We asked each other what we had done to deserve such severe chastisement. We delivered up two men, accordingly. Title to the land in New York west of Seneca Lake was claimed by Massachusetts. Derryveagh Evictions, and But no doubt more than a few young people will get turned on to robotics, space exploration, et al. But the Iroquois Indians of the time bestowed on Washington another, not-so-flattering epithet: Conotocarious, or "Town Destroyer. George Washington for sure had that nickname. 53 minutes SDH Captioned>> Directed by Alan Snitow, Deborah Kaufman Produced by Snitow-Kaufman Productions Executive Producer: Peggy Berryhill (Muscogee) Writers: Alan Snitow, Deborah Kaufman Near the end of the documentary, Jessica Young, a Native American at the New College of Florida, says shes unsure which side shes on. (The Iroquois dubbed him "Town Destroyer.") But some present-day students, parents, and observers found those depictions . Courtesy: the artist and Peabody Essex Museum, In 1779, Washington launched a full-scale invasion of Iroquoia, our extensive homelands. The story focuses on a dispute over historic murals depicting the life of George Washington: slaveowner, general, land speculator, President, and a man Seneca leaders called "Town Destroyer" after he ordered their villages destroyed during the Revolutionary War. For this Land Phelps agreed to pay us Ten thousand dollars in hand and one thousand dollars a year for ever. George Washington is called "The Father of our Nation" and by some "Cincinnatus" but the Iroquois had a nickname for him as well "Conotocaurius"(Town Destroyer) We talk about the Indian wars of the late 19th century but the late 18th century had Indian wars too and George Washington was the man behind it George Washington had complicated relationships with Native Americans. orA.I. The elder Washington's reputation was remembered and when they met his great-grandson in 1753 they called George Washington by the same name, Conotocarious.[2][3]. oy. Signed at Philadelphia the first day of December. New Anti-Colonialist Documentary Asks Big Questions, California Institute for Community, Arts & Nature, The CIAs Changing Take on the Climate Emergency, Emancipation, Hollywoods Best Civil War Film Ever. It is translated as Town Taker, Burner of Towns When George Washington High Schooldesigned by architect Timothy Pfleuger, who also created the Castro and Paramount Theaters, among other landmarksopened in 1936, its hallways sported 13 impressive murals titledThe Life of Washington. It opens in area theaters Fri/4, then begins streaming on Amazon Prime Nov. 23. and therefore weak as our nation was, they determined to take the chance of war rather than submit to such unjust demands, which seemed to have no bounds. On June 4, 1779, the General of the Revolutionary Army, George Washington, violated the treaty and ordered the invasion of the territory of the Iroquois confederation. The nickname had previously been given to his great-grandfather John Washington in the late seventeenth century. (The Iroquois dubbed him Town Destroyer.) But some present-day students, parents, and observers found those depictions racially offensive, calling for the work to be removed or destroyed. Town Destroyer. Roxie Theater3117 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103. https://www.roxie.com/ai1ec_event/town-destroyer/. It involved members of both the Susquehannah and the Piscataway, an Algonquian tribe that lived across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon. When you kindled your thirteen fires seperately, the wise men The former vice president has become the Democratic front-runner with primary victories across the country. On this edition of Your Call, we rebroadcast our discussion about Town Destroyer, a documentary that focuses on murals at San Francisco's George Washington High School, which praise Washington and critically depict him overseeing his slaves and directing the bloody seizure of Native lands. Filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman . The film highlights the debate about controversial murals at George Washington High School. The political doesnt get any more personal than when it comes to abortion, and now thanks to an activist conservative Supreme Court, it appears the era of Roe v. Wadeand choicemay well be over. Pete Galindo, the director of the Great Wall Project, talks about the half-mile long Great Wall of LA which depicts the history of the city, including lynching. The nickname, Conotocaurius means Destroyer of Towns. Tags: George Washington, Revolutionary War, history. Battlegroundis almost entirely limited to the game-changing year of 2020, when RBGs death, Amy Coney Barretts appointment, and other events turned a tide. The issues reached a tipping point not long ago when the members of the San Francisco Board of Education listened to impassioned testimony and voted to cover up the murals. The Expedition you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations of Indians, with their associates and adherents. January 31, 2023. Gen, George Washington meets with representatives of the Iroquois nation before departing for Y. If art (or history) is altered to blunt painful truths, isnt that dishonesty, whether coming from the political left or right? If you want to leave all these Earthly woes behind, there is warm, fuzzy and interplanetary comfort to be found inGood Night Oppy. We hearkened to them and were deceived until your army approached our towns. UCLA Professor Kelley adds that its not about choosing sides and that no one person or group can tell the story.. All three had participated in the Iroquois campaigns during the Revolution; Cornplanter as a principal war chief and the others as head warriors. The voice of the Senecca Nation speaks to you the great Councillor, in whose heart, the wise men of the thirteen fires, have placed their wisdom. It is interesting to see close-up the strategizing of such groups, including their straight-up asking citizens to be single-issue voters, even if they have to hold their noses in pulling the lever for last-minute ally Trump. He paid us two thousand & five hundred dollars in hand part of the Ten thousand, and he sent for us last Spring to come and receive our money; but instead of paying us the remainder of the Ten Thousand dollars, and the one thousand dollars due for the first year, he offered us no more than five hundred dollars, and insisted he had agreed with us for that sum only to be paid yearly. Contact. Our chiefs were unable to contend at that time, & therefore they sold the Lands up to the line which was then shewn to them as the line of that State. Cornplanter had intended to make the trip at an earlier date but had been delayed by the alarm among the Indians caused by the murder of two Seneca men on Pine Creek (see GW to Pickering, 4 Sept. 1790). Join us for a free screening of TOWN DESTROYER - a new documentary about the furor over Victor Arnautoff's WPA murals at George Washington High School. You then told us we were in your hand & that by closing it you could crush us to nothing; and you demanded of us a great Country as the price of that peace you had offered us; as if our want of strength had destroyed our rights. The name in its original language(s) has been Often it took the army days to completely destroy all of the longhouses, fields, orchards and food stores. must know from you, whether you mean to leave us, and our children, any land to till. Both Washington and Jefferson enslaved and waged war against Indigenous nations to dispossess them of their homelands. You told us say they, that the line drawn from Pensylvania, to lake Ontario, would mark it for ever on the East, and the line running from Beaver Creek, to Pensylvania, would mark it on the west; and we see that it is not so. Sr William Johnson came and took that Fort from the French; he became our father and promised to take care of us and did so till you were too strong for his King. It did not leave our 1st POTUS unblemished as a participant in both those officially sanctioned wrongs. Years later when George Washington was elected President of the newly formed United States, Seneca Chief Corn Planter addressed President Washington in 1790. The long-running Mission arts venue's charms come through in diverse music, poetry, dramatic readings, and comedy shows. The name in its original language(s) has been given variously as Conotocarius, Conotocaurious, Caunotaucarius, Conotocarious, Hanodaganears, and Hanadahguyus. In Town Destroyer, the filmmakers focus on the image of a dead Indian lying face down on the ground while settlers with guns stand close-by. On July 9, 1776, General George Washington amassed his soldiers in New York City. The board rescinded its decision, perhaps because it was embarrassed by the national publicity that depicted its decision as a form of censorship. According to its production company: "TOWN DESTROYER explores how to look at art and history at a time of polarized national debate over the power of images, racism, trauma, and what . Revisiting George Washingtons assault on the Haudenosaunee 240 Years Later. All rights reserved. AI Chatbots are Even Scarier Than You Think, DeSantiss Educational Policies Come Right Out of the Fascist Playbook, Erase the Memory to Erase a People? Is the blame all ours? By the standards of the era, the work was indeed pretty progressive in content, mixing a standard, celebratory depiction of early US history with images that clearly indicted treatment of Native Americans, the institution of slavery, and so forth. | Benjamin Fanjoy/The Standard In retrospect, no one should be surprised: Trump is exactly the sort of person who will always be able to get an unwanted pregnancy handled, legally or not, as People With Money always have. 2.At this point the copyist inadvertently repeated the words and so long.. "I am well persuaded," John Sullivan, the leader of the venture, bragged to Congress afterward, "that, except one town situated near the Allegana, about 50 miles from the Chinessee, there is not a single town left in the country of the Five nations." Roxie Theater: Town Destroyer November 4, 2022 @ 6:45 pm - 8:45 pm He wants to remind Washington that Cornplanter understands that he is a powerful warrior and has defeated the Seneca in the past. David Humphreys Life of General Washington with George Washingtons Remarks. Athens, Ga., 1991. description ends 10). At fort Stanwix we agreed to deliver up those of our people, who should do you any wrong, that you might try them, and punish them according to your Law. Thus he claimed the whole country North of Pensylvania and west of the Lands belonging to the Cayugas. They became our fathers, and took care of us. First came genocide, than came cultural plunder or maybe it was the other way around. Good luck with that: GWHS is seldom if ever open to the general public. We also invite you to join the conversation on ourFacebook,Twitter, andInstagram. Longtime Bay Area documentarians Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman interview historians, artists, activists, and GWHS students to probe a fascinating microcosm of todays culture wars. . Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. In fact, it dates back at least to 9 July 1776 when, after a public reading of the Declaration of Independence, a group of Continental soldiers and New Yorkers, calling themselves the Sons of Freedom, pulled down the equestrian statue of King George III on Bowling Green. Street presented a document listing the grievances of the Five Nations to Jeremiah Wadsworth, with the request that Wadsworth put it into GWs hands (Street to Wadsworth, 5 Aug. 1790, NNGL: Knox Papers). 48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submithere. He insisted in killing as . The last reason he assigned for continuing to refuse paying us was, that the King had ceded the lands to the thirteen fires and that he had bought them from you and paid you for them. New York, 1939. description ends 197203). For we are about to speak of things which are to us very great. Street the great trader at Niagara was then with us having come at the request of Phelps, and as he always professed to be our great friend we consulted him on this subject; He also told us, that our Lands had been ceded by the King and that we must give them up.5. Jonah Raskin is the author of Beat Blues, San Francisco, 1955. It has also been translated as 'Town Taker', 'Burner of Towns', 'Devourer of Villages', or 'he destroys the town'. It may be very small in your ears, & we therefore entreat you to hearken with attention. Washington himself was given or assumed an Indian name, Conoto carious, meaning "Town Destroyer" or "Devourer of Villages," and an Indian messenger who arrived at Fort Harmar in July 1788 was identified as "George Washington, a Delaware." He was not the only Indian to bear Washington's name. The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. When I was a child, I was told that George Washington was our first president and that he had . When Seymour Hersh Strained to Keep Up With CounterPunch, Nichole Stephens, Administrative Assistant. When our chiefs returned from the treaty of fort Stanwix, and laid before our Council what had been done there our Nation was surprized to hear, how great a Country you had compelled them to give up, to you, without paying us any thing for it.3 Every one said your hearts were yet swelled with resentment against us for what had happened during the war: but that one day you would reconsider it with more kindness.