Backlog History

IN THIS SECTION     NPR Veterans Day History when it began (World War I and beyond) (see 2019/11/11) see also Thanksgiving 2019/11/2-28     Poor houses and low end lodging: a historical perspective, continuity of old tendencies between England and USA (2019/12/14, 12/16);  Cuban brief history/ties to USA  (2019/12/05);   Thanksgiving (2019/11/27-28);   Informal Blog answer to Why is Puerto Rico part of the United States but not Mexico? Brief historical/cultural background  (see 2019/11/07) 2019/12/14, 12/16  (History) Poor houses and low end lodging: a historical perspective as continuity of old tendencies between England and USA Key concepts: poverty, low cost rents, crowded rooms, homelessness, filth, diseases, bugs; prostitution; theft; harsh language; violence Put here with The Five/Ripper by Rubnhold (below) because policing persons often deal with these issues in modern times.  The insertions provide background for the problems we still have today.  The Ripper inclusion brings historical policing in with sociological issues past and current.   For example, the Albuquerque West Mesa serial killings might have similar lines of continuity in that most of the women were prostitutes. West Mesa Burials (See more on River Gold) The West Mesa Murders refer to the remains of 11 women and a fetus found buried in 2009 in the desert on the West Mesa of Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. No suspects have been arrested and a serial killer is believed to be responsible...On February 2, 2009, a woman walking a dog found a human bone on the West Mesa, and reported it to police. As a result of the subsequent police investigation, authorities discovered the remains of 11 women and girls[2] and a fetus buried in the area. They were between 15 and 32 years of age, most were Hispanic, and most were involved with drugs and prostitution. (Wikipedia) Workhouses (historical cheap houses in England) http://www.workhouses.org.uk/lodging/ See also book: Hallie Rubnhold’s (2019) The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by the Jack the Ripper Social history, including a sociological perspective, of the times and area of Ripper and the five likely victims. 2019/12/05 Cuban brief history/ties  to USA Bay of Pigs, later immigration, differences, etc. https://study.com/academy/lesson/cuban-americans-history-culture-discrimination.html 2019/11/27-28 manataka and also Quora blog added the morning of  11/28/19 HAPPY THANKSGIVING History https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving Excerpt:  Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States, and Thanksgiving 2019 occurs on Thursday, November 28. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving There is an additional view of Thanksgiving from the view of the Native Americans. This website believes in considering various factors behind police work.  No less true thanksgiving.  Because the United States is the greatest country on earth, with more liberties and the hope for fair play than any other nation, we are able to consider alternatives even to our most cherished holidays, though we need to keep our compass pointed toward keeping the country strong and vital.  We must learn the lessons from history in order to not replay the mistakes, no matter our skin color or religion. In the link below, one Native perspective is that of colonists spreading smallpox, dealing in an indian slave trade, and celebrating thanks each time they win a battle over Indians to the point Washington indicated the need for only one thanksgiving per year.  1637 and Groton, Connecticut incident: In 1637 near present day  Groton, Connecticut, over 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe had gathered for their annual Green Corn Festival which is our Thanksgiving celebration. In the predawn hours the sleeping Indians were surrounded by English and Dutch mercenaries who ordered them to come outside.  Those who came out were shot or clubbed to death while the terrified women and children who huddled inside the longhouse were burned alive. The next day the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared "A Day Of Thanksgiving" because 700 unarmed men, women and children had been murdered. …following an especially successful raid against the Pequot in what is now  Stamford, Connecticut, the churches announced a second day of "thanksgiving" to celebrate victory over the heathen savages.  During the feasting, the hacked off heads of Natives were kicked through the streets like soccer balls.  Even the friendly Wampanoag did not escape the madness. Their chief was beheaded, and his head impaled on a pole in Plymouth, Massachusetts -- where it remained on display for 24 years.   The killings became more and more frenzied, with days of thanksgiving feasts being held after each successful massacre. George Washington finally suggested that only one day of Thanksgiving per year be set aside instead of celebrating each and every massacre. Later Abraham Lincoln decreed Thanksgiving Day to be a legal national holiday during the Civil War -- on the same day he ordered troops to march against the starving Sioux in Minnesota. https://www.manataka.org/page269.html The link between Veteran’s Day (Nov. 11, Remembrance Day-WWI)and Thanksgiving: Jonathan-Jetski Thorn, studied at O'Fallon Township High School (1987) https://www.quora.com/Do-the-people-in-the-UK-celebrate-Thanksgiving Excerpt: But why did the Pilgrims decide to hold their celebration in November? Why not a time when it might be a little bit warmer weather? The answer to that, is the answer to the second part of this question - Saint Martinmas. Throughout most of Europe there is, or used to be, a great celebration on the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours, which in Great Britain was known as Martinmas, and was held on November 11th. The first thing to know about this time is that throughout much of Europe, during the middle ages, Renaissance, and beyond, November was known as the “Blood Month.” Why? It was the time to ensure every thing to prepare the farm/farm house for winter had been done: the last of the harvest was to be collected from the fields, the orchards, and the gardens; homes were swept and cleaned out with dried herbs and fire wood brought in, with the windows shut and shuttered; and any livestock one had that s/he knew couldn’t keep fed and alive throughout the winter had to either be sold or killed,and its meat then preserved. The latter is the reason why November came to be called, “The Blood Month.” The second thing one needs to know about Saint Martin and his feast day is that according to legend he has one animal closely associated with him. Martin was lured into Tours to be proclaimed Bishop, a title and position he didn’t want, and apparently so much so, he went to hiding in a goose pen. So loud was their honking over his intrusion he was easily found, brought back, and made bishop. Now, when one processes animals there are a lot of things like organs that will not survive a preserving process of the old days, and being poor peasants, they would let anything go to waste. Thus we have all this inner “meat” that needs to be used up. The same can be said for some grains and fruit. How are they going to get rid of it? - Hold a feast of course. So it became tradition that one was supposed to have the last of the harvesting done the day before St. Martin’s day and on St. Martin’s Day folks would gather to have a huge dinner made with the animal internal organs, roasted goose, roasted root vegetables, fruit pies, (Beginning to sound familiar?) and be thankful they had enough to get them through the winter. So traditional this became that it used to be listed in farm and household help/instructional books up till Queen Victoria’s time, that one had to have the harvest and cleaning done by November 10th or 11th at the latest.  So one can see where and why the Pilgrims chose November to have their celebratory thanksgiving dinner. It was kind of ingrained in them due to Martinmas. So that’s why one doesn’t hear of a thanksgiving day over in the UK. In fact another reason is time and events. One would think as a part of the U.K’s culture it was to hold Martinmas, we’d still hear of it. We could, it might have still been their day of giving thanks, except for the advent of World War I. In order to remember all the soldiers who were killed in that war, they created, “Remembrance Day” to remember and pay homage to them with the day being chosen due to the fact that the hostilities of the war were ended on November 11th. It has continued to be Remembrance Day to this day. Quora https://www.quora.com/Do-the-people-in-the-UK-celebrate-Thanksgiving Jonathan-Jetski Thorn, studied at O'Fallon Township High School (1987) 2019/11/11 Happy Veterans Day See History: NPR dot org (2019/11/11) Remembering the first veterans memorialized by Veterans Day.  By Kathleen Kelley Rushrow. https://www.npr.org/2019/11/11/777635075/remembering-the-1st-veterans-memorialized-by-veterans-day Excerpt:  In the United Kingdom, Veterans Day is celebrated with red paper poppies pinned to lapels in remembrance of those who served in World War I. The practice caught on after the bloody battlefields of France bloomed with red poppies following the war. Every year, British people wear these red flower pins for about a month leading up to Nov. 11, and buying one of these paper flowers funds veterans groups. The U.K. memorializes the end of World War I with purpose and style. Veterans Day began as a commemoration of World War I, that 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 when the guns were silenced and the armistice was called and peace came at last. After four long years of fighting in the "war to end all wars," the dead numbered an estimated 9 million troops. Nearly 120,000 were Americans. …Excerpt on one World War I veteran, Sgt Charles Kelley, a family member of the author (Rushrow) who was killed while continuing to perform honorably during battle, awarded Distinguished Service Cross. Sgt. Charles Kelley, Company C of the 12th Machine Gun Battalion, joined Gen. Pershing's American Expeditionary Forces in France in late summer of 1918. He was 18 years old. During the Meuse-Argonne offensive, which began in September 1918, Kelley, according to Pentagon records, "led his platoon in the attack with great bravery against strongly held enemy trenches. Shortly after reaching his objective he was wounded in the throat. He refused to be evacuated, but continued to actively command his men until the night of Oct. 1, by which time, due to his wound, he had lost the power of speech." https://www.npr.org/2019/11/11/777635075/remembering-the-1st-veterans-memorialized-by-veterans-day 2019/11/07 Why is Puerto Rico part of the United States but not Mexico? John Cate, U.S. citizen my whole life. Lived here for 41 of my 43 years (as of 2016).Answered Jul 4 2017 · https://www.quora.com/What-would-happen-if-Puerto-Rico-switched-from-being-part-of-the-United-States- to-being-part-of-Mexico Excerpt: There is no historical reason that it would be part of Mexico. The only historical tie between Puerto Rico and Mexico is that both were once colonies of Spain. However, Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule for another 77 years after Mexico won its independence in 1821. Even at that, the two places have very different cultures. Mexico is an amalgamation of the Spanish colonists and the native population; even the name and national symbols of that country are all based on the traditions of the indigenous peoples of Mexico: John Cate's answer to Why don't modern Mexicans call themselves natives or indigenous instead of Hispanic? More than half of Mexicans are mestizo (part-Spanish, part-indigenous ancestry), and 26 million Mexicans self-identify as indigenous only. Puerto Rico, on the other hand, is almost entirely made up of people who are descended from Spanish colonists and African slaves brought to the island by the Spaniards. There are significant genetic links to the indigenous Taino population that was present when Columbus discovered Borinquen (the native name for the island), but their culture was wiped out. Puerto Ricans almost entirely self-identify as either White or Hispanic. To the extent that it has been culturally influenced by anyone else, it’s solely due to 99 years of United States suzerainty. The only real thing that Mexico and Puerto Rico have in common is that Spanish is the primary language in both places.