Project 562

The photography project entitled Project 562 was started by a young woman named Matika Wilbur in 2012. Wilbur bought an RV after selling everything in her apartment and travels the country visiting different groups of Native Americans. In her own words, her mission with the project is "to unveil the true essence of contemporary Native issues, the beauty of Native culture, the magnitude of tradition, an expose her vitality" (Matika Wilbur). The basic structure of the projects are the portraits taken of Native Americans. Accompanying the photos on the Project 562 website are stories and quotes from the people in them. This allows Matika to achieve her goal of "unveiling the true essence" of the Native Americans.

Photograph of Tatanka Means by Matika Wilbur

Along with the portraits of Native Americans featured on the Project 562 website are portraits in a blog post entitled "5 Positive Representations of Native Americans". This blog post by Wilbur consists of more portraits with people's stories, but these stories counteract the stereotypes that are given to modern day Native Americans. One of the pictures of a man named Tatanka Means has a quote under it where Means talks about how he doesn't drink or do drugs. This is against the modern stereotype that Native Americans are drunks and stoners. This blog post is only one of many that Matika Wilbur has created for Project 562.

Other blog posts that exist on the Project 562 website are informative for events going on in the Native American community that "outsiders" might not know much about. One blog post was entitled "Still Native Land: Understanding the Movement at Standing Rock". Throughout this blog post, Matika describes the event in ways that are more easily understandable for someone who is not part of the Native American community. These blog posts exist to further help Matika Wilbur achieve her goal for the project.

Matika Wilbur with her RV "Big Girl" and her Camera

Wind River

Map of the Wind River Indian Reservation

The Wind River Indian Reservation is known for it's large crime rates. One of the articles that I read was from CNN and was about the murder of three young girls. On the day of their murder they were planning on having a sleepover. Their parents were extremely hesitant about it because of their location in the Wind River Reservation, they were concerned for their children's safety. That night, all of the girls were murdered by young boys, who had no real motive and received little punishment for their crimes. Another crime on the reservation that I read about from the New York Times was one where a young girl was murdered by her brother. While this crimes had what could be seen as a motive (the girl was caught by her brother having an affair with her step-cousin), the punishment for the crimes wasn't as severe as it would be expected to be.
I first started looking more into why all of these crimes were happening. I found out that there are less than ten police officers to patrol the area which is the size of both Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The lack of law enforcement officers makes the large crimes rates nearly impossible to handle. It is also difficult to get federal law enforcement onto reservations to handle crimes as well. I learned from the FBI that for a while, federal officers weren't allowed on reservations land, but there was a law passed that allows them to be present under certain circumstances to assist in the investigation of crimes.

Police Officers on the Wind River Indian Reservation

Another major issue involving the law enforcement of the area is the jurisdiction of the officers on reservation land. Federal law enforcement officers can only have jurisdiction if crimes are committed between two people in which one of them is an "indian" on the reservation and the other is someone of any other race. Most of the crimes at Wind River appear to be "indian" on "indian", which means that federal law enforcement has no jurisdiction over these crimes and can not assist in the investigation, be it with officers or equipment. This means that these "indian" on "indian" crimes are left up to the small amount of officers on the reservation and to the "indians" themselves. The officers on reservation lands don't have the expensive equipment or the people to use it to conduct intense investigations, and finding criminals can be difficult at times without the help of federal officers. The "indians" are not capable of doing much besides attempt to draw attention to the situation, which is seen by the parents raising awareness about the three girls that were murdered in the CNN article.
In the movie "Wind River", the director Taylor Sheridan opens up a window into the world of Wind River. He shed lights on the fact that the lack of data about the crimes in the area make it nearly impossible to speculate as to why all of these crimes are happening besides the lack of lack enforcement.

Western Letter

One letter that I found written by Mark Twain to his Mom from Carson City in the Nevada Territory. He is answering her request for him to tell her about the country, saying that he is only going to use facts and no "nonsense". He talks about a place called "Gold Hill", that is named for its abundant gold bearing and because it is the best Gold producing place in the area. He lists the various resources and types of people that are abundant there, such as marble, granite, slate, thieves, murderers, and lawyers. He mentions that it never rains and there is no green anywhere. He describes the types of plants that grow there and then describes the landscape. He talks about the town and where it is built. He then mentions a place called King's Canon, making sure to put the proper pronunciation (can-yon) in the letter, where all of the ranches and farms are because things actually grow there. He describes the houses as "framed" and "paper-covered" by flour sacks. Depending on the brand of flour sack it would show your wealth. He says there are also stone houses. After describing the city, he moves on to the other questions his mom asked. He doesn't go to church regularly, and in Carson they only have not-in-business Catholic church and a Protestant service every Sabbath in the school house. He says there are many ladies, and then calls them handsome. He says the people are generally moral and religious. Lastly, he tells her that if people ask, he is enjoying his life in Nevada. He says it's really dusty, but that he likes dust. The days are hot and the nights are cold. It doesn't rain, but he like it because he dislikes mud. There are scorpion and spiders, but he doesn't mind because he doesn't like spiders. Overall, this letter has a really descriptive narrative of Carson City, Nevada and it is really useful for finding out what the West was like back then.

Letter Writing in America

The article "Letter Writing in America" talks about the changes in letter writing throughout history. The article starts out by talking about the letters from people exploring the new world. The explorers were being paid, and sent updates back to their bosses. The article says that because of this, the letters that were being sent from the new world frequently described "Eden-like surroundings", a plethora of available food and resources, and cordial and cooperative natives who came across as though they wanted to convert to Christianity. (Letter Writing in America) From here, postal services were created such as the British Colonial Post. The downside to this was that postage was expensive and many people were illiterate. Most letters being sent were either from wealthy upperclass citizens or were secret letters sent by the government or military. Newspapers then started publishing letters. After this, Westward Expansion made it popular for letters to be send back to family from the West, either as updates or often news of death. The railroads made letters faster to send and receive. During the civil war, letters were often sent between soldiers and their families, and there were often letters from former slaves. Letters of a particular time tend to show the issues that were present during that time period, such as letters from immigrants to their families and letters about feminism. Throughout the World Wars and the Great Depression, more letters are sent between soldiers and their families; letters also show up in newspapers regarding personal inquiries. In the modern times, letter writing has decreased significantly because of technology such as telegraphs, E-mail, and phones. Letters are still written mainly to petition the government, for business transactions, and as an art form. As for the future of letter writing, the article states that it is unknown.

Newspaper Research

I read a weekly paper from Prescott, Arizona called The Weekly Arizona Miner. The political issues that were being discussed were mainly about the rules of the area. Since Arizona was not yet a state, the people were trying to figure out a way to govern and make rules for themselves. There were also lots of stories of crime and scandal. There were mentions of murder, rape, assault and battery, fraud, and others. What particularly grabbed my attention in this paper was how murderers often got less sentence than people who committed other smaller crimes. Another thing that caught my attention was some of the laws that were being passed and removed at a quick pace. There were laws to regulate the herding of sheep, prevent gambling with minors, prevent the destruction of fish, and amend lawful fences and animal trespassing. These laws make me want to know what happened to cause them to be put into place. This newspaper is useful to learn about the area because it provides insight into the political decisions that were being made as to how the area was to be governed. It also provides insight into the legal system and what kinds of crimes were being committed and how they were being handled.

"12 Years a Slave" Essay

While watching the film 12 Years a Slave, I spent a good deal of time wondering how accurate the film was to the real historical events that took place. Turns out, they were very accurate, and some parts were taken directly from Solomon Northup’s own words. After watching this movie and learning about the history behind it, I came to the conclusion that history can be learned from film if the time and effort is put into making sure the tools used to make the movie engaging do not compromise the accuracy of the story.

Soloman Northup and Epps in "12 Years a Slave"

The movie “12 Years a Slave” is a moving film about Solomon Northup’s story. However, it is also a film about the overall treatment of slaves. The New York Times has a review of the movie that references this idea, writing about how the story becomes more deep and then proceeds to become more compact once on Epp’s plantation. Epp’s plantation is also where the truth about being a slave for hours, decades, and generations is shown, sometimes through scenes of the slaves that are Epp’s property being whipped, one example being Epp’s “brutalized favorite”, Patsey, who is played by Lupita Nyong’o. (NY Times Movie Review) The New York Times considers this film accurate to the history, but so do the people that were a part of the making of it. In an interview for Vanity Fair, Lupita Nyong’o said, “Because it’s not about getting it right, it’s about getting it true.” (Vanity Fair Interview) Nyong’o says that while filming the movie the main focus was the accuracy of the history, not the accuracy of the acting. The director wanted the movie to be more true to the history instead of being a perfect Hollywood production that lost all of the realness to the story.

The movie is based off of Solomon Northup's personal narrative of his time as a slave. Having never read his narrative, I spent the entirety of the movie wondering if some of the scenes were based off of real life situations or if they were added to make the film more interesting to watch. I was very happy to find out that important parts of the film were completely real and accurate. Solomon writes in his narrative that Patsey’s back was covered in nearly a thousand scars from a whip. These were not because she was not working diligently or because she was careless and defiant; they were because she had an amoral master and an envious mistress. She was small in the “lustful eye” of her master, and at risk of death at the hands of her mistress, and she was “accursed” between the bother of them. There were loud arguments in the great house for days at time where she was the reason without having done anything. The mistress was happiest when she was suffering. On more than one occasion, Patsey attempted to bribe Solomon to kill her in secret and bury her body in a secluded area of the swamp when Epps denied his wife’s wishes to sell Patsey. (Solomon Northup’s Narrative) Not only was Patsey’s situation in the film accurate to her real life experience, but it provides insight into how other slaves were treated similarly. Harriet Jacobs, another slave, spoke about how a mistress would mistreat slaves whom their husbands were treating their slaves in a similar way Patsey was treated. Harriet said, “The mistress, who ought to protect the helpless victim, has no other feelings towards her but those of jealously and rage.” (Harriet Jacobs' Narrative) The film provides the viewer with an accurate representation of how Patsey was treated, and also of how other slaves were treated who weren’t parts of Solomon's story.

Time and effort was certainly put into the creation of “12 Year a Slave” to make it a film that was both engaging for the viewer, but also true to history. The scenes in the movie can be fact checked by looking through Solomon Northup’s narrative, and they are portrayed accurately based on his descriptions. Some of the scenes and lines are taken directly verbatim from Solomon’s book. After watching this movie and doing the research on slave narratives, I think that history can most definitely be learned through film. It is certainly easy to alter the story to make it more interesting, but that is not always the case. I believe that as long as the movie is made accurately and stays completely true to the history, then film is a fantastic way for people to learn about past events.

Citations:

http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/text6/masterslavesexualabuse.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/movies/12-years-a-slave-holds-nothing-back-in-show-of-suffering.html

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/01/lupita-nyongo-12-years-a-slave-interview

Slave Narratives

I read the list of Slave Narratives regarding slave holder's sexual abuse on slaves. Everything that I learned while reading this is awful. I'm surprised that some of the women were willing to talk about their experiences and speak up, although they did seem to have a harder time discussing the topic than the men did. It's so incredibly sad that these women had to go through the hardships that they did because if they refused they were punished in a worse way or sometimes killed. Not only did they have to deal with the men, but their wives made it worse. One of the excerpts talks about how the mistress would beat or throw objects the woman that her husband was forcing to submit to him. It's an issue that no person should have to deal with, especially not in fear of their life or further punishment. When giving yourself up to these kind of actions is the better option of being beaten or death, it can't be imagined what these women went through unless you are placed in the situation yourself.

A few of the questions I have.
1. Why do the slave owners get married if they have intentions like these?
2. Why do women marry the men knowing that they are more than likely not going to be loyal to them, and then why don't they leave them?
3. Were there any instances where someone stood up for themselves and fought back or where others fought back for them or with them?