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The concept of Manifest Destiny, the idea that God had intended for (white) Americans to rule the continent, gripped many Americans in the 1850s. Some even turned their attention south, inspired by Texas and salivating over the prospect of conquering chunks of Mexico, Central America, or the Caribbean and then seeing them annexed as slave states in the United States. These men were called "filibusters."
One of the most famous filibusters was Tennessean William Walker ( 1824-1860). Walker had become a physician by age 19. After studying in Edinburgh and Heidelberg, he practiced for a short time in Philadelphia before moving to New Orleans, where he became a lawyer and a newspaper publisher.
His first adventure occurred in 1853 when he and about 45 men set out to conquer Baja California from Mexico. Baja California was very sparsely populated, so he proclaimed a new Republic with himself as president. Within a few months, Mexican troops forced him to retreat to California. In 1854, Walker and about 60 men joined with the Liberal or Democratic Party in a civil war in Nicaragua. The Democratic Party won, and Walker became the ruler of Nicaragua through a provisional president. US President Franklin Pierce even recognized this new government. In 1856, Walker proclaimed himself President, reinstituted slavery, made English the official language, and issued laws to encourage southern Americans to immigrate.
Led by Cost Rica, Nicaragua's neighbors had had enough and united to attack. At one point in the brief war, Walker ordered dead bodies dumped in wells in Costa Rica, leading to a cholera outbreak that killed 10% of Cost Rica's population. On May 1, 1857, Walker was defeated and surrendered himself to the US Navy. In 1860, British colonists on Honduran islands invited him to come defend them against a suspected Honduran crackdown. He was captured and executed by the Honduran government.
Read about him in William Walker's War, published in 2019.
Place.
The concept of Manifest Destiny, the idea that God had intended for (white) Americans to rule the continent, gripped many Americans in the 1850s. Some even turned their attention south, inspired by Texas and salivating over the prospect of conquering chunks of Mexico, Central America, or the Caribbean and then seeing them annexed as slave states in the United States. These men were called "filibusters."
Few Americans had probably ever even heard of Nicaragua in the 1840s, but the California gold rush changed all that. Since there was no canal or transcontinental railroad, people moving west usually either went overland in wagon trains or sailed around Cape Horn from the east coast. Some people sailed to Nicaragua or Panama, crossed through jungles to the Pacific coast and caught a boat there. Lake Nicaragua actually made it a lot easier. Boats could sail up the San Juan River to the lake, then cross a short distance by wagon or coach to the Pacific.
This geographical advantage is what attracted to William Walker to Nicaragua. Not only did he desire annexation of another slave state, but he saw the commercial opportunities.
The concept of Manifest Destiny, the idea that God had intended for (white) Americans to rule the continent, gripped many Americans in the 1850s. Some even turned their attention south, inspired by Texas and salivating over the prospect of conquering chunks of Mexico, Central America, or the Caribbean and then seeing them annexed as slave states in the United States. These men were called "filibusters."
Few Americans had probably ever even heard of Nicaragua in the 1840s, but the California gold rush changed all that. Since there was no canal or transcontinental railroad, people moving west usually either went overland in wagon trains or sailed around Cape Horn from the east coast. Some people sailed to Nicaragua or Panama, crossed through jungles to the Pacific coast and caught a boat there. Lake Nicaragua actually made it a lot easier. Boats could sail up the San Juan River to the lake, then cross a short distance by wagon or coach to the Pacific.
This geographical advantage is what attracted to William Walker to Nicaragua. Not only did he desire annexation of another slave state, but he saw the commercial opportunities.
Things.
The concept of Manifest Destiny, the idea that God had intended for (white) Americans to rule the continent, gripped many Americans in the 1850s. Some even turned their attention south, inspired by Texas and salivating over the prospect of conquering chunks of Mexico, Central America, or the Caribbean and then seeing them annexed as slave states in the United States. These men were called "filibusters." I'm not sure how "filibuster" came to be applied to them, but the term had already been used in Congress to refer to power held by the minority over the majority, so I guess it fits.
The red flag was William Walker's flag for his short-lived "Republic of Sonora" in Baja California. The blue flag was his design for Nicaragua.
The Costa Rica National Monument, located in a park in downtown San Jose depicts five armed women, representing Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, attacking two men, filibusters. The man running away is William Walker. The defeat of Walker was a key moment in Costa Rican history. April 11, the day of Walker's defeat at Rivas, is a national holiday, and two of the men who led the fight against Walker, Juan Santamaria and Juan Rafael Mora, are two of Costa Rica's greatest national heroes.
The concept of Manifest Destiny, the idea that God had intended for (white) Americans to rule the continent, gripped many Americans in the 1850s. Some even turned their attention south, inspired by Texas and salivating over the prospect of conquering chunks of Mexico, Central America, or the Caribbean and then seeing them annexed as slave states in the United States. These men were called "filibusters." I'm not sure how "filibuster" came to be applied to them, but the term had already been used in Congress to refer to power held by the minority over the majority, so I guess it fits.
The red flag was William Walker's flag for his short-lived "Republic of Sonora" in Baja California. The blue flag was his design for Nicaragua.
The Costa Rica National Monument, located in a park in downtown San Jose depicts five armed women, representing Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, attacking two men, filibusters. The man running away is William Walker. The defeat of Walker was a key moment in Costa Rican history. April 11, the day of Walker's defeat at Rivas, is a national holiday, and two of the men who led the fight against Walker, Juan Santamaria and Juan Rafael Mora, are two of Costa Rica's greatest national heroes.
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Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher is a biography of photographer, ethnographer, and amateur archaeologist Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952). Curtis was born in Wisconsin. When he was a teen, his family moved to Minnesota. There, he built his own camera and became an apprentice photographer. Moving to Seattle, he formed a partnership and opened a photography studio.
His first portraits of a Native American, Princess Angelina, win him national attention and prizes, and he was asked to join an expedition to photograph people of the Blackfoot Confederacy in 1900. Finance titan J.P. Morgan provided the funds for Curtis to create a 20-volume set of books of photos, over 20 years. He also recorded music , songs, and language and collected artifacts to preserve as much Indian culture as possible.
In his late years he became a filmmaker, creating a couple of documentaries and working uncredited for legendary movie director Cecil B DeMille.
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher is a biography of photographer, ethnographer, and amateur archaeologist Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952). Curtis was born in Wisconsin. When he was a teen, his family moved to Minnesota. There, he built his own camera and became an apprentice photographer. Moving to Seattle, he formed a partnership and opened a photography studio.
His first portraits of a Native American, Princess Angelina, win him national attention and prizes, and he was asked to join an expedition to photograph people of the Blackfoot Confederacy in 1900. Finance titan J.P. Morgan provided the funds for Curtis to create a 20-volume set of books of photos, over 20 years. He also recorded music , songs, and language and collected artifacts to preserve as much Indian culture as possible.
In his late years he became a filmmaker, creating a couple of documentaries and working uncredited for legendary movie director Cecil B DeMille.
Place.
As famous as Edward Curtis is for his Native American portraits, he is also regarded as one of America's greatest landscape photographers, working all over the West. His photos of Canyon de Chelley in Arizona are particularly lauded.
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher is a biography of photographer, ethnographer, and amateur archaeologist Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952).
As famous as Edward Curtis is for his Native American portraits, he is also regarded as one of America's greatest landscape photographers, working all over the West. His photos of Canyon de Chelley in Arizona are particularly lauded.
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher is a biography of photographer, ethnographer, and amateur archaeologist Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952).
Things.
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher is a biography of photographer, ethnographer, and amateur archaeologist Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952).
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher is a biography of photographer, ethnographer, and amateur archaeologist Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952).
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May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Almost 70 years before Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka Kansas challenged the segregation of African- Americans in schools, 8-year old Mamie Tape and her parents of San Francisco did the same for Chinese-Americans in Tape vs. Hurley.
Joseph and Mary Tape tried to enroll Mamie at the all-white Spring Valley Primary School in September 1884. Existing school board policy did not allow admitting Chinese children, despite an 1880 state law that entitled all children in the state to public education. The Tapes filed suit against Principal Hurley. Their lawyer's arguments rested on the 14th amendment and that it would be unjust to tax Chinese-Americans and deny them public school access.
In March 1885, the California State Supreme Court ruled that the state law required public education be open to "all children." Unfortunately, the decision did not address segregation, and the California legislature quickly passed a law authorizing separate schools for "Chinese and Mongolian" children. Mamie never got to attend an integrated school, but, ten years later, her younger siblings did when the family moved to Berkeley. Eventually, other Asian children started attending formerly all-white schools, even though the law allowing segregation wasn't repealed until 1947. (See also the case Lum vs. Rice, 1927, in which US Supreme Court ruled that Mississippi could require Chinese to attend all-black schools.)
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Almost 70 years before Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka Kansas challenged the segregation of African- Americans in schools, 8-year old Mamie Tape and her parents of San Francisco did the same for Chinese-Americans in Tape vs. Hurley.
Joseph and Mary Tape tried to enroll Mamie at the all-white Spring Valley Primary School in September 1884. Existing school board policy did not allow admitting Chinese children, despite an 1880 state law that entitled all children in the state to public education. The Tapes filed suit against Principal Hurley. Their lawyer's arguments rested on the 14th amendment and that it would be unjust to tax Chinese-Americans and deny them public school access.
In March 1885, the California State Supreme Court ruled that the state law required public education be open to "all children." Unfortunately, the decision did not address segregation, and the California legislature quickly passed a law authorizing separate schools for "Chinese and Mongolian" children. Mamie never got to attend an integrated school, but, ten years later, her younger siblings did when the family moved to Berkeley. Eventually, other Asian children started attending formerly all-white schools, even though the law allowing segregation wasn't repealed until 1947. (See also the case Lum vs. Rice, 1927, in which US Supreme Court ruled that Mississippi could require Chinese to attend all-black schools.)
Place.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
While everybody has heard of Ellis Island, many Americans do not know that there was a Pacific Coast processing center on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay from 1910 to 1940. It had been built as a quarantine station for bubonic plague in 1890.
Asian immigrants including approximately one million Chinese were inspected, disinfected, and examined. Sick immigrants were sent back, and healthy ones may have been detained from two weeks to two years
Iris Chang's The Chinese in America is a great history.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
While everybody has heard of Ellis Island, many Americans do not know that there was a Pacific Coast processing center on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay from 1910 to 1940. It had been built as a quarantine station for bubonic plague in 1890.
Asian immigrants including approximately one million Chinese were inspected, disinfected, and examined. Sick immigrants were sent back, and healthy ones may have been detained from two weeks to two years
Iris Chang's The Chinese in America is a great history.
Thing.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
On May 6, 1882, President Chester Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first and only immigration law aimed at a specific ethnic or national group.
Since the first Chinese men immigrated to California to dig for gold or to work on railroads, they were discriminated against and suffered string anti-Chinese sentiment and violence. Forced out of mining, Chinese men started taking low-wage lobs, leading to charges that they were depressing wages. Anti-Chinese feeling grew. California Senator John Miller proposed a 20-year ban on Chinese immigration. Congress passed it, but President Arthur vetoed it. A new bill made it a ten-year ban, and Arthur signed it.
Technically, it didn't ban all immigrants from China, mostly women. There were exceptions, and limited immigration continued until the law was repealed in 1943.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
On May 6, 1882, President Chester Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first and only immigration law aimed at a specific ethnic or national group.
Since the first Chinese men immigrated to California to dig for gold or to work on railroads, they were discriminated against and suffered string anti-Chinese sentiment and violence. Forced out of mining, Chinese men started taking low-wage lobs, leading to charges that they were depressing wages. Anti-Chinese feeling grew. California Senator John Miller proposed a 20-year ban on Chinese immigration. Congress passed it, but President Arthur vetoed it. A new bill made it a ten-year ban, and Arthur signed it.
Technically, it didn't ban all immigrants from China, mostly women. There were exceptions, and limited immigration continued until the law was repealed in 1943.
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Off to be immersed in another experience today, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, so today's book has to be Irving Stone's fictionalized biography, The Agony and the Ecstasy. Though the book and the 1965 film are fictionalized, they are both great works.
Both focus on Michelangelo's commission to paint the Sistine Chapel, and his stormy relationship with the Pope that commissioned him, Julius II, "the Warrior Pope," 1443 to 1513 - Pope 1503-1513.
While other Renaissance popes are known for having mistresses, hosting orgies, fathering children ( although Julius did father a daughter before elevation to the papacy), and engaging in various other firms if corruption, Julius II is known chiefly for his role in making the Papal States an independent and centralized power, reversing the decline of the power of the Pope, and making the office of the papacy strong throughout the 16th century, even though he was only Pope for a decade.
Julius II chose his name not just to honor Julius I, but also in emulation of Julius Caesar. At the time, Italy was not a nation; it was a collection of principalities and mini-states, constantly at war with each other, and alternately allying and warring with other countries. Julius put the Papal States right in the midst of it all, even leading troops in battle at least twice.
Besides having Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel and design his tomb, he was a patron to there artists, like Raphael. He opened the Vatican Museums and initiated the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica. He created the Swiss Guards ( Michelangelo is said to have designed their distinctive uniforms.) He pushed the Church into the New World, ratifying the Treaty of Tordesillas dividing it between Spain and Portugal, established the first bishoprics in the Americas, and began the catholicization of the Americas.
Off to be immersed in another experience today, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, so today's book has to be Irving Stone's fictionalized biography, The Agony and the Ecstasy. Though the book and the 1965 film are fictionalized, they are both great works.
Both focus on Michelangelo's commission to paint the Sistine Chapel, and his stormy relationship with the Pope that commissioned him, Julius II, "the Warrior Pope," 1443 to 1513 - Pope 1503-1513.
While other Renaissance popes are known for having mistresses, hosting orgies, fathering children ( although Julius did father a daughter before elevation to the papacy), and engaging in various other firms if corruption, Julius II is known chiefly for his role in making the Papal States an independent and centralized power, reversing the decline of the power of the Pope, and making the office of the papacy strong throughout the 16th century, even though he was only Pope for a decade.
Julius II chose his name not just to honor Julius I, but also in emulation of Julius Caesar. At the time, Italy was not a nation; it was a collection of principalities and mini-states, constantly at war with each other, and alternately allying and warring with other countries. Julius put the Papal States right in the midst of it all, even leading troops in battle at least twice.
Besides having Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel and design his tomb, he was a patron to there artists, like Raphael. He opened the Vatican Museums and initiated the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica. He created the Swiss Guards ( Michelangelo is said to have designed their distinctive uniforms.) He pushed the Church into the New World, ratifying the Treaty of Tordesillas dividing it between Spain and Portugal, established the first bishoprics in the Americas, and began the catholicization of the Americas.
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The Sistine Chapel was built by, and named for Pope Sixtus IV, between 1473 and 1481. It is a chapel of the Apostolic Palace, the Pope's personal chapel in other words. Today, it is also the site of the Papal conclave, the meeting of all cardinals who get together when a Pope dies in order to select a new Pope.
Between 1508 and 1512, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the chapel's ceiling. It was quite an arduous task, especially for Michelangelo who thought of himself as a sculptor, not a painter. He had little experience painting in the fresco style, and the ceiling is sixty feet high, requiring elaborate scaffolding and effort. Contrary to common knowledge, he actually spent little time flat in his back. Most of the time he was standing and looking up. You can imagine how hours and hours of that each day for four years might have led him to be surly, grouchy, sullen, and antisocial, as most people described him.
He returned between 1535 and 1541 and painted The Last Judgement on a wall for Popes Clement VII and Paul III.
The Sistine Chapel was built by, and named for Pope Sixtus IV, between 1473 and 1481. It is a chapel of the Apostolic Palace, the Pope's personal chapel in other words. Today, it is also the site of the Papal conclave, the meeting of all cardinals who get together when a Pope dies in order to select a new Pope.
Between 1508 and 1512, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the chapel's ceiling. It was quite an arduous task, especially for Michelangelo who thought of himself as a sculptor, not a painter. He had little experience painting in the fresco style, and the ceiling is sixty feet high, requiring elaborate scaffolding and effort. Contrary to common knowledge, he actually spent little time flat in his back. Most of the time he was standing and looking up. You can imagine how hours and hours of that each day for four years might have led him to be surly, grouchy, sullen, and antisocial, as most people described him.
He returned between 1535 and 1541 and painted The Last Judgement on a wall for Popes Clement VII and Paul III.
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Between 1508 and 1512, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for Pope Julius II. He returned between 1535 and 1541 and painted The Last Judgement on a wall for Popes Clement VII and Paul III. In this work, he included a couple of interesting portraits.
Perhaps Michelangelo included faces of people around him in his work. Leonardo da Vinci was known to follow people around and sketch them in his notebook for possible later use. Raphael painted himself, Michelangelo, and Leonardo among others in his famous work The School of Athens.
In The Last Judgement, he painted his self-portrait as the flayed skin of St. Bartholomew near the center of the painting, reflecting his opinion on his Sistine Chapel experience and how it affected him.
In the lower right corner, he painted one of the Pope's chief aides, Biagio da Cesena, as King Minos, judge of the underworld. Why? Well, after the painting of the ceiling was unveiled, Michelangelo's work was attacked by many Church officials for the amount of nudity. In fact, other artists were called in to paint fig leaves and cloth over the offensive genitalia. Cesena had been particularly vocal in his disgust. So, Michelangelo painted him nude, with a serpent devouring his genitals.
Between 1508 and 1512, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for Pope Julius II. He returned between 1535 and 1541 and painted The Last Judgement on a wall for Popes Clement VII and Paul III. In this work, he included a couple of interesting portraits.
Perhaps Michelangelo included faces of people around him in his work. Leonardo da Vinci was known to follow people around and sketch them in his notebook for possible later use. Raphael painted himself, Michelangelo, and Leonardo among others in his famous work The School of Athens.
In The Last Judgement, he painted his self-portrait as the flayed skin of St. Bartholomew near the center of the painting, reflecting his opinion on his Sistine Chapel experience and how it affected him.
In the lower right corner, he painted one of the Pope's chief aides, Biagio da Cesena, as King Minos, judge of the underworld. Why? Well, after the painting of the ceiling was unveiled, Michelangelo's work was attacked by many Church officials for the amount of nudity. In fact, other artists were called in to paint fig leaves and cloth over the offensive genitalia. Cesena had been particularly vocal in his disgust. So, Michelangelo painted him nude, with a serpent devouring his genitals.
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May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Everyone knows George Takei, most likely from his role as Lt. Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek in the mid 1960s or his social media presence and activism today, but his career on stage and screen has stretched over sixty years.
He was born in 1937 in Los Angeles, and he was named after King George VI, who was coronated shortly after his birth. In 1942, his family, along with thousands of other Japanese-Americans were forced to leave their west coast homes for incarceration in internment camps. The Takeis were first sent to the converted horse stables at the Santa Anita racetrack, a temporary holding facility. They were then transfered to Rohwer War Relocation Center, surrounded by swamps and barbed wire, near Rohwer Arkansas and Tule Lake War Relocation Center in California. Released at the end of the war, the family had nothing and were transient, virtually homeless for five years.
Still, George enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley to study architecture before transferring to UCLA to major in theater. He started getting tv and movie roles in 1959 before becoming Sulu in 1965. In 2012, he starred in the musical Allegiance, based on his family's internment experience, and, in 2019, he wrote a graphic novel autobiography about his internment called They Called Us Enemy.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Everyone knows George Takei, most likely from his role as Lt. Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek in the mid 1960s or his social media presence and activism today, but his career on stage and screen has stretched over sixty years.
He was born in 1937 in Los Angeles, and he was named after King George VI, who was coronated shortly after his birth. In 1942, his family, along with thousands of other Japanese-Americans were forced to leave their west coast homes for incarceration in internment camps. The Takeis were first sent to the converted horse stables at the Santa Anita racetrack, a temporary holding facility. They were then transfered to Rohwer War Relocation Center, surrounded by swamps and barbed wire, near Rohwer Arkansas and Tule Lake War Relocation Center in California. Released at the end of the war, the family had nothing and were transient, virtually homeless for five years.
Still, George enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley to study architecture before transferring to UCLA to major in theater. He started getting tv and movie roles in 1959 before becoming Sulu in 1965. In 2012, he starred in the musical Allegiance, based on his family's internment experience, and, in 2019, he wrote a graphic novel autobiography about his internment called They Called Us Enemy.
Place.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Everyone knows George Takei, most likely from his role as Lt. Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek in the mid 1960s or his social media presence and activism today, but his career on stage and screen has stretched over sixty years.
In They Called Us Enemy, Takei writes about his family's time in Rohwer and Tule Lake internment camps.
Rohwer in Arkansas held almost 8500 Japanese-Americans, including 2000 children, on swampy land purchased from tax-delinquent landowners in the 1930s. The governor of Arkansas at first opposed the camp but relented after being promised that the Japanese-Americans would be guarded by armed white troops and removed from the state immediately after the war.
Tule Lake in California was considered maximum security, housing Japanese-Americans considered disloyal or disruptive in other camps. This included draft resisters and activists who spoke out against internment. Some of these people were kept in camp after the war to await deportation to Japan. Some list their US citizenship. This camp wasn't closed until March 20, 1946.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Everyone knows George Takei, most likely from his role as Lt. Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek in the mid 1960s or his social media presence and activism today, but his career on stage and screen has stretched over sixty years.
In They Called Us Enemy, Takei writes about his family's time in Rohwer and Tule Lake internment camps.
Rohwer in Arkansas held almost 8500 Japanese-Americans, including 2000 children, on swampy land purchased from tax-delinquent landowners in the 1930s. The governor of Arkansas at first opposed the camp but relented after being promised that the Japanese-Americans would be guarded by armed white troops and removed from the state immediately after the war.
Tule Lake in California was considered maximum security, housing Japanese-Americans considered disloyal or disruptive in other camps. This included draft resisters and activists who spoke out against internment. Some of these people were kept in camp after the war to await deportation to Japan. Some list their US citizenship. This camp wasn't closed until March 20, 1946.
Thing
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Everyone knows George Takei, most likely from his role as Lt. Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek in the mid 1960s or his social media presence and activism today, but his career on stage and screen has stretched over sixty years.
In They Called Us Enemy, Takei writes about his family's time in Rohwer and Tule Lake internment camps.
In 1964, Takei played the role of a Japanese-American gardener in an episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Encounter." It's a two character episode, the gardener and the homeowner who each suffered psychological trauma during World War II and have strong feelings of guilt arising from their actions. Their "encounter" is charged with anger and racism, and it's one of the most serious and darkest episodes of the series. In fact, after its first airing, CBS pulled it from syndication, and it was not seen again until 1992 when it was released in a collection. It is rarely aired today. Check it out if you can, or at least read the Wikipedia entry for it.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Everyone knows George Takei, most likely from his role as Lt. Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek in the mid 1960s or his social media presence and activism today, but his career on stage and screen has stretched over sixty years.
In They Called Us Enemy, Takei writes about his family's time in Rohwer and Tule Lake internment camps.
In 1964, Takei played the role of a Japanese-American gardener in an episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Encounter." It's a two character episode, the gardener and the homeowner who each suffered psychological trauma during World War II and have strong feelings of guilt arising from their actions. Their "encounter" is charged with anger and racism, and it's one of the most serious and darkest episodes of the series. In fact, after its first airing, CBS pulled it from syndication, and it was not seen again until 1992 when it was released in a collection. It is rarely aired today. Check it out if you can, or at least read the Wikipedia entry for it.
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May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
In 1995, Lee See published her own family history in On Gold Mountain, and it covers over a hundred years in the lives of a Chinese-American family that prospered despite racism and laws in their new country.
Fong See came to California alone at age 14 in 1871. He was planning to join his father who had immigrated a decade earlier. After many adventures, he opened a general store, more or less, in Sacramento. There, he met his soon to be business partner and wife, Ticie Pruett. Since it was illegal in California for whites and "Mongolians" to marry, they drew up a legal contract to seal their marriage.
Later, they moved to Los Angeles, and they became antique dealers, specializing in Asian goods. Their store, F. Suie One, is still open and in family hands today It claims to be the oldest continually operated Asian antique business in the US and one of the first Chinese-owned businesses in California
In 1919, Fong returned to China as a very wealthy man. He married a teenaged girl and built a mansion, a hotel, and factories. When he returned to the US, with his new wife, Ticie demanded a divorce, and she and their children continued in the antiques store.
On Gold Mountain is a great history of Chinese-Americans, and it reads like a big sweeping historical novel that stretches over generations.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
In 1995, Lee See published her own family history in On Gold Mountain, and it covers over a hundred years in the lives of a Chinese-American family that prospered despite racism and laws in their new country.
Fong See came to California alone at age 14 in 1871. He was planning to join his father who had immigrated a decade earlier. After many adventures, he opened a general store, more or less, in Sacramento. There, he met his soon to be business partner and wife, Ticie Pruett. Since it was illegal in California for whites and "Mongolians" to marry, they drew up a legal contract to seal their marriage.
Later, they moved to Los Angeles, and they became antique dealers, specializing in Asian goods. Their store, F. Suie One, is still open and in family hands today It claims to be the oldest continually operated Asian antique business in the US and one of the first Chinese-owned businesses in California
In 1919, Fong returned to China as a very wealthy man. He married a teenaged girl and built a mansion, a hotel, and factories. When he returned to the US, with his new wife, Ticie demanded a divorce, and she and their children continued in the antiques store.
On Gold Mountain is a great history of Chinese-Americans, and it reads like a big sweeping historical novel that stretches over generations.
Place.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
In 1995, Lee See published her own family history in On Gold Mountain, and it covers over a hundred years in the lives of a Chinese-American family that prospered despite racism and laws in their new country.
When word of gold discoveries in California reached China, thousands of Chinese men crossed the Pacific in hopes of striking it rich on "Gold Mountain," the term applied to the western US, and later British Columbia. When gold was discovered in Victoria, Australia, it was called "New Gold Mountain" and California became "Old Gild Mountain."
Many of the men who came to California became miners, others went to work on the railroads, and others opened some of the first restaurants, laundries, and stores in California, catering to the 49ers. In California, they were met with racism, segregation, violence, and abuse. Still, many men achieved their goal and made some money, better than what they could have earned in China. Within a few years, small villages in China were transformed as the successful either returned permanently or sent money back to build mansions, hospitals, schools, and temples.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
In 1995, Lee See published her own family history in On Gold Mountain, and it covers over a hundred years in the lives of a Chinese-American family that prospered despite racism and laws in their new country.
When word of gold discoveries in California reached China, thousands of Chinese men crossed the Pacific in hopes of striking it rich on "Gold Mountain," the term applied to the western US, and later British Columbia. When gold was discovered in Victoria, Australia, it was called "New Gold Mountain" and California became "Old Gild Mountain."
Many of the men who came to California became miners, others went to work on the railroads, and others opened some of the first restaurants, laundries, and stores in California, catering to the 49ers. In California, they were met with racism, segregation, violence, and abuse. Still, many men achieved their goal and made some money, better than what they could have earned in China. Within a few years, small villages in China were transformed as the successful either returned permanently or sent money back to build mansions, hospitals, schools, and temples.
Thing.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
In 1995, Lee See published her own family history in On Gold Mountain, and it covers over a hundred years in the lives of a Chinese-American family that prospered despite racism and laws in their new country.
One way Chinese immigrants dealt with the insecurities of living in a strange, even hostile place was to form tongs. Tong literally means "hall" or "gathering place," and it was applied to benevolent associations, sometimes secretive societies, formed to provide fellowship and assistance. Tongs were often based on a common geographical region or city that its members originated in. Sometimes they were based in shared family names or connections or even common dialect. Most Chinatowns in the US had several tongs.
Tongs provided information and training for jobs, English lessons, employment notices, basically any and all services to benefit their members. One important benefit involved burial. Many of the jobs performed by Chinese workers were dangerous, and it was extremely important for the men to believe that their bodies would be shipped back to China in the event of their death. So, a part of the dues paid by tong members often went toward a burial insurance policy.
There were also tong rivalries that sometimes led to violence between members of warring tongs, and some tongs were alleged to be involved in criminal activity including opium smuggling and prostitution.
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
In 1995, Lee See published her own family history in On Gold Mountain, and it covers over a hundred years in the lives of a Chinese-American family that prospered despite racism and laws in their new country.
One way Chinese immigrants dealt with the insecurities of living in a strange, even hostile place was to form tongs. Tong literally means "hall" or "gathering place," and it was applied to benevolent associations, sometimes secretive societies, formed to provide fellowship and assistance. Tongs were often based on a common geographical region or city that its members originated in. Sometimes they were based in shared family names or connections or even common dialect. Most Chinatowns in the US had several tongs.
Tongs provided information and training for jobs, English lessons, employment notices, basically any and all services to benefit their members. One important benefit involved burial. Many of the jobs performed by Chinese workers were dangerous, and it was extremely important for the men to believe that their bodies would be shipped back to China in the event of their death. So, a part of the dues paid by tong members often went toward a burial insurance policy.
There were also tong rivalries that sometimes led to violence between members of warring tongs, and some tongs were alleged to be involved in criminal activity including opium smuggling and prostitution.
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Person.
On May 7, 1945, the German High Command, in the person of General Alfred Jodl, signed the unconditional surrender of all German forces at Reims, France.
In 1969, Albert Speer published his memoir, Inside the Third Reich. Speer was a German architect who joined the Nazi Party in 1931, and became Hitler's favorite architect, charged with building the Third Reich. His designs were huge and grandiose, reflecting Hitler's personal ego, and he became a member of Hitler's inner circle.
In 1942, he was appointed Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production, serving in that role for the rest of the war. Speer was one of the original 24 major Nazi war criminals tried in the Nuremberg trials. Convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly for the use of slave labor in armaments factories, he was sentenced to and served twenty years.
In his memoirs and interviews, he revealed much information about the workings of Hitler's inner circle, since he was the highest ranking Nazi to write his account. However, historians have pointed to many omissions and outright lies that Speer, and those close to him, have told in order to create the myths that he was just a technocrat who knew nothing about the slave labor, camps, and Holocaust and that he was "a good Nazi," unaware of the horrors and unable to effect change. In reality, there are photos and pieces of documentary evidence that place him directly in the center of it all. These pieces of evidence were not all presented at Nuremberg. If they had been, he would have been hanged.
Nevertheless, the book is an interesting read, and in 1982 it was made into a TV mini-series.
On May 7, 1945, the German High Command, in the person of General Alfred Jodl, signed the unconditional surrender of all German forces at Reims, France.
In 1969, Albert Speer published his memoir, Inside the Third Reich. Speer was a German architect who joined the Nazi Party in 1931, and became Hitler's favorite architect, charged with building the Third Reich. His designs were huge and grandiose, reflecting Hitler's personal ego, and he became a member of Hitler's inner circle.
In 1942, he was appointed Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production, serving in that role for the rest of the war. Speer was one of the original 24 major Nazi war criminals tried in the Nuremberg trials. Convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly for the use of slave labor in armaments factories, he was sentenced to and served twenty years.
In his memoirs and interviews, he revealed much information about the workings of Hitler's inner circle, since he was the highest ranking Nazi to write his account. However, historians have pointed to many omissions and outright lies that Speer, and those close to him, have told in order to create the myths that he was just a technocrat who knew nothing about the slave labor, camps, and Holocaust and that he was "a good Nazi," unaware of the horrors and unable to effect change. In reality, there are photos and pieces of documentary evidence that place him directly in the center of it all. These pieces of evidence were not all presented at Nuremberg. If they had been, he would have been hanged.
Nevertheless, the book is an interesting read, and in 1982 it was made into a TV mini-series.
Place.
On May 7, 1945, the German High Command, in the person of General Alfred Jodl, signed the unconditional surrender of all German forces at Reims, France.
In 1969, Albert Speer published his memoir, Inside the Third Reich. Speer was a German architect who joined the Nazi Party in 1931, and became Hitler's favorite architect, charged with building the Third Reich. His designs were huge and grandiose, reflecting Hitler's personal ego, and he became a member of Hitler's inner circle.
Speer and other top-ranked Nazis served their terms in Spandau Prison in western Berlin. Built in 1876, it served as a military detention center for the Prussian army and houses civilian prisoners after 1919. Following the 1933 Reichstag fire, it was used to hold anti-Nazi political prisoners, and it became kind of a proto-concentration camp.
After WWII, it was technically in the British sector of Berlin, but the four Allies - UK, US, USSR, and France rotated administration of the prison. After 1947, it only held 7 prisoners, all convicted at Nuremberg. Speer was released in 1966, completing his 20 year sentence. The last prisoner, Rudolf Hess, died there in 1987, at the age of 93. He had been the sole inmate there since 1966.
To prevent it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine, the Allies decided to demolish the prison after Hess' death. All materials from the prison from ground into powder and either dispersed in the North Sea or buried at a former airbase. On the site now are a parking facility and stores, including the German supermarket, Aldi.
On May 7, 1945, the German High Command, in the person of General Alfred Jodl, signed the unconditional surrender of all German forces at Reims, France.
In 1969, Albert Speer published his memoir, Inside the Third Reich. Speer was a German architect who joined the Nazi Party in 1931, and became Hitler's favorite architect, charged with building the Third Reich. His designs were huge and grandiose, reflecting Hitler's personal ego, and he became a member of Hitler's inner circle.
Speer and other top-ranked Nazis served their terms in Spandau Prison in western Berlin. Built in 1876, it served as a military detention center for the Prussian army and houses civilian prisoners after 1919. Following the 1933 Reichstag fire, it was used to hold anti-Nazi political prisoners, and it became kind of a proto-concentration camp.
After WWII, it was technically in the British sector of Berlin, but the four Allies - UK, US, USSR, and France rotated administration of the prison. After 1947, it only held 7 prisoners, all convicted at Nuremberg. Speer was released in 1966, completing his 20 year sentence. The last prisoner, Rudolf Hess, died there in 1987, at the age of 93. He had been the sole inmate there since 1966.
To prevent it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine, the Allies decided to demolish the prison after Hess' death. All materials from the prison from ground into powder and either dispersed in the North Sea or buried at a former airbase. On the site now are a parking facility and stores, including the German supermarket, Aldi.
Thing.
On May 7, 1945, the German High Command, in the person of General Alfred Jodl, signed the unconditional surrender of all German forces at Reims, France.
In 1969, Albert Speer published his memoir, Inside the Third Reich. Speer was a German architect who joined the Nazi Party in 1931, and became Hitler's favorite architect, charged with building the Third Reich. His designs were huge and grandiose, reflecting Hitler's personal ego, and he became a member of Hitler's inner circle.
Together, Speer and Hitler worked on building a new city, Germania, to cover Berlin once the conquests were completed. The focal point of Germania would be the German Pantheon, Volkshalle or "People's Hall."
Speer based his design on Hitler's own 1925 sketches of the Roman Pantheon. It was to be 950 feet high. The oculus, or roof light in the center of the dome, would be 150 feet in diameter, so big that the St. Peter's Basilica done could have been lowered through it. It was so big that inside that, when it was packed with cheering Nazis, their breath would have caused condensation to form on the underside of the dome. This would have created clouds and maybe even rain.
Speer stated in an interview that Hitler believed that the Volkshalle would become a place of "great holy significance and ... a hallowed shrine."
On May 7, 1945, the German High Command, in the person of General Alfred Jodl, signed the unconditional surrender of all German forces at Reims, France.
In 1969, Albert Speer published his memoir, Inside the Third Reich. Speer was a German architect who joined the Nazi Party in 1931, and became Hitler's favorite architect, charged with building the Third Reich. His designs were huge and grandiose, reflecting Hitler's personal ego, and he became a member of Hitler's inner circle.
Together, Speer and Hitler worked on building a new city, Germania, to cover Berlin once the conquests were completed. The focal point of Germania would be the German Pantheon, Volkshalle or "People's Hall."
Speer based his design on Hitler's own 1925 sketches of the Roman Pantheon. It was to be 950 feet high. The oculus, or roof light in the center of the dome, would be 150 feet in diameter, so big that the St. Peter's Basilica done could have been lowered through it. It was so big that inside that, when it was packed with cheering Nazis, their breath would have caused condensation to form on the underside of the dome. This would have created clouds and maybe even rain.
Speer stated in an interview that Hitler believed that the Volkshalle would become a place of "great holy significance and ... a hallowed shrine."
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