx felt that while the strikes will "Naturally be
suppressed, but can very well form the origin of an earnest
workers party." When the strikes of 1877 were finally over,
a hundred people had died. The railroads made some
concessions but a pattern had been established. The labor
struggle in America would be a long and bloody conflict. The
major political parties had reached an agreement in 1877.
They would not protect blacks or workers. Whether the
Democrats or Republicans were in control made no difference,
national policy would be the same. During this time, the
fortunes of Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan increased while
the country suffered. The fight by American workers for
dignity is a struggle filled with bravery and drama and
one of histories forgotten stories.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 55 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, May 30, 2000 (22:50) * 12 lines
Is there anyone who does not know...?
Where did the phrase "Peeping Tom" come from?
Before Lady Godiva made her infamous ride through the streets of
Coventry, England, she issued an order that all of the
townspeople remain indoors and keep their shutters closed during
her ride. Everyone complied with this request except for Tom,
the tailor. Mr. Tom bored a small hole through his shutter so he
could take a peek; ever since that day has been known as Peeping
Tom of Coventry.
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 56 of 116: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Jun 2, 2000 (13:40) * 81 lines
Who Was HUAC?
George Reedy covered the House On Un-American Activities for
UPI and once called the members of HUAC, "The worst collection
of people that have ever been assembled in the entire history
of American politics."
The House On Un-American Activities began in 1938. Its chief
function was to investigate subversive activities in the
United States, starting with pro-German groups like the
German-Bund. Its secondary function was to look at other
groups who could be categorized as anti-American. This
included the communist party and the socialist-workers party.
Martin Dies was its first chairmen, and his narrow-minded
views would shape the agenda for the committee for the next
twenty years. Dies was a racist, anti-New Deal, pro-German,
Democratic congressmen from Texas. As chairmen of HUAC, he
turned the committee into an anti-Roosevelt investigative
agency. He attacked New Deal programs such as: the Federal
Theatre project, which employed artists and brought theatre
to sections of the United States that had never seen a live
play, the Federal Writers project which, among other things,
recorded the oral history of former slaves, and other
Roosevelt programs.
Dies attacks on the Roosevelt administration set the tone
for HUAC. Parnell Thomas, who later spent time in prison
for corruption, followed him. Thomas was a crude man who
allegedly joined the Ku Klux Klan in 1922. Thomas was a
bitterly partisan, vulgar leader who brought to the
committee his own narrow prejudices. Other Republican
members included John McDowell, a former newspaper owner
with a deep hatred of the New Deal, and Richard Nixon.
Nixon was a first term congressmen from California who
defeated incumbent Jerry Voorhis in a very bitter election.
Nixon, as newly released Watergate tapes clearly reveal,
was a mean-spirited, bigoted anti-Semite, who had waged
a vicious and disgusting campaign in 1946. His campaign
produced a widely distributed newsletter which said that
"the Jews" were supporting Voorhis and that he was a
spokesperson for an international Jewish conspiracy, "the
subversive Jews and communists...in the interests of
international Jews, [aimed] to destroy Christian America."
Nixon attacked Voorhis for pushing what he called pro-
Russian issues. These included the G.I. Bill, school lunch
programs, abolition of the poll tax, opposition to higher
oil prices and two veteran housing bills.
On the democratic side stood John Rankin of Mississippi.
Rankin was a deeply prejudiced man who opposed anti-lynching
laws and the GI Bill (because it would include African-
Americans). During the hearings, he would search through a
scurrilous book called, Who's Who in American Jewry, to see
if any of the witnesses were Jewish. Sitting next to Rankin
was John Wood of Georgia. Wood was an active member of the
Ku Klux Klan who saw proponents of justice for blacks as
subversive.
So what did these members of HUAC find? Basically nothing.
The idea that the communists were about to take over the
United States was ludicrous. There was never any threat to
take over the government of the United States. By 1956,
over half of the members who belonged to the depleted
communist party were FBI informants. It was easy to be
catorgorized as a fellow traveler. If you signed a petition
calling for anti-lynching laws, you were branded a subversive.
Of the nearly 2.5 million federal employees investigated only
270 of them were fired and out of that 270, none were proven
to be communists. The hysteria created by the committee
retarded the growth of the civil rights movement and paved
the way for the debacle in Vietnam. So the next time someone
steps up to denounce someone else as being un-American, it
might be a good idea to investigate the person doing the
accusation. You know what they say, "people in glass houses
shouldn't throw stones."
Topic 6 of 11 [history]: Forgotten History
Response 57 of 116: Ma