Snitow & Deborah Kaufman Executive Producer Peggy . American soldiers burned forty villages to the ground, and displaced thousands of Indians. Presented by the California Film Institute (CAFILM), the 45th Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF45) runs October 6-16, 2022. . Lowry offers the somber notion that well have to have this debate for another couple of decades before the issue is resolved. Maybe so. Crushed power. On display since San Francisco's George Washington High School opened in 1936, it offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide. Before you determine on a measure so unjust, look up to the God who made us, as well as you, we hope he will not permit you to destroy the whole of our nation. 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. Privacy Policy MVFF is an acclaimed eleven-day cinema event celebrating the best in US . 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. copy, MHi: Timothy Pickering Papers; Washington Square Park Arc, 2020. In July 2020, Americans are once again divided, gathering in the streets and tearing down statues. Would You Pay to Live in Facebooks Metaverse? It is quite an image, and one difficult to reconcile with the man known by many Indians as the "Town Destroyer," a name originally claimed by his great-grandfather for the fighting he did along the Potomac frontier in the 1670s, and which our Washington appears to have appropriated and used when it served his purposes. that assembled at them told us you were all brothers, the children of one great Father who regarded also the red people as his children. It involved members of both the Susquehannah and the Piscataway, an Algonquian tribe that lived across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon. In a letter written by tribal leaders in 1790, Washington is described as an unjust killer and referred to as the "Town Destroyer." Crops such as corn, beans, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, and melons grew in an abundance that astonished the invading soldiers. New York, 1970. description ends 174). The board rescinded its decision, perhaps because it was embarrassed by the national publicity that depicted its decision as a form of censorship. Conotocaurius (Town Destroyer) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Native Americans in 1753. The artist, Victor Arnautoff, was a Russian emigre whod studied under Diego Rivera, and whose work reflected both that masters visual style and leftist politics. White supremacy, grounded in the Doctrine of Discovery the absurd claim by European Christians and their American descendants that they were more entitled to our lands than we were was the rationale for dispossession. On display since San Francisco's George Washington High School opened in 1936, it offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide. light grey. Street has been informed by General Knox, that the President cannot interfere in the business of the five nations, committed to his agency; that if they are not satisfied with the behaviour of the New York Commissioners, they must apply to the Legislature which appointed them; in consequence of this answer Mr. Street intends to return to Niagara in a fortnight, and to petition the Legislature of this State at its next meeting (Dorchester to Grenville, 25 Sept. 1790, in Brymner, Report on Canadian Archives, 1890, description begins Douglas Brymner. For GWs reply, see GW to the Seneca Chiefs, 29 Dec. 1790. 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. Art can make viewers uncomfortable. The 13 murals at George Washington High School were painted in 1936 by leftwing artist Victor Arnautoff, a student of Diego Rivera. remains uncertain. 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? In August and September, the Sullivan campaign resumed with multiple attacks against the Cayuga and Seneca Nations with the army again killing Haudenosaunee people and destroying their villages. The National Historical Publications and Our Chiefs had felt your power & were unable to contend against you and they therefore gave up that Country. description ends Colonial ser., 16:5018), as well as other grievances. America's love affair with mass murderers has a long history - whether it unfolds as empathizing with Ted Bundy or as the canonization of town destroyer George Washington as a founding father . Thus he claimed the whole country North of Pensylvania and west of the Lands belonging to the Cayugas. (The Iroquois dubbed him "Town Destroyer.") But some present-day students, parents, and observers found those depictions . The campaign defeated the loyalist Iroquois army, burned 40 Iroquois villages to ashes, and left homeless many of the Indians, hundreds of whom died of exposure during the following frigid winter. We were deceived but your people in teaching us to confide in that King, had helped to deceve us and wnow appeale to your hearts. The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements, and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. "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." Deeming attacks on statues a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children, Trumps rhetoric echoes the description of Native people in the Declaration of Independence as merciless Indian savages. 2.At this point the copyist inadvertently repeated the words and so long.. For first one, and then another, come and take it away, by order of that people, who promised to secure it to us. Town Destroyer opens Fri/4 at the Roxie, with the filmmakers and special guests present at all shows. to GW, 15 Aug. 1789, note 1. Its like a midpoint betweenWall-Eand those old Disney True-Life Adventures, which manipulated nature footage into sentimental narrative shapes. What was George Washington's favorite fruit? The name in its original language (s) has been given variously as Conotocarius, Conotocaurious, Caunotaucarius, Conotocarious, Hanodaganears, and Hanadahguyus. All Events This event has passed. The former vice president has become the Democratic front-runner with primary victories across the country. Alan Michelson is a Mohawk artist and a member of Six Nations of the Grand River. On display since San Francisco's George Washington High School opened in 1936, it offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide. But if Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman have their way, George Washington will also be remembered as the town destroyer. Thats the title of a new documentary that they have written, directed and produced about the controversial murals in San Francisco at George Washington High School. Signed at Philadelphia the first day of December. Jimmy Carter is a Liberal Saint Now, Was a War Criminal Then. 'Town Destroyer' contra los indios iroqueses Cuarenta aldeas indgenas, y una poderosa nacin indgena, fueron arrasadas por orden de George Washington Para 1779, George Washington ya se haba ganado el famoso apodo de "Padre de su pas". A collection of moments during and after Barack Obama's presidency. We know that you are strong and we have heard that you are wise; and we wait to hear your answer to what we have said that we may know that you are just. Paul Chaa, a curator at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C., calls romanticism a form of racism and observes that Americans have a secret obsession with Native Americans.One hundred years ago, D. H. Lawrence noted that white people aimed to extirpate Indians and then glorified them. Every tax-deductible donation helps us grow to cover the issues that mean the most to our community. (Being an Appendix to Report of the Minister of Agriculture. You must log in or register to reply here. The spring of 1780 saw the surviving Haudenosaunee forced to rebuild their lives with broken families and destroyed villages. When your army entered the Country of the Six Nations, we called you the Town-destroyer and to this day, when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the neck of their mothers.1 Our Councillors and warriors are men, and can not be afraid; but their hearts are grieved with the fears of our women & children, and desire, that it may be buried so deep, as to be heard no more. texts. What they said went to the bottom of our hearts: We accepted the invitation and promised to obey him. No such document has been found, but the presence of the cover letter to Wadsworth in the Knox Papers suggests that Wadsworth gave the document to GW, who referred it to Knox. An installation of video projected onto a bust of George Washington mounted on a surveyor's tripod. The Haudenosaunee pledged neutrality with this statement, We see this as a fight between father and son. Town Destroyer A high profile battle erupts over images of African American slaves and Native Americans in New Deal-era murals at a San Francisco high school. 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. . Philadelphia and Harrisburg, 18521949. Separating the Red and Blue. Washington dined with Cherokees, Chickasaws, Creeks, Kaskaskias, Mahicans, Mohawks, Oneidas, and Senecas; in one week late in 1796, he had dinner with four different groups of Indians on four different daysand on such occasions the most powerful man in the United States followed the . The homeless traveled to Fort Niagara for safety and shelter but found none with the British there. Conotocaurious - Iroquois for Town Destroyer, also translated as Town Taker, Burner of Towns, or Devourer of Villages, was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Indians. 1890. Philadelphia and Harrisburg, 18521949. Wanting to remain neutral but forced to choose sides, some Haudenosaunee nations fought alongside the colonists during the war. By Josh Sippie / July 27, 2022 11:39 pm EST. We asked each other what we had done to deserve such severe chastisement. As GW explained in an undated memorandum on David Humphreys draft biography of GW: It was on this occasion he was named by the half-King (as he was called) and the tribes of Nations with whom he treatedCaunotaucarius (in English) the Town taker; which name being registered in their Manner & communicated to other Nations of Indians, has been remembered by them ever since in all their transactions with him during the late war (Comments on David Humphreys Biography of George Washington, 178788, in Papers, Confederation Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The brutal 1778 Cherry Valley Massacre prompted a wide-ranging punitive expedition that broke Iroquois power. Degrowth or Debunk: Do Degrowth proponents have a strategy? LS (signed with mark), DLC: Thomas Jefferson Papers; 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. A dispute erupts at a San Francisco high school over Depression-era murals about the life of George Washington: slaveowner, military leader, land speculator, President, and a man Native leaders. What the Commissioners had said about the land having been ceded to them at the peace our Chiefs considered only as intended to lessen the price, & they passed it by with very little notice; but since that time we have heard so much of the right to our lands which the King gave when you made peace with him that it is our earnest desire you will tell us what they mean. Tuesday, November 29, 2022, 5pm PST. left as is, but with explanatory text?) The chiefs remained in Philadelphia until GW arrived in Philadelphia and Congress reconvened. Battlegroundhas already had a brief run in theaters, but now is available for streaming on digital platforms including iTunes. But most of the pro-lifers here seem to sincerely concur with such concepts as having a baby is more of a way to empower women. (Like every other abortion critic, however, these nice people never, ever mention mens responsibility in the matter.). In mid-2019 the School Board threw gas on the firestorm by voting to destroy the works outright. 9 ser., 138 vols. Commissioned in the late 1960s to create a mural at George Washington High School titled Multi-Ethnic Heritage, Crumpler honors Blacks and Indians. Hear our case, many nations inhabited this Country, but they had no wisdom, and therefore they warred, together. with filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman"Town Destroyer the Art of Controversy". Hear us once more. "It was disastrous to the Iroquois," says Barbara Graymont, author of The Iroquois in the American Revolution. We delivered up two men, accordingly. Legendary rock scene photographer's retrospective at Haight Street Art Center glittered with familiar faces. 1890. Town Destroyer is a 2022 documentary that discusses the art, history, struggle, and politics around the Victor Arnautoff murals at George Washington High School. Pennsylvania Archives. 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Just an hour long, Snitow and Kaufmans documentary offers a fascinating overview of a case that encapsulates many of the bitterest divisions of our era. Advertise The Iroquois, whose tribes had lined up on both sides of the conflict, were too distracted by their own internal divisions to see the crisis coming. 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. At the time Cornplanter and the other Seneca presented their address to GW, Phelps was in Philadelphia negotiating with Robert Morris about selling the preemption rights to the residual four million acres of the Phelps-Gorham purchase. . He wants to remind Washington that Cornplanter understands that he is a powerful warrior and has defeated the Seneca in the past. The current dispute over monuments in the US is not new. Though we do visit Davenports family in Connecticut, we do not get a lot of insight into him as an individual. We debated with him six days during all which time he persisted in refusing to pay us our just demand; and he ins[is]ted that we should receive the five hundred dollars, and Street from Niagara, also insisted on our receiving the money as it was offered to us. Cart, Become a Member Hes known as the Father of the Country and as the man who couldnt and wouldnt lie about chopping down a cherry tree. If you thought you could now talk calmly about Victor Arnautoff and his art, Americans Indians and George Washington, think again. It is translated as Town Taker, Burner of Towns In his book, George Washington and Native Americans That they do not remember him with fondness is understandable. this morning set of about Day Break on the same line of march and went about 6 Miles when we halted, Capt. In the fall of 1753, as French forces moved into the Ohio Valley to build a series of forts, George Washington offered his services to the Governor of Virginia as an envoy to carry a message to the French commander Jacques Le Gardeur. As a Mohawk citizen of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy the oldest living democracy in the Western Hemisphere when I see statues of Washington, like the towering equestrian monument at the Virginia Capitol in Richmond, or the colossus in front of Federal Hall in New York, I see not only a founding father, but also a genocidal one.