The Wounded Knee Massacre

In the 1800s, Europeans had hunted the bison herds of the Great Plains almost to extinction. These herds were a staple for the Native Americans of the Great Plains, particularly the Lakota Sioux. Their source of food was disappearing and their treaties with the US government were being ignored; settlers and miners were crossing reservation land boundaries as determined by the treaties. 

Photo: legendsofamerica.com

The Northern Paiute prophet Jack Wilson, known as Wovoka, had a vision that Jesus Christ had returned as a Native American and that Christ would save Native American believers by causing the disappearance of white settlers if the Indians participated in a ritual called the Ghost Dance. This dance phenomenon alarmed the US Army, leading to the arrest of Indian leaders to prevent an Indian uprising. 

 Photo: legendsofamerica.com

While American authorities were arresting Indian leaders, Lakota Sioux medicine man Sitting Bull was shot and wounded, raising tensions on both sides. The members of Sitting Bull's band joined Lakota Chief Spotted Elk, also known as Big Foot, on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in western South Dakota. Big Foot and his people were intercepted by a detachment of the US 7th Cavalry, who escorted the band to Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and instructed them to make camp. 

 Photo: aktalakota.stjo.org

The next day, December 29, 1890, soldiers attempted to disarm Big Foot's band. Tensions were high and not all the Lakota understood the orders of the soldiers. A gun went off -- no one knows whose -- and then five of the Lakota men fired their rifles at the soldiers. Allegedly, they were pushed to this by medicine man Yellow Bird who was performing the Ghost Dance. 

 Photo: encore-editions.com

Most of the gunfire was at close range. Women and children attempted to flee but they were targeted by soldiers with rapid fire guns while the wounded were shot and killed by other soldiers. 300 out of 350 Lakota were killed, including 44 women and 18 children. The US Army only lost 25 men. The Wounded Knee Massacre is considered the end of the Indian Wars.

Photo: geneologyreligion.net

Merry Christmas!

Christmas, 1914, was a unique day. The world was in the midst of the first global war, which upset the pre-existing balance of power in Europe. When the war began, Germany sent most of its forces West as a part of a two front war. However, the Western front became a trench-warfare stalemate. 

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Christmas in 1914 saw sporadic and unofficial truces along the Western front between German soldiers and British soldiers. Where these truces occurred, Christmas carols were sung, small gifts were exchanged, the dead were buried and soccer matches were played between the two sides. 

Photo: liverpoolecho.co.uk

Christmas 1915 saw a similar phenomenon but not on the same scale. In fact, most of the men who took part in the 1914 Christmas truce died later in the war due to how deadly the war was. For this reason, not all of the details about the Christmas truce are clear, but despite this shroud of mystery, the Christmas truce did occur and it is a testament to the resiliency to the human spirit and the desire for friendship. Merry Christmas!

Photo: jeffbridgman.com

O Christmas Tree

Today, it is expected for Christmas trees to be decorated with strands of lights. For some, these lights are colored while others opt for white lights. But initially, Christmas trees were illuminated by candles and were not decorated with stands of light bulbs until 1882.

Photo: home creation.tk

Edward Johnson, friend of Thomas Edison and Vice President of Edison Electric Light Company, hand wired colored light bulbs together in order to decorate his tree on December 22, 1882. Like Edison, Johnson publicized this feat by inviting newspaper reporters to his home in New York to see the phenomenon. Johnson became known as the "Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights."

Photo: history.com

After Johnson created them, electric tree lights became more and more popular for Christmas trees across the country and eventually around the world on indoor and outdoor trees. President Grover Cleveland was the first President to have a Christmas tree at the White House lit by electric lights in 1895. In 1901, Edison's company manufactured and advertised strings of Christmas lights in "Ladies' Home Journal." May your Christmas be merry and bright!

Photo: oldchristmastreelights.com

Battle of the Bulge

70 years ago on December 16, 1944, Nazi German forces surprised the Allied forces on the Western front. Their goal was to recapture Antwerp, Belgium as well as to prevent the loss of the war to the Allies. This long-running battle, which raged on until January 25, 1945, was termed by the press "The Battle of the Bulge" to describe the advancement of German forces into Allied territory. 

Photo: defense.gov

One very important target for the Germans was the town of Bastogne. The Germans likened the town to an octopus because of the many roads that spread out from the town. On December 20, the Siege of Bastogne began. US forces held control of the town and continued to fight, forcing the Germans to surround the town. 

Photo: ibiblio.org

The Americans were at a clear disadvantage: they were outnumbered, they did not have adequate clothes for the winter and, due to the weather, they could not be re-supplied. December 22, a German surrender party arrived in the besieged town with terms for an American surrender. 

Photo: thedropzone.org

The acting commander at the time was Division Commander General Tony McAuliffe.  When presented the terms of surrender, McAuliffe simply said "Nuts." He was at a loss as to how to officially respond and it was suggested that he keep his original reaction. Despite encirclement and demands of a surrender, the U.S. Troops in Bastogne continued to fight until on December 27, reinforcements managed to break the encirclement by the Germans and aid the men in the town. 

Photo: arlingtoncemetery.net

"...a good time for a beer."

December 15, 1933, the Twenty-First Amendment officially became effective in ending the prohibition of intoxicating beverages, which the Eighteenth Amendment had established in 1920. Many supporter of prohibition eventually reversed their opinion on it due to the economic suffering of the Great Depression.

Photo: moneyweek.com

When the Eighteenth Amendment was passed,  the wording was loose and stated only that intoxicating beverages would be banned. It was thought by many that this only meant liquor and not beer and wine but when the Volstead Act was passed, all alcohol was banned and the Act required strict enforcement. 

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Proponents of Prohibition believed that social problems would end with the end of alcohol consumption, like drunkenness, crime, child neglect and violence against children. This was not the case and some problems even increased during Prohibition. Eventually, it became a huge economic cost for the Government, which was particularly felt during the Great Depression.  Not only did the government feel this, but farmers did as well, since wheat and barley are necessary ingredients in beer. 

Photo: awesomestories.com

As these problems grew under Prohibition, more and more people supported the end of it, even women because they viewed the underground activities of Prohibition as dangerous to their children. December 5, 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment was ratified. It is the only Amendment that repeals another Constitutional Amendment. Cheers!

Photo: beerstreetjournal.com

Matisse

Henri Matisse was a French painter known for his use of color and representation. Matisse died in 1954 but before he did, he developed a new form of art: the cut-out. 

Photo: nndb.com

Initially, he used this style to plan a painting. One of the very first cut-outs was for his "Still Life with a Shell." The cut-out pieces of paper that represented the objects allowed him to arrange and rearrange them before he began painting. He continued with the cut-outs in this way until he began to create them to be stand alone pieces of art.

Photo: quizlet.com

Matisse was diagnosed with cancer in 1941 and confined to a wheelchair. A risky surgery helped him to continue to live and work and it was at this point, late in life, that he began his influential cut-outs. The cut-outs did not always remain as paper. His piece "Oceania, the Sky Oceanis, The Sea" began with the cut out of a bird he didn't want to discard; it eventually became a silk screen. 

Photo: water.pulitzerartists.org

He also designed stained glass; in particular, the stained glass for the Chapel of the Rosary in Venice after he was asked to help design the Dominican church there by a nun who had been his nurse. Though baptized a Catholic, Matisse was not religious and instead of working on the commission from a religious point of view, he saw it as an artistic challenge. Today the chapel is also known as Chapel Matisse because it is considered to be his masterpiece.

Currently, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City has a special exhibit of Matisse's cut-outs. (http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1469)

Photo: theartnewspaper.com

"A date which will live in infamy"

Yesterday, December 7, 2014, marked the 73rd anniversary since the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. This attack caused the US to declare war on Japan and Germany and to join the Allied forces in World War II. 

Photo: reuters.com


Despite its neutrality, the US was a target because of its military power as well as the role it had played in helping to end World War I. The Pacific theatre of the war was of longer duration than in Europe, starting in 1937 with the Second Sino-Japanese War. Despite its earlier beginnings, the pace and intensity of the war in the Pacific picked up in 1941. 

Photo: westpoint.edu


Prior to the attack, the US placed economic embargos on Japan, which made it difficult for Japan to continue to fight with China and expand its empire. On November 20, Japan gave the US an ultimatum: halt trade with China and renew economic trade and there would be no war in the South Pacific. The US refused. The Japanese decided it could easily end the US threat in the South Pacific by bombing Pearl Harbor since the Pacific fleet was stationed in Hawaii. 

Photo: history.com


At 7:48am, Pearl Harbor was attacked by about 350 Japanese fighter planes, bombers and torpedo planes. All of the US Navy battleships were damaged but only four of the eight were sunk. The USS Arizona was one of the ships that sank. Along with ships and aircraft being destroyed, 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 were injured. 

 Photo: olive-drab.com


The next day, December 8, President Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech to the Joint Session of Congress. Roosevelt advocated the end of non-interventionism and pushed for a declaration of war, arguing that the US was the victim of unprovoked aggression because the two countries had been trying to maintain peace. Roosevelt tapped into the patriotism of Congress and the American people by urging them to remember December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy."

 Photo: archives.gov

John Brown

155 years ago on December 2, 1859 abolitionist John Brown was executed by hanging in Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia). He had been convicted of three crimes: murder, treason and inciting a slave rebellion. Only one of these crimes warranted the death penalty: inciting a slave rebellion. 

Photo: civilwar.org

Almost two months earlier, on October 16, John Brown and 21 men of his Provisional Army snuck into Harpers Ferry, where a federal armory and arsenal were located. The goal was to steal guns from the factory town so that when they invaded the South, slaves could be armed. 

Photo: examiner.com

Brown and his men captured the armory, arsenal, rifle factory and a number of high profile hostages but word got out about the raid and militiamen and the Marines arrived to end the invasion. 

Photo: britanica.com

Despite the element of surprise, Brown and his men were forced to fortify themselves in the small brick fire engine house, where they were eventually captured. From Harpers Ferry, Brown and his men were transported to the county seat in Charles Town to be held in jail to await trial. 

Photo: digitalhistory.uh.edu

Based on his writings, Brown had meant for the raid on Harpers Ferry to be as bloodless as possible, despite his violence in Kansas. Some of his last words, though, showed that he realized that conflict was necessary in America to end slavery: "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood." 18 months after his death, the American Civil War began, which ended with the abolition of slavery. 

Photo: historynet.com

Jim Crow Laws

December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested when she refused to move from her seat on the bus for a white patron. At the time, buses in the state of Alabama were allowed to segregate seating because of Jim Crow laws. 

 

Photo: americaslibrary.gov

Rosa Parks did not give up her seat simply because she was tired, as many people learn in school. She was a member of the NAACP and had taken courses in race relations in which non-violent civil disobedience was discussed as an effective tactic. In her own words Parks described why she remained seated: "The only tired I was, was tired of giving in." 

 

Photo: thenation.com

The bus driver who demanded that Parks and the African Americans in her row move to the back of the bus was the same one who, 12 years earlier, made her pay at the front of the bus before telling her to re-board at the back of the bus in 1943. However, before she could get on the bus, the driver, James F. Blake, drove away without her and left her in the rain. The realization that he was the driver of the bus she was on in 1955 helped her to remain seated, even when he threatened to call the police. 

Photo: risingnation.net

Blake called the police and Parks was arrested for disobeying the bus driver's direction. There was a Montgomery city ordinance that allowed bus drivers to assign seats, which lead to the segregation of city buses. Parks spent the night in jail until the NAACP bailed her out.

Photo: nytexaminer.com

On December 5, Parks was tried in court, found guilty and ordered to pay a fine. She appealed her case and challenged the legality of racial segregation on city buses. That same day, the boycott of all city buses by African Americans officially began. At the time, it was not expected to last for an entire year but it was not until December 20, 1956, that seating on buses was based on a first-come basis. The boycott was lead by a young Martin Luther King, Jr. 

 

Photo: seattletimes.com