Robert Peterson
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195076370
- eISBN:
- 9780199853786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195076370.003.0048
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter discusses the story of Josh Gibson's legendary home-run hits. He was credited not just a home-run hitter but as the home-run hitter. He was considered a black Babe Ruth. The chapter ...
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This chapter discusses the story of Josh Gibson's legendary home-run hits. He was credited not just a home-run hitter but as the home-run hitter. He was considered a black Babe Ruth. The chapter discusses his family life at Georgia where he was born. He started off his baseball career catching for the Crawford Colored Giants of Pittsburgh. The Homestead Grays set the scene for his start with the big leagues as catcher. Some disputed his catching abilities but some swear he was a great catcher as well. However, Gibson was introduced to the bottle and he was repeatedly suspended for “failing to observe training rules”. He was eventually diagnosed with having a brain tumor after lapsing into coma. He died from a stroke. He was well-revered by his colleagues.Less
This chapter discusses the story of Josh Gibson's legendary home-run hits. He was credited not just a home-run hitter but as the home-run hitter. He was considered a black Babe Ruth. The chapter discusses his family life at Georgia where he was born. He started off his baseball career catching for the Crawford Colored Giants of Pittsburgh. The Homestead Grays set the scene for his start with the big leagues as catcher. Some disputed his catching abilities but some swear he was a great catcher as well. However, Gibson was introduced to the bottle and he was repeatedly suspended for “failing to observe training rules”. He was eventually diagnosed with having a brain tumor after lapsing into coma. He died from a stroke. He was well-revered by his colleagues.
Justin Willis
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203209
- eISBN:
- 9780191675782
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203209.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter aims to gain an understanding of why movement to Mombasa was such an attractive option for some people in the early colonial period and demands an analysis of the Mombasa labour market ...
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This chapter aims to gain an understanding of why movement to Mombasa was such an attractive option for some people in the early colonial period and demands an analysis of the Mombasa labour market of the time as well as of the domestic economy of the hinterland homestead. The arrival of European planters, civil servants, the railway, and the Conservancy and Public Works Departments had created in Mombasa a demand for contracted labour: workers who had signed the legally binding contracts for the periods of three, six, or nine months. Unlike other Europeans employers, the shipping and shorehandling companies employed their labour on a casual basis, paying them at the end of each day. The demand for labour fluctuated from day to day, and the many small employers involved here were mostly Indians, Arabs, and Swahili.Less
This chapter aims to gain an understanding of why movement to Mombasa was such an attractive option for some people in the early colonial period and demands an analysis of the Mombasa labour market of the time as well as of the domestic economy of the hinterland homestead. The arrival of European planters, civil servants, the railway, and the Conservancy and Public Works Departments had created in Mombasa a demand for contracted labour: workers who had signed the legally binding contracts for the periods of three, six, or nine months. Unlike other Europeans employers, the shipping and shorehandling companies employed their labour on a casual basis, paying them at the end of each day. The demand for labour fluctuated from day to day, and the many small employers involved here were mostly Indians, Arabs, and Swahili.
JEREMY ADELMAN
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198204411
- eISBN:
- 9780191676253
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204411.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
American homestead legislation was embodied in the Dominion Lands Act of 1872, aimed to foster the settlement of the open lands with ‘family farms’. Since landownership was the goal of the settlers, ...
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American homestead legislation was embodied in the Dominion Lands Act of 1872, aimed to foster the settlement of the open lands with ‘family farms’. Since landownership was the goal of the settlers, and legislation allocated exclusive private property rights to homesteaders and not to ranchers, the judicial system favoured enclosure of the public domain for use in small-scale arable agriculture. As the amount of free homestead land dwindled, settlers increasingly staked land within territories reserved for grazing. This chapter discusses the political economy of the settlement, the land market and speculation, land distribution, and land use.Less
American homestead legislation was embodied in the Dominion Lands Act of 1872, aimed to foster the settlement of the open lands with ‘family farms’. Since landownership was the goal of the settlers, and legislation allocated exclusive private property rights to homesteaders and not to ranchers, the judicial system favoured enclosure of the public domain for use in small-scale arable agriculture. As the amount of free homestead land dwindled, settlers increasingly staked land within territories reserved for grazing. This chapter discusses the political economy of the settlement, the land market and speculation, land distribution, and land use.
Jason G. Strange
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252043031
- eISBN:
- 9780252051890
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043031.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change
Drawing upon deep ethnographic fieldwork, and written in lively prose that weaves together story and evidence, the book explores contemporary homesteading in Appalachia as a means of resistance to ...
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Drawing upon deep ethnographic fieldwork, and written in lively prose that weaves together story and evidence, the book explores contemporary homesteading in Appalachia as a means of resistance to capitalist modernity. It is framed around two questions: Why are people still pursuing rural subsistence? And why are they often divided into two main groups, known to each other--not always kindly--as “hicks” and “hippies”? These turn out to be urgent questions, considering that the cultural divide between these two groups is one instance of the dangerous and growing schism between “liberal” and “conservative” in the contemporary United States. Because the answer turns upon the distribution of literacy and literate education, these also turn out to be profound questions that cannot be answered without exploring the inner workings of class and capitalism. Thus, the narrative begins by telling the complex and often misunderstood histories of both groups of back-to-the-landers, but turns in the middle chapters to an analysis of the ways in which working-class people are rendered educationally dispossessed through schooling and jobs, as well as discussion of the often devastating consequences of that dispossession. In the final chapter, the book returns to homesteading as a form of resistance, to address the question of whether it provides, as practitioners hope, a measure of shelter from the machine.Less
Drawing upon deep ethnographic fieldwork, and written in lively prose that weaves together story and evidence, the book explores contemporary homesteading in Appalachia as a means of resistance to capitalist modernity. It is framed around two questions: Why are people still pursuing rural subsistence? And why are they often divided into two main groups, known to each other--not always kindly--as “hicks” and “hippies”? These turn out to be urgent questions, considering that the cultural divide between these two groups is one instance of the dangerous and growing schism between “liberal” and “conservative” in the contemporary United States. Because the answer turns upon the distribution of literacy and literate education, these also turn out to be profound questions that cannot be answered without exploring the inner workings of class and capitalism. Thus, the narrative begins by telling the complex and often misunderstood histories of both groups of back-to-the-landers, but turns in the middle chapters to an analysis of the ways in which working-class people are rendered educationally dispossessed through schooling and jobs, as well as discussion of the often devastating consequences of that dispossession. In the final chapter, the book returns to homesteading as a form of resistance, to address the question of whether it provides, as practitioners hope, a measure of shelter from the machine.
Amy Starecheski
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226399805
- eISBN:
- 9780226400006
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226400006.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
Though New York’s Lower East Side today is heavily gentrified, it spent decades as an infamous site of blight, open-air drug dealing, and class conflict—an emblematic example of the tattered state of ...
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Though New York’s Lower East Side today is heavily gentrified, it spent decades as an infamous site of blight, open-air drug dealing, and class conflict—an emblematic example of the tattered state of 1970s and ’80s Manhattan. Those decades of strife, however, also gave the Lower East Side something unusual: a radical movement that blended urban homesteading and European-style squatting into something never before seen in the United States. Ours to Lose tells the story of that social movement through a close look at a diverse group of Lower East Side squatters who occupied abandoned city-owned buildings in the 1980s, fought to keep them for decades, and eventually began a long, complicated process to turn their illegal occupancy into legal cooperative ownership. The squatters had made moral and political claims on urban space that, in a rare turn of events, turned into legal rights. These persistent squatters created almost a dozen low-income, limited equity co-operative buildings in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in New York but also, more intangibly, a sprawling network of chosen family, a history of struggle, a repertoire of tactics, and a story that continues to inspire others to ask: Is it possible to create a space outside of capitalism? Combining oral history and ethnography, Ours to Lose not only tells a little-known New York City story, it also shows how property shapes our sense of ourselves as social beings and explores the ethics of homeownership and debt in post-recession America.Less
Though New York’s Lower East Side today is heavily gentrified, it spent decades as an infamous site of blight, open-air drug dealing, and class conflict—an emblematic example of the tattered state of 1970s and ’80s Manhattan. Those decades of strife, however, also gave the Lower East Side something unusual: a radical movement that blended urban homesteading and European-style squatting into something never before seen in the United States. Ours to Lose tells the story of that social movement through a close look at a diverse group of Lower East Side squatters who occupied abandoned city-owned buildings in the 1980s, fought to keep them for decades, and eventually began a long, complicated process to turn their illegal occupancy into legal cooperative ownership. The squatters had made moral and political claims on urban space that, in a rare turn of events, turned into legal rights. These persistent squatters created almost a dozen low-income, limited equity co-operative buildings in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in New York but also, more intangibly, a sprawling network of chosen family, a history of struggle, a repertoire of tactics, and a story that continues to inspire others to ask: Is it possible to create a space outside of capitalism? Combining oral history and ethnography, Ours to Lose not only tells a little-known New York City story, it also shows how property shapes our sense of ourselves as social beings and explores the ethics of homeownership and debt in post-recession America.
Alexander Berkman
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814757437
- eISBN:
- 9780814763469
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814757437.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter is a prison memoir detailing the attempted assassination of Henry Clay Frick, chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, to avenge the deaths of seven steel workers killed by Frick's ...
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This chapter is a prison memoir detailing the attempted assassination of Henry Clay Frick, chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, to avenge the deaths of seven steel workers killed by Frick's detectives during the great Homestead Strike. The culprit, Alexander Berkman, was a prominent member of the growing anarchist movement, and in 1892 had attempted the assassination and ended up serving fourteen years in prison for his deed. The chapter describes the climax of the assassination attempt—the methods used and the characters involved—and includes the quick split-second decisions Berkman had made that would eventually lead to his failure and arrest.Less
This chapter is a prison memoir detailing the attempted assassination of Henry Clay Frick, chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, to avenge the deaths of seven steel workers killed by Frick's detectives during the great Homestead Strike. The culprit, Alexander Berkman, was a prominent member of the growing anarchist movement, and in 1892 had attempted the assassination and ended up serving fourteen years in prison for his deed. The chapter describes the climax of the assassination attempt—the methods used and the characters involved—and includes the quick split-second decisions Berkman had made that would eventually lead to his failure and arrest.
Danny M. Adkison and Lisa McNair Palmer
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197514818
- eISBN:
- 9780197514849
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197514818.003.0018
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This chapter assesses Article XII-A of the Oklahoma constitution, which concerns homestead exemptions from taxation. Section 1 provides that “all homesteads as is or may be defined under the Laws of ...
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This chapter assesses Article XII-A of the Oklahoma constitution, which concerns homestead exemptions from taxation. Section 1 provides that “all homesteads as is or may be defined under the Laws of the State of Oklahoma for tax exemption purposes, may hereafter be exempted from all forms of ad valorem taxation by the Legislature.” An “ad valorem tax” is a tax that is imposed on the value of property. Section 2 was added by initiative petition in 1935 and tied the legislature’s hands by stating that the definition of a homestead may not be diminished by the legislature; the legislature may only increase or expand the definition. Additionally, statutes regarding homesteads’ exemptions from ad valorem taxation are to be in effect for at least twenty years after enactment; after that, those statutes can be repealed or amended by the legislature.Less
This chapter assesses Article XII-A of the Oklahoma constitution, which concerns homestead exemptions from taxation. Section 1 provides that “all homesteads as is or may be defined under the Laws of the State of Oklahoma for tax exemption purposes, may hereafter be exempted from all forms of ad valorem taxation by the Legislature.” An “ad valorem tax” is a tax that is imposed on the value of property. Section 2 was added by initiative petition in 1935 and tied the legislature’s hands by stating that the definition of a homestead may not be diminished by the legislature; the legislature may only increase or expand the definition. Additionally, statutes regarding homesteads’ exemptions from ad valorem taxation are to be in effect for at least twenty years after enactment; after that, those statutes can be repealed or amended by the legislature.
Paul Frymer
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691166056
- eISBN:
- 9781400885350
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691166056.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter examines the incorporation of the territory first acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, particularly the states west of the Mississippi with the exception of the Southwest. It first ...
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This chapter examines the incorporation of the territory first acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, particularly the states west of the Mississippi with the exception of the Southwest. It first considers the tensions in early land policy between those who wanted to use the land for profit and those who wanted to settle and cultivate it. These battles originated in Congress, in disputes over preemption and homesteading that engaged the idea that settlers ought to be allowed to have subsidized or free land if they settled and cultivated it in a manner beneficial to the growth of the nation. Once eastern settlements were incorporated as states, federal land policies began to change. The chapter also explores the rising tension between homesteading and slavery before concluding with an analysis of the consequence of the Homestead Act of 1862 for western settlement and for the continued manufacturing of whiteness, especially in Oklahoma.Less
This chapter examines the incorporation of the territory first acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, particularly the states west of the Mississippi with the exception of the Southwest. It first considers the tensions in early land policy between those who wanted to use the land for profit and those who wanted to settle and cultivate it. These battles originated in Congress, in disputes over preemption and homesteading that engaged the idea that settlers ought to be allowed to have subsidized or free land if they settled and cultivated it in a manner beneficial to the growth of the nation. Once eastern settlements were incorporated as states, federal land policies began to change. The chapter also explores the rising tension between homesteading and slavery before concluding with an analysis of the consequence of the Homestead Act of 1862 for western settlement and for the continued manufacturing of whiteness, especially in Oklahoma.
Danny M. Adkison and Lisa McNair Palmer
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197514818
- eISBN:
- 9780197514849
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197514818.003.0017
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This chapter looks at Article XII of the Oklahoma constitution, which concerns homestead and exemptions. Section 1 was amended in 1997 to clarify homestead rights when a property is used for both ...
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This chapter looks at Article XII of the Oklahoma constitution, which concerns homestead and exemptions. Section 1 was amended in 1997 to clarify homestead rights when a property is used for both residential and commercial purposes and to set forth the percentage of use that must be for residential purposes in order to qualify for the exemption. Because of the Native American population in Oklahoma, the constitution contains a specific provision protecting Native Americans’ homestead rights. Section 2 operates as a paternalistic public policy to protect the family home. The home can only be sold for debts directly connected to the construction, improvement, or taxes regarding the homestead; a forced sale of a homestead for payment of ordinary debts, judgment liens, and other obligations is not available to a creditor in Oklahoma. Lastly, the primary objective of Section 3 is to undo parts of an old Oklahoma law regarding exemptions.Less
This chapter looks at Article XII of the Oklahoma constitution, which concerns homestead and exemptions. Section 1 was amended in 1997 to clarify homestead rights when a property is used for both residential and commercial purposes and to set forth the percentage of use that must be for residential purposes in order to qualify for the exemption. Because of the Native American population in Oklahoma, the constitution contains a specific provision protecting Native Americans’ homestead rights. Section 2 operates as a paternalistic public policy to protect the family home. The home can only be sold for debts directly connected to the construction, improvement, or taxes regarding the homestead; a forced sale of a homestead for payment of ordinary debts, judgment liens, and other obligations is not available to a creditor in Oklahoma. Lastly, the primary objective of Section 3 is to undo parts of an old Oklahoma law regarding exemptions.
Russell K. Skowronek
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813033204
- eISBN:
- 9780813039596
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813033204.003.0002
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Underwater Archaeology
This chapter examines the tragedy of Florida-based treasure hunter Gerald Klein. Klein found a shipwreck, which was later confirmed to the lost HMS Fowey, about twelve miles south of Miami and some ...
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This chapter examines the tragedy of Florida-based treasure hunter Gerald Klein. Klein found a shipwreck, which was later confirmed to the lost HMS Fowey, about twelve miles south of Miami and some twenty miles due east of Homestead. In October 1979, Gerald filed a case requesting title or alternatively a liberal salvage award to a wrecked and abandoned sailing vessel within the Legare Anchorage. However, the U.S. government intervened as a defendant seeking title to the wreck because it was located within the boundaries of a federally protected park, the Biscayne National Monument. Klein remained optimistic about his prospects, but on New Year's Day in 1982 he was shot in an armed robbery and died on the spot.Less
This chapter examines the tragedy of Florida-based treasure hunter Gerald Klein. Klein found a shipwreck, which was later confirmed to the lost HMS Fowey, about twelve miles south of Miami and some twenty miles due east of Homestead. In October 1979, Gerald filed a case requesting title or alternatively a liberal salvage award to a wrecked and abandoned sailing vessel within the Legare Anchorage. However, the U.S. government intervened as a defendant seeking title to the wreck because it was located within the boundaries of a federally protected park, the Biscayne National Monument. Klein remained optimistic about his prospects, but on New Year's Day in 1982 he was shot in an armed robbery and died on the spot.
Howard G. Wilshire, Richard W. Hazlett, and Jane E. Nielson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780195142051
- eISBN:
- 9780197561782
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780195142051.003.0014
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Social Impact of Environmental Issues
The western United States has low overall rainfall and snowfall levels, few rivers, and many deep groundwater basins. Small Native American populations once lived ...
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The western United States has low overall rainfall and snowfall levels, few rivers, and many deep groundwater basins. Small Native American populations once lived within the restraints of aridity by seeking harmony with nature. But owning land in such an arid region means little or nothing without a supply of fresh water. Instead of limiting population growth in the face of scarce and unpredictable rainfall, however, the west’s aridity challenged the newcomers to redirect water supplies and make the rich desert soils bloom. The region’s localized precipitation, generally doled out on boom-and-bust schedules, has made water “the most essential and fought over resource in the western United States.” Raising a lone voice of warning in 1893, western explorer John Wesley Powell foresaw that irrigating western lands would pile up “a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights for there is not sufficient water to supply the land.”2 That Powell was right about conflicts goes without saying, for the west’s bitter heritage of water wars speaks for itself.3 Invading Americans used legal doctrines of first appropriation and “beneficial use” to take water from Indians’ lands and then turned to taking it from each other, oblivious to the effects on wildlife and natural habitats. Today’s depleted river flows and overpumped groundwater basins indicate that Powell probably was right about water supply limits, too. Expanding populations and increasing water contamination have strained supplies of fresh, clean water, even as per capita water demands decrease. By the 1970s, degraded natural settings, rising water pollution, and disappearing native fauna had lowered the quality of western life and built a constituency for environmental protection. But the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act and 1973 Endangered Species Act simply pitted environmental groups and courts against irrigators, cities, and states. In an ironic reversal, recently enriched Native Americans are poised to exercise their primary legal claims to many western rivers.
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The western United States has low overall rainfall and snowfall levels, few rivers, and many deep groundwater basins. Small Native American populations once lived within the restraints of aridity by seeking harmony with nature. But owning land in such an arid region means little or nothing without a supply of fresh water. Instead of limiting population growth in the face of scarce and unpredictable rainfall, however, the west’s aridity challenged the newcomers to redirect water supplies and make the rich desert soils bloom. The region’s localized precipitation, generally doled out on boom-and-bust schedules, has made water “the most essential and fought over resource in the western United States.” Raising a lone voice of warning in 1893, western explorer John Wesley Powell foresaw that irrigating western lands would pile up “a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights for there is not sufficient water to supply the land.”2 That Powell was right about conflicts goes without saying, for the west’s bitter heritage of water wars speaks for itself.3 Invading Americans used legal doctrines of first appropriation and “beneficial use” to take water from Indians’ lands and then turned to taking it from each other, oblivious to the effects on wildlife and natural habitats. Today’s depleted river flows and overpumped groundwater basins indicate that Powell probably was right about water supply limits, too. Expanding populations and increasing water contamination have strained supplies of fresh, clean water, even as per capita water demands decrease. By the 1970s, degraded natural settings, rising water pollution, and disappearing native fauna had lowered the quality of western life and built a constituency for environmental protection. But the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act and 1973 Endangered Species Act simply pitted environmental groups and courts against irrigators, cities, and states. In an ironic reversal, recently enriched Native Americans are poised to exercise their primary legal claims to many western rivers.
Richard H. Hart
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780195135824
- eISBN:
- 9780197561638
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780195135824.003.0008
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Environmental Geography
As described in chapter 1 of this volume, the grasslands of central North America began to expand at the end of the Wisconsin period (about 10,000 years ...
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As described in chapter 1 of this volume, the grasslands of central North America began to expand at the end of the Wisconsin period (about 10,000 years BP), and continued their expansion through the warming trend that persisted until about 3000 years BP, occupying their maximum territory at that time (Dix, 1964). Currently, the region still supports trees on escarpments, along streams, and at other sites protected from fire, but centuries ago, fires caused by lightning or kindled by Native Americans may have eliminated relict stands of forest and savanna on the open plains. Large browsers and grazers also may have played a part in eliminating trees as well as grasses sensitive to grazing pressure (Axelrod, 1985). Throughout millennia, bison in particular were likely to have shaped the plant communities of the shortgrass steppe, and thus were an essential component of the system (Larson, 1940). Bison appeared as early as 300,000 years BP; bison, mammoths, mastodons, camels, horses, and other grazers were numerous by 20,000 years BP. Humans arrived in North America perhaps as early as 60,000 years BP, but certainly by 15,000 years ago. Fires and bison may have achieved maximum impact as recently as the past 500 years (Axelrod, 1985; Looman, 1977). The roles of climate, fire, and grazing in the development of North American grasslands have been examined by Ellison (1960), Coupland (1979), Dyer et al. (1982), Anderson (1982), and Tetlyanova et al. (1990). The earliest known human sites on the shortgrass steppe date to about 13,000 years BP (Wedel, 1 979) and a re f ound i n the vicinity o f fossil g lacial l akes. The population of these mammoth hunters was apparently sparse and scattered. Soon after 11,000 years BP, many of the large mammalian species such as the mammoth, native horse, camel, and ground sloth vanished, and the hunters turned to bison. Bone beds representing mass kills of bison have been found below buffalo jumps (Fig. 4.1) and even in the remains of wood or stone corrals, but single kills must have been much more common.
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As described in chapter 1 of this volume, the grasslands of central North America began to expand at the end of the Wisconsin period (about 10,000 years BP), and continued their expansion through the warming trend that persisted until about 3000 years BP, occupying their maximum territory at that time (Dix, 1964). Currently, the region still supports trees on escarpments, along streams, and at other sites protected from fire, but centuries ago, fires caused by lightning or kindled by Native Americans may have eliminated relict stands of forest and savanna on the open plains. Large browsers and grazers also may have played a part in eliminating trees as well as grasses sensitive to grazing pressure (Axelrod, 1985). Throughout millennia, bison in particular were likely to have shaped the plant communities of the shortgrass steppe, and thus were an essential component of the system (Larson, 1940). Bison appeared as early as 300,000 years BP; bison, mammoths, mastodons, camels, horses, and other grazers were numerous by 20,000 years BP. Humans arrived in North America perhaps as early as 60,000 years BP, but certainly by 15,000 years ago. Fires and bison may have achieved maximum impact as recently as the past 500 years (Axelrod, 1985; Looman, 1977). The roles of climate, fire, and grazing in the development of North American grasslands have been examined by Ellison (1960), Coupland (1979), Dyer et al. (1982), Anderson (1982), and Tetlyanova et al. (1990). The earliest known human sites on the shortgrass steppe date to about 13,000 years BP (Wedel, 1 979) and a re f ound i n the vicinity o f fossil g lacial l akes. The population of these mammoth hunters was apparently sparse and scattered. Soon after 11,000 years BP, many of the large mammalian species such as the mammoth, native horse, camel, and ground sloth vanished, and the hunters turned to bison. Bone beds representing mass kills of bison have been found below buffalo jumps (Fig. 4.1) and even in the remains of wood or stone corrals, but single kills must have been much more common.
Karen V. Hansen
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199746811
- eISBN:
- 9780199369478
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199746811.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Comparative and Historical Sociology, Culture
In 1904, Scandinavian settlers began moving onto the Spirit Lake Dakota Indian Reservation. These land-hungry first and second generation immigrants struggled with a poverty nearly as severe as that ...
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In 1904, Scandinavian settlers began moving onto the Spirit Lake Dakota Indian Reservation. These land-hungry first and second generation immigrants struggled with a poverty nearly as severe as that of their Dakota neighbors. Yet the homesteaders’ impoverishment did not impede native dispossession: by 1929, Scandinavians owned more reservation land than did Dakotas. In the words of Helena Haugen Kanten, who staked a claim with her widowed mother in 1905: “We stole the land from the Indians.” How did this extraordinary, largely unknown encounter between Dakota people and Scandinavian immigrants come to pass? Who were the people who experienced this episode in U.S. history? What does their experience teach us about landtaking, dispossession, and coexistence? This book upends prevailing assumptions about the experience of Native Americans, immigrants, and women in this period. It reveals Scandinavians’ and Dakotas’ resistance to assimilation, and their use of citizenship to combat attacks on their cultures. It documents women’s use of land to leverage resources for themselves and their families, and recounts the efforts of Dakota women to gain autonomy in the use of their allotments, even as Scandinavian women staked and “proved up” their own claims. It chronicles the intertwined stories of Dakotas and immigrants—women and men, farmers, domestic servants, and day laborers—and their shared and contrasting struggles to maintain a language, sustain a culture, and navigate their conflicted ties to more than one nation.Less
In 1904, Scandinavian settlers began moving onto the Spirit Lake Dakota Indian Reservation. These land-hungry first and second generation immigrants struggled with a poverty nearly as severe as that of their Dakota neighbors. Yet the homesteaders’ impoverishment did not impede native dispossession: by 1929, Scandinavians owned more reservation land than did Dakotas. In the words of Helena Haugen Kanten, who staked a claim with her widowed mother in 1905: “We stole the land from the Indians.” How did this extraordinary, largely unknown encounter between Dakota people and Scandinavian immigrants come to pass? Who were the people who experienced this episode in U.S. history? What does their experience teach us about landtaking, dispossession, and coexistence? This book upends prevailing assumptions about the experience of Native Americans, immigrants, and women in this period. It reveals Scandinavians’ and Dakotas’ resistance to assimilation, and their use of citizenship to combat attacks on their cultures. It documents women’s use of land to leverage resources for themselves and their families, and recounts the efforts of Dakota women to gain autonomy in the use of their allotments, even as Scandinavian women staked and “proved up” their own claims. It chronicles the intertwined stories of Dakotas and immigrants—women and men, farmers, domestic servants, and day laborers—and their shared and contrasting struggles to maintain a language, sustain a culture, and navigate their conflicted ties to more than one nation.
Jason G. Strange
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252043031
- eISBN:
- 9780252051890
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043031.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change
Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork, this chapter deepens the questions raised in the introduction with visits to a “country” homestead (during a pig roast) and a “bohemian” homestead (during a work ...
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Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork, this chapter deepens the questions raised in the introduction with visits to a “country” homestead (during a pig roast) and a “bohemian” homestead (during a work party on a strawbale house), describing the overlapping but contrasting cultures and practices of the two places. The chapter argues that contemporary homesteads represent anomalous and exotic spaces that differ markedly from those common in mainstream American life, and discusses the stereotypes, both positive and negative, of “hick” and “hippie” homesteaders. It closes with a discussion of the challenges of defining homesteading, which is predicated upon intensified household subsistence but takes many forms, such as a minimalist homestead relying more upon frugality than production, or a parcel with an owner-built home but no garden.Less
Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork, this chapter deepens the questions raised in the introduction with visits to a “country” homestead (during a pig roast) and a “bohemian” homestead (during a work party on a strawbale house), describing the overlapping but contrasting cultures and practices of the two places. The chapter argues that contemporary homesteads represent anomalous and exotic spaces that differ markedly from those common in mainstream American life, and discusses the stereotypes, both positive and negative, of “hick” and “hippie” homesteaders. It closes with a discussion of the challenges of defining homesteading, which is predicated upon intensified household subsistence but takes many forms, such as a minimalist homestead relying more upon frugality than production, or a parcel with an owner-built home but no garden.
Jason G. Strange
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252043031
- eISBN:
- 9780252051890
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043031.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change
The third of three chapters that examine “cultural division in a capitalist society,” chapter 7 focuses upon behavioral and ideational differences and oppositions between country and bohemian ...
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The third of three chapters that examine “cultural division in a capitalist society,” chapter 7 focuses upon behavioral and ideational differences and oppositions between country and bohemian homesteaders, which is a particular iteration of the larger cultural schism between left and right in the contemporary United States. Weaving together story and evidence, the chapter argues that this is a class division, but one in which literate education plays a more prominent role than occupation or monetary wealth. The argument is developed by examining the role of education in the lives of individual characters, in terms of issues such as diet, trash burning, attitudes toward non-straight sexualities, and susceptibility to mass-media propaganda.Less
The third of three chapters that examine “cultural division in a capitalist society,” chapter 7 focuses upon behavioral and ideational differences and oppositions between country and bohemian homesteaders, which is a particular iteration of the larger cultural schism between left and right in the contemporary United States. Weaving together story and evidence, the chapter argues that this is a class division, but one in which literate education plays a more prominent role than occupation or monetary wealth. The argument is developed by examining the role of education in the lives of individual characters, in terms of issues such as diet, trash burning, attitudes toward non-straight sexualities, and susceptibility to mass-media propaganda.
Jason G. Strange
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252043031
- eISBN:
- 9780252051890
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043031.003.0009
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter evaluates contemporary homesteading and rural subsistence in eastern Kentucky as a form of activism and resistance. It argues that homesteading alone is not a particularly effective ...
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This chapter evaluates contemporary homesteading and rural subsistence in eastern Kentucky as a form of activism and resistance. It argues that homesteading alone is not a particularly effective means of changing larger socioeconomic structures, such as capitalism and plutocracy. However, homesteading, when pursued with skill, is capable of surprising achievements: it can be an effective means of reducing a household’s reliance upon the mainstream economy; shifting work away from wage labor; fostering frugality; bringing homesteaders into closer interaction with the natural world; and serving as a living laboratory for appropriate technologies. These are real accomplishments that explain the continued attraction of this particular form of activism.Less
This chapter evaluates contemporary homesteading and rural subsistence in eastern Kentucky as a form of activism and resistance. It argues that homesteading alone is not a particularly effective means of changing larger socioeconomic structures, such as capitalism and plutocracy. However, homesteading, when pursued with skill, is capable of surprising achievements: it can be an effective means of reducing a household’s reliance upon the mainstream economy; shifting work away from wage labor; fostering frugality; bringing homesteaders into closer interaction with the natural world; and serving as a living laboratory for appropriate technologies. These are real accomplishments that explain the continued attraction of this particular form of activism.
Jason G. Strange
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252043031
- eISBN:
- 9780252051890
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043031.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change
The epilogue forms a coda to the previous chapter, which argues that contemporary homesteading in eastern Kentucky represents a serious form of activism and resistance to capitalist modernity, even ...
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The epilogue forms a coda to the previous chapter, which argues that contemporary homesteading in eastern Kentucky represents a serious form of activism and resistance to capitalist modernity, even though it does little to change the nature of capitalism itself. The epilogue suggests that homesteading should be seen as a form of anarchism, defined by James Scott as “cooperation without hierarchy or state rule.” The epilogue illustrates that anarchism is a foundational mode of human life--one that remains crucial today even as it is overlooked and eroded--and argues that the intentional practice of anarchism represents an important, capacity-building experience in “lived democracy,” which is too often lacking in our families, schools, churches, governments, and workplaces.Less
The epilogue forms a coda to the previous chapter, which argues that contemporary homesteading in eastern Kentucky represents a serious form of activism and resistance to capitalist modernity, even though it does little to change the nature of capitalism itself. The epilogue suggests that homesteading should be seen as a form of anarchism, defined by James Scott as “cooperation without hierarchy or state rule.” The epilogue illustrates that anarchism is a foundational mode of human life--one that remains crucial today even as it is overlooked and eroded--and argues that the intentional practice of anarchism represents an important, capacity-building experience in “lived democracy,” which is too often lacking in our families, schools, churches, governments, and workplaces.
Gregory D. Smithers
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300169607
- eISBN:
- 9780300216585
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300169607.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Native American Studies
This chapter examines questions related to Cherokee identity, social status, “blood,” and migration—what the prominent Cherokee leader W. P. Adair called the refugee business—in the trans-Mississippi ...
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This chapter examines questions related to Cherokee identity, social status, “blood,” and migration—what the prominent Cherokee leader W. P. Adair called the refugee business—in the trans-Mississippi West in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War. More specifically, it considers the social, political, and economic problems caused by refugees who settled in and around Indian Territory after the Civil War. It also discusses the impact of frontier violence on people of Cherokee descent after the Civil War; the migration of North Carolina Cherokees to Indian Territory; and how the loss of land undermined the political homeland of the Cherokee diaspora. It shows how the migration of people of every race, religion, and ethnic background to the West following President Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Homestead Act in 1862 affected the Cherokee Nation in terms of land ownership.Less
This chapter examines questions related to Cherokee identity, social status, “blood,” and migration—what the prominent Cherokee leader W. P. Adair called the refugee business—in the trans-Mississippi West in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War. More specifically, it considers the social, political, and economic problems caused by refugees who settled in and around Indian Territory after the Civil War. It also discusses the impact of frontier violence on people of Cherokee descent after the Civil War; the migration of North Carolina Cherokees to Indian Territory; and how the loss of land undermined the political homeland of the Cherokee diaspora. It shows how the migration of people of every race, religion, and ethnic background to the West following President Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Homestead Act in 1862 affected the Cherokee Nation in terms of land ownership.
A. Whitney Sanford
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780813168630
- eISBN:
- 9780813168951
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813168630.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
Contemporary intentional communities have learned important lessons from the successes and failures of previous communities in areas such as governance, labor, and skill-building. Nonetheless ...
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Contemporary intentional communities have learned important lessons from the successes and failures of previous communities in areas such as governance, labor, and skill-building. Nonetheless contemporary communities are haunted by the ghosts of the cults and less-structured communities of the 1970s. Communities have functioned as social laboratories to test out new ideas that later spread to the mainstream, e.g., The Farm helped mainstream midwifery, and circulating ideas—rather than longevity—is one indication of a community’s success. Community residents draw from sources including Catholic Worker founders Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, homesteaders Helen and Scott Nearing, and Mohandas K. Gandhi as well as foundational communities such as The Farm in Tennessee. Further, the existence of homesteaders and past and present communities in a given area offer social capital and expertise to newer communities.Less
Contemporary intentional communities have learned important lessons from the successes and failures of previous communities in areas such as governance, labor, and skill-building. Nonetheless contemporary communities are haunted by the ghosts of the cults and less-structured communities of the 1970s. Communities have functioned as social laboratories to test out new ideas that later spread to the mainstream, e.g., The Farm helped mainstream midwifery, and circulating ideas—rather than longevity—is one indication of a community’s success. Community residents draw from sources including Catholic Worker founders Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, homesteaders Helen and Scott Nearing, and Mohandas K. Gandhi as well as foundational communities such as The Farm in Tennessee. Further, the existence of homesteaders and past and present communities in a given area offer social capital and expertise to newer communities.
Adam Wesley Dean
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469619910
- eISBN:
- 9781469623139
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469619910.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
This chapter deals directly with the Civil War, exploring the secession crisis in California, wartime federal policy, and the beliefs of Union soldiers. Each of these episodes shows how Republican ...
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This chapter deals directly with the Civil War, exploring the secession crisis in California, wartime federal policy, and the beliefs of Union soldiers. Each of these episodes shows how Republican opposition to slavery was based, in part, on a vision of proper land use. Republican criticism of slavery’s land-use practices influenced Union support in California during 1861. According to contemporaries, California was in the process of transitioning from a rough-and-tumble frontier to a more settled agricultural society. Union loyalists argued that the state’s agricultural potential could be compromised if California sided with the South and slavery. In Congress, Republicans made similar claims that slavery destroyed the land. Only free people could build ideal farming communities. When southern Democrats left for secession, Republicans saw a golden opportunity to promote small farms and agricultural permanence in the West. Ignorant of environmental realities in the region making small farms difficult to maintain, they insisted that the West could become “civilized” and loyal if settled by yeomen. Congress passed the Homestead Act, the Pacific Railroad Act, and the Land Grant College Act. It also created the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Viewing small farmers as a natural barrier to the extension of slavery, many Republicans pushed for these four laws as a means to keep slavery from moving westward. They feared that the conflict would end with slavery largely intact.Less
This chapter deals directly with the Civil War, exploring the secession crisis in California, wartime federal policy, and the beliefs of Union soldiers. Each of these episodes shows how Republican opposition to slavery was based, in part, on a vision of proper land use. Republican criticism of slavery’s land-use practices influenced Union support in California during 1861. According to contemporaries, California was in the process of transitioning from a rough-and-tumble frontier to a more settled agricultural society. Union loyalists argued that the state’s agricultural potential could be compromised if California sided with the South and slavery. In Congress, Republicans made similar claims that slavery destroyed the land. Only free people could build ideal farming communities. When southern Democrats left for secession, Republicans saw a golden opportunity to promote small farms and agricultural permanence in the West. Ignorant of environmental realities in the region making small farms difficult to maintain, they insisted that the West could become “civilized” and loyal if settled by yeomen. Congress passed the Homestead Act, the Pacific Railroad Act, and the Land Grant College Act. It also created the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Viewing small farmers as a natural barrier to the extension of slavery, many Republicans pushed for these four laws as a means to keep slavery from moving westward. They feared that the conflict would end with slavery largely intact.
