1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,479 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Today we 4 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: have another figure who was involved with the Harlem Renaissance 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: but has not become nearly as well known as a 6 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: lot of her peers. Olivia Ward bush Banks was a 7 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: writer who also supported writers and artists. I mean she 8 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 1: didn't shouldn't have a lot of a ton of money 9 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: to do that with, but with the means that she had, 10 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: she tried to support other people. She also hosted salons, 11 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: she taught drama courses, and she was well known enough 12 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: during her lifetime that when she was mentioned in society 13 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,240 Speaker 1: columns and articles about activities that she was involved with, 14 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:52,159 Speaker 1: people wrote about her in a way that suggested that 15 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: the readers of the newspaper or the magazine or whatever 16 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: would already know who she was. But as of right now, 17 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: most of more recent writing about her has not been 18 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:07,400 Speaker 1: things like a full length biography or a historical analysis 19 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: in the form of a book. It's been more like 20 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: PhD dissertations and the introduction to a collected edition of 21 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: her work that came out at this point thirty years 22 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: ago as part of a series on nineteenth century black 23 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:26,279 Speaker 1: women writers. In addition to the things that I've already mentioned, 24 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: Olivia A. Ward Bush Banks was also a social worker 25 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 1: and a single mom and tribal historian for the Montaucket 26 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 1: nation at a time when that nation had just been 27 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: stripped of its lands and its recognition in New York, 28 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:41,319 Speaker 1: all of which we are going to talk about today. 29 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:46,039 Speaker 1: Olivia Ward was born on February eighteen sixty nine in 30 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: sag Harbor, New York, on eastern Long Island, and she 31 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: was the youngest of Abraham and Eliza Draper Awards three children. 32 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: At various points in her life, she wrote autobiographical statements 33 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: that describe her parents and their ancestry. In one, she says, 34 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: quote both parents possessed some Negro blood, and we're also 35 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:08,920 Speaker 1: descendants of the Montauk tribe of Indians. And in another 36 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:13,239 Speaker 1: she describes her father as quote a mixture of Portuguese, 37 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,799 Speaker 1: East Indian and Negro. This is more of a clarification 38 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 1: or a richer level of detail, rather than a contradiction. 39 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 1: A lot of the first enslaved Africans who were taken 40 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:27,959 Speaker 1: to this part of North America had been captured from 41 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: Spanish and Portuguese ships. The people aboard had often been 42 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: trafficked through the Cape Verde Islands off the western coast 43 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: of Africa. These islands were a primary port in the 44 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: slave trade, and they were under Portuguese control. The montauk 45 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: At nation is described in many historical documents, including ones 46 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,919 Speaker 1: by Olivia herself, as the montauk That was the name 47 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: that was more commonly used until about the nineteen nineties. 48 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: This is an Algonquian speaking nation related to other indigenous 49 00:02:57,560 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: nations on the eastern end of what's now Long Island, 50 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: and as well as nations from what's now New England, 51 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: including the Peacott and the Narraganset. These nations spoke different 52 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: Algonquian dialects that were mutually understandable, and the Montaucket nation 53 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: seems to have spoken one that was similar to the 54 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:18,679 Speaker 1: Mohegan Pequot language. A written vocabulary was recorded in the 55 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: late eighteenth century, and by the nineteenth century only a 56 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: few members of the Montaucket nations still spoke it. It is, however, 57 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: one of the Algonquian languages that's part of the Algonquian 58 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: Language Revitalization Project Today. Sag Harbor had some parallels to 59 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: the community in and around New Bedford, Massachusetts that we 60 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: talked about in our episode on Paul Cuffey. Although he 61 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: was born more than a century before Olivia Ward was, 62 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: both were originally home to indigenous nations who shared their 63 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: whaling knowledge with European colonists. The resulting whaling industry in 64 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: both places was exploitative, often extremely exploitative, but it was 65 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: also possible for people of color to attain more wealth 66 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: and status than they could in most other industries. The 67 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: Ward family had historically been part of this industry, and 68 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: Olivia's father lived with another family that was a key 69 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: part of it, starting when he was about fourteen. Another 70 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: similarity between sag Harbor and New Bedford, as well as 71 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: some other parts of New York and New England, had 72 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: to do with demographics. Europeans arriving on what's now Long 73 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:29,840 Speaker 1: Island enslaved indigenous people there, particularly indigenous men. Indigenous men 74 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:33,239 Speaker 1: were also more likely to be killed in warfare, both 75 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 1: warfare between indigenous nations and warfare against Europeans simultaneously. Most 76 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: of the enslaved Africans that were brought to the area 77 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: were men, so there were more African men, but more 78 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:50,799 Speaker 1: Indigenous women. White Europeans considered both Indigenous and African people 79 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: to be a race apart, so it was common for 80 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 1: Indigenous and African people to marry and to have children, 81 00:04:56,440 --> 00:05:00,679 Speaker 1: often Indigenous women to African men. By the time Olivia 82 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:03,160 Speaker 1: Ward was born, just a few years after the US 83 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: Civil War, many people of color in the area had 84 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: biracial or multiracial ancestry. When Olivia was about nine months old, 85 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 1: her mother died and her father moved to Providence, Rhode 86 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 1: Island with her and her siblings. According to family accounts, 87 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: Abraham Ward was a member of the Church of Jesus 88 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 1: Christ of Latter day Saints, and in the years just 89 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: before Olivia's birth, he had also had another wife named Anne. 90 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 1: There are census records that seemed to back up the 91 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:34,080 Speaker 1: idea that Abraham was in a polygamous marriage, but otherwise 92 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: we don't have a whole lot of detail here. However, 93 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,799 Speaker 1: there is some interesting speculation about how Latter Day Saints 94 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: beliefs about Native Americans being descended from a lost tribe 95 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: of Israel might have affected him, including potentially influencing his 96 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:53,280 Speaker 1: decision to join the church. So after this move to Providence, 97 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:57,279 Speaker 1: Abraham remarried in eighteen seventy one, and sometime after that, 98 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: Olivia was sent to live with her maternal aunt, Maria Draper, 99 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: and her aunt had an enormous influence on her. Mariah 100 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: taught Olivia about their indigenous heritage and took her to 101 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: pow wows and other gatherings, including on the Shinnecock Reservation 102 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:17,719 Speaker 1: on Long Island. Olivia described her aunt as making sacrifices 103 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:19,920 Speaker 1: for the sake of other people, which had kept her 104 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,800 Speaker 1: from being able to get an education for herself. But 105 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,800 Speaker 1: Olivia credited Mariah with making sure that she got a 106 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:32,040 Speaker 1: useful practical education. In some accounts, this involves studying nursing 107 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: during high school, and in others, Olivia trained to be 108 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:39,000 Speaker 1: a seamstress. In spite of that focus on a practical education, 109 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: one of Olivia's great loves from high school was drama. 110 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 1: Her teacher was named Miss Dodge, who ran the Dodge 111 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: School of Dramatics. Dodge taught something called behavior drama, and 112 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: at this point no one has unearthed clear documentation about 113 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:57,719 Speaker 1: exactly what that meant. Olivia's own notes are pretty sketchy, 114 00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: and they reference emotion and interpretation of texts. Dodge thought 115 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 1: Olivia was talented enough to give her private lessons, and 116 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:08,840 Speaker 1: Olivia went on to teach this method in her adult 117 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 1: life as a theater kid. I am incredibly curious about 118 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: exactly what behavior drama was. For sure. Part of me 119 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:18,720 Speaker 1: is like I bet I could piece this together like 120 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: backwards engineer it through like um acting classes I did 121 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: in college, for sure. In eighteen eighty nine or eighteen ninety, 122 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 1: when she was twenty or twenty one, Olivia Ward married 123 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: Frank Bush, who was a tailor from South Carolina. They 124 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: went on to have two daughters, Rosa Olivia and Marie, 125 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: but this wasn't a happy marriage for reasons that aren't 126 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 1: really clear. The family moved to Boston, and when they 127 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: got there, Frank started working as a janitor. That would 128 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: have been a lot less lucrative than working as a tailor. 129 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:56,680 Speaker 1: By Frank and Olivia were divorced, and although Olivia continued 130 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 1: to go by Olivia Ward Bush after this, she just 131 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: sscribed this time in her life as quote extremely unfortunate. 132 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 1: Her next few years were hard. She was a single 133 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 1: mother raising two daughters, and because of her race, she 134 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 1: was considered only for low paying and often physically demanding 135 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: or demoralizing work. She moved around, including living with her 136 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,280 Speaker 1: aunt Maria from time to time, just trying to make 137 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 1: ends meet. When she started writing, it was with the 138 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: hope that she might be able to earn some extra 139 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: money to support her family. We will get more into 140 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 1: that after a quick sponsor break. Olivia ward Bush's first 141 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 1: book of poems was simply titled Original Poems, and it 142 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: was published in Providence, Rhode Island. In it was dedicated 143 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:54,960 Speaker 1: quote with profound reverence and respect to the people of 144 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,280 Speaker 1: my race, Afro Americans, but the poems in it also 145 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 1: draw from her indigenous hair as well, including the poem 146 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: Mourning on Shinnecock. This is the first poem in the collection, 147 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:09,079 Speaker 1: and in it, a narrator looks out over a grand 148 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:13,920 Speaker 1: and wondrous spectacle of hills, a leafy grove, corn fields, 149 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: a sea, before ending quote all morning hour, so dear, 150 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: thy joy, and how I longed for thee to last. 151 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: But in thy fading in today brought me an echo 152 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: of the past towards this. How fair my life began? 153 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:32,079 Speaker 1: How pleasant was its hour of dawn, but merging into 154 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 1: sorrow's day. Then beauty faded with the mourn. We don't 155 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: know for sure whether Olivia Ward Bush was active in 156 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:41,959 Speaker 1: the Temperance movement, but the second poem in this book, 157 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: titled Treasured Moments, suggests that she at least had a 158 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:50,360 Speaker 1: favorable opinion of it. She characterizes temperance activists as quote 159 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:53,839 Speaker 1: women with hearts true and strong, who dared to face 160 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 1: a great evil, who dared to contend against wrong. Several 161 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: poems in this book celebrate figu years from Black history, 162 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 1: including Christmas Addicts, who also had both African and Indigenous ancestry. 163 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: We really don't know much about Christmas Addics's biography, but 164 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 1: he's believed to have liberated himself from enslavement before becoming 165 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 1: the first person to be killed at the Boston Massacre 166 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: on March five, seventeen seventy. Her poem Christmas Addicts describes 167 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:27,079 Speaker 1: him boldly striking the first blow as other Bostonians shrank 168 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 1: from duty. It ends quote then write in glowing letters, 169 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,080 Speaker 1: these thrilling words in history, that Addics was a hero. 170 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:39,480 Speaker 1: That Addics died for liberty. A hero of San Juan 171 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:42,760 Speaker 1: is about the Black infantry and cavalry units known as 172 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:45,320 Speaker 1: the Buffalo Soldiers at the Battle of San Juan Hill 173 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:49,480 Speaker 1: during the Spanish American War. This poem frames the battle 174 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:52,959 Speaker 1: as helping to liberate Cuba from Spain. Quote, they fought 175 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,880 Speaker 1: for Cuban liberty on Wuand's Hill. Those bloody stains mark 176 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:00,120 Speaker 1: how these heroes won the day and added honor to 177 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,680 Speaker 1: their names. Of course, there is a much bigger story 178 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,440 Speaker 1: to the Spanish American War than just this poem, and 179 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:08,680 Speaker 1: we should note that there are some complexities to the 180 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: greater story of the Buffalo Soldiers, since earlier in their 181 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: history they were also part of the warfare against indigenous 182 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:19,679 Speaker 1: nations during the United States Western Expansion. Yeah, that's one 183 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:21,840 Speaker 1: of the reasons that even though I've had the Buffalo 184 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: Soldiers on my list for a long time, I haven't 185 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:27,160 Speaker 1: figured out quite the best approach for it. This book, 186 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: containing ten poems in total, was generally well received, and 187 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 1: some of the poems were reprinted in other publications, including 188 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:38,680 Speaker 1: in the Boston Transcript. In a letter, Paul Lawrence Dunbar 189 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,480 Speaker 1: told Olivia that he liked it very much and that 190 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: quote there is a high spiritual tone about it that 191 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:47,800 Speaker 1: is bound to please. For the next few years, Olivia 192 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:51,880 Speaker 1: Ward Bush continued to write. In about nineteen hundreds, she 193 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: became assistant drama director for Robert Gould Shaw Community House, 194 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:59,480 Speaker 1: that was a settlement house in Boston. We talked about 195 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:02,960 Speaker 1: the settlement house movement in our previous episode on Jane Adams. 196 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,960 Speaker 1: These were organizations intended to improve the lives of the 197 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: poor and working class by providing things like childcare, education, 198 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:14,800 Speaker 1: and social support with the people doing network living in 199 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:18,440 Speaker 1: the neighborhood they were serving. It's probably during this time 200 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,559 Speaker 1: that Bush began doing social work. A pamphlet on her 201 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:23,600 Speaker 1: that was published by the n double a CP in 202 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 1: about nineteen twenty describes her as one of the most 203 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: prominent social workers in Boston. During these years, Olivia started 204 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,680 Speaker 1: supporting her aunt in addition to her two daughters. Her aunt, 205 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 1: at this point was getting much older, and she also 206 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,240 Speaker 1: started working as the tribal historian for the Montaukeet Nation. 207 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,440 Speaker 1: It's not clear exactly when she started this work, but 208 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: she continued until about nineteen sixteen, and as we said 209 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 1: at the top of the show, this was a critically 210 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: important time for the preservation of Montaukeet oral histories and 211 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:56,760 Speaker 1: cultural knowledge, because in nineteen ten, the New York Supreme 212 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:01,000 Speaker 1: Court had declared the Montauk tribe extinct, stripping them of 213 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:04,360 Speaker 1: their lands on Long Island. So we need to back 214 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:07,199 Speaker 1: up a little bit to explain this decision. In the 215 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:11,080 Speaker 1: late seventeenth century, the Montaucet Nations sold land to the 216 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 1: proprietors of the village of East Hampton, negotiating the rights 217 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:18,760 Speaker 1: to live on and use that land in perpetuity. But 218 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:21,679 Speaker 1: it's clear the residents of East Hampton hoped that they 219 00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 1: would eventually have that land unconditionally. Later agreements that the 220 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:32,520 Speaker 1: Montaukeet Nation and East Hampton negotiated increasingly restricted indigenous people's 221 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,440 Speaker 1: rights and land access. Then, in seventeen fifty four, the 222 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:40,319 Speaker 1: trustees of East Hampton got representatives from the Montaukeet Nation 223 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: to sign an agreement that the Montauckets would not marry 224 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 1: Africans or people from other indigenous nations. The same agreement 225 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:53,400 Speaker 1: gave the town the rights to prosecute anyone of African 226 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: descent or from another indigenous nation who tried to settle there. 227 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 1: The trustees rationale for this was twofold. On Long Island 228 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:06,320 Speaker 1: and elsewhere, white residents worried that if indigenous people's welcomed 229 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:10,599 Speaker 1: people of African descent into their communities, then those communities 230 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: would become a haven for people who had liberated themselves 231 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: from slavery, or would inspire slave uprisings, and it was 232 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: also about trying to keep them on Talket population from 233 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:26,000 Speaker 1: growing or even maintaining itself. Intermarriages were common among the 234 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,560 Speaker 1: indigenous nations of this region. They helped each nation maintain 235 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: its own population while also strengthening social and political ties 236 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 1: among the nations. The agreement signed in seventeen fifty four 237 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,480 Speaker 1: meant that the Montaukeets were allowed to marry only among themselves, 238 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:44,480 Speaker 1: but their population was just too small for that to 239 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:49,400 Speaker 1: be sustainable. Shortly after the Revolutionary War, after decades of 240 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 1: warfare and increasing conflict with East Hampton and pressure from 241 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:57,600 Speaker 1: the town's trustees, a group of Montaukeets who had converted 242 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:02,200 Speaker 1: to Christianity moved to Oneida Land in New York's Mohawk Valley, 243 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:07,040 Speaker 1: establishing the Brothertown Nation. This was a Christian community built 244 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:11,200 Speaker 1: on an alliance of multiple Algonquian speaking indigenous nations, and 245 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: it excluded people of African ancestry. There's some suggestion that 246 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: at least some Montaukeets had adopted some of the same 247 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 1: anti black attitudes that were held by most Europeans, and 248 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:26,040 Speaker 1: that some of the people who had signed that agreement 249 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: back in seventeen fifty four were the same ones who 250 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:33,760 Speaker 1: then left to establish the Brothertown Nation. The Montaukeets who 251 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: remained on Long Island after this included people who didn't 252 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: want to convert to Christianity, people who had African ancestry, 253 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: and people who just did not want to leave their homes. 254 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:48,000 Speaker 1: In some cases, this divided families, was some moving to 255 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:52,080 Speaker 1: Brothertown and some staying behind. But again, the hope from 256 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 1: East Hampton was that everyone in the Montaukeet Nation who 257 00:15:55,960 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: had no African ancestry would go, which was not what happened. 258 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: Bent Another side to this is that, in the view 259 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: of the people of East Hampton, Montackets who had African 260 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: ancestry were not indigenous. They were black, and black and 261 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:15,880 Speaker 1: indigenous were mutually exclusive, and by the eighteen hundreds, the 262 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 1: trustees started using that idea to argue that the Montaukeet 263 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 1: Nation no longer existed and no longer had the land 264 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 1: used rights that they had negotiated back starting in the 265 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:31,440 Speaker 1: seventeenth century. By the late nineteenth century, Montaukets living on 266 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: eastern Long Island we're facing enormous hostility from their white neighbors. 267 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,880 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy one, the nation tried to incorporate to 268 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:41,920 Speaker 1: get on a more equal legal footing, but that effort 269 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:46,640 Speaker 1: failed in the face of opposition from East Hampton. Newspaper 270 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:50,120 Speaker 1: coverage from this time was full of racist stereotypes, and 271 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: it continually characterized the Montaucket Nation as dying out. Seemingly 272 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:57,800 Speaker 1: every time a member of the nation died, there would 273 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: be newspaper articles about the so called Last Montauk. In 274 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:05,480 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy nine, the East Hampton Trustees filed a petition 275 00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:09,679 Speaker 1: to partition Montauket Land, which a judge approved, and the 276 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:12,520 Speaker 1: next year, the same judge approved the sale of the 277 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: land that totaled about ten thousand acres. Developer Arthur Benson 278 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:20,440 Speaker 1: bought it for a hundred and fifty one thousand dollars. 279 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 1: Benson wanted to work with railroad developer Austin Corbin to 280 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,720 Speaker 1: extend an existing railroad line to Montauk Point, but his 281 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:32,160 Speaker 1: purchase of the Montaukeet Nations land wasn't enough for him 282 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:35,879 Speaker 1: to do that. The Nations still had a lease dating 283 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 1: back to seventeen oh three giving them on Tuckets the 284 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 1: rights to live, hunt and fish on the land in perpetuity, 285 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 1: really a lot like their earliest negotiations with European columnists 286 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: had done decades before that. So Benson and Corbin brought 287 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:56,240 Speaker 1: in the East Hampton town assessor, Nathaniel Domini to try 288 00:17:56,280 --> 00:18:00,600 Speaker 1: to coerce the Montaukets off the land. Dominie to people, 289 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,119 Speaker 1: telling them they would be allowed to return to the 290 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 1: land whenever they wanted, even though he knew that was false. 291 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:10,160 Speaker 1: Some people were offered and accepted as little as ten 292 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:15,400 Speaker 1: dollars for their homes, but others refused to sell. Domini 293 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 1: made increasingly lofty promises, things like lifetime annual payments or 294 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:24,200 Speaker 1: paying for an education for people's children. He didn't follow 295 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:26,520 Speaker 1: through on a lot of this, and he probably never 296 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:31,640 Speaker 1: intended to. These negotiations were also illegal since they went 297 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:35,399 Speaker 1: through individual tribal members rather than the nation as a whole. 298 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:40,200 Speaker 1: In eight the Montaucket Nation hired a lawyer, and Benson's 299 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:43,880 Speaker 1: lawyers again put forth that argument that the Montauckets were 300 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:47,760 Speaker 1: black and not indigenous, and therefore were not protected by 301 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:51,199 Speaker 1: that seventeen oh three lease. This argument worked from a 302 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:55,160 Speaker 1: couple of angles. One was the one drop rule, which 303 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:57,760 Speaker 1: was the idea that a person with even one drop 304 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,240 Speaker 1: of so called African blood was black, and the other 305 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:04,439 Speaker 1: is the idea of blood quantum, which is basically the 306 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:06,960 Speaker 1: idea that a person has to have a certain amount 307 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 1: of so called native blood to be considered indigenous. Different 308 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: indigenous nations have all had their own concepts of what 309 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 1: it means to be indigenous and what it means to 310 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: be a citizen, but broadly speaking, the one drop rule 311 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:27,919 Speaker 1: and blood quantum are both ideas that originated from European 312 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: colonists and their descendants in order to define who was white, 313 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:36,119 Speaker 1: who was black, and who is indigenous, usually in a 314 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 1: way that's discriminatory and restrictive. Court rulings and appeals went 315 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:44,119 Speaker 1: on for years in the effort to remove the Montaucket 316 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,880 Speaker 1: nation from their land, ultimately winding up before the State 317 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 1: Supreme Court. In nineteen ten, State Supreme Court Judge Able 318 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:55,200 Speaker 1: Blackmar issued a ruling that even though the New York 319 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:59,560 Speaker 1: State Constitution forbade the sale of indigenous land. The law 320 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:02,760 Speaker 1: that only applied was the Dongan Charter, which dated back 321 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 1: to sixteen eighty six and had given the City of 322 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:10,320 Speaker 1: Albany the exclusive right to negotiate with Indigenous people. Yeah, 323 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:12,800 Speaker 1: for some reason, the only provisions of the Dongan Charter 324 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:15,080 Speaker 1: that he was really focused on still being in force 325 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: were these these ones, the ones that related to people 326 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: taking the Montaucant Nations land. Blackmart also stated, quote, there 327 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,960 Speaker 1: is now no tribe of Montauk Indians. It has disintegrated 328 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,000 Speaker 1: and been absorbed into the massive citizens. If I may 329 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 1: use the expression, the tribe has been dying for many years. 330 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:38,160 Speaker 1: There were a number of Montaukeet people in the courtroom 331 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:41,480 Speaker 1: when he made this statement. I saw numbers ranging between 332 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:45,080 Speaker 1: twenty five and seventy five. The Montaukeet Nation appealed, but 333 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:49,400 Speaker 1: this decision was upheld in nineteen fourteen. So Olivia ward 334 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:53,159 Speaker 1: Bush was acting as the Montaukeet Nation tribal historian in 335 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:56,080 Speaker 1: the wake of all of this. We'll talk some more 336 00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 1: about this towards the end of the episode, but for 337 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:10,199 Speaker 1: now we're going to pause for a sponsor break. Unfortunately, 338 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 1: I don't have a lot of additional detail about Olivia 339 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 1: Ward Bush's work as the Montaka Nations tribal historian. But 340 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:22,199 Speaker 1: her second book, Driftwood, was published in nineteen fourteen. This 341 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,520 Speaker 1: one was dedicated to her aunt Mariah. Some sources list 342 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:28,480 Speaker 1: this book is having twenty five poems and two prose pieces, 343 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 1: and the others say twenty four and three, probably because 344 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:36,160 Speaker 1: one of the pieces is an anti lynching essay titled 345 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: Hope that also includes some verse. This book is arranged 346 00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: into sections that have an ocean theme, and in the 347 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:49,479 Speaker 1: introduction she talks about watching Italian children gathering driftwood, thinking about, quote, 348 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: what a joyous sight it would be as they sat 349 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:55,120 Speaker 1: around the evening fire. And I imagined that the firelight 350 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,119 Speaker 1: streaming through the windows would brighten up the way of 351 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:02,959 Speaker 1: some weary homeward travel. In a letter to Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 352 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:06,400 Speaker 1: she also said she'd called it Driftwood because the pieces 353 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:10,199 Speaker 1: in it were quote, bits of experiences cast up on 354 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,919 Speaker 1: the shore of my life. This volume contains a poem 355 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:18,280 Speaker 1: titled to the Memory of Paul Lawrence Dunbar. Dunbar had 356 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 1: died in nineteen o six, and this poem has been 357 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:23,439 Speaker 1: compared to Phyllis Wheatley's On the Death of the Reverend 358 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:27,160 Speaker 1: Mr George Whitfield for its subject matter and its tone 359 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:32,720 Speaker 1: and language. Driftwood also includes poems to Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, 360 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:37,360 Speaker 1: and William Lloyd Garrison. The poem Carney the Brave Standard 361 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:40,639 Speaker 1: Bearer is about Sergeant William H. Carney of the fifty 362 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:43,919 Speaker 1: four Massachusetts Regiment, who was the first black man to 363 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:46,879 Speaker 1: be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that 364 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: was at the Battle of Fort Wagner. After being shot 365 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:54,119 Speaker 1: several times and seriously wounded, Carney carried the American flag 366 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 1: to the fort, planted it, and held it upright until 367 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:00,879 Speaker 1: help arrived. It's actually possible that Bush had met Carney. 368 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,760 Speaker 1: He lived in Boston and New Bedford, Massachusetts, after the 369 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:06,800 Speaker 1: Civil War. This book also includes pieces that are more 370 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:11,320 Speaker 1: like poems of protest. One of them, titled Unchained eighteen 371 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:15,200 Speaker 1: sixty three, celebrates the abolition of slavery, before the tone 372 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:19,520 Speaker 1: shifts to quote free indeed, but free to struggle, free 373 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:23,199 Speaker 1: to toil unceasingly, not of wealth, not of possession, was 374 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 1: their portion iano free. The same year that Driftwood was published, 375 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:32,639 Speaker 1: Olivia Award Bush married Anthony Barrell Banks in Boston, and 376 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:34,720 Speaker 1: then the following year, bush Banks was part of the 377 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:38,960 Speaker 1: city's demonstrations against d. W. Griffith's film Birth of a Nation. 378 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:43,240 Speaker 1: This was part of ongoing protests all over the country, 379 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:46,200 Speaker 1: as black communities called for the film to be banned 380 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,840 Speaker 1: not just for its racist depictions of black people and 381 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:53,000 Speaker 1: its celebration of the Ku Klex Klan, but also for 382 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:57,520 Speaker 1: its potential to incite racist violence. All of our episodes 383 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:02,159 Speaker 1: overlap a little, so you remember we mentioned Griffith's in 384 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:04,879 Speaker 1: our Todd Browning episodes. I also feel like, as was 385 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: the case with the Schaumberg collection, feeling like a tour 386 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,919 Speaker 1: of previous episodes of Stephye Miss and History Glass. A 387 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,080 Speaker 1: lot of her poems feel like topics that should be 388 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: familiar to folks that have been listening to the show 389 00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: for a long time. Bush Banks organized a protest that 390 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:24,480 Speaker 1: took place on April nineteen fifteen and brought together about 391 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:28,120 Speaker 1: eight hundred black women at twelfth Baptist Church in Boston's 392 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:32,480 Speaker 1: Roxbury neighborhood. This was described as the largest gathering of 393 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: black women ever assembled in the city at the time. 394 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,800 Speaker 1: Although bush Banks herself could not attend it because she 395 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:42,720 Speaker 1: was sick. At this and other protests around Boston, people 396 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,120 Speaker 1: called for Birth of a Nation to be removed from 397 00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:48,240 Speaker 1: the city and for Boston Mayor James Michael Curly to 398 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:52,480 Speaker 1: be recalled. Curly had previously banned the production of a 399 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: play that, like Birth of a Nation, was based on 400 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 1: the novel The Klansman, but he had allowed the film 401 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:01,359 Speaker 1: to be shown. Black women and in Greater Boston also 402 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:05,200 Speaker 1: established a Protective League Quote for the Maintenance and Protection 403 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,320 Speaker 1: of our Civil Rights, and bush Banks was elected as 404 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:11,880 Speaker 1: its president. In the face of this and other demonstrations, 405 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:16,840 Speaker 1: the Massachusetts legislature passed the Sullivan Bill, which banned amusements 406 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,879 Speaker 1: that were believed to create religious or racial prejudice or 407 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:24,359 Speaker 1: to incite riot. But when the Censorship Board evaluated Birth 408 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: of a Nation after the law was passed, it ruled 409 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: that the film was quote not at all objectionable. In 410 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,000 Speaker 1: the end, Birth of a Nation played in Boston for 411 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,719 Speaker 1: more than six months, with more than three hundred and 412 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:40,199 Speaker 1: sixties showings, and today this film is cited as a 413 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:43,240 Speaker 1: major factor in the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan. 414 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 1: In nineteen fifteen, bush Banks's last published poem came out 415 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,680 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixteen. This was on the Long Island Indian, 416 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:55,440 Speaker 1: which was published in the Montaukat Nations Annual Report that year. 417 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,440 Speaker 1: This poem draws from tropes and language for Indigenous people 418 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 1: that were in place at the time, while also expressing 419 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:06,560 Speaker 1: a sense of grief. Quote now remains a scattered remnant 420 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:10,160 Speaker 1: on these shores. They find no home here and there, 421 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,440 Speaker 1: in weary exile, they are forced through life to Rome. 422 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,280 Speaker 1: The only play that bush Banks published came out a 423 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:20,680 Speaker 1: year later. This was a Sunday school play called Memories 424 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: of Calvary and Easter Sketch. But other than these two publications, 425 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: the poem and the play, we really don't know much 426 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 1: about her life between nineteen fifteen and nineteen twenty. It 427 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,920 Speaker 1: seems that after marrying Anthony Banks, she eventually moved to Chicago, 428 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:36,639 Speaker 1: where he got a job as a pullman porter. In 429 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,160 Speaker 1: about ninety the n double A CP printed a pamphlet 430 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:45,480 Speaker 1: about bush Banks, headlined lecturer, social worker, writer. It included 431 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:49,320 Speaker 1: quotes from people like Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 432 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 1: as well as publications like The Chicago Plain Dealer. In it, 433 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:57,919 Speaker 1: she's described as a forceful and magnetic speaker, a remarkable 434 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:02,600 Speaker 1: writer and quote possessed of a leasing personality, a sympathetic nature, 435 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:06,680 Speaker 1: with a broad mind and high ideals. At some point, 436 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:10,400 Speaker 1: bush Banks started splitting her time between Chicago and New York. 437 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:13,880 Speaker 1: Over the nineteen twenties and early thirties, she wrote Aunt 438 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:18,000 Speaker 1: Viny's Sketches. This is a collection of twelve sketches featuring 439 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,880 Speaker 1: two characters. One of them, Aunt Viney, is in conversation 440 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:25,439 Speaker 1: with the other, who's Miss Ali. Aunt Viney speaks in 441 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:29,879 Speaker 1: black dialect, offering up folk wisdom, humor, and commentary on 442 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: things like the Great Depression, the community of Harlem, New York, 443 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:37,120 Speaker 1: and various issues of the day. Bush Banks submitted these 444 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:39,800 Speaker 1: to a radio station, and she started the process of 445 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,520 Speaker 1: filing for copyright protection on them, but it doesn't appear 446 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:45,679 Speaker 1: that that process was ever completed, and these pieces weren't 447 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:49,440 Speaker 1: published during her lifetime. In the hands of white writers 448 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,240 Speaker 1: in the early twentieth century, these kinds of dialect characters 449 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:57,520 Speaker 1: tended to be racist caricatures that reinforced damaging stereotypes of 450 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:02,200 Speaker 1: black people. But Aunt Viney is assertive, confident, and wise 451 00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:06,200 Speaker 1: while not being formally educated. This is one of the 452 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,679 Speaker 1: earliest examples of this type of dialect character written by 453 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:14,200 Speaker 1: a black writer. Langston Hughes first introduced his character Jesse 454 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:18,280 Speaker 1: b Simple about six years later. During these years that 455 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:21,240 Speaker 1: were split between Chicago and New York, bush Banks also 456 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:25,040 Speaker 1: wrote a three act play titled Indian Trails or Trail 457 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:29,120 Speaker 1: of the Montauk. Today, only the cast list, a synopsis, 458 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:32,520 Speaker 1: and a few scenes have survived. Most of the characters 459 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,160 Speaker 1: in the play are Indigenous, with their names drawn from 460 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:40,400 Speaker 1: indigenous languages from northeastern North America. This play reflects on 461 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:43,840 Speaker 1: the nineteen ten court decision that we discussed earlier, but 462 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 1: in the play it ends with the Montacict Nation's land 463 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:50,640 Speaker 1: being returned to them. This play was performed at Booker T. 464 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,640 Speaker 1: Washington High School in Norfolk, Virginia, probably sometime in the 465 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties, as well as when bush Banks took a 466 00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:02,040 Speaker 1: tour of the Southeast. Many of a audiences were predominantly black, 467 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,960 Speaker 1: and the play essentially served as an introduction to indigenous 468 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,080 Speaker 1: issues for non indigenous black people. Fans of the play 469 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,160 Speaker 1: included Maggie L. Walker, who was the first black woman 470 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:17,120 Speaker 1: in the US to charter a bank in ninety nine, 471 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 1: bush banks daughter, Rosa Olivia, died at some point that 472 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 1: two of them had become estranged and they hadn't been 473 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,560 Speaker 1: able to reconcile by the time of her death. By 474 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,640 Speaker 1: the late nineteen twenties, bush Banks had become well known 475 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:33,200 Speaker 1: and well respected in both Chicago and New York, including 476 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 1: becoming a prominent figure in the New Negro movement also 477 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:40,440 Speaker 1: known as the Harlem Renaissance. She was friends and colleagues 478 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,880 Speaker 1: with figures like Paul Robeson, W. E. B. Du boys A, 479 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: Philip Randolph, Julia Ward Howe, and County Cullen. She also 480 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: taught drama in both Chicago and New York, in public 481 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:56,200 Speaker 1: schools and in enrichment programs. In Chicago, she established the 482 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: bush Bank School of Expression, which was a performance and 483 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,080 Speaker 1: meeting space for dance, drama, and visual arts, and she 484 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:07,360 Speaker 1: also hosted salons in her home. In nineteen thirty six, 485 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: a society column in the Pittsburgh Courier, which was featuring 486 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,080 Speaker 1: happenings in New York, called bush Banks quote the grand 487 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 1: Dame of the Literati, saying quote, there was a time 488 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,640 Speaker 1: when her salon was filled of a Sunday evening with 489 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:26,880 Speaker 1: promising young playwrights, poets, novelists, and others fired with the 490 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:30,840 Speaker 1: ambitions of youth. That same year, bush Banks earned a 491 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,400 Speaker 1: teacher training certification in New York and she started teaching 492 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:38,440 Speaker 1: drama at the Abyssinia Community Center in Harlem. This continued 493 00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:42,920 Speaker 1: until nineteen thirty nine. Bush Banks's work at Abyssinia Community 494 00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:46,920 Speaker 1: Center was part of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Theater Project. 495 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:50,520 Speaker 1: This was a Depression era program meant to provide jobs 496 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:54,200 Speaker 1: for out of work theater professionals. It was disbanded in 497 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: ninety nine after a series of investigations by the House 498 00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: an American Activities Committee, which were brought on in part 499 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:05,800 Speaker 1: by the program's effort toward racial integration and equality. Yeah 500 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 1: there were, also, of course, allegations that it had been 501 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:12,080 Speaker 1: infiltrated by communist radicals, as is pretty much the case 502 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 1: with everything investigated by the House on American Activities Committee. 503 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:19,360 Speaker 1: Bush Bank seems to have had an interest in religion 504 00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:22,520 Speaker 1: and spirituality throughout her life, including an interest in the 505 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:26,040 Speaker 1: High Faith, which may have influenced her work. She was 506 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,200 Speaker 1: also a member of John Haynes Holmes Community Church in 507 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:31,880 Speaker 1: New York City in the nineteen twenties and early thirties. 508 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: Towards the end of her life, she converted to Seventh 509 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:38,840 Speaker 1: Day Adventism. Her daughter Marie and her granddaughter Helen, who 510 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:41,120 Speaker 1: she lived with from time to time while in New York, 511 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 1: had also become Seventh Day Adventists. Olivia Ward Bush Banks 512 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:48,880 Speaker 1: died on April eighth, ninety four, at the age of 513 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: seventy five. Most of her papers are housed at the 514 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:55,840 Speaker 1: Amistad Research Center at two Lane University in New Orleans. 515 00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:59,000 Speaker 1: Apart from the work that we've talked about in this episode, 516 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 1: plus a couple of their poems and essays, most of 517 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: what she wrote went unpublished until and then Oxford University 518 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:11,160 Speaker 1: Press published her collected works. This was part of the 519 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,600 Speaker 1: Schaumberg Library of nineteenth century Black Women Writers, and it 520 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: was edited and compiled by her great granddaughter, Bernice Elizabeth Forrest. 521 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,120 Speaker 1: As of when we are recording this, the Montaucket Nation 522 00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:25,640 Speaker 1: is still not recognized by the State of New York 523 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:29,480 Speaker 1: or by the federal government in the United States. The 524 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,840 Speaker 1: New York Legislature passed legislation to recognize the nation in 525 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:40,200 Speaker 1: seventeen and eighteen, and then Governor Andrew Cuomo vetoed it 526 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:45,040 Speaker 1: each time. Legislation has been reintroduced since twenty eighteen, including 527 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: this year. As of right now when we are recording, 528 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 1: legislation has been referred to committee in both the New 529 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:55,240 Speaker 1: York State Assembly and the New York Senate. That's a 530 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:59,200 Speaker 1: frustrating end. Do you have less frustrating listener mail? It 531 00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:03,680 Speaker 1: is a frustra rating and I do have listener mail, 532 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,560 Speaker 1: and this is just a funny thing to end the 533 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:11,040 Speaker 1: episode on. This is from Carly. Carly said, Hi, Holly 534 00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: and Tracy. I'm so excited to finally be reaching out 535 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:15,240 Speaker 1: to you guys. My name is Carly and I'm a 536 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:19,120 Speaker 1: high school Spanish teacher. I discovered your podcast a couple 537 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,239 Speaker 1: of years ago when starting my masters and it has 538 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:23,959 Speaker 1: been a constant companion throughout the years. At least once 539 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:26,280 Speaker 1: a week I share a factor anecdote I heard in 540 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:28,640 Speaker 1: an episode that is totally interesting to me and may 541 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:31,080 Speaker 1: or may not be totally interesting to the other person. 542 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:33,680 Speaker 1: I wanted to reach out because on my way to 543 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:36,440 Speaker 1: school today I was listening to the episode on William Rice. 544 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:39,080 Speaker 1: At the point in the episode where William is trying 545 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:40,880 Speaker 1: to start a high school in Texas and has met 546 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:43,880 Speaker 1: with the response a quote stating that high school was 547 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:48,040 Speaker 1: quote high salute nonsense. I couldn't help but busting out laughing. 548 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: It was so funny to me to hear my career 549 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,120 Speaker 1: reduced to such a silly little statement. I then proceeded 550 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:56,520 Speaker 1: to giggle about it at regular intervals throughout the day. 551 00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 1: I think as we returned to beginning the school you're 552 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,120 Speaker 1: in her, so many teachers held onto the hope that 553 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:05,440 Speaker 1: things would be easier, which has unfortunately not been the case. 554 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:09,560 Speaker 1: Teaching in a mid slash post pandemic world has brought 555 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:12,880 Speaker 1: on an entirely new, unforeseen set of challenges that have 556 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,520 Speaker 1: been pushing us all. Thank you for bringing joy, learning, 557 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:18,960 Speaker 1: and a little silliness through this podcast. That has been 558 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,799 Speaker 1: my favorite way to unwind after a challenging day as 559 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:25,279 Speaker 1: of late. Best carly ps and sticking with the pet 560 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:27,600 Speaker 1: picks theme of your fan mail, attached to pictures of 561 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:30,480 Speaker 1: mine and my fiance's two for babies, Danny the Dog 562 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:36,359 Speaker 1: and Hank the Cat. Danny and Hank are very cute. Indeed, 563 00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:40,239 Speaker 1: Danny the Dog is on the couch, then Danny the 564 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:42,680 Speaker 1: and the and the couch are both brown and um 565 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 1: and It's one of those situations where the dog almost 566 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:48,759 Speaker 1: matches the couch, which is great, and then uh and 567 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:52,520 Speaker 1: then Hank the cat is under what looks like Christmas tree, 568 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:57,360 Speaker 1: little key cap present. It's very good. I love this email. 569 00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:01,560 Speaker 1: And I also had forgotten in the interim between recording 570 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:03,680 Speaker 1: that episode and when we got this email that I 571 00:35:03,719 --> 00:35:06,560 Speaker 1: had read or one of us had had read this 572 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:10,759 Speaker 1: quote about high school being high falutin nonsense. So when 573 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:13,120 Speaker 1: I saw an email that had the subject line high 574 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 1: falutin nonsense, I had this moment where I was like, Oh, 575 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:19,799 Speaker 1: I was like, oh no, that's the thing we said 576 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: on the show. Um, So thank you. I'm so glad 577 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,920 Speaker 1: that that that quote brightened your day. And thank you 578 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:32,080 Speaker 1: so much for sending these pet pictures. If you would 579 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:33,719 Speaker 1: like to write to us about this or any other 580 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 1: podcasts were History Podcast at I heart radio dot com. 581 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:40,440 Speaker 1: We're also all over social media at miss and History. 582 00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:43,799 Speaker 1: That's where you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. 583 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:46,719 Speaker 1: And you can subscribe to the show on the I 584 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,680 Speaker 1: heart Radio app or wherever else you get your podcasts. 585 00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:57,200 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of 586 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:00,879 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I Radio, visit 587 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:03,800 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you 588 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:09,279 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. H m hm