Comments for Kansas History - A Compilation

Comment on Making the Best of It by Abemnimbinium

Abemnimbinium — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:50:51 +0000

Thanks for the post

Comment on Integration & Consolidation by Kristen Epps

Kristen Epps — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:56:36 +0000

I like the analogy that you make between desegregation and consolidation of rural school districts. It is clear that you are looking for ways to tie our course material to current events. Nice work!

Comment on Making the Best of It by Kristen Epps

Kristen Epps — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:44:54 +0000

You’ve compiled some interesting links. Nice job!

Comment on Lecompton – Where Slavery Began to Die by Kristen Epps

Kristen Epps — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:25:08 +0000

Lecompton is such a colorful town! I haven’t been up there in a couple of years but perhaps I can make a trip over this summer. I’ve been to Lane University and Constitution Hall, but I haven’t seen the other sites in town.

Comment on First by another’s hand, and then by their own… Looking for reasons for the suicide rate among Native Americans by Kristen Epps

Kristen Epps — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:50:16 +0000

That question with the Japanese skull was freaky.

Anyway, I totally agree that as white Americans many of us don’t know as much as we should about native peoples. As Jillian has said, we aren’t very good at learning about other cultures, although I do think Europeans are less insular than Americans are.

What I find particularly mind-blowing is, like Alli said, the fact that the European conquest of Native Americans is the largest genocide in history. The same things that were happening here in North America also happened in Central and South America (albeit in different ways) which is why that number is so big. Also, a lot of those deaths were due to disease…diseases like smallpox sometimes wiped out entire villages in a matter of days. The Europeans didn’t bring these diseases over intentionally, but the end result was the same. It is difficult to imagine what it would be like to have the entire town of Lawrence wiped out by an epidemic.

Comment on First by another’s hand, and then by their own… Looking for reasons for the suicide rate among Native Americans by Alli Jones

Alli Jones — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:35:07 +0000

I really enjoyed this blog and how it generally points out our nation’s racism and involvement in ethnocentrism. I went to take that quiz and was shocked at some of the answers to the questions. I think the one that was most surprising to me was that the killing of native americans was the largest genocide in history. At first I couldn’t believe that we weren’t taught that in history, but then as I thought about it more I wasn’t really surprised we weren’t told this – our country doesn’t exactly like to admit its faults.

I also thought the question about the Cleveland Indians was thought provoking, we actually had a very long discussion about this in my multicultural education class. Its interesting to think how people would react if it were the “Cleveland Blacks” or the “Cleveland Asians”…. probably wouldn’t go over very well.
Thanks for the awesome post!

Comment on First by another’s hand, and then by their own… Looking for reasons for the suicide rate among Native Americans by jilldes

jilldes — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:38:33 +0000

I went and took that quiz. I have to admit, I did pretty poorly. It had so much interesting information in it that I’m surprised that I’ve never learned. Sadly, we hear in the news all the time about racist acts being committed towards several different groups, but never do we hear about the racism that occurs towards Native Americans. At the end of the quiz, an animated Cleveland Indians Chief Wahoo image shows up. It shows the logo as it is normally, with the word “acceptable” below it, then fades to the same logo with darker skin, and shows the word “racist” below it. It’s very true – if any other race had been portrayed in an offensive way, the team would be forced to change. The apathy of the matter is exemplified by Indians spokesperson Bob DiBiasio: “Let’s just play baseball.”*

Very interesting post. It’s very eye-opening and brought up a really important issue.

*from http://www.understandingprejudice.org

Comment on Nationalism and Indian Removal by Katie

Katie — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:23:48 +0000

I agree that the Indian Removal act is an example of nationalism. It is true that the Natives were considered a completely seperate nation and the white Americans were not interested in their well-being like they were interested in benefiting from their land. They saw the land as a door to opportunities to flourish a better nation and did eveything in their power to remove the Natives. This is exactly what the definition of nationalism is.

Comment on Nationalism and Indian Removal by bcarter2

bcarter2 — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:20:28 +0000

I agree with you that the removal of Indians from their lands was a nationalist act. I don’t necessarily agree that the reason the Indians were moved was because the government did not want to expose the Indian culture to white Americans. I think it might have been a part of it but I see the reason for the removal was the necessity of land. The eastern seaboard was becoming very crowded and the country needed to move west and the government saw the Indian lands as prime real estate. I like your point about the Indians being separate nations as China and Germany are today. Good Blog!