Alan Michelson, Handaga:yas (Town Destroyer), 2019, video, bonded stone Houdon replica bust, antique surveyor's tripod, artificial turf, sound, 190 183 cm. By Josh Sippie / July 27, 2022 11:39 pm EST. He had been commissioned by the Five Nations in the spring of 1790 to seek redress of grievances against the New York lessees. When you gave us peace we called you father, because you promised to secure us in the possession of our Land. 48hills.org is the official publication of the non-profit San Francisco Progressive Media Center. Degrowth or Debunk: Do Degrowth proponents have a strategy? Our counsellors and warriors are men, and cannot be afraid; but their hearts are grieved with the fears of our women and children, and desire that it may be buried so deep as to be heard no more.. The Mohawks saw the colonial settlements in violation of the Proclamation Line and trespassers in their territory. The first U.S. presidential election was held over a period of weeks from December 1788 to January 1789. Battlegroundis almost entirely limited to the game-changing year of 2020, when RBGs death, Amy Coney Barretts appointment, and other events turned a tide. It did not leave our 1st POTUS unblemished as a participant in both those officially sanctioned wrongs. January 31, 2023. George Washington is called "The Father of our Nation" and by some "Cincinnatus" but the Iroquois had a nickname for him as well "Conotocaurius"(Town Destroyer) We talk about the Indian wars of the late 19th century but the late 18th century had Indian wars too and George Washington was the man behind it George Washington had complicated relationships with Native Americans. New York, 1939. description ends 197203). When Seymour Hersh Strained to Keep Up With CounterPunch, Nichole Stephens, Administrative Assistant. The name in its original language(s) has been given variously as Conotocarius , Conotocaurious , Caunotaucarius , Conotocarious , Hanodaganears , and Hanadahguyus . copy, MHi: Timothy Pickering Papers; Thus he claimed the whole country North of Pensylvania and west of the Lands belonging to the Cayugas. Sullivan-Clinton Campaign, 3.By the terms of the Second Treaty of Fort Stanwix, completed in October 1784, the Six Nations agreed to relinquish a small tract of land in western New York and all that part of Pennsylvania north and west of the Indian boundary established by the First Treaty of Fort Stanwix of 1768, an area including all of the land in Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny River. AI Chatbots are Even Scarier Than You Think, DeSantiss Educational Policies Come Right Out of the Fascist Playbook, Erase the Memory to Erase a People? You must log in or register to reply here. Street presented a document listing the grievances of the Five Nations to Jeremiah Wadsworth, with the request that Wadsworth put it into GWs hands (Street to Wadsworth, 5 Aug. 1790, NNGL: Knox Papers). After Phelps departure the Seneca made another speech to GW accusing Phelps of fraud and of defaulting on the terms of the 1788 agreement (see Seneca Chiefs to GW, 10 Jan. 1791). In recent times, probably no San Francisco news story has traveled as far or as wide as the story about Victor Arnautoffs murals which subvert the myths and depict the life of George Washington as a foe of the Iroquois and an owner of Black slaves. Bob Spiegelman has been a freelance author and film producer, screenwriter, project-developer, multimedia advisor, research director and story consultant on a growing array of film, museum and multimedia projects. The brutal 1778 Cherry Valley Massacre prompted a wide-ranging punitive expedition that broke Iroquois power. It is just to punish murder with death, but the Seneccas will not deliver up their people to men, who disregard the treaties of their own nation. This line was established after the French and Indian War by King George as a boundary between the colonists and Native lands. Our Chiefs had felt your power & were unable to contend against you and they therefore gave up that Country. It has also been translated as "Town Taker", "Burner of Towns", "Devourer of Villages", or "he destroys the town". At fort Stanwix we agreed to deliver up those of our people, who should do you any wrong, that you might try them, and punish them according to your Law. Alan Michelson is a Mohawk artist and a member of Six Nations of the Grand River. Nicole Flatterys Nothing Special Tackles Authorship inside Warhols Factory, Frieze Editors Picks: Jafar Panahis No Bears. How did we get here after 50 years, during which span a majority of Americans came to support abortion access? George Washington (February 22, 1732 - December 14, 1799) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America and served as the nation's first president (1789-1797). to GW, 15 Aug. 1789, note 1. What they agreed to has bound our nation. When I was a child, I was told that George Washington was our first president and that he had . Graham with his Compy. Gil Herkimer Roads to Niagara Year 2000 Categories: facts, texts Updated:May 29, 2004 Share on TwitterFacebookLinkedInPreviousNext Screen Grabs: 'Town Destroyer' dives into the George Washington Supes fail by one vote to approve Sanctuary City resolution that challenges ICE, Biden, Herb Greenes 60s Haight-Ashbury shots immortalize era, Grace Slicks bird, The tragic toxic legacy of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Screen Grabs: Of Cocaine Bears and Jesus freaks, Screen Grabs: WinterFest brings Ukrainian kids, artificial shtetls, orthodox drama, Screen Grabs: Noise Pop Film Fest brings space bubbles, rap spoofs, toxic New Wave fans, Budget Chair Chan prepares for serious challenges to mayors budget priorities, Best of the Bay 2022 Editors Pick: Red Poppy Art House. Our chiefs were unable to contend at that time, & therefore they sold the Lands up to the line which was then shewn to them as the line of that State. A dispute erupts at a San Francisco high school over Depression-era murals about the life of George Washington: slaveowner, military leader, land speculator, President, and a man Native leaders. Is the blame all ours? description ends Colonial ser., 16:5018), as well as other grievances. Washington dined with Cherokees, Chickasaws, Creeks, Kaskaskias, Mahicans, Mohawks, Oneidas, and Senecas; in one week late in 1796, he had dinner with four different groups of Indians on four different daysand on such occasions the most powerful man in the United States followed the . copy, PHi: Gratz CollectionIndian Commissioners Papers. It may be very small in your ears, & we therefore entreat you to hearken with attention. Town Destroyer explores the ways we look at art and history at a time of racial reckoning. that assembled at them told us you were all brothers, the children of one great Father who regarded also the red people as his children. We recollect that you did not promise to punish those who killed our people, and we now ask, Was it intended that your people should kill the Seneccas, and not only remain unpunished by you: but be protected by you against the next of kin?6. should Doyle be convicted, there was little doubt of his being capitally punished (Pa. Archives, description begins Samuel Hazard et al., eds. These questions and many more were the subject of hot debate when Victor Arnautoffs thirteen-panel mural The Life of Washington became an object of local controversy, then a media firestorm. The Presidency of George Washington spanned the period in United States history that encompasses the events of the New Nation. For over 8 miles south of Onondaga Lake, the colonial army followed the orders of General Washington killing and burning. They would soon face one of the largest amphibious invasions yet seen. As GW explained in an undated memorandum on David Humphreys draft biography of GW: It was on this occasion he was named by the half-King (as he was called) and the tribes of Nations with whom he treatedCaunotaucarius (in English) the Town taker; which name being registered in their Manner & communicated to other Nations of Indians, has been remembered by them ever since in all their transactions with him during the late war (Comments on David Humphreys Biography of George Washington, 178788, in Papers, Confederation Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. "When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Hanadagyas (Town Destroyer): and to this day when that name is heard our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the necks of their mothers. Hes known as the Father of the Country and as the man who couldnt and wouldnt lie about chopping down a cherry tree. The film highlights the debate about controversial murals at George Washington High School. In obeying him we did no more than you yourselves had lead us to promise. TOWN DESTROYER less than 1 minute read To the Irouqois, General George Washington was Ha-no-da-ga-nears, which means Town Destroyer, and this remained the name they gave to all Presidents of the United States. [7] In 1790, the Seneca chief Cornplanter told President Washington: "When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Town Destroyer and to this day when your name is heard our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the necks of their mothers. Become a member. Conotocaurius (Town Destroyer, Seneca: Handaganyas) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois peoples in 1753. tr. US 2022, 55 min, Director: Alan Snitow, Deborah Kaufman, Is arts role to provoke or placate? The nickname had previously been given to his great-grandfather John Washington in the late seventeenth century. Town Destroyer A high profile battle erupts over images of African American slaves and Native Americans in New Deal-era murals at a San Francisco high school. After fighting with the Haudenosaunee in the French and Indian War, the colonists called upon the Haudenosaunee to a meeting at Ft. Pitt in 1775 to ask in their aide in the upcoming revolution against the British. California Indian Artist Judith Lowry describes the Gold Rush as ground zero for Native Americans and a time when they experienced searing losses.She adds that Arnautoff aimed to subvert the dominant narrative about Indians, pioneers and settlers. And god knows he doesnt care about anyone elses rights. 9 ser., 138 vols. His great-grandson lived up to the name of Town Destroyer in his treatment of Indigenous nations both during and after the Revolutionary War (177583). After all, the issues go back to 1779 when George Washington ordered the destruction of the Iroquois villages. During the American Revolution, some Mohawks led by Joseph Brant chose to fight with the British and to defend the Proclamation Line. He lives in New York. In keeping with explicit orders from Washington, the Americans set ablaze every village in their path. The spring of 1780 saw the surviving Haudenosaunee forced to rebuild their lives with broken families and destroyed villages. This devastating history has been papered over with myth, in a familiar national narrative established by writers such as James Fenimore Cooper, whose father, like Washington, was a successful speculator in Native land. ), Timothy Pickering to GW, 4 Dec. 1790, n.6, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-07-02-0005, From Washington to Seneca Chiefs [29 December 1790], All correspondence between Washington and Seneca Chiefs, National Historical Publications and . But before we speak to you of this, we receive for his endeavors to deceive us, a peice of land ten miles in width west of the Chenesco river, and near forty miles in length extending to lake Ontario; and the lines of this tract have been run accordingly tho no part of it is within the bounds which limit his purchase. Jonah Raskin is the author of Beat Blues, San Francisco, 1955. Years later when George Washington was elected President of the newly formed United States, Seneca Chief Corn Planter addressed President Washington in 1790. Ottawa, 1891. description ends 15354). fort Stanwix, commissioners from Pensylvania, told our chiefs, that they had come there to purchase from us, all the Lands belonging to us within the lines of their State, and they told us that their line would strike the river Susquehanna below Tioga branch. 48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submithere. Just an hour long, Snitow and Kaufmans documentary offers a fascinating overview of a case that encapsulates many of the bitterest divisions of our era. Does this promise bind you? To this day, "Town Destroyer" is still used as an Iroquois name for the president of the United States. In the summer of 1790, Street was in New York to present these grievances to GW. For we are about to speak of things which are to us very great. I Didnt Seeis more philosophical than biographical, a meditation on an apart-ness the filmmaker grapples with on numerous levels (including I wonder if I feel more than other people). All the Lands we have been speaking of belonged to the Six Nations: no part of it ever belonged to the King of England, and he could not give it to you. Sign up for email updates on the latest frieze talks, fairs and events. They then left us to consider the bargain till the next day. The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. Conotocaurius ( Town Destroyer) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois peoples in 1753. Though we do visit Davenports family in Connecticut, we do not get a lot of insight into him as an individual. Among the many discussions in the podcast, Estes brings up George Washington's reputation amongst indigenous people as "town destroyer" Washington was known as "town destroyer." Another local, Reid Davenport, is both director and star ofI Didnt See You Therealthough we do not, in fact, see him onscreen. copy, DNA: RG 233, First Congress, 17891791, Records of the Office of the Clerk, Records of Reports from Executive Departments (War Department), Confidential Reports; Streets mission to New York probably contributed to GWs decision to send Timothy Pickering on a special mission to pacify the Seneca a few weeks later. The Onondagas, who were honoring the neutrality agreement, were not prepared for the attack. More decades passed before the issue flared up again, though this time it seemed the criticisms were coming less from individual students than outside organizations. The homeless traveled to Fort Niagara for safety and shelter but found none with the British there. . Beyond Canal Street: Gentrification in Chinatown, Rediscovering Moki and Don Cherrys Utopian Visions. Main Image:Washington Square Park Arc, 2020. All rights reserved. Both Washington and Jefferson enslaved and waged war against Indigenous nations to dispossess them of their homelands. Following the 2017 clashes at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Trump presciently observed: So, this week its Robert E. Lee [] I wonder, is it George Washington next week [] Thomas Jefferson the week after [] Where does it stop? The short answer is that it doesnt stop until the US contends not only with its history of slavery but also its history of dispossession. To him we gave four miles round Niagara, as a place of Trade. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. What happens when it no longer reflects current societal views? It has also been translated as 'Town Taker', 'Burner of Towns', 'Devourer of Villages', or 'he destroys the town'. It opens with audio from a closed-door meeting Trump, Steve Bannon and others held with leaders of the religious right forty days before the 2016 election. Following the massacre of five chiefs who had come out to negotiate under a flag of truce to the colonizers, the Susquehannahs gave John Washington an Algonquian name that translated to "town taker" or "devourer of villages." What was George Washington's favorite fruit? In April 1779, the colonial army attacked the capital of the Haudenosaunee, the Onondaga Nation. However, most ofBattlegroundsfocus is not on the headline-makers, but on those in the trenchesin particular, anti-abortion activists whove been working towards this moment for years, even decades. The Onondaga and the Haudenosaunee saw the colonists growing and uniting to become a new government called the United States of America. On June 4, 1779, the General of the Revolutionary Army, George Washington, violated the treaty and ordered the invasion of the territory of the Iroquois confederation. That did not happen, and in fact the murals fate (should they be removed? START or Stop: Do Nuclear Weapons Treaties Matter? The name in its original language (s) has been given variously as Conotocarius, Conotocaurious, Caunotaucarius, Conotocarious, Hanodaganears, and Hanadahguyus. Summary: George Washington (1732-1799), nicknamed the "American Cincinnatus", was the 1st American President and served in office from 1789-1797. The founder of the San Francisco Jewish Festival and its director for 13 years, Kaufman teamed up with Alan Snitow, the former news director at KPFA, to make Blacks and Jews in 1997, Secrets of Silicon Valley in 2001, and this year Town Destroyer which premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival. (The Iroquois dubbed him "Town Destroyer.") Town Destroyer is playing as part of the Mill Valley Film Festival with a screening Saturday afternoon at The Roxie (and with an extended run at the Roxie November 4-10). If art (or history) is altered to blunt painful truths, isnt that dishonesty, whether coming from the political left or right? Few people are more revered in the U.S. American lexicon than George Washington. In 2018, he installed Mantle, a monument honouring Indigenous nations at the Virginia Capitol in Richmond. Sr William Johnson came and took that Fort from the French; he became our father and promised to take care of us and did so till you were too strong for his King. In July 2020, Americans are once again divided, gathering in the streets and tearing down statues. Many Haudenosaunee froze or starved to death that winter. Jimmy Carter is a Liberal Saint Now, Was a War Criminal Then. Will California Save the Iconic Joshua Tree? We know that you are strong and we have heard that you are wise; and we wait to hear your answer to what we have said that we may know that you are just. The French came among us and built Niagara. Part of Colonial Williamsburg's "Prelude to Victory" weekend. Art can make viewers uncomfortable. New Anti-Colonialist Documentary Asks Big Questions, California Institute for Community, Arts & Nature, The CIAs Changing Take on the Climate Emergency, Emancipation, Hollywoods Best Civil War Film Ever. And he said also that it did not belong to us for that the great King had ceded the whole of it when you made peace with him. After all, the issue goes back to 1779 when Washington ordered the destruction of the Iroquois villages. What they said went to the bottom of our hearts: We accepted the invitation and promised to obey him. We asked each other what we had done to deserve such severe chastisement. Answer (1 of 4): The most famous nickname (really, more of an honorary title) associated with George Washington was The Father of His Country. For GWs reply, see GW to the Seneca Chiefs, 29 Dec. 1790. Do this and so long2 as the Land shall remain that beloved name shall live in the heart of every Senecca. When last Spring they called on us to go to war to secure them a bed to lie upon, The Seneccas entreated them to be quiet until we had spoken to you: but on our way down we heard, your army had gone to the Country which those nations inhabit: and if they meet together the best blood on both sides will stain the ground. In his book, George Washington and Native Americans Its minders at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena demonstrate a very paternal mindset, saying things like Theres energy in its veins, it needs to be given love, and otherwise viewing Oppy more like a genius dog than a technological tool. New York, 1970. description ends 174). If the British took the . orA.I. We saw that we were wrong: we wished for peace. It was surrendered to you as the price of peace and we ought to have peace, and possession, of the little Land which you then left us. Roxie Theater: Town Destroyer - Mission Local Gunman robs taco truck at 14th & Harrison at lunch hour Wind splits giant sequoia that may date to 1884 90-unit Irving St. housing OKed despite toxin fears Local news needs you! Like the statue of Christopher Columbus targeted in Boston last month, it was beheaded and the crown finials of its surrounding fence sawn off. nD. . light grey. What distinguishes her documentary is that she offers considerable insight into grassroots activism on both sides of the fence. Trump, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, announced a slate of futuristic new policies in a campaign video Friday. But instead of trying them according to your Law, the lowest of your people took them from your magistrate, and put them immediately to death. We hearkened to them and were deceived until your army approached our towns. Separating the Red and Blue. Non Military History of the War of the Rebellion. Tags: George Washington, Revolutionary War, history. In April 1754, en route to the Forks of the Ohio, Lieutenant George Washington sent a request for aid and counsel to Tanaghrison, an Ohio Iroquois leader who acted as an intermediary between Virginians and Ohio Indians. Ironically, his choice of words more aptly applies to the American campaigns against Indigenous nations, which erased our histories, demonized our heroes, scorned our values and acculturated our children in boarding schools. Just an hour long, Snitow and Kaufman's documentary offers a fascinating overview of a case that encapsulates many of the bitterest divisions of our era. Washington referred to himself as "Conotocaurious" in a letter he wrote to Andrew Montour dated October 10, 1755, in which he tried to manipulate the Oneida to resettle on the Potomac: In 1779 during the American Revolutionary War, the Sullivan Expedition, under Washington's orders,[6] destroyed over 40 Iroquois villages in New York, partially in response to Iroquois participation in attacks on the Wyoming Valley in July 1778 and Cherry Valley in November 1778. We could bear this confusion no longer, & determined to press thro every difficulty, and lift up our voice that you might hear us, and to claim that security in the possession of our lands which your commissioners so solemly promised us, and we now entreat you to enquire into our complaints and redress our wrongs. What Colour was Napoleons horse? That they do not remember him with fondness is understandable. Needless to say, those lamentable future occupiers of the White House are highly accommodating, providing perhaps the most egregious example of Twitlers lack of backbone on any issue save self-interesthe had always been publicly pro-choice, then began waffling, switching sides with a vengeance when it sank in that he needed the pro-life voters to win. Filmmaker Alan Snitow stands in front of an audience after a screening of the film Town Destroyer at the Little Roxie Theater in San Francisco Calif., on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. It is translated as Town Taker, Burner of Towns (The Iroquois dubbed him Town Destroyer.) But some present-day students, parents, and observers found those depictions racially offensive, calling for the work to be removed or destroyed. Commissioned in the late 1960s to create a mural at George Washington High School titled Multi-Ethnic Heritage, Crumpler honors Blacks and Indians. David Humphreys Life of General Washington with George Washingtons Remarks. Athens, Ga., 1991. description ends 10). The surviving Onondaga were homeless; some began to rebuild; some headed west to find shelter with their brother nations the Cayuga and Seneca. To the great Councillor of the thirteen fires. It also illuminates a work of. It is an ideology that has been so thoroughly internalized that it has never prompted a national reckoning. Several years after the Revolutionary War, Seneca chiefs told Washington, "When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Town Destroyer; and to this day when the name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale and our children cling to the necks of their mothers." Town Destroyeran anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist film is likely to stir up all over again fundamental issues about censorship, trauma, genocide and ethnicity. Sat. Hear our case, many nations inhabited this Country, but they had no wisdom, and therefore they warred, together. But they said they would not take advantage of that, and were willing to pay us for it after the manner of their Ancestors. From George Washington to Major General John Sullivan, 31 May 1779 Sir, The expedition you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tri 21st. Police funding, tax cuts, and spending equity will be on the table as the supes take on a brutal budget season. In Wolf Nation, my 2019 exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, I marked the 240th anniversary of Washingtons ruthless invasion with an augmented reality version of this work. and therefore weak as our nation was, they determined to take the chance of war rather than submit to such unjust demands, which seemed to have no bounds. When you kindled your thirteen fires seperately, the wise men Larger questions arose: Is arts purpose to provoke, or placate? George Washington, also known as Enthroned Washington, is a large marble sculpture by Horatio Greenough commissioned by the United States Congress on July 14, 1832 for the centennial of U.S. President George Washington's birth on February 22, 1732. Part One: The one-time economic engine of the 'Harlem of the West' has become an environmental disaster areaand the city isn't taking it seriously. According to historian George Bancroft, they were having a cordial visit and then the old chief, pointing to Washington, spoke the amazing prophecy. What Happens When Art Gets Competitive on Television? Conotocaurious - Iroquois for Town Destroyer, also translated as Town Taker, Burner of Towns, or Devourer of Villages, was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Indians. History first: in 1779, three years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and in the thick of a violent revolution, Washington ordered the total destruction and devastation of Iroquois villages allied with King George. In other accounts, Washington was given the nickname sometime after the 1779 Sullivan Expedition in the American Revolutionary War, which destroyed at least 40 Iroquois villages. George Washington is a polarizing character in American Indian history. (Being an Appendix to Report of the Minister of Agriculture.). Washington Square Park Arc, 2020. This is an analysis of a controversy that was all over the local and national news not so long ago even if it seems very long ago, as it was just-pre-COVID. The Seneca address was transmitted to Henry Knox for report; Knox replied on 27 Dec. 1790 with a report on the Seneca address and a draft of GWs reply (see Knox to GW, 27 Dec. 1790). We are community supported journalism. Often it took the army days to completely destroy all of the longhouses, fields, orchards and food stores. The six Nations were powerful & compelled them to peace: The Lands for a great extent were given up to them, but the nations which were not destroyed, all continued on those Lands and claimed the protecti[on] of the six Nations, as the brothers of their fathers. Records Commission. SFist spoke to the duo . remains uncertain. The Haudenosaunee pledged neutrality with this statement, We see this as a fight between father and son. The first screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers and special guests to be announced. Your commissioners when they drew the line which seperated the land then given up to you, from that which you agreed should remain to be ours did, most solemly promise, that we should be secured in the peaceable possession of the lands which we inhabited, East, & North, of that line. The Speech of the Corn-planter, Half-town and the Great-Tree chiefs of the Senecca Nation. All three had participated in the Iroquois campaigns during the Revolution; Cornplanter as a principal war chief and the others as head warriors. 2.At this point the copyist inadvertently repeated the words and so long.. When a circus tent gets erected in his Oakland neighborhood, it causes him to muse on the legacy of the freak show, and how his own status as a differently-abled person echoes both the conspicuousness and invisibility of those whose physicality makes them societal outliers.

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