That last paragraph is powerful, Jill. The self serving concept of manifest destiny! I guess how else could a collective consciousness resolve it's dissonance. That you are from the very area you research grounds all of this. It certainly makes this "historical story" very real. And not that long ago!! And how it reverberates today! Can't escape these truths when I read your writings and research. Thank you
Super important to bring the injustices up into the 1950s! This stuff didn’t happen just back in the late 1800s. It’s probably still happening right now…..but hard to dig out. Thanks for your careful, hard work. Focus on a specific place provided important perspectives.
It is easy to think of all this as ancient history, but it's really modern history. Especially as I read of your 500-year research project on your family farm.
In addition to shame for some of Gates' guests, I think the fact that interracial marriages were illegal was another reason this knowledge was not passed along readily.
Good point. And the irony that society held the belief that one drop of blood could make a person a member of the Black race and yet at the same time believe Indians who mixed with white blood could erase their race. What a set of contradictions!
I am moderating a Zoom session this afternoon on the topic of "American Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny." Thus, your last paragraph jumped out at me: "Allotments were intended to promote private property, rugged individualism, and the growth of capital assets through hard work and improvements to the land. That worked out well for some in Warroad, though not necessarily for Namaypoke to whom the allotment had been issued or his heirs." I wonder how often readers of your writings have tried to put their feet into the shoes of Namaypoke and his heirs. I am just speaking for myself here, but the story you have told tells us about GROSS UNFAIRNESS to this man and his family.
Wrestling those big concepts of American Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny has been made much easier by grounding my research in this specific place and following its story. And I see how those big concepts remained relevant even in the 1950s and were not so distant in our history.
To be sure your hard work has contributed so significantly in my attempt to form my own perspective on these worldviews -- who favored and promoted them, and who became the victims of these beliefs about how things should work. I think some people knew that these actions were "wrong", but others believed they were God's will. I will forever have difficulty with any group of people or individuals believing they have been granted a natural superiority to permit taking property from others. I am completely aware of this "feature" of colonialism, and I think there is increasing historical awareness that it resulted in great harm and injustice brought to so many human beings.
There is a "move to innocence" when you believe God has chosen you to carry out a mission of delivering them from evil with "good news" (as though they had no good news of their own to share). For most, there was no evil in their hearts and believed their actions were beneficial. Perhaps this move to innocence is the most dangerous legacy of colonialism today.
I know the settlers and colonizers tried to make the good v evil mantra work for them, and perhaps a few could tell stories of "good" things for the people who lost their property, but I do think there are plenty of examples of some who felt those whose property they stole were less than human and ignorant. I have a little trouble believing in the benevolence of those who took control of the land. Keep in mind, I've been working with Michael Thurmond's book related to matters of race in the early founding of Georgia and see parallels to the situation of Warroad. "Guns, Germs, and Steel" seems to me a recurring theme.
I don't think the "move to innocence" makes someone innocent, but it is a way for someone to live with the consequences of their actions that denies responsibility for negative effects. This is the same psychological move that made it possible for enslavers to father children by their female slaves and to treat them as property instead of family. It would be easier if there were clear villains to the story, but it appears in so many shades of grey instead of black and white.
Yes, this is why I think what you are writing "pairs well" with many of the episodes of Henry Louis Gates' 'Following Your Roots', especially when the individuals whose stories are being told learn that ancestors were of different races.
“Private property,” that should’ve never left Native hands. What a horror show of dehumanizing transactions. What an ongoing tale to unravel. “Hard work” it is to steal and dismiss it as truth. TY
Forgetting what happened to Namaypoke and the Objiwe village of Kah-bay-kah-nong at the turn of the century was easy in post-WWII modern America. By the mid-1950s the era of Indian dispossession of lands seemed something from an earlier time portrayed on TV Westerns even though it was still happening.
Curious who the institutions and names are in an outline that started and continued the land theft. You’ve teased out so many details Jill it’s an enormous research project. Thank you for all your work to better understand our history.
I appreciate you reading along and helping me make sense of all of it. I think your curiosity is shared by other readers in putting together an outline and some materials that pull together timelines, characters, and places. And I'm working on that while I continue to sort through research discoveries about this place. My full time obsession with part-time availability.
I agree with Margaret Holt. It all feels like gross unfairness to the rightful owners of the land and their heirs. It makes me so sad. White men with big boots have a way of working around the laws and taking what they want. We've seeing that again and again since settlers arrived and we're seeing it again now. Thank you for your research and I wonder if you will discover what happened with the house.
Believe it or not, there is more to come. I plan to follow up on what happened to these parcels after they were sold and removed from the allotment rolls.
That last paragraph is powerful, Jill. The self serving concept of manifest destiny! I guess how else could a collective consciousness resolve it's dissonance. That you are from the very area you research grounds all of this. It certainly makes this "historical story" very real. And not that long ago!! And how it reverberates today! Can't escape these truths when I read your writings and research. Thank you
Thanks, Stephanie. The process of following these documents makes these abstract concepts about history much more concrete and real to me.
Super important to bring the injustices up into the 1950s! This stuff didn’t happen just back in the late 1800s. It’s probably still happening right now…..but hard to dig out. Thanks for your careful, hard work. Focus on a specific place provided important perspectives.
It is easy to think of all this as ancient history, but it's really modern history. Especially as I read of your 500-year research project on your family farm.
In addition to shame for some of Gates' guests, I think the fact that interracial marriages were illegal was another reason this knowledge was not passed along readily.
Good point. And the irony that society held the belief that one drop of blood could make a person a member of the Black race and yet at the same time believe Indians who mixed with white blood could erase their race. What a set of contradictions!
I am moderating a Zoom session this afternoon on the topic of "American Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny." Thus, your last paragraph jumped out at me: "Allotments were intended to promote private property, rugged individualism, and the growth of capital assets through hard work and improvements to the land. That worked out well for some in Warroad, though not necessarily for Namaypoke to whom the allotment had been issued or his heirs." I wonder how often readers of your writings have tried to put their feet into the shoes of Namaypoke and his heirs. I am just speaking for myself here, but the story you have told tells us about GROSS UNFAIRNESS to this man and his family.
Wrestling those big concepts of American Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny has been made much easier by grounding my research in this specific place and following its story. And I see how those big concepts remained relevant even in the 1950s and were not so distant in our history.
To be sure your hard work has contributed so significantly in my attempt to form my own perspective on these worldviews -- who favored and promoted them, and who became the victims of these beliefs about how things should work. I think some people knew that these actions were "wrong", but others believed they were God's will. I will forever have difficulty with any group of people or individuals believing they have been granted a natural superiority to permit taking property from others. I am completely aware of this "feature" of colonialism, and I think there is increasing historical awareness that it resulted in great harm and injustice brought to so many human beings.
There is a "move to innocence" when you believe God has chosen you to carry out a mission of delivering them from evil with "good news" (as though they had no good news of their own to share). For most, there was no evil in their hearts and believed their actions were beneficial. Perhaps this move to innocence is the most dangerous legacy of colonialism today.
I know the settlers and colonizers tried to make the good v evil mantra work for them, and perhaps a few could tell stories of "good" things for the people who lost their property, but I do think there are plenty of examples of some who felt those whose property they stole were less than human and ignorant. I have a little trouble believing in the benevolence of those who took control of the land. Keep in mind, I've been working with Michael Thurmond's book related to matters of race in the early founding of Georgia and see parallels to the situation of Warroad. "Guns, Germs, and Steel" seems to me a recurring theme.
I don't think the "move to innocence" makes someone innocent, but it is a way for someone to live with the consequences of their actions that denies responsibility for negative effects. This is the same psychological move that made it possible for enslavers to father children by their female slaves and to treat them as property instead of family. It would be easier if there were clear villains to the story, but it appears in so many shades of grey instead of black and white.
Yes, this is why I think what you are writing "pairs well" with many of the episodes of Henry Louis Gates' 'Following Your Roots', especially when the individuals whose stories are being told learn that ancestors were of different races.
“Private property,” that should’ve never left Native hands. What a horror show of dehumanizing transactions. What an ongoing tale to unravel. “Hard work” it is to steal and dismiss it as truth. TY
Forgetting what happened to Namaypoke and the Objiwe village of Kah-bay-kah-nong at the turn of the century was easy in post-WWII modern America. By the mid-1950s the era of Indian dispossession of lands seemed something from an earlier time portrayed on TV Westerns even though it was still happening.
We’re grateful!
Curious who the institutions and names are in an outline that started and continued the land theft. You’ve teased out so many details Jill it’s an enormous research project. Thank you for all your work to better understand our history.
I appreciate you reading along and helping me make sense of all of it. I think your curiosity is shared by other readers in putting together an outline and some materials that pull together timelines, characters, and places. And I'm working on that while I continue to sort through research discoveries about this place. My full time obsession with part-time availability.
I agree with Margaret Holt. It all feels like gross unfairness to the rightful owners of the land and their heirs. It makes me so sad. White men with big boots have a way of working around the laws and taking what they want. We've seeing that again and again since settlers arrived and we're seeing it again now. Thank you for your research and I wonder if you will discover what happened with the house.
I've got promising new leads on finding out what happened to the house this morning!
"and now you know the rest of the story". Thank you for your efforts Jill!
Believe it or not, there is more to come. I plan to follow up on what happened to these parcels after they were sold and removed from the allotment rolls.