1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,040 Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, Technically you're getting two days in history today 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:05,800 Speaker 1: because we're running two episodes from the History Vault. I 3 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:10,960 Speaker 1: hope you enjoy. Hi. I'm Eves, and welcome to this 4 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: Day in History Class, a show that uncovers history one 5 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: day at a time. The day was February eight. US 6 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: President Grover Cleveland signed into law the DAWs General Allotment Act. 7 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: Before the DAWs Act was passed, Native American tribes controlled 8 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: their reservation lands, but with this new policy, lands that 9 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: were held in common by tribe members would now be 10 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: divided among individual Native Americans. The intent behind the DAWs 11 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: Act was for Natives to be responded, stable for their 12 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: own farms and become what the U. S Government considered 13 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:10,199 Speaker 1: upstanding members of American society. Because of the law, Native 14 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 1: Americans would become US citizens who were subject to US laws, 15 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: and the government would no longer have to tend to 16 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: his tribal relations so carefully. Another major goal of the 17 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 1: act was to transfer tribal lands to white Americans. The 18 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:29,760 Speaker 1: act called for any lands not allotted to Natives to 19 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: be put up for public sale, with the money made 20 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: from the sale going towards tribal education. Many non Natives 21 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:43,119 Speaker 1: thought that the assimilation of Native Americans into white society 22 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:47,040 Speaker 1: would be a benefit for natives. If they abandoned their 23 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: tribal ways of life, then Natives would be civilized and 24 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:55,520 Speaker 1: saved from their own barbarity. But Native Americans didn't really 25 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: read many benefits from this process of assimilation. The DAWs 26 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: Act is named after a chief author, Senator Henry DAWs 27 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 1: from Massachusetts. DAWs believed that when people owned property, it 28 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 1: could help civilize them and convinced them to accept the 29 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: laws of the government, so the senator spots the DAWs Act. 30 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,359 Speaker 1: The Act said that heads of household would get a 31 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: hundred and sixty acres or sixty five hectares. Single adults 32 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 1: and orphans would get eighty acres, and children would get 33 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:36,519 Speaker 1: forty acres. At first, married women weren't given any land, 34 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 1: though the law was later changed to assign equal allotments 35 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 1: to all people. Tribe members were given four years to 36 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: select the land they wanted, and if they didn't do 37 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: so within the specified time, the government would make the 38 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: selection for them. The DAWs Act also said that the 39 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,959 Speaker 1: US would hold the allotted land and trust for twenty 40 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: five years and only then with the full title to 41 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:06,119 Speaker 1: the land and US citizenship be granted to the Native American. 42 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: The idea was that during this twenty five years, the 43 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: tribe member in charge of the allotment would get accustomed 44 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 1: to owning and farming the land and stray further from 45 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:21,800 Speaker 1: their traditional communal way of life. In Section eight of 46 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,360 Speaker 1: the Act specified territories and tribes that would not be 47 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: affected by the law, which included tribes in Indian Territory, 48 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: which is generally the area of the central United States, 49 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: the Oklahoma Territory, reservations of the Seneca Nation of New York, 50 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: and a strip of territory in Nebraska. But the US 51 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: created the DAWs Commission in eight to convince the so 52 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: called Five Civilized Tribes, or the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, 53 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: and Seminoles, to give up their land and partition it 54 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: into individual allotments, and in eight the US passed the 55 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: Curtis Act, which allotted land to tribal members in exchange 56 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: for abolishing their tribal governments. The Act required natives to 57 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: claim membership in one tribe and register on the DAWs 58 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: rolls to receive their land allotment. Today, many people insist 59 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 1: that proponents of the DAWs Act truly thought the law 60 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:29,479 Speaker 1: would be good for the welfare of Native American people. 61 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 1: Critics say the Act was mainly a greedy land grab. 62 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 1: Either way, the DAWs Act did more harm to Native 63 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: Americans than it did good. The DAWs Act and later 64 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: extensions of the Act broke up communities and separated Natives 65 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 1: from many of their cultural practices. Many tribe members were 66 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: not interested in agriculture and living a sedentary life, and 67 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: weren't equipped with the knowledge, money, or supplies to do so. 68 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: Much of the land Native Americans had been allotted was 69 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: arid and semi arid desert that was not suitable for farming. 70 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:13,840 Speaker 1: Sometimes children inherited land that they couldn't farm because they 71 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: were away at boarding school. Many of the allotments lost 72 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:23,919 Speaker 1: value because of bad least arrangements and tax foreclosures. In 73 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: the nineteen oh six Work Act gave the Secretary of 74 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:32,279 Speaker 1: the Interior the authority to deem Native Americans competent or 75 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: incompetent of handling affairs for their allotment, so the government 76 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:40,839 Speaker 1: had the power to sell a looted lands. As a result, 77 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: many Natives had their land taken or sold their land 78 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:50,040 Speaker 1: to white buyers. The DAWs Act remained effective until nineteen 79 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: thirty four, when the U. S. Indian Reorganization Act or 80 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:58,920 Speaker 1: the Wheeler Howard Act ended the land allotment policy and 81 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,720 Speaker 1: allowed tribes to organize their self governments again. But by 82 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:07,840 Speaker 1: then Native American tribes had already lost a ton of 83 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: their land and natural resources. They went from owning a 84 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,480 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty five million acres in eight one to 85 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: forty eight million acres in nineteen thirty four. And even 86 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: though the allotment process ended nearly a century ago, Native 87 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: Americans in the US today still feel its effects. I'm 88 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: Eve Steathcote and hopefully you know a little bit more 89 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. You can subscribe 90 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: to This Day in History Class on Apple Podcasts, the 91 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, or wherever you get your podcasts. 92 00:06:46,120 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 1: We'll see you here in the same place tomorrow. Hey, y'all, 93 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 1: I'm Eves and you're listening to This Day in History Class, 94 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: a podcast for people interested in the big and small 95 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: moments in history. The day was February eighth, nineteen o nine. 96 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 1: Belgian chemist Leo Bakeland announced his invention of bake light 97 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 1: to the public. Bake Light was the first truly synthetic resin. 98 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 1: Bakeland was born in Ghent, Belgium, in eighteen sixty three. 99 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: He got his Bachelor of Science at the University of Ghent, 100 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: and a couple of years later he received his Doctorate 101 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: of Science. Bakerland invented Velox photographic paper, and by the 102 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 1: late nineteenth century he was wealthy. He sold his Velox 103 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: paper rights to Eastman Kodak for a million dollars, and 104 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: at that point he moved into his snug Rock estate 105 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: in Yonker's, New York. There he had a home laboratory 106 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: where he worked with his assistant Nathaniel Thurlow. In the lab, 107 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: Bakeland began experimenting with combinations of phenol and formaldehyde. Years earlier, 108 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: scientists experimenting with the substances reported that the combination formed 109 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: a hard material. Other chemists had been working with phenol 110 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: and formaldehyde to create a material that could compete commercially 111 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: with celluloid, but they were unsuccessful. Bakeland and Thurlow began 112 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: working on creating a synthetic shellac. Since natural shellac was 113 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: in short supply. Shellac was used to insulate electrical cables, 114 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: but since it was made from a residin secreted by 115 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: a bug, there wasn't enough of it to meet demand. 116 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:47,160 Speaker 1: They did create a phenol formaldehyde shellac called novoalak, but 117 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,559 Speaker 1: it flopped. They switched gears to creating a synthetic resin 118 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:55,040 Speaker 1: that could be infused in wood to strengthen it. Bakeland 119 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 1: started writing in a new laboratory notebook in June of 120 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 1: nineteen o seven, docum minting the test using the mixture 121 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,840 Speaker 1: on wood. In his June nineteenth entry, he wrote the 122 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:09,800 Speaker 1: following in part. All these tests were conducted and concentrated 123 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: horizontal digester, and the apparatus was reasonably tight. Yet the 124 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: surface of the blocks of wood does not feel hard, 125 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 1: although a small part of gum that has oozed out 126 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: is very hard. At first he called the substance substance D, 127 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: but soon he began referring to it as bake light 128 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: with two a's. In a lecture he gave to the 129 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 1: New York section of the American Chemical Society on February eighth, 130 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:39,199 Speaker 1: nineteen o nine, Bakerland announced his invention. In it, he said, 131 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:42,080 Speaker 1: by the use of small amounts of basses I have 132 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: succeeded in preparing a solid initial condensation product, the properties 133 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:52,440 Speaker 1: of which simplify enormously all molding operations. Bakeland took out 134 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 1: more than four hundred patterns related to bake light. He 135 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: started a production in his laboratory using a machine called 136 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:02,440 Speaker 1: a bake lay sir that subjected early stages of the 137 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: product to heat and pressure, but when demands got higher, 138 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: he formed a company to manufacture and market his product. 139 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:14,679 Speaker 1: Bakelit was easily molded in less expensive to make than celluloid. 140 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 1: It also kept his shape once it was molded. At first, 141 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: bakelit was used in the automotive and electrical industries and 142 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: products like radios and light bulb sockets, but soon it 143 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:31,680 Speaker 1: proved useful for accessories, jewelry, and household items. The bakelit 144 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 1: was eventually outclassed by other materials. The invention of bake 145 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: light kick started a wave that made synthetic plastics ubiquitous 146 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: in households and businesses everywhere. I'm eave Chef Cote, and 147 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: hopefully you know a little more about history today than 148 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:49,720 Speaker 1: you did yesterday. If there's something I missed in the 149 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: show today, you can let us know At t d 150 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: i h C Podcast on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. And 151 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:01,440 Speaker 1: if if you would like to write me a letter, 152 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: you can scan it, turn it into a PDF, and 153 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:07,720 Speaker 1: send it to us via email at this day at 154 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:11,560 Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks for listening and we'll see you 155 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 1: again tomorrow. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit 156 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:23,160 Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 157 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.