Winding Down For the Winter

This semester's project is creating a "Narrative History" whether that be painting a picture to writing an essay, this project is extremely open ended.  Our exhibition was held on December 7, 2011 at the Discover Museum in Durango.  This venue proved to be everyone's favorite place to host an exhibition.  We exhibited out Humanities projects as well as some of our Math Analysis Projects.

My Humanities project was a "dark children's story" about the Ku Klux Klan.  I took a satirical perspective, playing the devil's advocate.  Needless to say this project was on the brink of being very controversial.  To view my project, click on the images below, to enlarge each of the pages.

The Ku Klux Klan
A Narrative History by
~ Lily Oswald

Once upon a time, there was an organization that came to be known as the Ku Klux Klan.

This Klan was created in 1865 by a group of 6 friends in Pulaski, Tennessee that all had a happy hobby of killing and harassing black freed slaves and noncompliant white civilians.

These friends were not very brave so they covered their faces with burlap sacks and dressed in robes made by patched together cloths and sacks.   

They traveled by horse from town to town terrorizing the civilians, even killing a few.

When people saw this Klan they were jealous of how popular the KKK was becoming so multiple other Klans were formed. 

These Klans all had a similar anger that the North had won the Civil War, freeing all of their black slaves.  Since these KKK men and women were so accustomed to having other people do their work for them, they found it extremely difficult to do it themselves when the war ended. 

Being the practical and proactive people that they were, they acted as vigilantes to make America the systematic, more enjoyable place it once was. 

They were careful not to be sexist or elitist, so the Ku Klux Klan was sure to target just as many women as men; children as adults; but they did focus more on black freed slaves than white republicans. The KKK went on in peace for a while, and then things went south, literally.

There was another group of people that were out to stop the KKK!  Government aided groups and officials made it their business to put an end to the Ku Klux Klan, many of which from the North.  For a while this forced the Ku Klux Klan to go underground.

Luckily, the KKK is very sneaky.  They have been able to get re-established throughout the last century.  Though this time, Americans consider them a “hate group” and do their best to shut this organization down for good.

Hopefully someday this brotherhood will be able to come out publicly, without restriction or scrutiny.  When this day comes, maybe America will finally have the order that it needs.

And we will all live happily ever after.

The End.

A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR
My "dark children's story" is mainly focused on the origins of the KKK and how it evolved over the years then eventually came to a close.  Taking a satirical/mocking perspective, I depicted the KKK as the good guys, objectifying the Klan as proactive vigilantes.  Granted this story is meant to be offensive and slightly sickening, while keeping it historically accurate.  Needless to say, reading this story to a child may not be the greatest idea.
-Lily Oswald, Junior Humanities

Here is my Narrative History script.

The Ku Klux Klan

Once upon a time, there was an organization that came to be known as the Ku Klux Klan.

This Klan was created in 1865 by a group of 6 friends in Pulaski, Tennessee that all had a happy hobby of killing and harassing black freed slaves and noncompliant white civilians.

These friends were not very brave so they covered their faces with burlap sacks and dressed in robes made by patched together cloths and sacks.   

They traveled by horse from town to town terrorizing the civilians, even killing a few.

When people saw this Klan they were jealous of how popular the KKK was becoming so multiple other Klans were formed. 

These Klans all had a similar anger that the North had won the Civil War, freeing all of their black slaves.  Since these KKK men and women were so accustomed to having other people do their work for them, they found it extremely difficult to do it themselves when the war ended. 

Being the practical and proactive people that they were, they acted as vigilantes to make America the systematic, more enjoyable place it once was. 

They were careful not to be sexist or elitist, so the Ku Klux Klan was sure to target just as many women as men; children as adults; but they did focus more on black freed slaves than white republicans. The KKK went on in peace for a while, and then things went south, literally.

There was another group of people that were out to stop the KKK!  Government aided groups and officials made it their business to put an end to the Ku Klux Klan, many of which from the North.  For a while this forced the Ku Klux Klan to go underground.

Luckily, the KKK is very sneaky.  They have been able to get re-established throughout the last century.  Though this time, Americans consider them a “hate group” and do their best to shut this organization down for good.

Hopefully someday this brotherhood will be able to come out publicly, without restriction or scrutiny.  When this day comes, maybe America will finally have the order that it needs.

And we will all live happily ever after.

The End.

You Say You Want A Revolution? Well, We Know.

Lily Oswald   

10-2-11

Synthesis on the American Revolution

It is evident that the conventional method of teaching the youth in America the American Revolution has proven to be seriously misleading and potentially harmful to future comprehension.  The majority of textbooks for students in Elementary through High school seem to lack the stories that really built the revolution to be what it was.

Most Elementary schools choose to teach their students through textbooks, and plainly that.  Not very much expansion on these subjects is given through the teacher’s own knowledge.  The main reason for this is that a lot of the information that is withheld from these children is far too dense for a young student to try to absorb.  Not that what they are learning is a blatant lie, but more of being guarded and not told all of the information they could be.  During the years of middle school, students are taught more of what went into the American Revolution.  Unfortunately this mostly means that their knowledge consists of knowing that Paul Revere warned the colonists of a British attack, Indians dumped tea into the Boston Harbor, and with that the colonists earned their freedom from Britain. 

Up until this year I was at this level of knowledge towards the American Revolution as well.  Having to cram years of necessary information related to the birth and history of America into a few weeks of classwork has proven to be one of the most inefficient things when it comes to the schoolwork I have done over the past 11 years.  Some of the things that we are being taught I should have learned years ago.  Yet, the things that most schools and teaching methods hold back from a student’s intellect is almost unnerving.  A recent study in 2009 conducted by The American Revolution, found that a startling 83% of adults failed a simple test of how America was founded.  Starting to create the mental image of simplicity involving the American Revolution has made for some very confused young adults when the time comes for being exposed to more of what went on during the revolution.  I am aware that telling a second grader about the dirty details involved with the Sullivan campaign would damage the brains of young readers in totally different way.

Some of the things that most structured classes may leave out of the American Revolution chapter would include some of the most valuable things that people need to know.  Mentioned earlier, the Sullivan campaign would be one example.  The Sullivan campaign was essentially a long-lived Iroquois massacre lead by Major General John Sullivan and Brigadier General James Clinton against loyalists among others.  This major event coincides with the American Revolution which was also the biggest conflict involving European Americans and Native Americans in America’s history.  One of the main reasons of the American Revolution that many don’t know is our nation’s drive to obtain trans-Appalacian lands which were put in place by one of our  founding fathers,  

Just as not learning about the real events and reasons behind the American Revolution is a negative thing, it may be beneficial in some cases.  One of the benefits of not knowing some of these things as a young student, and uncovering some of our nation’s history would be the feeling of growing up, and maturing enough to be able to handle some of that information that was once withheld.   The term “virgin ears” comes to mind when dealing with this matter.  Not only are the things that you learn as an older student much more dense for a person to have to deal with, but also a lot of coming to terms with what it is that you’re dealing with.  When a person learns of the dark side of our “powerful country” it is hard to feel the same way coming out of it.  By sheltering us from some of this information, our school systems may just be protecting us from the matters that are put into our hands.  “With great power, comes great responsibility...”

Though not telling youth about the atrocities America has committed right off the bat may be a way of protecting them, I still have no doubt that the current methods of America’s school systems is not teaching our history as well as it could be.  If children were to learn a less bias history of the United States, it would help with their outlook on America later in life.  However, with this a bigger question comes to mind: Can someone ever write a true history?

Sources:

"83 Percent of U.S. Adults Fail Test on Nation's Founding -- WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/." PR Newswire: Press Release Distribution, Targeting, Monitoring and Marketing. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. <http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/83-percent-of-us-adults-fail-test-on-nations-founding-78325412.html>.

Raphael, Ray. "Re-examining the Revolution – Zinn Education Project." Zinn Education Project. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. <http://zinnedproject.org/posts/180>.

'Merica, Land Of the... Free?

Recently in Humanities, we have been working more towards slavery and current racism occurring in America.  We watched the movie "Crash" as well as have been reading A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn.  This book opened us up to Native American abolition as well as the current state of America's racism.  Both of these have really been eye opening for different reasons.  The movie "Crash" was much more relatable and more accessible compared with the time frame of the movie compared with Zinn's writings.  Howard Zinn's book was much more straightforward in the sense of telling us what happened all those years ago in terms of slavery, racism and colonization instead of having us extract that ourselves.
Living in a town with only 16,000 people I am very sheltered when it comes to severe racism as well as just exposure to things related to racism that you may see in a large city.  Because of not being that exposed or accustomed to racism in America, I have made the mistake of making the assumption that racism is not that big of an issue at all, since in Durango I feel that the racism is not as large of a problem as it is in some other places.
I am thankful to live in a small town, but when the time comes to move on, maybe to a larger city I feel that racism can be a much larger issue than expected.  Of course, not everyone is racist in the sense of discrimination and hatred, but I do also feel that it is a natural human response to see things as well as people and make comparisons and note internally those differences we may see between ourselves and that other individual.  These realizations don't have to be negative, just a way of making comparisons.  Because of this, I believe that ridding the world of all racism is nearly impossible.  People have been so taught and conditioned over the past 6 centuries to our dirty past as well as what American history used to include, and whether people like it or not, these things that occurred so long in the past between our ancestors cannot just be forgiven and forgotten, but they have to be remembered and not overlooked in order to move along and make progress.  Over the recent years I think that America has made progress in the hope to rid ourselves of racism, but as new problems and hatred arise, naturally, so do new tensions and problems between people.  It's a never-ending cycle that I believe is not natural, but since our ancestor's dirty laundry has been passed down for so long I believe that it will be nearly impossible to start over with a clean slate.

Picture from the movie "Crash"

Was He, Or Not Was He?

It is not clear to me that Christopher Columbus should not and can not be considered a "hero" of America.  The question of, "Is Christopher Columbus a hero?" would not have even occurred to me to ask as of about two weeks ago, but since then studying his tales of adventure and conquest, have made it obvious of what he really is: a corrupt settler.  Sure, Christopher Columbus was the first Spaniard to sail across what we now consider the Atlantic Ocean, and set foot onto these islands, but let him not be confused as the "discoverer" of America.  He was not the first one to set foot onto America, or the islands he first landed upon.  

There were native peoples on these islands which he named "Indians" because he mistook America for India, and originally thought that these were the peoples of India.  These people lived as a mostly peaceful civilization and were more than excited and curious when Columbus and his fleet of 90 men came upon these islands.  They thought he was a god, and had come upon this land for them and their benefit and started to shower these men in gifts and food.  Columbus used this as an opportunity to find out where the gold could be located on these islands.  After Columbus found out just how amazing his "discoveries" of these islands were, he began to abuse the peoples of the islands since he had no further need for them.  From a report by Bartolome de Las Casas on Columbus and his men, "And the Christians attacked [the natives] with buffets and beatings, until finally they laid hands on the nobles of the villages. Then they behaved with such temerity and shamelessness that the most powerful ruler of the islands had to see his own wife raped by a Christian officer."  The way the Christian sailors and Columbus treated these natives was unspeakable.  If it were not for the journals kept and other ways of keeping track of what exactly happened in these unforgivable years, the American people would not have been able to look upon Christopher as anything but a savior that was willing to sail at a time when no one else was.  

Up until this class, I was still living under the impression that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492 and that was that.  As a little kid in Kindergarten up until even high school, people are told nothing about the massacres and bloodbaths that Columbus and his men were capable and at guilty of.  After reading about all of the thousands of people that he almost single-handedly killed in order to get his hands upon this rich land, it makes me feel sick about how America came to be.  

From a patriot's standpoint, America is a powerful and prosperous country, no matter how it came to be.  Since Columbus helped create it into what it is today, then we should be celebrating him and his find 500 years ago.  I find it hard to agree with this however.  I now feel that Columbus was one of the worst things to happen when it comes to colonization.  Yes, it's true that Columbus made America what it is today, but I do not, and will never consider him a hero.  Columbus was a gold-hungry Spaniard that seemed to not have any morals or guilt when it came to killing thousands and thousands of innocent people in order to conquer the American Islands.  

According to the dictionary, honor is this:

a man of honor: integrity, honesty, uprightness, ethics, morals, morality, high principles, righteousness,high-mindedness; virtue, goodness, decency, probity, good character, scrupulousness, worth, fairness, justness, trustworthiness, reliability,dependability.  When I think of a hero, I think of Superman and The Incredibles, and even Rosie the Riveter, since heroes all have honor.  I do not think of Christopher Columbus or his fleet of men as having honor or any of the synonyms of honor.  Therefore I do not consider Christopher Columbus a hero in any way, shape, or form.  

Bury My ♥...

Goodness gracious... where to start.  A few years ago my parents gave me their copy of Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, in high hopes of me reading it.  Given I am a painfully slow reader on top of semi-unmotivated when it comes to joy-reading, I never did get around to reading it.  Honestly, I didn't even know what it was about.  When Jessica McCallum Mentioned that we would be watching the movie version of the book, I was slightly upset with myself that I hadn't read a book that was so pivotal to out history as Americans.  The movie was, as to be expected, a dramatized, Hollywood version of the original book, however it still stuck with you just as much.  Dee Brown, the author, did a remarkable job telling such a powerful story of a massacre between the Sioux Indians and the white, European descendants.  NATIVE Americans to me should be, and should have always been the ones calling the shots of who gets what land given they were here a whole lot longer than any of these colonizers.  I also feel though that it is hard to give people that kind of power; no matter who they are.  Unlike the stereotypical Western book of guns, cowboys and Indians, this book took a whole new stance.  Told from a Native American point of view, this genuine story holds nothing back in terms of the truth.  The part that stuck with me the most I would say is the very climax of it all: where the actual massacre took place.  For a while, what happened at Wounded Knee was considered a battle, but as time went on, people decided to call it what it was: a massacre.  350 men, women and children were murdered without a second thought.  Rounded up, de-armed, and helpless, a shot from either the Sioux or the officers (still not determined, possibly never to be found out), started off this shooting.  In just minutes almost all of the Native Americans brought to Wounded Knee had been killed or greatly injured, where only 25 soldiers were killed.  It sickens me to think of human beings being capable of that kind of misused power, and not a regret about it.  The fact that the soldiers did not look upon the Native Americans as actual people makes me confused, sad, and in a way hopeless for what people can be trained to become.

Bodies being piled into a deep grave after the massacre at Wounded Knee.  

http://people.tribe.net/djapollo2k/blog/ce04b017-46f7-4552-9036-2364914eee2d