Refugees: A History

A refugee, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is a "person who flees to a foreign country to escape danger [war] or persecution." This is not a new word or a new definition because the world has had refugees ever since lines were drawn between groups of people.

Photo: nasa.gov

One of the first major instances of refugees occurred in 1685 in France under the rule of Louis XIV. With the Edict of Nantes, the Huguenots, French Protestants, were allowed to practice their faith in safety, but after the Wars of Religion were renewed, King Louis XIV issued the Edict of Fontainebleau. This stated that if the Huguenots practiced their religion, they risked persecution by the state. Historians estimate that over the next twenty years, two hundred thousand people fled France out of fear for their lives. Those who remained were subjected to having their marriages nullified, their children declared illegitimate and their churches burned down.

Photo: history.com (King Louis XIV)

In 1881, Russian Tsar Alexander II was assassinated by a leftist group called Naradnaya Volya. They were not a Jewish group but the media placed the blame on the Jewish population for the assassination of the Tsar. The reaction by the population towards the Jewish population resulted in progroms: the organized massacre of a specific ethnic group. Over the course of 20 years, Jewish homes were attacked violently, causing 2 million Jews to flee Russia and seek refuge in Europe.

Photo: allrussias.com (Assassination of Tsar Alexander II)

With the onslaught of World War I, Europe saw thousands of civilians massacred and a mass exodus of people from several countries, especially Belgium and Armenia. Fortunately for the Belgians, most of the two million refugees were able to return to their country after the war. But the Ottoman empire decimated much of the Armenian population and 5 million Armenians are still without a homeland today. The attack on the Armenians is considered to be the first genocide of the 20th century.

Photo: vetfriends.com

The number of refugees that fled during World War II far surpassed the numbers of the "Great War," World War I. By the end of the WWII, 40 million people were refugees in Europe alone and the world did not know how to deal with this issue. In response, organizations such as the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Conventions were created to help the refugees recover from the horrors of war.

Photo: vilnews.com (Refugees of World War II)

Today, due to the Syrian Civil War, four million Syrians have been displaced and are refugees. When World War II ended and non-governmental organizations were created to protect the rights of refugees, it appeared that the world was planning to help refugees. But today, there are currently 60 million refugees in the entire world and many countries are closing their borders to these people in need.

Photo: theguardian.com

There are claims that these people will bring terror, destruction and disaster to the countries that welcome them in. In fact, refugees are the least likely to cause harm to their new homes. They are actually fleeing terror, are thankful to their new host country for giving them a second chance, and they are focused on rebuilding their lives. Despite the fear-mongering by the small-minded who are ignorant of history, immigrants and refugees have always been the strength of America, since America was created by immigrants and refugees. 

Photo: origins.osu.edu (Ellis Island)

The Witch of November

Today, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald is best known due to the Gordon Lightfoot ballad, which memorializes the ship's historic sinking on November 10, 1975, in which the entire crew was lost. But in 1958, the ship was known as the largest ship on the Great Lakes, one that set haul time records.  

Photo: mhsd.org

The Edmund Fitzgerald was a lake freighter that crossed Lake Superior carrying cargo. The captain of the ship in 1975 was Ernest McSorley, and at the end of that year's shipping season, McSorley and the ship were both going to retire.

Photo: findagrave.com

On November 9, the Edmund Fitzgerald set out from the port of Superior, Wisconsin with a load of taconite pellets, a low-grade iron ore. As the ship crossed Lake Superior, headed for Detroit, the National Weather Service issued a gale warning. These strong November storms on the Great Lakes are known as witches, November Witches or the Witch of November. By 3:00 pm on November 10, the Edmund Fitzgerald had sustained damages, as was relayed by Captain McSorley to the SS Arthur M. Anderson, a cargo ship sailing behind the Fitzgerald. 

Photo: boatnerd.com

McSorley and the captain of the Anderson remained in contact because as the day continued and the storm did not let up, the Fitzgerald lost both radars. In the final communication between the two ships, the Anderson asked how the Fitzgerald was making out with its problems. McSorley's response: "We are holding our own." But sometime between 7:20 pm and 7:30 pm., the ship went down in the cold waters of the big lake known by the Ojibwa as Gitche Gumee.

Photo: lakesuperiornews.com

There is no clear understanding as to why the ship sank that night. "They might have split up or they might have capsized, they may have broke deep and took water." However it happened, today the ship rests, along with its crew of 29, 530 feet underwater at the bottom of Lake Superior, 17 miles from the safe haven of Whitefish Point. The 29 men and the big freighter are remembered in Gordon Lightfoot's song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. 

Dia De Muertos

Today, the Mexican holiday "Dia De Muertos" is celebrated around the world but the multi-day holiday we know is rather different from the original. 

Photo: lib.gccaz.edu

From the 14th to 16th centuries, the Aztecs, an indigenous people of Mexico, held two feasts in honor of the dead. Death itself is not celebrated, but rather the lives of those who have moved on are commemorated. The first, the Feast of the Revered Deceased, was observed by the Aztecs in present-day July, while the Feast of the Greatly Revered Deceased took place during present-day August. Both festivals lasted all month and were presided over by the Queen of Mictlan, Mictlantecuhtli, the "Lady of the Dead." In Aztec culture, skeletons were seen as representations of fertility and health. 

Photo: scalarchives.com

When the Spanish arrived in Mexico, conquered the Aztecs in the 1500s and imposed Catholicism on the indigenous peoples, these feasts were moved to coincide with the Catholic holidays of All Saints and All Souls Days at the beginning of November. Initially, Dia de Muertos wasn't celebrated throughout the country because the Aztec empire was concentrated in central and southern Mexico.

Photo: spanishwars.net

Today, Dia de Muertos is celebrated all across the country because at the beginning of the 21st century the Mexican government made it a national holiday. Up until then, people in northern Mexico commemorated All Saints and All Souls Days in a more Catholic setting, rather than the Aztec-influenced Dia de Muertos. 

One prominent figure during Dia de Muertos is La Calavera Catrina. She is similar to the Queen of Mictlan in that she presides over these celebrations, but that was not her intended role. José Guadalupe Posada was a satirical Mexican engraver who was active between 1871 and 1913. One of his best known works, "La Calavera Garbancera," was an engraving of a skeleton in elaborate clothing in the style of high class Europeans. Posada was making fun of Mexicans, especially those in government, who appeared to be turning away from their Mexican heritage and focusing on the pale skin and elaborate fashions from Europe. Specifically, Posada was mocking the Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz, whose actions eventually led to the Mexican Revolution. Later, La Calavera Garbancera became known as La Calavera Catrina. 

Photo: mvsnoticias.com

To outside eyes, the holiday of Dia de Muertos appears to be a very public celebration of death but it is a very private occasion for Mexican families. They light candles and create paths of marigolds to guide their lost loved ones back to their homes. Within the home, the families create elaborate altars for their beloved deceased and provide them with food and sugar. While there are large public parades with enormous skeletons, the most important part of the holiday is an intimate celebration of the life of a lost loved one and a way to help them move on after death. 

Photo: npr.org