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On the Wagon Train

On the Wagon Train Family with Their Covered Wagon During the Great Western Migration, 1866. Family with Their Covered Wagon During the Great Western Migration, 1866. WPA Information Division Photographic Index, ca. 1936 - ca. 1942; Records of the Work Projects Administration, Record Group 69; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD, NARA. Document Text Summary Saturday, September 10th  It would be useless for me with my pencil to describe the awful road we have just passed over. Let fancy picture a train of wagons and cattle passing through a crooked chimney and we have Big Laurel Hill. After descending several bad hills, one called Little Laurel Hill, which I thought is as bad as could be, but in reality it was nothing to this last

2022-12-06T10:43:40-05:00
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The Poetry of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft

The Poetry of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft Lines Written at Castle Island, Lake Superior Here in my native inland sea From pain and sickness would I flee And from its shores and island bright Gather a store of sweet delight. Lone island of the saltless sea! How wide, how sweet, how fresh and free How all transporting —is the view Of rocks and skies and waters blue Uniting, as a song’s sweet strains To tell, here nature only reigns. Ah, nature! here forever sway Far from the haunts of men away For here, there are no sordid fears, No crimes, no misery, no tears No pride of wealth; the heart to fill, No laws to try my people ill. Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, “Lines Written at Castle Island, Lake Superior,” 1838. Jane Johnston

2023-04-04T09:10:30-04:00
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Western Indigenous Clothing

Western Indigenous Clothing Western Indigenous Clothing George A. Addison, Cabinet card studio portrait of Lissie Woodard (Kiowa) standing next to her son Oliver, who is sleeping in a cradleboard. Ca. 1894-1896; Alice Kennedy Eagan Collection of George A. Addison Fort Sill photographs, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution. Western Indigenous Clothing George A. Addison, Cabinet card studio portrait of Amie and Carrie, two young Kiowa women, carrying beaded cradleboards on their backs. Ca. 1894-1896; Alice Kennedy Eagan Collection of George A. Addison Fort Sill photographs, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution. Western Indigenous Clothing

2024-03-14T13:26:44-04:00
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Navajo “Slave” Blanket

Navajo "Slave" Blanket Navajo "Slave" Blanket Unidentified Maker, "Slave" Blanket, c. 1855-1860. Barnes Foundation. Navajo is the Western name for the Diné tribe that has for centuries inhabited a large area of land that stretches across modern day Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Navajo women were renowned throughout the Southwest for their skill as weavers. Weaving techniques were passed down from mother to daughter, and no woman outside the tribe was allowed to learn the techniques.  From the 1820s through the 1840s, the Navajo were in a constant state of conflict with the Mexican settlers who were trying to gain control of their lands. Raiders captured and enslaved Navajo women. They forced the women to weave and sold their textiles

2024-03-14T13:25:30-04:00
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Life Story: Maria Gertrudis Barceló

Life Story: Maria Gertrudis Barceló "Lady Tules," Harper's Monthly Magazine, 1854. New-York Historical Society Library. "Lady Tules," Harper's Monthly Magazine, 1854. Maria Gertudis Barceló was born around the year 1800 in Bavispe Valley in the colony of New Spain. She was the daughter of Juan Ignacio Barceló and Dolores Herrero. She had one brother and one sister. Not much is known about Maria’s early life. During the Mexican War for independence, her parents moved their family north to the town of Valencia in the territory of New Mexico. Life in Valencia was challenging, with the ongoing war and the constant threat of attack by local Indigenous communities who resisted the arrival of Mexican settlers. But the Barcelós found success in their new home. Maria was about 21

2024-01-23T13:29:33-05:00
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Life Story: Mary “Mollie” Dorsey Sanford

Life Story: Mary "Mollie" Dorsey Sanford Mollie, left, and her sister Nan the year they moved to Nebraska City, 1857. Homestead.org Mary Dorsey was born December 17, 1838, in Rising Sun, Indiana. Her parents called her Mollie, and she used that name for the rest of her life. She was the eldest of the eight children of carpenter William Denton Dorsey and his wife, Lois.  When Mollie was young, her family moved to the city of Indianapolis, where she received a quality education at the school run by her grandfather. But she was also expected to assist her mother with the care of her seven siblings. At home, Mollie learned to cook, clean, do laundry, and complete the dozens of other tasks necessary to keep a large family

2024-01-23T13:28:39-05:00
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Life Story: Sarah Winnemucca

Life Story: Sarah Winnemucca Sarah Winnemucca portrait, 1883 Sarah Winnemucca, 1883. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. This video was created by the New-York Historical Society Teen Leaders in collaboration with the Untold project. Sarah Winnemucca was born around the year 1844. She was the daughter of Tuboitone, a Northern Paiute woman, and Winnemucca, a Shoshone man who was adopted into the Northern Paiute community through marriage. Tuboitone and Winnemucca named their daughter Thocmetony, which meant "shell flower." At the time of Sarah’s birth, the Northern Paiute were a nomadic people who inhabited the lands known today as western Nevada and eastern Oregon. Sarah spent her early childhood traveling from encampment to encampment with

2024-03-14T13:24:26-04:00
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Suffrage in Wyoming

Suffrage in Wyoming "Women Suffrage in Wyoming Territory" "Women Suffrage in Wyoming Territory.-- Scene at the Polls in Cheyenne," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1888. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Document Text Summary AN ACT TO GRANT TO THE WOMEN OF WYOMING TERRITORY THE RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE AND TO HOLD OFFICE A law to grant Wyoming women the right to vote and hold political office Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Wyoming: The Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Wyoming is passing the following law: Sec. 1. That every woman of the age of twenty-oen years, residing in this territory, may, at every election to be holden under the laws thereof, cast her vote. And

2023-04-04T09:10:02-04:00
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Sex Trafficking

Sex Trafficking “The Man Filled Both My Hands With Gold and I Then Became His Slave” “The Man Filled Both My Hands With Gold and I Then Became His Slave,” The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]), 02 April 1899. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. Sex work in the American West has been romanticized in popular culture. But the reality was often much bleaker. For example, the arrival of thousands of single Chinese men during the California Gold Rush created a huge demand for Chinese sex workers. But the Chinese women and girls brought to the U.S. to fulfill this demand often had little choice in the matter. Some were kidnapped. Some were sold by their impoverished families. Some

2024-03-14T13:23:20-04:00
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Life Story: Elizabeth Kahuga Shoeboots

Life Story: Elizabeth Kahuga Shoeboots The Trail of Tears Robert Lindneux (1871–1970), The Trail of Tears, 1942. Woolaroc Museum. Elizabeth Kahuga Shoeboots was born in 1806 on a farm on the Etowah River in the area that is today called Georgia. Her father was famed Cherokee warrior Shoe Boots. Her mother, Doll, was a Black woman enslaved by Shoe Boots. At the time of Elizabeth’s birth, the Cherokee were only just beginning to practice slavery, so it is very likely that Doll was the only enslaved Black woman in her community. Shoe Boots gave Elizabeth the Cherokee name Kahuga, but he could not make Elizabeth a citizen of the Cherokee tribe. By Cherokee custom, tribal citizenship was inherited through the mother. It is unknown who gave Elizabeth

2023-04-04T09:07:16-04:00
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