1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,280 Speaker 1: Hey, y'all, We're rerunning two episodes today, which means you 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: might hear two hosts. Enjoy the show. Welcome to this 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: Day in History Class from how Stuff Works dot com 4 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: and from the desk of Stuff you Missed in History Class. 5 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: It's the show where we explore the past one day 6 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: at a time with a quick look at what happened 7 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:23,960 Speaker 1: today in history. Hello, I'm Holly Fry and I am 8 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: sitting in this week for Tracy V. Wilson. It's December 9 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: twenty nine, and we were talking today about an event 10 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 1: that happened in eight which was the Wounded Knee massacre. 11 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 1: But first we have to talk about the Ghost Dance. 12 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: The Ghost Dance was a spiritual movement originally established in 13 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty nine by a piute dreamer called Wadswab and 14 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,559 Speaker 1: while in a trance state, Wadzuab dreamed that the spirits 15 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 1: of the departed we're going to return and make the 16 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: world into a paradise of eternal life without conflict among people's. 17 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: Based on his visions, he began to urge people to 18 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: perform a traditional round dance for a series of nights 19 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:04,040 Speaker 1: as a form of religious practice. This was intended to 20 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: connect to the land of the dead with the promise 21 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: that the souls of the departed would come back to 22 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 1: their loved ones in several years, and his ghost Dance, 23 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: as it was called, caught on and spread from Mason 24 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: Valley and Nevada to California and up the Pacific Coast. 25 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,759 Speaker 1: Wadzuab died in eighteen seventy two and the ghost Dance movement, 26 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: which was still in its infancy, faded out from practice. 27 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:30,479 Speaker 1: But that wasn't actually the end of the ghost dance. 28 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: It was revived by Jack Wilson, who also went by 29 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: Wovoca in the eighteen eighties after he had a vision 30 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: during an eclipse, and he began to preach to the 31 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: Paiute people that their deceased ancestors would return from the dead, 32 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 1: and that white people would eventually be gone from the earth, 33 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,560 Speaker 1: and that peace, health, and prosperity would return to the 34 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: Native American tribes. And to ensure that this cleansing and 35 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: transition to a new world of prosperity happened, according to Avoca, 36 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: the ghost Dance had to be performed for five nights 37 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: in a row, and then those five nights of dancing 38 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: repeated every six weeks now. At this point in history, 39 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: relations between Native Americans and the US government were not good. 40 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: The US had repeatedly broken treaty agreements virtually everyone they 41 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:18,359 Speaker 1: had signed with the Native Americans, and they also pushed 42 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:22,720 Speaker 1: Native Americans onto smaller and smaller parcels of land and reservations, 43 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: so that the land that they had lived on for 44 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,119 Speaker 1: in many cases years and years and years, could be seized. 45 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: The Ghost Dance was an entirely pacifist movement which forbade violence, 46 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: but just the same it terrified the U. S Government, 47 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,519 Speaker 1: which did not understand it. Over the course of eighteen 48 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: ninety there was increasing consternation on the part of the 49 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: government and military that this embrace of traditional customs and 50 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: the rejection of white culture would lead to trouble. From 51 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: the White Field Agent perspective, they saw large numbers of 52 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: Native Americans gathering, and they jumped to conclusions that they 53 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,959 Speaker 1: were doing something threatening. And by this point the Ghost 54 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: Dance had spread once again, and some of the Lakota 55 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: Sioux had begun to practice it. There had also been 56 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: an addition to the dance of so called ghost shirts 57 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: decorated with red paint and other ornamentation. Which they believed 58 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: would protect them from bullets fired by the guns of 59 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: white men. A large gathering of people traveled in December 60 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:25,239 Speaker 1: to see the Lakota leader, Sitting Bull, and practice the 61 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: ghost dance together. Believing that the Native Americans were practicing 62 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,919 Speaker 1: a war dance as a prelude to an uprising, Indian 63 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: agency police moved in to arrest Sitting Bowl on December fifteenth, 64 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: eight and this led to a fight in which Sitting 65 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: Bowl was killed. Two weeks later, a group of ghost dancers, 66 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: having fled Standing Rock Reservation we're Sitting Bull had been killed, 67 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: were captured and brought to a camp at Wounded Knee 68 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: Creek with the Lakota Sioux chief Spotted elk by the U. S. 69 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: Army seventh Cavalry that was on December. The camp was 70 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 1: surre funded by the military with an armed perimeter. On 71 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: the morning of the twenty nine, an Army colonel named 72 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: James Forsyth demanded that the Lakota disarm. There is conflicting 73 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: information as to how things unfurled from there. The Lakota 74 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: may have begun their ghost dance agitating the soldiers, but 75 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: we don't know for certain. A young Lakoda man named 76 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:26,720 Speaker 1: Black Coyote refused to disarm according to accounts by white soldiers, 77 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: but Lakoda accounts of the incident indicate that Black Coyote 78 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,239 Speaker 1: was deaf and he simply did not understand the command 79 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: to disarm. But as an attempt was made to forcibly 80 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 1: take Black coyotes rifle, the gun went off and this 81 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: catalyzed an intense short range firefight. Because of the close quarters, 82 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: some cavalry members were firing on their fellow soldiers at times, 83 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:52,840 Speaker 1: and when the whole thing ended less than an hour 84 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:55,839 Speaker 1: after it had begun, between one hundred and fifty and 85 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: three hundred Lakota were dead. Tabulation of that number is 86 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:03,480 Speaker 1: inn assistant. An estimated half of the Lakota who had 87 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,360 Speaker 1: been killed were women and children, and thirty one U 88 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: S cavalrymen were also killed. If you would like to 89 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 1: hear more about this tragic incident, there is an episode 90 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:14,720 Speaker 1: and the Stuff You Missed in History Class Archive by 91 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: previous hosts Sarah and Katie that was originally aired in 92 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 1: two thousand nine. I want to thank Chandler Mays and 93 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:24,160 Speaker 1: Casey Pegram for they're always amazing work on the audio 94 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: for this podcast, and if you would like to subscribe 95 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 1: to This Day in History Class, I encourage you to 96 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: do so. You can do that on Apple podcast, the 97 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:34,919 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts. 98 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:37,599 Speaker 1: You should also check in with This Day in History 99 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 1: Class tomorrow. But I'm afraid it is another tragedy. Hey everyone, 100 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 1: I'm getting some much needed R and R and the 101 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:55,239 Speaker 1: comfort of my home. But just because I'm resting doesn't 102 00:05:55,279 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: mean history stops. Let's get on with another episode. The 103 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:11,680 Speaker 1: day was December twenty nine, nineteen. Guatemalan President Alvaro Artistsu 104 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 1: and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity or U r n 105 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: G signed peace accords ending the thirty six year long 106 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 1: Guatemalan Civil War. In nineteen fifty four, the United States 107 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: Central Intelligence Agency back to coup to overthrow the democratically 108 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:35,280 Speaker 1: elected Guatemalan President Hukabo Artaban's right wing Guatemalan Army Colonel 109 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: Carlos Gustillo Artomas led the coup. American anti communist fear 110 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:44,560 Speaker 1: was at a high, and Artabans was deemed a communist threat. 111 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: He had legalized the Guatemalan Communist Party, and his land 112 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:53,920 Speaker 1: reform threatened major landowners, particularly the US based United Fruit 113 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: Company Ottomans was forced to resign and went into exile. 114 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 1: Artomas took power were in Guatemala and reversed reforms from 115 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 1: the last decade and returned land to the United Fruit Company. 116 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: Throughout the rest of the nineteen fifties, government corruption was common, 117 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: leftist political parties were banned, and poverty was rampant. Automas 118 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: was assassinated in nineteen fifty seven, but military personnel continued 119 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: to take power, but the Guatemalan Civil War did not 120 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: begin until November of nineteen sixty, when the country was 121 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: under the autocratic rule of General Das Fuentes. A group 122 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 1: of junior military officers attempted a revolt against the government 123 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: and failed, but some of them went into hiding and 124 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: established contact with Fidel Castro's Cuban government. By nineteen sixty two, 125 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 1: they had established an insurgent movement known as MR thirteen, 126 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: and from there the conflict escalated. Left wing guerrilla groups 127 00:07:55,840 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: began fighting government military forces. There were demonstrations, riots, and 128 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: strikes in Guatemala City. With the assistance of the U S, 129 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: the Guatemalan armed forces engaged in anti guerrilla warfare. The 130 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: conflict was especially brutal marked by violence, abductions, in state terror. 131 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty six, civilian rule was restored in Julio 132 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 1: Mendez Montenegro, the candidate of the Moderate Revolutionary Party, was 133 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 1: elected president, but violence and terror intensified as the army 134 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: launched a counterinsurgency campaign that broke up guerrillas in the countryside. 135 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,959 Speaker 1: Guerrilla attacks continued in Guatemala City, though after Colonel Carlos 136 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 1: Aarana Ossorio assumed the presidency in nineteen seventy, he declared 137 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:46,559 Speaker 1: a state of siege so that the military imposed more 138 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: control over civilians, including a curfew in home searches. Throughout 139 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:54,280 Speaker 1: the rest of the nineteen seventies, a series of military 140 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:58,680 Speaker 1: governments perpetrated violence against guerrilla groups and anyone who seemed 141 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 1: to support their cause. Guatemala's indigenous people had been subjected 142 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:05,959 Speaker 1: to discrimination over the years, and many of them fought 143 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: in the civil war. Their communities were hit hard in 144 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: the violence of the conflict. In nineteen eighty one, the 145 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: Inter American Human Rights Commission issued a report that said 146 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 1: the Guatemalan government was responsible for thousands of missing people 147 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:26,560 Speaker 1: and illegal executions Throughout the nineteen seventies, A particularly bloody 148 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: part of the civil war were the years under the 149 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: dictatorship of General Efrain Rios Monte. He resorted to using 150 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:38,080 Speaker 1: a scorched earth policy and indigenous Mayans were murdered in 151 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:42,079 Speaker 1: mass but the war he had pledged to end escalated, 152 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: and in August of nineteen eighty three, he was overthrown 153 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:51,160 Speaker 1: by General Oscar Umberto Mehia victories. The new president promised 154 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 1: a return to the democratic process. Two years later, a 155 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:58,520 Speaker 1: new constitution was approved and presidential elections resulted in the 156 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:04,679 Speaker 1: victory of civilian president Marco veniceore Arivalo. Peace talks between 157 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:08,439 Speaker 1: the government and rebels of the Guatemalan Revolutionary National Unity 158 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: began in nineteen ninety four, but the civil war raged 159 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: on until nineteen when President Alvaro Arsu was elected. He 160 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:21,440 Speaker 1: finalized the peace negotiations and on December twenty nine he 161 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: signed a peace agreement ending the Guatemalan Civil War. More 162 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:28,840 Speaker 1: than two hundred thousand people were killed over the course 163 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:31,679 Speaker 1: of the war. Most of the people who were killed 164 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 1: were Mayan. The army was responsible for the majority of 165 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: the human rights abuses committed. Rios mont was convicted of 166 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:44,320 Speaker 1: genocide and crimes against humanity, but his conviction was later overturned. 167 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:48,040 Speaker 1: A court later ruled that he would not be sentenced 168 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 1: if found guilty in a retrial due to his simility. 169 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:55,840 Speaker 1: He died in eighteen while his child was ongoing. The 170 00:10:55,880 --> 00:11:01,560 Speaker 1: effects of the war resounded into the twenty one century. Poverty, crime, violence, 171 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:06,520 Speaker 1: and human rights violations continue to plague the country. I'm 172 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: each Jeff Cote and hopefully you know a little more 173 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. And if you 174 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:15,079 Speaker 1: want to hit us up on social media, you can 175 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:19,160 Speaker 1: do so on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at t d 176 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:22,720 Speaker 1: I h C Podcast. If you want to email us, 177 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: you can reach us at this Day at I heart 178 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:30,000 Speaker 1: media dot com. Thanks again for listening and we'll see 179 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:39,160 Speaker 1: you again tomorrow. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 180 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:41,880 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 181 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:43,080 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.