CALIFORNIA #6

I'm afraid the story of California's handling of it's Native American population was just as bad if not worse than the other states I have covered so far.

The first thinning of the population had to do with Eurasian diseases which the indigenous population had no immunity to.  That really was not anyone's fault.  However, many native inhabitants were forcibly removed from their lands by incoming American settlers.  And under the law ACT FOR THE GOVERNMENT AND PROTECTION OF THE INDIANS passed in 1853 any white person who saw an Indian who did not appear to be gainfully employed, could charge them as vagrants, take them in front of a Justice of the Peace who would have them SEIZED AND SOLD AT PUBLIC AUCTION.  The person who bought them would then have their labor for four months without compensation. 

God Bless America.  

Things are pretty bad now but so far at least we don't have laws like that.

The Salinan People

On a lighter side here is the Simpson'g version of California Here We Come.  

California #5

During the Civil War California sent gold to the Union forces but due to a large population of Southerners was not able to muster official soldiers, although slavery did not exist there.  There were a large number of Californians who did fight on the side of the Union an unofficial capacity however such as the "California 100 Company".

Until 1869 when the First Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah's was complete.  It was a very long and dangerous journey to California. After that hundreds of thousands of United States citizens were able to easily migrate westwards into the state.

HERE are the crew from I LOVE LUCY on their way West singing all the way.

CALIFORNIA #4

What is now California was explored by various Europeans during the 16th and 17th centuries eventually being claimed by the Spanish Empire.  The area then became part of Mexico in 1821 following the war for independence but was ceded to the United Staes in 1848 after the Mexican-American War.  

Amazing how many wars seem to be necessary to keep human beings from doing more constructive activity!

In 1848 people began to swarm in to California to seek their fortune after gold was discovered.

HERE is a short trailer for Charlie Chaplin's THE GOLD RUSH.

Here is a full length version of THE GOLD RUSH if you have the time.

And HERE is a simple youtube cartoon that paints the picture in broad strokes.

And so begins the long saga of the country's pilgrimage of people to California to find gold in whatever form they imagine it.

Evidence of human occupation of California dates from at least 19,000 years ago.  Because of the temperate climate and easy access to food sources, approximately one third of all Native Americans in what is now the United States were living in the area of California.

"The indigenous people practiced various forms of sophisticated forest gardening in the forests, grasslands, mixed woodlands, and wetlands to ensure availability of food and medicine plants. They controlled fire on a regional scale to create a low-intensity fire ecology; this prevented larger, catastrophic fires and sustained a low-density "wild" agriculture in loose rotation. By burning underbrush and grass, the natives revitalized patches of land and provided fresh shoots to attract food animals. A form of fire-stick farming was used to clear areas of old growth to encourage new in a repeated cycle; a permaculture."...Wikipedia

Sounds like they knew what they were doing better than we do!

California Mission Basket

c.1900

HERE  is a delightful children's video that explains the life of the California Indian tribes.

California #3

Everything California does is important because it is so large and has so many areas with dense population.

"California's $2.75 trillion economy is larger than that of any other state.^[13] If it were a country, California would be the 5th largest economy in the world,^[14]and the 36th most populous as of 2017.^[15] The Greater Los Angeles Areaand the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and third-largest urban economies ($1.2 trillion and $821 billion respectively as of 2016), after the New York City metropolitan area.^[16] The San Francisco Bay Area's combined statistical area had the nation's highest GDP per capita in 2016 (~$94,000),^[17] and is home to four of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization^[18] and four of the world's ten richest people.".... Wikipedia       

<sup>We can only hope that THIS policy of solar panels on new construction spreads to all the states.

Here are two versions of IT NEVER RAINS IN SUNNY CALIFORNIA.  Albert Hammond's is the 
best</sup> musically but it is interesting to see Sonny and Cher together after all these years.

Sonny and Cher https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ewDTQ2qVrY

Albert Hammon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmq4WIjQxp0

California #2

This is one state that everyone can locate as it takes up most of the West Coast.

It is interesting to see what percentage of the population of California in 2007 spoke languages other than English.  It is about the same today but here is a complete analysis.  This is certainly a trend that will be spreading throughout the country in the years to come.

I will probably be including a song each time I post about California because there is such a rich selection to choose from.  Here is the state song with delightful postcards from 1914.

www.nancyherman.com

CALIFORNIA #1

So many Americans have headed off to California to seek gold, a Hollywood career or simply the sunshine and the open life style that I think it best to start off with Al Jolson's often sung hit 'California Here I Come' as we head for the state that initiates a lot of what eventually becomes the way we do things in the rest of the country.  Pictures from Northern California.

CALIFORNIA HERE I COME

ARKANSAS #5

After the Civil War, Arkansas like many of the other southern states went through a period of turmoil both economic, because of lack of free labor, and political as there were mixed opinions about who should be allowed to vote.  The Brooks - Baxter War which was a struggle over voting rights and leadership of the state resulted in considerable weakening of the Republican party and the Democrats held the political edge for the next 90 years.

ARKANSAS #4

Arkansas was one of the few Southern states that was divided in its opinions about slavery.  In the Southeast where cotton could be grown there was enthusiasm for slavery as it was felt it was the only economically feasible way to grow crops but in the Northwest, where subsistent farming was the norm, slavery was not used and therefore not supported.  So initially Arkansas joined the Union.  It was only after Lincoln sent troops to quell the rebellion at Fort Sumter that Arkansas joined the Confederate States.

FORT SUMTER

ARKANSAS #3

Evolution from the Territory of Arkansaw to State of Arkansas, 1819–1836

"Napoleon Bonaparte sold French Louisiana to the United States in 1803, including all of Arkansas, in a transaction known today as the Louisiana Purchase. French soldiers remained as a garrison at Arkansas Post. Following the purchase, the balanced give-and-take relationship between settlers and Native Americans began to change all along the frontier, including in Arkansas.^[54] Following a controversy over allowing slavery in the territory, the Territory of Arkansas was organized on July 4, 1819.^[c] Gradual emancipation in Arkansas was struck down by one vote, the Speaker of the House Henry Clay, allowing Arkansas to organize as a slave territory.^[55]".....Wikipedia

There was a town called Napoleon in Arkansas near the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi river.  However due to poor planning on somebody's part in 1863 a channel was cut through the soft land that inadvertently directed the river waters toward the town.  It was finally submerged in 1874 when the banks of the Mississippi River burst through and destroyed the last of the once-thriving port.  I imagine we will be seeing a lot more of that sort of thing in the near future.

The first European explorer to reach Arkansas was Hernando de Soto in 1540. He crossed the Mississippi and marched across Central Arkansas and the Ozark Mountains.  After finding nothing he considered of value and encountering native resistance the entire time, he and his men returned to the Mississippi River where de Soto fell ill.  From his deathbed he ordered his men to massacre all of the men of the nearby village of Anilco, who he feared had been plotting with a powerful polity down the Mississippi River, Quigualtam.  His men obeyed and did not stop with the men, but were said to have massacred women and children as well.  He died the following day.  His body was weighted down by sand and he was consigned to a watery grave in the Mississippi under cover of darkness.  For some reason he had 700 hogs at the time of his death, even though his men were starving because all they had to eat was maize stolen from Native Americans.

And so it seems once again we find that in order to remembered in the history books you don't have to be wise, kind, a good leader who cares for his men, or particularly clever, just march around claiming territory from people who have inferior armaments.

THE BURIAL OF DESOTO

William A. Crafts

 

ARKANSAS

It's April.  Time to travel to the next state which is Arkansas.  Located in the South, bordering Missouri, Oklahoma, a bit of Texas, Louisiana, Missisppi, and the tip of Tennessee.

The original inhabitants of Arkansas were the Caddo, Osage, and Quapaw Indians.

Here are some paintings of the Osage done by the painter George Catlin.  

George Catlin, painted by William Fisk

Catlin was a fine painter who had a brief career as an attorney before he began his life's work recording Native Americans.  He was inspired initially by his mother who told him stories of her capture by an Indian tribe as a girl, and later by the artifacts brought back by Lewis and Clark.  He visited several tribes and did portraits over a period of many years.

I know George Catlin from his appearance in several Larry McMurtry books.  He was a character in the Berrybender Narratives.  He is also spoken of in the historical novel The Children of First Man, by James Alexander Thomre.  In the 1970 film A Man Called Horse his work is cited as one of the sources for its depiction of Lakota Sioux culture.  His works also figure repeatedly in the 2010 novel Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich.  There he is the subject of the unfinished doctoral dissertation of character Irene America.

During his lifetime he was unable to sell his work to the US Government but now it resides in the Smithsonian among other places including the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology.

 

ARIZONA #8

This whole exercise in learning about the states revolves around painting an image found through cruising the state on Google maps.  This time I found the painting I wanted to work on the very first day I went cruising.

As in most things that involve aesthetic decisions it is unclear exactly why I was drawn to this image but it said 'ARIZONA' to me loud and clear and after a month of investigating Arizona it still does.  Once again half the proceeds from the sale of the painting will go to the ACLU.

ARIZONA

Nancy Herman

12" x 24"

oil on stretched canvas

$500.00

ARIZONA #7

If you go to Arizona there are two hotels that look quite interesting.  The Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix known as the "Jewel of the Dessert" built in 1929 and designed by a draftsman of Frank Loyd Wright's, Albert Chase McArthur, brother of the owners.  Many thought that Wright designed it, but he claimed the credit should all go to McArthur.  Wright was brought in as a consultant for four months in 1928 to help with the Textile Block construction.  There certainly are echos of the Taleisin influence and actually some Wright features have been added over the years.  For instance, reproductions of the geometric 'sprite' statues designed by sculptor Alfonse Iannelli for Wright's 1915 Midway Gardens project in Chicago are placed around the property.

The other old Hotel is the WigWam, in Litchfield, also opened in 1929 as a guest ranch with enough rooms for 24 guests.

Since then it has been updated to fit the times

ARIZONA # 6

While traveling around Arizona I came upon the Arizona State Museum in Tucson.  I think you might like a bit of a tour around their collections.  

I noticed that they had some Katsina Dolls but few pictures, so I went Googling to see more. At the Heard Museum in Phoenix there is a large collection of these dolls and two videos about their history and information about their carving.  Since Katsina Dolls are the "messengers of the Universe", it seems worth while taking a careful look.  It is interesting that the dolls are carved by men and given to little girls in infancy to teach them the responsibilities of women.....hmmm.  Precursors of Barbies?
Here are some examples, not necessarily found in the museum.  They are quite beautiful, sometimes funny and sometimes scary as they were often used as threats to keep young women in line.

ARIZONA #5

Probably the biggest industries in Arizona are mining and cotton.  And in recent years tourism, as it is home to the GRAND CANYON.   If you have never been to the Grand Canyon HERE is a Smithsonian video that will give you a feel for the place.

Arizona was the last contiguous state to join the union in 1912.

Arizona has the greatest number of acres designated as Indian Tribal land of any state of the union.

Oraibi, a Hopi Indian village dating back to at least 1150 AD, is believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the United States.

ARIZONA #4

Since we are in Cowboy and Indian territory I thought it would be interesting to find out when all this interaction between Cowboys and Indians actually took place.

First of all in order to have Cowboys you have to have cows.  They are not native to the United States but were brought into Texas around the 1700's by Vaqueros, Mexican cattle 
ranchers.  

Check THIS site out for a funny and fact filled description of some of the popular incorrect ideas about Cowboys.

HERE is an interesting site about the Oregon Trail.  This link sends you to the Indian page.

Indians following wagon train

So, according to these sources, the Indians were decimated by the millions by white soldiers and disease.  They sometimes actually were cowboys, didn't attack many wagon trains at all, and actually guided and traded with the settlers moving west.

ARIZONA #3

Arizona's original inhabitants were Indian tribes.  

THE HOHOKAMS who distinguished themselves by building system of canals which were later rebuilt my the Mormans around the Phoenix valley, and this lovely pottery which is defined by a distinct Plain, Red, and Decorated buffware tradition.

Hohokam Pottery from Car Grande

THE MOGOLLAN tribe occupying a very large area including Arizona.  These people lived in pit houses originally, but later developed pueblo style buildings.

A subgroup of the Mongolian is the Mimbres culture which is well known for this striking pottery.

The third group of Native Americans were the Ancestral Puebloans who, as you might expect are well known for their Pueblos which they constructed all along the four corners area.  And amazing structures they are accessible by rope or mountain climbing!  They also have some wonderful art work, apparently no written language however.  Here is a very interesting discussion of language as a reflection and then a determining factor in a culture's world view. ( Scroll down to LANGUAGE AND CULTURE)

ARIZONA #2

Where is Arizona exactly?  Well, it is in the Southwestern part of the U.S. with a 389 mile border with Mexico.  In fact it was at one time a part of Mexico.  It is one of the Four Corner states meaning that it borders Colorado, Utah and New Mexico at one point.  You would think this might happen more often but this is the only place it does apparently.  It also shares a border with California and a small portion of Nevada.

Most of the Four Corners region belongs to the semi-autonomous Native American nations, the largest of which is the Navajo Nation, followed by Hopi, Ute, and Zuni tribal reserves and nations.

ARIZONA

From the bone chilling cold of Alaska to the warm, sometimes blistering heat of Arizona,
we are off to investigate more of the great variety of our country.

Just to start off without any facts I put my little yellow figure down willy nilly into the state on Google maps and landed in Bylas, which turned out to be within the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation.

Here are some shots from my trip down the main highway.  I was pleased that I got some paint worthy shots so early in my trip.