The voice of the Senecca Nation speaks to you the great Councillor, in whose heart, the wise men of the thirteen fires, have placed their wisdom. Roxie Theater: Town Destroyer November 4, 2022 @ 6:45 pm - 8:45 pm For this Land Phelps agreed to pay us Ten thousand dollars in hand and one thousand dollars a year for ever. Courtesy:JASON SZENES/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock. On display since San Francisco's George Washington High School opened in 1936, it offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide. Attend the World Premiere of Town Destroyer at the Mill Valley Film George Washington: Father of His Country? The first screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers and special guests to be announced. And it is not the Six nations only, that reproach those Chiefs, with having given up that Country; the Chipaways and all the nations who lived on those lands westward, call to us & ask us brothers of How did we get here after 50 years, during which span a majority of Americans came to support abortion access? HAWARA, West Bank (AP) Israeli troops fired stun grenades and blocked hundreds of Israeli left-wing activists from staging a solidarity rally on Friday in a Palestinian town that was set . We have already said how we came to join against you. When your army entered the Country of the Six Nations, we called you the Town-destroyer and to this day, when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the neck of their mothers.1Our Councillors and warriors are men, and can not be afraid; but their hearts are grieved with the fears of our women In mid-2019 the School Board threw gas on the firestorm by voting to destroy the works outright. He was the ingenious and cunning general who overcame the most extensive empire in the world to create a brand-new, "free" nation: the United States of America. The father of his country massacred men, women and children. Nov. 6thBenefit forThe Association of Ramaytush Ohlone Q & A with filmmakers + Jonathan Cordero, chair of Ramaytush Ohlone peoples. Revered and reviled: George Washington's relationship with Indian On July 9, 1776, General George Washington amassed his soldiers in New York City. What is role of the artist in reflecting America to itself? Conotocaurius ( Town Destroyer) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois peoples in 1753. When last Spring they called on us to go to war to secure them a bed to lie upon, The Seneccas entreated them to be quiet until we had spoken to you: but on our way down we heard, your army had gone to the Country which those nations inhabit: and if they meet together the best blood on both sides will stain the ground. America's love affair with mass murderers has a long history - whether it unfolds as empathizing with Ted Bundy or as the canonization of town destroyer George Washington as a founding father . Washington referred to himself as "Conotocaurious" in a letter he wrote to Andrew Montour dated October 10, 1755, in which he tried to manipulate the Oneida to resettle on the Potomac: In 1779 during the American Revolutionary War, the Sullivan Expedition, under Washington's orders,[6] destroyed over 40 Iroquois villages in New York, partially in response to Iroquois participation in attacks on the Wyoming Valley in July 1778 and Cherry Valley in November 1778. That time George Washington ordered "total destruction and devastation In 2019, he had a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA. 6.In addition to other alleged unpunished murders, this is undoubtedly a reference to the recent acquittal of Samuel Doyle by a Pennsylvania court for his reported role in the murder of a Seneca man (see Timothy Pickering to GW, 4 Dec. 1790, n.6). Another local, Reid Davenport, is both director and star ofI Didnt See You Therealthough we do not, in fact, see him onscreen. He had participated in an effort to suppress Indigenous peoples defending themselves in Virginia and Maryland. that the King had ceded the lands to the thirteen fires, The Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series, David Humphreys Life of General Washington,, David Humphreys Life of General Washington with George Washingtons Remarks., Early American Land Companies: Their Influence on Corporate Development, Report on Canadian Archives . TOWN DESTROYER | CAFILM EDUCATION CURRICULUM GUIDE by MVFF - Issuu Washington received his commission on October 31, 1753 and set out immediately. Sat. If you are, tell us so that those of our nation who have become your children & are determined to die so, may know what to do: In this case one chief has said, he would ask you to put him out of pain: Another, who will not think of dying by the hand of his father, has said he will retire to the Chataughque, eat of the faral root, and sleep with his fathers in peace. Town Destroyer - Roxie The name in its original language(s) has been given variously as Conotocarius, Conotocaurious, Caunotaucarius, Conotocarious, Hanodaganears, and Hanadahguyus. When your army entered the Country of the Six Nations, we called you the Town-destroyer and to this day, when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the neck of their mothers.1 Our Councillors and warriors are men, and can not be afraid; but their hearts are grieved with the fears of our women & children, and desire, that it may be buried so deep, as to be heard no more. Washington dined with Cherokees, Chickasaws, Creeks, Kaskaskias, Mahicans, Mohawks, Oneidas, and Senecas; in one week late in 1796, he had dinner with four different groups of Indians on four different daysand on such occasions the most powerful man in the United States followed the . OK, Ill admit it: I am a wee bit allergic to just this sort of Science made cute exercise, in which actual Mars discoveries take a backseat to contrived, very human dramatics. . We will not conceal from you, that the great God, and not man has preserved the Corn planter from his own nation: for they ask continually, where is the Land which our children and their children after them are to lie down on? doc on controversial mural at George Washington High School | Culture Town Destroyer A high profile battle erupts over images of African American slaves and Native Americans in New Deal-era murals at a San Francisco high school. New Documentary Dives Into the Furor Over That Wildly Controversial We recollect that you did not promise to punish those who killed our people, and we now ask, Was it intended that your people should kill the Seneccas, and not only remain unpunished by you: but be protected by you against the next of kin?6. Once slated to be painted over, they are still on the walls and still controversial. Handagayas Alan Michelson Town Destroyercontextualizes this fight within a landscape where similar battles are occurring (like over Confederate monuments), though often for different reasons. But we are free men, if any choose to fight for you, they may.. What Happens When Art Gets Competitive on Television? The Indian World of George Washington | AMERICAN HERITAGE Early American Land Companies: Their Influence on Corporate Development. At least thats the impression we get from this very slick package, which numbers Spielbergs production company among its makers and isnt so far in cuddly tone from hisE.T. N MA F AU -K O N S g or W TI n. O a T C I fm SN ODU w-kau o PR nit. Signed at Philadelphia the first day of December. Conotocaurious(Town Destroyer) was a nicknamegiven to George Washingtonby IroquoisNative Americansin 1753. Gen, George Washington meets with representatives of the Iroquois nation before departing for Y. It was surrendered to you as the price of peace and we ought to have peace, and possession, of the little Land which you then left us. Many expressed distress at the revelation. Longtime Bay Area documentarians Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman interview historians, artists, activists, and GWHS students to probe a fascinating microcosm of todays culture wars. That they do not remember him with fondness is understandable. Paul Chaa, a curator at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C., calls romanticism a form of racism and observes that Americans have a secret obsession with Native Americans.One hundred years ago, D. H. Lawrence noted that white people aimed to extirpate Indians and then glorified them. | Benjamin Fanjoy/The Standard From his headquarters in Middlebrook, N.J., Washington authorized the "total destruction and devastation" of the Iroquois settlements across upstate New York so "that country may not merely be overrun but destroyed.". The Haudenosaunee took notice of General George Washingtons actions. The six Nations were powerful & compelled them to peace: The Lands for a great extent were given up to them, but the nations which were not destroyed, all continued on those Lands and claimed the protecti[on] of the six Nations, as the brothers of their fathers. (The Iroquois dubbed him "Town Destroyer.") Streets mission to New York probably contributed to GWs decision to send Timothy Pickering on a special mission to pacify the Seneca a few weeks later. California Indian Artist Judith Lowry describes the Gold Rush as ground zero for Native Americans and a time when they experienced searing losses.She adds that Arnautoff aimed to subvert the dominant narrative about Indians, pioneers and settlers. Filmmaker Alan Snitow stands in front of an audience after a screening of the film Town Destroyer at the Little Roxie Theater in San Francisco Calif., on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. Newsletter The name in its original language (s) has been given variously as Conotocarius, Conotocaurious, Caunotaucarius, Conotocarious, Hanodaganears, and Hanadahguyus. If you thought you could now talk calmly about Victor Arnautoff and his art, Americans Indians and George Washington, think again. You then told us we were in your hand & that by closing it you could crush us to nothing; and you demanded of us a great Country as the price of that peace you had offered us; as if our want of strength had destroyed our rights. He suggests that Arnautoffs work ought to be preserved, not destroyed and used as a vehicle to teach students about both the past and the present. After suffering for nearly two years from Iroquois raids on the Colonies' northern frontier, Washington and Congress decided to strike back. White supremacy, grounded in the Doctrine of Discovery the absurd claim by European Christians and their American descendants that they were more entitled to our lands than we were was the rationale for dispossession. 5.Samuel Street, reportedly born in New England, kept a store at Niagara. Conotocaurious (Town Destroyer) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Native Americans in 1753. Many colonial homes were attacked. Its like a midpoint betweenWall-Eand those old Disney True-Life Adventures, which manipulated nature footage into sentimental narrative shapes. Town Destroyer is a 2022 documentary that discusses the art, history, struggle, and politics around the Victor Arnautoff murals at George Washington High School. We could bear this confusion no longer, & determined to press thro every difficulty, and lift up our voice that you might hear us, and to claim that security in the possession of our lands which your commissioners so solemly promised us, and we now entreat you to enquire into our complaints and redress our wrongs. What was the color of george washington's white horse Privacy Policy Presented by the California Film Institute (CAFILM), the 45th Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF45) runs October 6-16, 2022. preserve, publish, and encourage the use of documentary sources, relating to the history of Hear us once more. Years later when George Washington was elected President of the newly formed United States, Seneca Chief Corn Planter addressed President Washington in 1790. The current dispute over monuments in the US is not new. Crushed power. Upon this threat our Chiefs George Washington: Father of His Country? Town Destroyer? New Anti No such document has been found, but the presence of the cover letter to Wadsworth in the Knox Papers suggests that Wadsworth gave the document to GW, who referred it to Knox. Part of Colonial Williamsburg's "Prelude to Victory" weekend. Town Destroyeran anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist film is likely to stir up all over again fundamental issues about censorship, trauma, genocide and ethnicity. Astonished at what we heard from every quarter, with hearts akeing with compassion for our women and children, we were thus compelled to give up all our Country North of the line of Pensylvania, and East of the Chenesco river up to the forks, and East of a South line drawn from that fork to the Pensylvania line. By Teka Lark (February 18, 2020) This week we're honoring George Washington or Conotocaurius (Town Destroyer) as the Iroquois called him, a man who enslaved 316 people and brought nine of them to the White House (Coard, Philadephia Tribune, 2018). . hidden? Larger questions arose: Is arts purpose to provoke, or placate? Is the blame all ours? In fact, it dates back at least to 9 July 1776 when, after a public reading of the Declaration of Independence, a group of Continental soldiers and New Yorkers, calling themselves the Sons of Freedom, pulled down the equestrian statue of King George III on Bowling Green. We have nothing to answer to the children of the brothers of our fathers. Just an hour long, Snitow and Kaufman's documentary offers a fascinating overview of a case that encapsulates many of the bitterest divisions of our era. The nickname, Conotocaurius means Destroyer of Towns. Commissioned in the late 1960s to create a mural at George Washington High School titled Multi-Ethnic Heritage, Crumpler honors Blacks and Indians. While individual Iroquois tribes continued to launch raids over the next few years, the Revolutionary War broke the power of the Iroquois as a political unit. Courtesy: the artist and Peabody Essex Museum, In 1779, Washington launched a full-scale invasion of Iroquoia, our extensive homelands. More decades passed before the issue flared up again, though this time it seemed the criticisms were coming less from individual students than outside organizations. What happens when it no longer reflects current societal views? Sign up to receive the latest updates from U.S News & World Report and our trusted partners and sponsors. Electoral history of George Washington - Wikipedia Town Destroyer (2022) The Movie Database (TMDB) 48hills.org is the official publication of the non-profit San Francisco Progressive Media Center. Our counsellors and warriors are men, and cannot be afraid; but their hearts are grieved with the fears of our women and children, and desire that it may be buried so deep as to be heard no more.. On the day on which we finished the treaty at A collection of moments during and after Barack Obama's presidency. The homeless traveled to Fort Niagara for safety and shelter but found none with the British there. Sr William Johnson came and took that Fort from the French; he became our father and promised to take care of us and did so till you were too strong for his King. Town Destroyer - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia Town Destroyer, also translated as Town Taker, Burner of Towns, or Devourer of Villages, was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Indians. During George Washington's presidency, Indian delegates were regular visitors to the seat of government. Pete Galindo, the director of the Great Wall Project, talks about the half-mile long Great Wall of LA which depicts the history of the city, including lynching. TOWN DESTROYER less than 1 minute read To the Irouqois, General George Washington was Ha-no-da-ga-nears, which means Town Destroyer, and this remained the name they gave to all Presidents of the United States. For over 8 miles south of Onondaga Lake, the colonial army followed the orders of General Washington killing and burning. Snitow and Kaufman try to walk a fine line and to offer a balanced perspective in their 58-minute documentary which includes on camera interviews with well known historians such as UCLA Professor Robin D. G. Kelley, plus famed San Francisco muralist Dewey Crumpler, along with community activists, local political figures, members of Indians tribes close to home and from far away. In keeping with explicit orders from Washington, the Americans set ablaze every village in their path. From George Washington to Major General John Sullivan, 31 May 1779, Simeon DeWitt Central NY Military Tract c.1792. This is the skeleton of Napoleon Bonaparte's favourite steed, "Marengo". The Mohawks saw the colonial settlements in violation of the Proclamation Line and trespassers in their territory. Since that day, the Haudenosaunee have referred to all of the Presidents of the United States as Hanadagyas The Town Destroyer. But if Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman have their way, George Washington will also be remembered as "the town destroyer." That's the title of a new documentary that they have written,. They are in the early stages of promoting the 55-minute film about the controversial murals at George Washington High School in the Richmond District. George Washington for sure had that nickname. modern editorial content, are copyright The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. Sign up for email updates on the latest frieze talks, fairs and events. Filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman . George Washington (Greenough) - Wikipedia If the British took the . Town Destroyer - Wikipedia But the Iroquois Indians of the time bestowed on Washington another, not-so-flattering epithet: Conotocarious, or "Town Destroyer. to GW, 15 Aug. 1789, note 1. Contact. They became our fathers, and took care of us. Ottawa, 1891. description ends 15354). On the one hand, things were said like If you support this mural, you have a colonized mentality and (on a signboard) Stop Protecting White Supremacy. On the other, the whole situation was termed identity politics gone off the rails, and the suggestion that the murals were traumatizing an easy way to justify the erasure of things you dont like.. George Washington High's Murals and "Town Destroyer" - Murals and The spring of 1780 saw the surviving Haudenosaunee forced to rebuild their lives with broken families and destroyed villages. To the Irouqois, General George Washington was Ha-no-da-ga-nears, which means Town Destroyer, and this remained the name they gave to all Presidents of the United States. The former vice president has become the Democratic front-runner with primary victories across the country. A dispute erupts at a San Francisco high school over Depression-era murals about the life of George Washington: slaveowner, military leader, land speculator, President, and a man Native leaders. Revisiting George Washington's assault on the Haudenosaunee 240 Years It has also been translated as "Town Taker", "Burner of Towns", "Devourer of Villages . With the Haudenosaunee standing in the way of westward expansion of the new Republic and with General George Washington seeking revenge against the raids of colonial homes, he ordered the termination of the Haudenosaunee and sent these orders to General Sullivan, known today as the Sullivan Campaign. Best of the Bay by watchingGood Night Oppy, and this movies spoonful-of-sugar emotional appeal was really tailored for them. We see groups of collegiate women who travel to a D.C. March for Life in January 2020 to save the babies. They demand equal rights for unborn humans, hoping not just that abortion will become illegal, but abortion will become unthinkable. Organizations like Students for Life of America and the Susan B. Anthony List are very well-organized, and there is no questioning the earnestness of their members. George Washington and the Resiliency of Indian People Several of the latter have a Bay Area slant, notably two opening this Fri/4 at SFs Roxie Theater. The Haudenosaunee pledged neutrality with this statement, We see this as a fight between father and son. During the American Revolution, some Mohawks led by Joseph Brant chose to fight with the British and to defend the Proclamation Line. held a Council and they agreed that no event of war could be worse than being driven with our wives & children from the only Country which we had any right to. But instead of trying them according to your Law, the lowest of your people took them from your magistrate, and put them immediately to death. Well, OK, a few personalities here do seem driven by things other than (or in addition to) moral uprightness, such as the founder of an SF-based group who says Im perfectly aligned with mainstream feminism aside from the abortion issue. Still, she grew up in a religious cult and seems to have some, er, issueslike the kind of inordinate fondness for picking verbal fights with total strangers that can lead to fanaticism, and/or Fox News punditry. Nov. 5thBenefit forPrecita Eyes Muralists Q & A with filmmakers + Precita Eyes founder Susan Cervantes. texts. On display since San Francisco's George Washington High School opened in 1936, it offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide. 1890. Battlegroundhas already had a brief run in theaters, but now is available for streaming on digital platforms including iTunes. An Arab stallion with a light grey . that assembled at them told us you were all brothers, the children of one great Father who regarded also the red people as his children. This resulted in a companion mural from African American artist Dewey Crumpler, entitledMulti-Ethnic Heritage, being commissioned for an adjacent corridor. Does this promise bind you? public. The brutal 1778 Cherry Valley Massacre prompted a wide-ranging punitive expedition that broke Iroquois power. On 1 April 1788 that state sold the preemptive rights to these six million acres to Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps. Theres just brief note of the flurry of drastic state rulings since then, and a tag re: Roes June overturn. 3.By the terms of the Second Treaty of Fort Stanwix, completed in October 1784, the Six Nations agreed to relinquish a small tract of land in western New York and all that part of Pennsylvania north and west of the Indian boundary established by the First Treaty of Fort Stanwix of 1768, an area including all of the land in Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny River. More info here. LS (signed with mark), DLC: Thomas Jefferson Papers; Like the statue of Christopher Columbus targeted in Boston last month, it was beheaded and the crown finials of its surrounding fence sawn off. In sentence 4 Cornplanter's reference to Washington as "the Town-destroyer" recalls a time during the American Revolution (1779) when he ordered the burning of Seneca villages. George Washington and the Iroquois - YouTube It also opens Fri/4 at the Roxie, with some screenings attended by Davenport and producer Keith Wilson. On the next day we let them know, that we were unwilling to sell all the Lands within their State, and proposed to let them have a part of it which we pointed to them in their map. When he met with Washington 11 years after the devastating campaign, Chief Cornplanter, who headed the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois, stressed the durability of "Town Destroyer" as the commander in chief's nickname. In Snitows and Kaufmans documentary some George Washington students and their parents argue that the images on the walls are a relic of the past and not history, that they instill a sense of trauma and shame and ought to be eradicated. Town Destroyer examines how a changing society should reckon with "[8][9], Last edited on 11 February 2023, at 23:33, George Washington: A Biographical Companion, From George Washington to Andrew Montour, 10 October 1755, From George Washington to Major General John Sullivan, 31 May 1779, "Madam Sacho: How One Iroquois Woman Survived the American Revolution", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Town_Destroyer&oldid=1138845464, This page was last edited on 11 February 2023, at 23:33. Several years after the Revolutionary War, Seneca chiefs told Washington, "When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you Town Destroyer; and to this day when the name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale and our children cling to the necks of their mothers." The political doesnt get any more personal than when it comes to abortion, and now thanks to an activist conservative Supreme Court, it appears the era of Roe v. Wadeand choicemay well be over. To the great Councillor of the thirteen fires.