Detailed Notes on Week Three: Violence on the Land

Teacher emphasizes the importance of attendance and participation.
Recognition that students' efforts have not gone unnoticed and will matter in the long run.

Lecture focuses on two interconnected topics: Indian Wars and violence in the South.
The discussion features a regional history perspective, linking the West and the South's violent pasts.
The aim is to connect historical violence with current societal issues.

Indigenous peoples have lived on the continent for over 10,000 years.
By the late 19th century, approximately 250,000 Native Americans inhabited the American West, despite being heavily impacted by settler colonialism.
Settler violence led to genocide and extensive land appropriation, with the U.S. government violating treaties and policies meant to protect tribes.

U.S. policies towards tribes were complex, simultaneously recognizing them as sovereign nations and subjugating them under federal law.
The Dawes Act of 1887 aimed to dismantle Native American communal landholdings by allotting parcels to individuals.
Each tribal head was allotted 60 acres, comparable to what settlers received under the Homestead Act.
Dangerously, unclaimed land reverted to federal control and was often sold to settlers, undermining tribal sovereignty.

The Dawes Act aimed to assimilate Native Americans into European-American culture by dividing tribal lands.
The Act held that allotted lands would be managed on behalf of Native Americans, restricting their ability to sell it.
Although presented as a humanitarian effort, the Dawes Act severely weakened native traditions and led to poverty and loss of sovereignty.

The Ghost Dance movement emerged as a spiritual revival among various tribes, especially the Lakota Sioux.
Led by the prophet Wovoka, it called for peace and the return of native ways of life, alongside the return of the buffalo.
White authorities misinterpreted the movement, fearing it as a precursor to violence, which led to the tragic Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29, 1890.
This event became a symbol of native resistance and the brutal suppression faced by Indigenous peoples.

Post-Civil War policies, including the establishment of boarding schools, sought to eradicate Native cultures through forced assimilation.
Schools like Sherman Indian School aimed to sever family ties and replace Indigenous knowledge with Euro-American cultural norms.

The late 19th century saw a rise in American populism, fueled by struggles of farmers in the rural South and West.
Populism sought radical democratic reforms, including a graduated income tax and regulation of railroads.
Tom Watson, a prominent populist leader, exemplified the shift from inclusive to racially charged populism.

Leo Frank, a Jewish factory owner, was wrongfully convicted of murdering Mary Fagan, a 13-year-old worker, amidst rampant anti-Semitism.
The case highlighted racial tensions and the rise of lynch mobs, particularly in the backdrop of Tom Watson inciting violence against him.
The lynching of Frank represented a broader pattern of racial violence directed at marginalized communities, including African Americans.

Between 1882 and 1946, thousands were lynched, a phenomenon documented by the NAACP.
Lynching served as a form of extrajudicial punishment rooted in systemic racism and the belief in white supremacy.

Vigilante justice emerged in the face of perceived ineffective governance, particularly in the South.
While the North developed formal police systems, the South relied on informal power structures to enforce racial hierarchies.

The era following Reconstruction saw a sharp increase in lynching and mob violence as states implemented Jim Crow laws.
Economic competition and social unrest fueled fears that justified violent reactions against Black communities.

Ida B. Wells was an early civil rights advocate, journalist, and anti-lynching crusader who documented the injustices faced by African Americans.
Her investigative work challenged racial narratives and sought to humanize victims of lynching.
She argued for an understanding of lynching rooted in economic and social fear, rather than the myths perpetuated by contemporary narratives.

The end of the 19th century encapsulated a pivotal moment of transformation in U.S. society, marked by rampant violence against marginalized groups, governmental policy aimed at disempowerment, and the rise of collective resistance movements like populism and the Ghost Dance.
Understanding this history is crucial to comprehending contemporary societal structures and injustices.