It Happened this Day

We are all the inheritors of our individual and collective histories.  From the colour of our eyes to the way in which we see the world we are products of a unique heritage rooted in what has happened before. We act in accordance with a combination of personal experiences within the circle of familial, communal, national and international events both of human and natural origins. We cite historic events as a way of marking time, as sources of conversation and generational identification. We are cloaked in history; we would be wise to extract from it lessons as to the decisions we make since our lives are neither predetermined or confined by genetics.  If we are to have meaning and a sense of belonging we need to know that how we came to be is important. Ignoring history is like stumbling about in the dark, crashing into things unfamiliar to us and causing damage to ourselves and the place in which we live. History is the planetary experience.

So here are a few events which took place among Native people for the upcoming week from the book “This Day in North American History” edited by Phil Konstantin for the Da Capo Press (2002):

January 30/1838:  Osceola of the Seminole Nation dies, after he is imprisoned by the Americans. Osceola was captured under a flag of truce.  It is but one example of the shameful tactics used by the US military to destroy Native resistance.

January 31/1786: Shawnees enter into treaty with the US. Some Shawnees are held in confinement until US citizens are returned.

1844:    The nation of Texas enters into treaty with the native peoples in the southwest.

February 1/1877: Fort Apache reservation created.

1917: Tohono O’dham’s secure a reservation in southwest Arizona.

February 2/1839: A group of Cherokees arrive in Oklahoma from their Georgia homelands, dozens died along the forced march.

1887: Native languages prohibited in Indian schools.

February 3/1838: Oneidas cede land in New York State

February 4/1847: US troops and militia attack Taos Pueblo

February 5/1847: Taos Pueblos surrender; their leader Montoya is later executed by US troops

1856:  Stockbridge Munsees sell reservation land in Wisconsin

1874:    Comanches attacked by US troops on the Brazos River, Texas

1937: Five “civilized” tribes of Oklahoma enter into trust agreement with US

February 6/1682: French explorer de la Salle reaches the Mississippi River

1740: Iroquois arrive at the Mississippi near modern Memphis to enter into a treaty with the Chickasaws.

1973: Chamber of Commerce building/courthouse  torched in Custer, South Dakota after confrontation between AIM and state police.