Slavery in the US

I read recently in a book review about the Amistad Rebellion a number of points I thought interesting.  First, the Denmark Vesey 1822 "supposed uprising" in Charleston is still being debated as to whether it was a "conspiracy in the first place".  Second, there was a major difference between African and American slavery.   

"...slavery in Mende country (the southern third of Sierra Leone) was typically 'paternal and familiar'-a world away from the sweeping cruelties of the American Plantation system".  Third, the Supreme Court in 1841 ordered the freeing of the Amistad Africans, however, it may have created an impression of the existence of "legal and illegal forms of slavery" (in the US) which served to support the southern view that "their institution was properly regulated".  In fact every southern justice-including Roger Taney of Dred Scott fame-ruled in the majority.  Fourth, in 1816 the American Colonization Society was formed to promote the creation of a colony in Liberia for Africans from the US.  However, the colony was only meant for northern free blacks not for southern slaves.  It seems the ACS in New Haven, Conn favored "black removal" (this may be another case of doing the right thing for the wrong reason).

(Source:  "A Peculiar Revolt" by Nicholas Guyatt of the University or York.  Review of The Amistad Rebellion by Marcus Rediker.  The Nation 11/26/12)

Election Results 2012

President Barack Obama won 332 electoral college votes to Mitt Romney's 206 electors.  The Senate now has 53 democrats and 45 republicans; a gain of two seats for democrats.  Bernie Sanders of Vermont is an independent who caucuses with the democrats, giving the democrats in essence 54 seats.  There is one other independent senator who I will have to do research on and add to this post later.  The House is now 234 republicans and 199 democrats, a loss for the republicans of eight seats.  If my math is correct there are five House seats unknown to me at this time; more research is required.  Anyone who knows is welcome to update this post.

(Source:  various articles in the Virginian Pilot and OnLine via google from this week)
Update:  President Obama's popular vote total is 62,611,250 to Mitt Romney's 59,134,475.  The other independent Senate seat won is in Maine and was won by A. King with 52.8 % of the vote against a republican, democrat and two other independents.  I don't know who he/she will caucus with; more research needed.  I checked the same source I did for the above information and got new numbers for the House makeup.  It is now 233 republican and 195 democrats.  That means there are seven seats unaccounted for.  Please advise if you can identify the remaining seven seats.
(Source:  www.politico.com on 11/18/12).

Modern Filibuster

Democratic Whip Richard Durbin made the following comment sometime in Sept of this year.  "I listened to the statement made on the floor by the republican leader.  It was a statement similar to one that was made yesterday...I am disappointed that this session of Congress has been so unproductive, but I know the reason why.  It isn't for lack of effort...We have consistently run into the same problem over and over.  In the last six years...the republicans have created 382 filibusters" (my emphasis).  To my understanding the modern filibuster doesn't require a senator to take the floor and talk until he drops; it only requires a statement by the minority party that they intend to filibuster and if the majority party can not muster 60 votes to force a vote then the legislation is dead.  Question: could it be true that there were 382 filibusters during President Obama's term?  

(Source:  "Yet another dysfunctional day" by Walter Pincus a columnist for the Washington Post.  Printed in the Virginian Pilot on 9/26/12).

First Amendment Case

A California man-Xavier Alvarez-lied about being a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.  He was charged with violation of the Stolen Valor Act, a California law.  The US Supreme Court this year ruled that the law is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment's free speech right.  The case is United States v. Alvarez (2012) and the decision was a 6 to 3 vote.  The dissenting judges were Alito, Scalia and Thomas; voting to uphold the law.  

(Source:  On line from 11/7/12)

Japanese American Relocation Camps 1940's

We are all familiar with this shameful episode in American History, one sanctioned by one of the most liberal Presidents ever elected to the White House in FDR.  I will not try to recall that but add a few notes I came across while reading a novel about the effects on two families in Seattle during that time.  The Japanese American community-most of which were Americans by birth and spoke only English-in Seattle were sent to a camp in western Idaho called Minidoka.  This source notes that rebellion within the camp, did not occur even thou the inmates vastly outnumbered the guards, because the inmates were "showing their loyalty to the US by their obedience".  I am sure you all know, but I think it worth repeating, that the War Relocation Authority-that ran the camps-wanted all males 17 and older to "sign of oath of loyalty to the US".  That would allow them to be drafted to serve in the US army fighting Germans and Italians.  Many did just that and formed the "Go for Broke" 442nd Regiment becoming one of the most highly decorated American units in the war.  Some did not sign the oath and were considered "resisters" and sent off to another camp.  I wonder what happened to them.

The author notes an incident of a US soldier shooting and killing a Japanese American inmate in the camp who was trying to direct a construction truck from going the wrong way in the camp.  The soldier was not tried or punished.  He was, however, fined for the "unauthorized use of government property"; that being the bullet he used to kill the inmate.

At wars end, some members of this community returned to their former homes to find nothing left of their homes, businesses and personal property.  The author does note that a large collection of personal papers and photos were stored in the basement of the Panama Hotel in that city and was not found to many years after the war.  The Japanese Americans who did return couldn't find homes or apartments to rent and only a few remained.  The American Friends Service Committee is one, if not the only, groups to help them.

(Source:  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.  2009)

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

I came across this bit of information in a novel about the Japanese Relocation period on the west coast of the US in the early days of WWII.  When the above act was passed it created a problem for fishermen on the west coast as they wanted and needed cheap labor (somethings never change).  At that time the Chinese workers worded for less and worked very hard.  So hard that when canning machines were introduced they were referred to as "Iron Chinks".  Local businessmen however, still needed cheap labor so they got around the Exclusion Act by bringing in Japanese workers.  This created harsh feelings between the Japanese and Chinese communities on the west coast.

(Source:  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.  2009

Tuskegee Airmen and US race bias.

I came across an obituary recently about an African-American Air Force pilot who died at the age of 93.  He was Woodrow Wilson Crockett aka "Woody".  He was born to an Arkansas sharecropping family who hoped to be a mathematician but when the money ran out he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1940.  He got his flight training at the Tuskegee Institution in Alabama being the 79th graduate of that program.  He served in Italy from 1944 to the end of the war and then flew combat missions in the Korean War.  He logged 5000 hours as a command pilot, flew 149 combat missions in WWII and 45 in Korea.  At one point his unit flew against German Messerschmitt jet fighters and shot down two.  He was awarded the Soldier's Medal for rescuing downed pilots, the Distinguished Service Medal, Air Medal and other awards during his flight career.

Maybe this story is not uncommon among many of his generation, but what struck me was his remembrances of the racial bigotry he and other black pilots faced from their "their fellow Americans".  He tells of "watching movies during free time, the German POWs could also go into the theater, but the black soldiers had to sit in the balcony in the back...they called it the 'Crows Nest'.  Things weren't too glamorous".  He also noted that German POWs were "shown more respect" than black US soldiers.  I have previously read of such stories but this struck me as more significant, coming from a veteran and witness.  (It is very hard for me to imagine the depth of one's hatred that would cause one American to treat another that way).

(Source:  "Tuskegee veteran flew 194 combat missions" by Megan McDonough of the Washington Post.  Printed in The Virginian Pilot on 9/12/12)

USS Indianapolis

I always wondered if the story of the Indianapolis was how it was presented in the movie "Jaws" in that men were left to drown or be eaten by sharks because the Navy did not want to divulge the mission of the ship prior to the atomic bombing of Japan.  I read an old article recently that cast some doubt on that theory.  The ship was hit by two or three torpedoes on July 29, 1945 and sunk within 13 minutes and only 318 men survived.  A court of inquiry was convened on Aug 13, 1945 and a court-martial of the Captain followed by the end of December.  This source says that no distress signal was sent due to destruction of the communications system on board the ship and the rapid sinking thereof.  In WWII there were 436 US naval vessels lost to enemy action and a court-martial for the Indianapolis was the only legal action taken.  The captain was found to have failed to follow a "zigzag" course which was blamed for the loss.  During the trial in December, of Captain McVay, the Japanese commander-a Commander Hashimoto-of the sub that sank the ship was brought to the trail to testify and he noted no criticism of McVay for his actions.  Many in this country-including some in Congress-were outraged at this decision to have Hashimoto testify.  McVay's career was over but other than that it does not seem much legal action was taken against him.  In Dec 1960 the survivors held their first reunion and many greeted McVay warmly.  Interestingly or cruelly, the Navy re-used the name "Indianapolis" for a nuclear submarine.  (A point here might be that Hollywood does not always-if ever-present the truth when a good story line is possible).

(Source:  "The Agony of the Indianapolis" by Kenneth E. Ethridge.  American Heritage Magazine Aug/Sept 1982).

"New Deal"

I came across an interesting item on NPR OnLine yesterday.  It was about a FDR New Deal program that built towns for groups of people outside of major cities and across much of country.  It appears that there were about 100 of these towns constructed in the 1930's and the one being noted in this source was the town of Roosevelt, NJ.  I visited the site some years ago to photograph a mural painted by Ben Shahn under a WPA program (actually it was under another of the federal government's programs but I don't remember the exact name at this moment).  That mural covered an entire wall over the entrance to a middle school cafeteria; most of the New Deal murals were painted in post offices.  

The towns had some kind of factory and a 500 acre farm that was intended to produce a product for sale.  The gov't built homes along with the factory and farm and gave them to people who moved from a city area, to "be owned and run by the residents".  Roosevelt was populated by NYC garment worker.  It seems most of the towns "failed" because they couldn't  produce enough to make a profit; but obviously some parts of the towns still exist.  If you google "New Deal Towns" a list of these towns should be found.

(Source:  "New Deal Town Turns 75. Utopian Ideals Long Gone: by Janet Babin at www.npr.org.  9/23/12)

Rice Cultivation pre Civil War

I came across this reference to rice cultivation by African Americans slaves in South Carolina, while reading an article about the Air Force inadvertently dropping an atomic bomb on Mars Bluff, SC in 1958.  In 1993 historian Amelia Wallace Vernon wrote a book entitled African Americans at Mars Bluff, South Carolina.  The book "...documents the successful private cultivation of rice by slaves in Mars Bluff and their descendants into the twentieth century and develops persuasive evidence that the technical expertise to raise rice in South Carolina (and Louisiana) came from slaves brought over from middle Africa, where it was the staple crop".  This piece of history is noted in this article because the bomb that was dropped in 1958 landed  a few hundred yards from those rice fields of Pre-Civil War time.

(Source:  "Aircraft 53-1876A has lost a device" by Clark Rumrill.  American Heritage Magazine Sept 2000).

Mitt Romney Aug 2012

I gather from the acceptance speech that Romney delivered at the  GOP convention this past week that the following are points made during that review (at least in the mind of this newspaper).

1.  Romney would repeal ObamaCare (I don't think a president has that ability; maybe we will see).
2.  Romney picked on the memory of Jimmy Carter, in a negative way.
3.  Romney gave no details on how he will reduce the federal deficit and create 12 million new jobs.
4.  He would extend the Bush era tax cuts (and I assume that is for all) that are due to expire at the end of
.        the year.
5.  He would further cut "another 20 % in tax rates".
6.  He provided no details on which tax breaks he will end.
(Source:  The Record newspaper on 8/31/12)

Bosnia War

War raged in the former Yugoslavia region of Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 during which the "siege of Sarajevo" was the longest in modern history.  For three and a half years the world (UN and other nations) did noting to stop the killing.  During this war one in every two Bosnians was forced to flee his home.  50,000 Bosnian women were raped leading to the first conviction for sexual violence on it own as a "crime against humanity".  This war was the deadliest in Europe since WWII and in 1995 an "uneasy peace" in Bosnia-Herzogovina with the struggle still going on.  My knowledge of this war is limited and a lot more research is needed by anyone wishing to know more.  (It is also my belief that the crime of rape was committed against a Muslim population by Christian members of Serbia and Bosnia.  If this is true it might help explain why many Muslims feel hatred toward other religious groups in the region and world)

(Source:  Movie "In the Land of Blood and Honey").

Witchcraft trials of 1730

I read recently of witchcraft trials in Mount Holly in NJ in 1730 in which a witch and a wizard were put on "trial".  The townspeople, in an effort to be fair, choose two of their number to undergo the same "tests" as the suspected witches "as a sort of litmus test to prove their fairness".  The four were all stripped naked and tied hand and foot and dropped into a pond.   "It was thought that anyone who was a witch would float on the surface of the water, while an innocent would sink to the bottom".  One of the test persons sank while the   other and the two accused floated to the surface.  There was no further indication of what happened next.  I think the interesting point here is that an account of this was recorded by one "Benjamin Franklin" who as "an enlightened thinker of his day...poke fun at folk beliefs which still persisted as well as to have a joke at the expense of Burlington County residents, whom Philadelphians saw as rustic, rural yokels".  I post this because I wonder if the "test" we have always heard about-the sinking in water when dunked-was in fact made up by this "Benjamin Franklin" just to ridicule those who believed in witches.  I am also assuming that the Benjamin Franklin noted here is the one history books record the existence of.
(Source: "The Mount Holly Witch Trials of 1730" by Michael Vikovic in Weird New Jersey volume number 19.  This source is questionable; I have no knowledge of the magazines value as a source of history).

WW II Relocation Camps

Many of us have heard about and noted in our classes about the detention of Japanese Americans on the West Coast starting after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Of the 120,000 so detained, two-thirds of them were citizens; most had their property taken without compensation and got nothing back after the war.  What I had not heard of before was that Canada did the same thing.  A Canadian environmentalist and broadcaster-David Suzuki-notes that "there were 22,000 Japanese Canadians put in camps".  More research is needed.

(Source:  "A Progressive Interview With David Suzuki" by Mathew Rothschild.  The Progessive Dec 2010 Jan 2011).

Civil War

(Personal observation. I always knew of the conflict as the "American Civil War". I have learned that some refer to it as the "War of Northern Aggression" or the "War between the States". Now I read in the Virginian Pilot this morning that it is "Mr Lincoln's War". Why not call it the "War to Save the Union" or the "War to defeat Treason" or the "War to End Slavery". I guess it all depends on one's personal perspective. Today conservatives are calling the war started by George W. Bush as "Obama's War").

Student Speech

I school district in Indianapolis has expelled a 17 year old student for the use of profanity on a Twitter site (I am not sure what that is). He used a "certain expletive" (most likely the "F" word) numerous times to show how it would fit into a sentence. He made the comment on "his own time" and not on school property. He says he was using his own computer but the school seems to disagree; he was using a school computer that was given to all upper grades. This seems to be developing into a case that will end up in court. An ACLU spokes-person notes that this could be a First and Fourth Amendment case. The article notes that the 1969 Supreme Court case of Tinker v. Des Moines applies here. Further action is not mentioned in this article.

(Source: "Student's profane tweet stirs debate on free speech" by Charles Wilson of The AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 4/4/12)

John Wilkes Booth

Maybe this is not much of an issue, but I thought it worth mentioning. The Gettysburg National Military Park visitors center bookstore was-for awhile-selling bobblehead dolls of Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. The Lincoln doll makes sense, but a doll of his assassin holding a pistol like the one he used to kill Lincoln seems to me in very bad taste. Of course, it may also show how people in a certain part of this country still view the Civil War and who the real villain was. After a week on the shelves it was removed. However, the doll still sells online for $ 20.

(Source: "Lincoln's Assassin's bobblehead off shelves" by the AP. In the Virginian Pilot on 3/16/12).

Presidential Elections

I was told after the 2000 presidential election that Al Gore couldn't even carry his own state; thus-it was implied-not deserving to win the presidency that year. I have since learned that Woodrow Wilson and Richard Nixon-both of whom won elections-also lost their home states. Nixon's was California but I am not sure what they consider Wilson's "home" state even thou he was governor of New Jersey prior to being elected. It also seems that Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney will also face this issue if either of them becomes the GOP nominee in 2012. Santorum and Romney are from Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, states that usually vote democratic.

(Source: New Orleans Times Picayune from March 4, 2012)

Vietnam and Japan

I read the following in a 2010 non-fiction work by H.W. Brands.

"A principal reason the Truman and Eisenhower admins worried about SE Asia-to the point of committing the US to the defense of Vietnam-was that access to SW Asia was considered essential to the economic revival of Japan".

Was this the basic underlining objective behind our war there? Is this the reason 60,000 US soldiers died there? For a former enemy's economic well-being?

(Source: American Dreams: The US Since 1945 by H. W. Brands. The Penguin Press/NY 2010. Brands of the U of Texas professor and author of six other American History books.)

Secession and Civil War

We have all read of the pro-southern actions in the north during the Civil War; they are in just about every US History text. The NYC draft riots and the murder of black residents in that city, and the fact that Lincoln needed an armed escort to get through Baltimore on his way to DC. But why have those same texts omitted any reference to pro-union actions taken in the states of the CSA? One example of those actions that texts could have noted was the effort by Winston County, Alabama to secede from the CSA. The hill people of Appalachia did not benefit from slavery and might not have wanted to defend it. On July 4, 1861 a group established the "Free State of Winston". Many men of this area resisted conscription into the armies of the CSA and hid out in the hills for the duration of the war. Eastern Tennessee (the poorest section of that state) and northwest Georgia were also part of a "plan" to form a new state-much like West Virginia formed from Virginia-called "Nickajack". The plan to form a new state failed for the lack of a strong leader and died by the end of 1861.

(Source" Lost States by Michael J. Trinklein. Quirk Books of Philadelphia. 2010)

Supreme Court Ruling 2012

In Hosanna-Tabor Church v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission decided this month the court ruled that religious groups are allowed to discriminate in hiring and firing of personnel. They ruled that the First Amendment's "establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" trumps the federal anti-discrimination laws. This newspaper believes the ruling is correct while saying that it may give fringe churches a chance to "spread bigotry and hatred". The ruling is believed to be the most important religion case in decades. More research is needed.

(Source: "Permission to Discriminate" editorial in The Virginian Pilot on 1/13/12)

Medical Marijuana Laws

This may not be a history oriented issue but it most likely will come up in a class discussion at some time, so I include it here. The issue is the legalization of marijuana use for medical purposes how that it is being received by the states. 17 states have medical marijuana laws on their books with California being the most "permissive" and New Jersey being the most "restrictive". However, in California, regardless of the state law, 185 communities have "banned pot dispensaries" from opening. Towns in Colorado and Maine have also banned dispensaries. A representative of the National League of Cities says that local governments are "within their rights to restrict or keep out pot businesses". In NJ have made pot legal for patients "with certain conditions" back in January of 2010 "but there is still no place where they can get it legally". Six groups in NJ have been given permits to grow and sell cannabis but so far only one site in Montclair has indicated it might open.

(Source: "Pot dispensaries face roadblocks" by Geoff Mulvihill of the AP. In The Record on 1/10/12).

Md