Remedy Comes From Memory
Acknowledging the painful past, at last
Welcome back to the This Day In Esoteric Political History newsletter. Each week, a member of our team (or a friend of the show) gathers together bits of America’s past and attempts to find a throughline that might add a little understanding to our current moment.
Today, you’re in the steady hands of This Day historian Kellie Carter Jackson.
Here’s what happened over the week ahead in American history…
May 9
1860: The Constitutional Union Party has its first and only convention
1877 : Lakota leader Sitting Bull leads a large group into Canada to seek refuge from the U.S. Army, which had been pursuing him after he defeated the U.S. in the Battle of Little Bighorn
1960: The FDA approves "the pill," becoming the first country to legalize it
May 10
1773: The Tea Act is passed, leading to the Boston Tea Party
1775: Americans capture Fort Ticonderoga, the first offensive victory for American forces in the Revolutionary War
May 11
1858: Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd US state
1880: Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, a dispute over land titles between settlers and the Southern Pacific Railroad
1934: A massive storm sends millions of tons of topsoil flying across the Great Plains region of the United States
1963 : A series of bombs explode in Birmingham, Alabama — one at the hotel in which Martin Luther King, Jr. was staying, and one at his brother’s house
May 12
1780: American General Benjamin Lincoln surrenders Charleston to the British
1879: Chief Standing Bear wins a lawsuit against the US government, with a US district judge in Omaha, Nebraska ruling that an Indian is a “person” in the eyes of the law.
May 13
1846: Congress declares War on Mexico in a dispute over Texas
1916: American Indian Day is first observed in New York
1985 : The Philadelphia police department end a standoff with the MOVE group by dropping two firebombs from a helicopter on a rowhouse, which eventually led to an entire city block burning to the ground and 11 people being killed
May 14
1787: Delegates gather in Philadelphia for a convention to draw up the U.S. Constitution
1804: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark leave St. Louis to explore the Northwest
May 15
1800: John Adams moves the federal government from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
1850: At least 60 Pomo Native American men, women and children are killed in the so-called Bloody Island Massacre
1869: Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton found the National Woman Suffrage Association
1972: George Wallace is shot five times and paralyzed in an assassination attempt
In which we take the above collection of events and find themes, throughlines, rabbit holes and more.
Memory As Remedy
When I think about connecting the dots this week I think about the 19th century and the relentless efforts to conquer and control Native American people and land.
From the moment Europeans arrived in America, they began practicing both contact and conquest. Early in the 19th century and shortly after the Purchase of the Louisiana Territory, President Thomas Jefferson sent out scouts Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the Northwest territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Their expedition was not for mere adventure, but to establish an official presence and gain a sense of the resources available. During their mission, Lewis and Clark made contact with over 70 Native American tribes.
In essence, the trip was about Native American surveillance. Extensive maps were drawn of the areas. The famous Sacagawea is also introduced to history, serving as less of a guide and more of a translator and pawn to ease tensions with encountered populations. When we fast forward into the middle of the 19th century, Native Americans were facing an onslaught of settler violence. In 1850 the Pomo, an indigenous tribe in California, was forced into slavery by white settlers, Andrew Kelsey and Charles Stone. They abused and starved the Pomo and when the Pomo people rebelled and killed their enslavers, United States troops were brought in to kill the Pomo people. It was a massacre. Men, women and children were slaughtered or drowned in the lake nearby. Hundreds of Pomo people lost their lives in the aftermath.
I’m reminded of my last newsletter when I discussed forced migration and the inability for Black people to find spaces where they could belong. Similarly, in 1877, Lakota people led by Sitting Bull sought refuge from the US army in Canada. State sanctioned violence against Native Americans was so intense that two years later in 1879, Chief Standing Bear filed a lawsuit against the US government. In the ruling Judge Elmer S. Dundy ruled that yes, "an Indian is a person" and the federal government had wrongfully arrested and imprisoned the Ponca People. Certainly there are many more tragic stories that have been left out of textbooks.
Memory, in some ways, serves as a remedy, a way of acknowledging the painful past against the violence of erasure. In 1916, the first observance of Indian (Native American) Day takes place. An honorific day or month may seem superficial in light of the losses. But days of observance should compel us to sit with history and grapple with its devastating consequences connected to the American desire for conquest.
— Kellie Carter Jackson
A Litte More Esoterica
It’s happening again. On May 7, Indiana Republican voters nominated Jennifer Pace to take on incumbent André Carson. It’ll be tough given Indiana’s 7th leans Democratic—oh, and because Pace died of a heart attack in March.
"According to IC 3-13-1-4 and 3-13-1-8, a caucus of Precinct Committeemen in the 7th District will be called by the State Chair to fill the candidate vacancy," a party press secretary told Newsweek.
We talked about a similar situation that played out in 1992, when deceased nominee Ted Weiss was replaced by Jerry Nadler, who has held onto the seat since (including through several rounds of redistricting).
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May 15, 1970 is the anniversary of the Jackson State University shooting