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 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:17,760 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy Biebelson and I'm Holly Fry. Today we are 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:22,440 Speaker 1: going to talk about Methodist minister William APIs and sometimes 5 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: he has described as the first Native Americans to publish 6 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: their own book length autobiography. That doesn't really capture the 7 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: full scope of it, though, because it kind of makes 8 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: it sound like his biggest achievement was like meeting an 9 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: arbitrary European standard of success. His whole body of work, though, 10 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:45,879 Speaker 1: including that autobiography in a way turned that whole idea 11 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 1: on its head. He was using European rhetoric as a 12 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: tool to demonstrate the shared humanity of indigenous people and 13 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: to advocate for autonomy and self determination, and also to 14 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: point out a lot of injustice and hypocrisy on the 15 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 1: part of white society and in particular white Christians. This 16 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,679 Speaker 1: episode turned into an accidental two parter, largely because there 17 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: were so many things in that body of written work 18 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: that I wanted to include. So today we're going to 19 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,039 Speaker 1: talk about the first part of William APIs Is life, 20 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: That is the part that was covered in his autobiography, 21 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: and that lay the ground for his later work and 22 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:28,800 Speaker 1: his later advocacy. Heads up, though this episode includes some 23 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: violent racism and also the abuse of a child, and 24 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about apises struggles with alcohol. William 25 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: Apes was born William Apes with one S on January 26 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: in cole Raine, Massachusetts. He added that second s to 27 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: his last name as an adult. Cole Raine is north 28 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: of Northampton and amershed right on the border with Vermont. 29 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: William's father was also named William and had both Peaquat 30 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: and European ancestry. The elder William was a shoemaker, and 31 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 1: like other men in their extended family, he had served 32 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:08,960 Speaker 1: as a soldier. William Apis's mother is usually described as 33 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: his father's wife, Candice, who probably had both Indigenous and 34 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: African ancestry, but it's possible that Candice was really the 35 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:21,080 Speaker 1: younger William's stepmother. She was enslaved by a man that 36 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: William's father worked for. That was Captain Joseph Taylor of Colchester, Connecticut. 37 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: Taylor manumitted Candice in eighteen o five, and it's not 38 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: really likely that she would have been in Coleraine before 39 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: that point. Because Corraine and Colchester were roughly ninety miles 40 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: apart and in two different states. William Apis's autobiography definitively 41 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: says that he was born in Coleraine, though, and that 42 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: the family moved to Colchester after that. Apes's autobiography also 43 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: says that his grandmother told him he was descended from 44 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: Wapanog's Satan Metacomet, who Colonists called King Philip, but he 45 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 1: doesn't describe meta Comet as Wampanog. He describes him as Peaquat, 46 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:07,839 Speaker 1: and these are two different Algonquian speaking people's. This error 47 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: likely came from the work of Elias Boudino, a white 48 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: politician and president of the Second Continental Congress. Boudino wrote 49 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: a book called A Star in the West or A 50 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: Humble Attempt to Discover the long Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, 51 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,679 Speaker 1: preparatory to their return to their beloved city, Jerusalem, and 52 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:30,359 Speaker 1: that book argued that North America's indigenous peoples were descended 53 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:35,160 Speaker 1: from a lost tribe of Jews. Aps reworked portions of 54 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: this book into an appendix in the second edition of 55 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 1: his autobiography. So if this is indeed an error that 56 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: APIs picked up from Buddin. No, there's some irony here 57 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:49,640 Speaker 1: because when Apis's autobiography was first published, critics took note 58 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 1: of it and they used this error as evidence that 59 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: Indigenous people's recording of their own history was wrong. But 60 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: that was not Apis's recording of his own street. Buddino, 61 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: who had written that error, was white. And just to 62 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: be clear in case this name is ringing a bell 63 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: for anybody, there's also a Cherokee man who adopted Elias 64 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 1: Buddino's name after meeting him. We actually talked about this 65 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: other Elias Boudino on the show before in our episode 66 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: on the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut, and he 67 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: is also going to come up in part two of 68 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: this episode. There has been a lot of writing about 69 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: whether this was intentional on apes Is part or just 70 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:34,479 Speaker 1: a simple error picked up from Buddino's work, or whether 71 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: it was a rhetorical device, or whether Apes had a 72 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: Peaquat ancestor who took refuge with the Wampanag after the 73 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,840 Speaker 1: Peaquot War in sixteen thirty six and sixteen thirty seven, 74 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: in which hundreds of Peaquats were killed. Many of the 75 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: Peaquat survivors of that war were enslaved by the colonists, 76 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: and many of those who were not took refuge with 77 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:59,840 Speaker 1: other Algonquian speaking nations. Or perhaps it was that a 78 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,240 Speaker 1: Bess's mother was Peaquat and his father was Watanagh. What 79 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: is clearest is that Aps identified himself as both Peaquat 80 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 1: and as a descendant of King Philip. There is a 81 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: bit more on the Peaquot War and on meta comment 82 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: in our episode on King Philip's War from February nine 83 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,840 Speaker 1: that will also come up again in Part two. So 84 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: to return to William's childhood, something seems to have caused 85 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 1: a rift in the family. After they got to Colchester. 86 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: They were incredibly poor, and William's parents were trying to 87 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,920 Speaker 1: support the family, primarily by making baskets that they could 88 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: sell to white people, and that was one of only 89 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,040 Speaker 1: a very few ways that most indigenous people in the 90 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 1: area were able to earn an income. His parents ultimately separated, 91 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 1: and his father went back to Coleraine. Candice then left William, 92 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: along with two brothers and two sisters with her parents. 93 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 1: In his autobiography, Apes describes this as a time of 94 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:03,360 Speaker 1: cruelty and deprivation. Sation with both his grandparents misusing alcohol 95 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:07,720 Speaker 1: and neglecting him and his siblings. Then, when he was four, 96 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: his grandmother beat him severely. His uncle was living with 97 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: them and managed to get William away from her, and 98 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,039 Speaker 1: he went to a white neighbor named David Furman for help. 99 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: Furman had already shown interest in the family, doing things 100 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:25,840 Speaker 1: like bringing milk for the children. When Ferman realized that 101 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: William's arm was broken in three places, he went to 102 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:31,479 Speaker 1: the town's select board and he asked to have William 103 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:36,919 Speaker 1: and his siblings removed from their grandparents care. In his autobiography, 104 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 1: APIs wrote of this quote, I suppose that the reader 105 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: will naturally say, what savage creatures my grandparents were to 106 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: treat unoffending or helpless children in this manner. But this 107 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: treatment was the effect of some cause. I attribute it 108 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: in part to the whites, because they introduced among my 109 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: countrymen ardent spirits, seduced them into a love for it, 110 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:02,360 Speaker 1: and when under its bail full influence, wronged them out 111 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: of their lawful possessions that land where reposed the ashes 112 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: of their sires. The day to day lives of William 113 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: and his siblings seemed to have been somewhat more stable, 114 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 1: with the Furmans than they were with their grandparents. He 115 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: describes the Furman family as treating them tenderly and like 116 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: their own children. This was also when William got his 117 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: only formal education, attending a school for black children during 118 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: the winter. This was the typical schedule for boys, since 119 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: they had to work during the warmer months. William went 120 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: to the school for six winters at the same time. 121 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: Though William's account of his time with the Furman's includes 122 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: multiple instances in which his treatment was far from tender. 123 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:50,040 Speaker 1: Furman's discipline could be harsh, including flogging or threatening to 124 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: flog him. At one point, William was sick and the 125 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: doctor couldn't figure out the cause, and David Furman decided 126 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,040 Speaker 1: it was the work of the devil when he tried 127 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: to whip the sick this out of him with a 128 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:05,119 Speaker 1: birch branch. The Furmans were also Christians, and they raised 129 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:09,200 Speaker 1: William and his siblings as Christian while also generally trying 130 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 1: to assimilate them into white society, and a lot of 131 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: what William heard about indigenous people while living there was negative. 132 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 1: He was threatened with being sent quote to the Indians 133 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: in the woods as a punishment if he misbehaved, and 134 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: most of the people around him described indigenous people as 135 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:31,040 Speaker 1: savage and dangerous. He internalized all of this to the 136 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:33,400 Speaker 1: point that when he saw some women in the woods 137 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:37,880 Speaker 1: while out gathering berries, women he described as having complexions 138 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: quote dark as that of the natives, he was terrified 139 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:44,760 Speaker 1: of them and he fled. William managed to maintain at 140 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:47,719 Speaker 1: least some connection to his Peaquat identity in spite of 141 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: all of this, but it was clearly traumatic and very alienating. 142 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 1: William's relationship with the Furmans evolved into an indenture as 143 00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:59,840 Speaker 1: William got older. We'll talk about that after a quick sponsor. 144 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: When William and his siblings were removed from their grandparents care, 145 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:17,200 Speaker 1: they essentially became wards of the town, and this evolved 146 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,319 Speaker 1: into an indenture. They were expected to work to pay 147 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: for their room and board until they reached the age 148 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:24,719 Speaker 1: of twenty one, and the amount of work that was 149 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: expected of them increased as they got older. This was 150 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: a fairly typical way for communities in this part of 151 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: New England to manage children who, for whatever reason, we're 152 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,719 Speaker 1: not in the care of their families. This wasn't the 153 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:41,400 Speaker 1: same as an apprenticeship, though an apprenticeship would have at 154 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:44,719 Speaker 1: least left children like William with skills and training that 155 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 1: they could use potentially to support themselves as adults. But 156 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 1: they mostly did basic chores and manual labor. So although 157 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:55,120 Speaker 1: David Ferman was a barrel maker, he was not training 158 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: William to be the same. He was just using Williams labor. 159 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:01,439 Speaker 1: When William got to the age of about eleven, he 160 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:06,000 Speaker 1: started rebelling against the Furman's expectations of him. He made 161 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: friends with some older boys who encouraged him to get 162 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:12,679 Speaker 1: into some petty misbehavior, so things like stealing melons from 163 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:16,719 Speaker 1: somebody else's field. This raised more tensions between him and 164 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:20,439 Speaker 1: the Furman's But another source of tension was on the 165 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:24,199 Speaker 1: opposite end of the spectrum from stealing melons. As we 166 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,360 Speaker 1: said earlier, the Furmans were raising William and his siblings 167 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:31,080 Speaker 1: as Christians. When he was about eight years old, William 168 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 1: also started attending meetings of a group he called quote 169 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:38,200 Speaker 1: the Christians. These may have been followers of Eliah Smith, 170 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: who founded a denomination called the Christian Connection. Through attending 171 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: these meetings, William resolved to try to live a better 172 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,959 Speaker 1: and more righteous life, but he also became so fond 173 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 1: of going to these meetings that David Ferman finally forbade 174 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:57,079 Speaker 1: him from doing it anymore. The tensions between William and 175 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: Furman became more complicated when Furman's mother in law died. 176 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:05,080 Speaker 1: William had been extremely fond of her. One of William's 177 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:09,120 Speaker 1: older friends finally persuaded him to run away, but then 178 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: told Ferman about their plan. At this point, Furman seems 179 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 1: to have gotten tired of dealing with all of this, 180 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: and he sold the remaining time on William's indenture to 181 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:23,120 Speaker 1: Judge William Hillhouse, who lived in another town. This also 182 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 1: didn't work out. Hill House was devoutly Presbyterian and that 183 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:31,960 Speaker 1: was one of the more traditional denominations. William still wanted 184 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: to attend the meetings of this group he described as 185 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,840 Speaker 1: the Christians, and that was considered a lot more unorthodox. 186 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:42,000 Speaker 1: William went to meetings over hill Houses objections, and at 187 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:44,679 Speaker 1: one point he learned his father was living nearby and 188 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:47,760 Speaker 1: went to see him. This was something that William did 189 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: at multiple points in his life, often when he was 190 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,520 Speaker 1: struggling or otherwise kind of unsettled. He didn't get to 191 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 1: spend a lot of time with his father, but he 192 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:57,439 Speaker 1: did find a way to go see him at several 193 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 1: of his lowest points. William Father, though, sent him back 194 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: to hill House, who then sold the remaining time on 195 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: his indenture to General William Williams of New London, Connecticut. 196 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: Williams was also devoutly Presbyterian and required William Apes to 197 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: attend Presbyterian services rather than the meetings that he was 198 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:24,040 Speaker 1: more interested in, so his disputes over religion continued. Around 199 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:27,679 Speaker 1: the same time, Methodists started holding meetings in the area, 200 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:29,960 Speaker 1: and William went to some of them, and he found 201 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 1: what he heard they're really appealing. In the early nineteenth century, 202 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:37,080 Speaker 1: Methodists were more open some black and indigenous members than 203 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:41,559 Speaker 1: some other denominations. There were efforts specifically to preach to 204 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: these communities, and the congregations that William saw were often 205 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:50,200 Speaker 1: racially integrated. APIs wrote in his autobiography, quote, I felt 206 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:55,559 Speaker 1: convinced that Christ died for all mankind, that age, sect, color, country, 207 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:59,559 Speaker 1: or situation made no difference. I felt an assurance that 208 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:03,200 Speaker 1: I was included in the plan of redemption with all 209 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:06,679 Speaker 1: my brethren. And he used the term brethren all through 210 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 1: his autobiography to mean other indigenous people. On March thirteenth thirteen, 211 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: at the age of fifteen, William had the first of 212 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:19,839 Speaker 1: a series of epiphanies. While working in the garden, a 213 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: voice whispered to him, quote, Arise, thy, sins, which were many, 214 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 1: are all forgiven. Thee go in peace and sin no more. 215 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:33,079 Speaker 1: But the family of General William Williams was deeply opposed 216 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:37,360 Speaker 1: to William Apis's increasing religious devotion. They told him he 217 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 1: was too young to be making these kinds of decisions 218 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:43,000 Speaker 1: for himself, and started refusing to allow him to go 219 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:47,559 Speaker 1: to Methodist meetings. They gave him permission to attend only sometimes, 220 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: and then pretty grudgingly. William finally decided to leave with 221 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 1: another boy named John. They took all of the money 222 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:58,319 Speaker 1: that William had and they headed for New York. However, 223 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 1: one of the first things they spent some of William's 224 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:03,760 Speaker 1: money on was a bottle of rum, which was the 225 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 1: start of his lifelong struggle with alcohol. Once William and 226 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:10,600 Speaker 1: John finally got to New York, John got a job 227 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:13,960 Speaker 1: on a sailing vessel and he left William defend for himself. 228 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,839 Speaker 1: William did this by enlisting in the militia. This was 229 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:20,440 Speaker 1: during the War of eighteen twelve, and it's possible that 230 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:23,360 Speaker 1: he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps by becoming 231 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: a soldier, but at the age of only fifteen, he 232 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:30,320 Speaker 1: wasn't considered old enough to actually fight. He told recruiters 233 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:33,760 Speaker 1: he was seventeen. They did not seem to have believed that, 234 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:36,720 Speaker 1: because they made him a drummer. He wrote of this 235 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: time quote, I became almost as bad as any of them, 236 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: could drink rum, play cards, and act as wickedly as 237 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: any I was at times tormented with the thoughts of death, 238 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 1: but God had mercy on me and spared my life. 239 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: In spite of his age, he also wound up in combat. 240 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:57,480 Speaker 1: In his mind, this change from drummer to fighting infantry 241 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: violated the terms of his enlistment. He tried to leave, 242 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:05,040 Speaker 1: but he was captured and charged with desertion. He fought 243 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: in the Battle of Plattsburgh, also called the Battle of 244 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: Lake Champlain in September of eighteen fourteen. This was a 245 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: joint operation between the Army and Navy and was a 246 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,600 Speaker 1: decisive US victory that led to the end of the war. 247 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:21,520 Speaker 1: Aps and the rest of his unit remained in Plattsburgh 248 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: until after the Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 249 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 1: eighteen fourteen. The end of the war was complicated for APIs. 250 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:33,280 Speaker 1: He described some of his fellow soldiers abandoning their posts 251 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: as soon as they knew the war was over, and 252 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:39,720 Speaker 1: Apis's account, he waited until he had obtained a formal release, 253 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: but he didn't receive the compensation he had been promised 254 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:47,800 Speaker 1: when he enlisted that included forty dollars of bounty, fifteen 255 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:52,320 Speaker 1: months of salary, and sixty acres of land. Aps attributed 256 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 1: this nonpayment to racism, that he and the other indigenous 257 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: men who had fought alongside him were denied their compensation 258 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: and their rights of citizenship because they were Native. He 259 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:06,640 Speaker 1: does not seem to have understood that this so called 260 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:10,320 Speaker 1: bounty land other veterans were receiving had been seized from 261 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 1: indigenous peoples in Illinois, Missouri, in Arkansas. APIs spent the 262 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:19,080 Speaker 1: next stretch of his life in parts of Ontario, Canada, 263 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 1: and in western New York, much of it among indigenous people. 264 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: His account isn't specific, but they were likely among the 265 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 1: five nations of the Hoddenishawni Confederacy. Some of what he 266 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:32,680 Speaker 1: had witnessed as a soldier had been really gruesome, and 267 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 1: he said these images stayed with him for the rest 268 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 1: of his life. He tried to cope with this and 269 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,680 Speaker 1: with the just huge amount of trauma from his earlier 270 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 1: life through drinking, and then he struggled when he tried 271 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:47,160 Speaker 1: to stop. He did odd jobs, traveling from place to 272 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 1: place wherever he could find a few months of work, 273 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:54,080 Speaker 1: and attending Methodist meetings where he found them. This period 274 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:57,480 Speaker 1: of his autobiography reads a little like two steps forward, 275 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: one step back, sometimes finding him self in the company 276 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: of spiritual people who helped him refocus his life, but 277 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: other times with people who were often intoxicated or otherwise struggling. 278 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: Things really seemed to change after he returned to Massachusetts, 279 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: which we will get to After a sponsor break. In 280 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:27,919 Speaker 1: the fall of eighteen eighteen, William APIs made his way 281 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,560 Speaker 1: to Groton, Massachusetts, which is northwest of Boston. His aunt, 282 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:35,399 Speaker 1: Sally George lived there. He was reunited with her and 283 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:38,680 Speaker 1: with multiple other members of his family, most of whom 284 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:41,439 Speaker 1: had not seen him in years. A lot of them 285 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,119 Speaker 1: had thought that he must be dead. His aunt was Methodist, 286 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,360 Speaker 1: and he went to Methodist meetings with her. Of everybody 287 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:50,399 Speaker 1: in his family. She really seems to have been the 288 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:54,920 Speaker 1: most supportive of his spiritual pursuits, but it was still hard. 289 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:58,680 Speaker 1: In his words, quote, my soul was weighed down on 290 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:03,639 Speaker 1: account of my many transgressions. Eventually, though, Aps started to 291 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 1: feel that he had been called for a spiritual purpose, 292 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:09,480 Speaker 1: first by feeling that it was his duty to call 293 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,680 Speaker 1: sinners to repentance. Having come to this realization at a 294 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:18,000 Speaker 1: camp meeting, quote, I found all impediment of speech removed, 295 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:22,639 Speaker 1: My heart was enlarged, my soul glowed with holy fervor, 296 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:26,160 Speaker 1: and the blessing of the Almighty sanctified this my first 297 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:30,200 Speaker 1: public attempt to warn sinners of their danger and invite 298 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,159 Speaker 1: them to the marriage supper of the Lamb. I was 299 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: now in my proper element, just harnessed for the work, 300 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:40,120 Speaker 1: with the fire of divine love burning on my heart. 301 00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:45,040 Speaker 1: In December of eighteen eighteen, APIs was baptized. Not long 302 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:47,680 Speaker 1: after that, he went to visit family in Coleraine, and 303 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:50,720 Speaker 1: their quote, the Lord moved upon my heart and a 304 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: peculiarly powerful manner, and by it I was led to 305 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:57,720 Speaker 1: believe that I was called to preach the gospel. This 306 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:00,960 Speaker 1: wasn't just about his own well being. He saw that 307 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: a lot of other Indigenous people were also struggling and 308 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,320 Speaker 1: thought many of them were being harmed by white missionaries 309 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 1: who didn't actually care for their well being. So this 310 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:14,840 Speaker 1: gets a little complicated. In previous episodes of the show, 311 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:20,480 Speaker 1: we have talked about multiple efforts to use religion, specifically Christianity, 312 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:24,040 Speaker 1: as a tool to quote assimilate Indigenous people into the 313 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:28,119 Speaker 1: white world and places like the residential schools in the 314 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,919 Speaker 1: US and the boarding schools in Canada. Christianization was an 315 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,639 Speaker 1: act of cultural genocide and a means for separating Indigenous 316 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:39,440 Speaker 1: students from their families and their tribal and cultural heritage. 317 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:42,960 Speaker 1: Himself had lived through this on kind of a more 318 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,720 Speaker 1: limited level by being taken from his grandparents care in 319 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 1: place with a white family who were trying to do 320 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 1: a lot of the same thing. But APIs is approach 321 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:55,119 Speaker 1: to all of this was slightly different. He believed that 322 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 1: the indigenous people of North America were one of the 323 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:02,120 Speaker 1: ten Lost tribes of Israel, had disappeared after being attacked 324 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:06,880 Speaker 1: by the Assyrians in seven b C. So he saw 325 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:10,480 Speaker 1: Christianity as part of his indigeneity, and he used it 326 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:14,440 Speaker 1: as part of his advocacy for indigenous rights and tribal sovereignty. 327 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:18,199 Speaker 1: He thought the indigenous population of North America had an 328 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: ancestry and a heritage that stretched all the way back 329 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:25,760 Speaker 1: to the Biblical creation, and that God cared about people's souls, 330 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:30,480 Speaker 1: which were equally worthy, not their skin. In his words quote, 331 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:32,760 Speaker 1: the proper term which ought to be applied to our 332 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:35,959 Speaker 1: nation to distinguish it from the rest of the human family, 333 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:39,440 Speaker 1: is that of natives. And I humbly conceived that the 334 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,440 Speaker 1: natives of this country are the only people under heaven 335 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,919 Speaker 1: who have a just title to the name, inasmuch as 336 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,040 Speaker 1: we are the only people who retained the original complexion 337 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: of our father Adam. So to add to the complexity here, 338 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:58,120 Speaker 1: white people also used this same idea to justify everything 339 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:03,159 Speaker 1: from forced removals of gigenous people to genocide. The Assyrian 340 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 1: attack which we just referenced had been framed as a 341 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:09,680 Speaker 1: divine punishment of the tribes because they had turned away 342 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:14,280 Speaker 1: from the Hebrew God. So under this mindset, Native Americans 343 00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:17,159 Speaker 1: had done that. And we're also Jewish, which meant that 344 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,200 Speaker 1: anti Semitism played a role in all of this. The 345 00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:25,080 Speaker 1: lost tribes idea also undermined the cultures and the accomplishments 346 00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:28,439 Speaker 1: of indigenous nations by sort of explaining them away as 347 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: having really come from Judaism. This is all sort of 348 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: akin to claiming that indigenous works of art and architecture 349 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,320 Speaker 1: were really the work of aliens, and it also has 350 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,320 Speaker 1: parallels to the use of biblical arguments to justify the 351 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:45,840 Speaker 1: institution of slavery. Apes, though, was seeing all of this 352 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 1: as part of indigenous people's inherent worth and place in 353 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:52,720 Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God equal to that of white people. 354 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,560 Speaker 1: At the same time as Apes was starting his work 355 00:21:56,600 --> 00:22:00,159 Speaker 1: as an itinerant preacher, he was also working through a 356 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: lot from his earlier life. In his autobiography, he wrote 357 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:07,600 Speaker 1: about living through a lot of indoctrination and shame, and 358 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: it's clear that over the years that he was being 359 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: fostered and indentured, and then when he was a soldier, 360 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:18,160 Speaker 1: he had internalized a lot of anti indigenous stereotypes. For example, 361 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:21,280 Speaker 1: he wrote quote, I thought it disgraceful to be called 362 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,399 Speaker 1: an Indian. It was considered as a slur upon an 363 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,640 Speaker 1: oppressed and scattered nation, and I have often been led 364 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,040 Speaker 1: to inquire where the whites received this word which they 365 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,680 Speaker 1: so often threw as an opprobrious epithet at the sons 366 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,639 Speaker 1: of the forest. I could not find it in the Bible, 367 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,720 Speaker 1: and therefore concluded that it was a word imported for 368 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 1: the special purpose of degrading us. But ultimately he saw 369 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:48,120 Speaker 1: the souls of all humanity is having the same inherent 370 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 1: connection to God. And his experience of the missionary, which 371 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:55,320 Speaker 1: was published later on as part of his work The 372 00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:59,280 Speaker 1: Experience of Five Christian Indians of the Pequa Tribe, he wrote, quote, 373 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,679 Speaker 1: a white man finds so much fault because God has 374 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:05,720 Speaker 1: made us. Thus, Yet if I have any vanity about it, 375 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 1: I choose to remain as I am and praise my 376 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:13,119 Speaker 1: Maker while I live that Indians he has made. In 377 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 1: December of eight twenty one, Apes married a woman named 378 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:20,280 Speaker 1: Mary Wood of Salem, Connecticut, who was about ten years 379 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:24,040 Speaker 1: older than he was. Some sources describe her as white, 380 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,800 Speaker 1: but Apes describes her as quote nearly the same color 381 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,640 Speaker 1: as myself. They had met at a Methodist meeting where 382 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: he was preaching, and they went on to have at 383 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: least two children. They established a home in Providence, Rhode Island, 384 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,600 Speaker 1: but he traveled all over New England preaching, sending money 385 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,960 Speaker 1: back to the family. A lot of the congregations he 386 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:48,160 Speaker 1: drew were black and indigenous, but there were also white people, 387 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:52,480 Speaker 1: some drawn by curiosity and some drawn by his reputation 388 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:57,000 Speaker 1: as a preacher. At first, he wasn't formally ordained, and 389 00:23:57,119 --> 00:24:00,680 Speaker 1: the Methodist Church hadn't authorized him to preach in any way. 390 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:04,920 Speaker 1: Eventually he got an exhorting license, it's basically a license 391 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:08,800 Speaker 1: to work as a lay minister. On April eleventh, eighteen 392 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,760 Speaker 1: twenty seven, he went through the exams that were required 393 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:15,280 Speaker 1: to become formally ordained in the Methodist Church, which was 394 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 1: then known as the Methodist Episcopal Church. At this point 395 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: in history, the process of becoming ordained required an examination 396 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,080 Speaker 1: by a committee, and it was possible for a person 397 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:30,440 Speaker 1: to become qualified to be ordained through self study. It 398 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:33,560 Speaker 1: was not like today where people go to seminary and 399 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:37,280 Speaker 1: essentially get an advanced degree in in a religion. First, 400 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 1: he thought his examination had gone well, and afterward the 401 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,920 Speaker 1: committee told him that the church didn't know enough about 402 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:49,159 Speaker 1: his character to ordain him. The committee advised him to 403 00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:53,119 Speaker 1: just renew his license to exhort, which led him to ask, quote, 404 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: as this conference refused me a license to preach on 405 00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 1: the ground that its members did not know enough of 406 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:02,640 Speaker 1: my character, had they any right to grant a license 407 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:05,400 Speaker 1: to exhort at the same time that they refused one 408 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:09,600 Speaker 1: to preach. His conclusion was that even though the Methodist 409 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,800 Speaker 1: Church said that it welcomed people of all races, this 410 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,480 Speaker 1: denial was because of his race. So he left the 411 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:20,200 Speaker 1: Methodist Episcopal Church to join another faction of Methodists called 412 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:25,080 Speaker 1: the Protestant Methodist Church. The Protestant Methodist Church ordained him 413 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:30,200 Speaker 1: on August eighth, eighteen thirty one. In between his examination 414 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,359 Speaker 1: with the Methodist Episcopal Church and his ordination with the 415 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 1: Protestant Methodist he published his autobiography that was A Son 416 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,879 Speaker 1: of the Forest, The Experience of William Apes, a native 417 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:44,240 Speaker 1: of the Forest. This was the first of five books 418 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:46,680 Speaker 1: that he would write over the next seven years, and 419 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,720 Speaker 1: it documented his life up to his decision to leave 420 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: the Methodist Episcopal Church at the age of thirty one. 421 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,800 Speaker 1: It was published before he added that second s to 422 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 1: his last name. He published a second edition in eighteen 423 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:04,480 Speaker 1: thirty one. That's One that, for some unclear reasons, softened 424 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:07,360 Speaker 1: a lot of his criticisms of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 425 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,040 Speaker 1: It took out a lot of naming names he had 426 00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:13,000 Speaker 1: done about the people who had prevented him from becoming ordained, 427 00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:16,600 Speaker 1: and a lot of his justifications for joining the Protestant Methodists. 428 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:19,560 Speaker 1: The reason that's given in the text itself was that 429 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:22,880 Speaker 1: he had slightly abridged the earlier version to make room 430 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,000 Speaker 1: for an appendix, which, as we said earlier, included a 431 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:29,159 Speaker 1: lot of Elias Buddino's a Star in the West. He 432 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:32,440 Speaker 1: also published a sermon in eighteen thirty one titled The 433 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:35,800 Speaker 1: Increase of the Kingdom of Christ, and that included an 434 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,160 Speaker 1: appendix as well, this one called the Indians the Ten 435 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: Lost Tribes. These publications were coming out alongside a massive 436 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: and horrific injustice that the United States committed against indigenous 437 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:53,000 Speaker 1: nations and people's. Multiple states had been trying to forcibly 438 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:58,120 Speaker 1: remove their indigenous population, and on May eighteen thirty President 439 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:02,440 Speaker 1: Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law. This 440 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,560 Speaker 1: set the stage for the forced removal of indigenous peoples 441 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:09,480 Speaker 1: to land west of the Mississippi River. Sometimes this is 442 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:13,160 Speaker 1: called the Cherokee removal, but it targeted multiple other nations 443 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,800 Speaker 1: as well, including the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek and Seminole. 444 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,920 Speaker 1: William APIs doesn't directly address this in his autobiography. It 445 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:26,399 Speaker 1: is more focused on his own spiritual journey and the 446 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:29,120 Speaker 1: innate humanity of all of his brethren and the many 447 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:33,080 Speaker 1: injustices that indigenous people had faced more generally, including at 448 00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 1: the hands of reported Christians. But not long after publishing 449 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:40,120 Speaker 1: his autobiography that changed, and that is what we'll talk 450 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,920 Speaker 1: about in our next episode as we wait for part two. 451 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,840 Speaker 1: Do you have a listener, Mayo? I knew it is 452 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:50,959 Speaker 1: from Montana, and uh I really loved this email. Um 453 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 1: Montana wrote high Holly and Tracy. I've been listening to 454 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,560 Speaker 1: Stuffy miss and history class since and have long wanted 455 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:00,080 Speaker 1: to write, but the recent episode on Lucy pars And 456 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:03,439 Speaker 1: finally pushed me to do so. I'm a doctoral student 457 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,119 Speaker 1: and my focuses on race, gender, and economics in the 458 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 1: nineteenth century US South. While I was familiar with parsons 459 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:12,919 Speaker 1: labor activism, I was not aware that she and her 460 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: mother had been taken to Texas during the Civil War. 461 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:20,680 Speaker 1: My dissertation focuses on enslaved women like Charlotte and Lucy, 462 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:24,639 Speaker 1: who were coercively moved to Texas by enslavers as a 463 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:29,359 Speaker 1: last ditch effort to outrun emancipation. My research focuses on 464 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 1: the slaveholding and enslaved women who made or were forced 465 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:36,760 Speaker 1: to make this move, and how this domestic disruption followed 466 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 1: by emancipation and the collapse of the Confederacy impacted women's 467 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: conceptions of motherhood and identity. Lucy and her mother were 468 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: fortunate and that I have found significant evidence that enslaved 469 00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:53,280 Speaker 1: children were often abandoned en route to Texas, a slaveholders 470 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:59,480 Speaker 1: promoted expediency and deemed children as poor investments for the journey. Still, 471 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:02,840 Speaker 1: enslaved mothers fought to take their children with them and 472 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:06,680 Speaker 1: shepherded their broods at great personal, physical and mental expense. 473 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 1: Adding to this stress and trauma, sexual violence against enslaved 474 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 1: people was rampant along the roadside and meant that countless 475 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:18,920 Speaker 1: women entered Texas as expectant or new mothers. My goal 476 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,160 Speaker 1: is lofty, but I hope to bring the stories of 477 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:23,560 Speaker 1: some of these women to light and honor the ways 478 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:26,400 Speaker 1: in which they fought for themselves and their children. I 479 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:29,120 Speaker 1: can now add Charlotte and Lucy to my growing list 480 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 1: of sources. I could truly ramble about this forever, but 481 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: I will spear you all that. I want to thank 482 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:37,360 Speaker 1: you also for changing the way that I teach an 483 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: increasing participation in a classroom. I teach undergraduate history classes 484 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,479 Speaker 1: at a large state university and struggled with getting students 485 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,960 Speaker 1: to read their textbook assignments. I decided two years ago 486 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 1: to forego textbooks altogether and instead aside one podcast and 487 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:57,280 Speaker 1: a handful of primary source readings each week. Not only 488 00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: does the spare my students from having to purchase expense 489 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 1: of books they won't reuse, I found that students are 490 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:06,520 Speaker 1: far more interested and engaged since making the switch. Stuff 491 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: you miss in history class has become a syllabus staple 492 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 1: for me. I'm also attaching pictures of my kiddies for you. 493 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,400 Speaker 1: I love any opportunity to brag about them. Millie is 494 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,760 Speaker 1: our oldest girl, A white calico ashes our orange friend, 495 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:22,680 Speaker 1: Opel is our fluffy princess, and Pip is our blind 496 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,840 Speaker 1: little rascal. I take my comprehensive exams next week, and 497 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,080 Speaker 1: it promised myself a celebratory cat tattoo when they're finished. 498 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 1: I apologize for this novella of an email. Please don't 499 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:33,640 Speaker 1: apologize for this novella of an email. This is great 500 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 1: and it made both of us cry. Yes, thank you, 501 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:38,560 Speaker 1: thank you for your time, hard work, your compassion, and 502 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,520 Speaker 1: your humor each episode. I hope that you're both well. Montana. 503 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for this email, Montana number one. 504 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:53,280 Speaker 1: What a great doctoral project. I am so glad this 505 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:58,240 Speaker 1: is work that someone is doing. Um, the biography of 506 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:03,280 Speaker 1: Lucy Parsons that I read reference that this, this relocation 507 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,560 Speaker 1: from where they were into Texas was probably basically a 508 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:09,560 Speaker 1: forced march and it would have been awful, and so 509 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:13,240 Speaker 1: taking a look at the greater impact of that I 510 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:20,480 Speaker 1: think is super important. Also, man, these cats are so cute. Uh. 511 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:25,080 Speaker 1: One of them is in a white, fluffy bed, and 512 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:28,720 Speaker 1: I think we have that exact same bed. We have 513 00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,440 Speaker 1: a cat who was also named Opal, and for a while, 514 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:33,920 Speaker 1: Opal was really into that bed, and then she just 515 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: decided just does not exist anymore so because she's a cat. 516 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,920 Speaker 1: Now it's just a decoration on our living room floor. Um, 517 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:45,080 Speaker 1: thank you again, so so so, so so so much 518 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:48,760 Speaker 1: for every word of this email. Montana. I would also 519 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:51,920 Speaker 1: like to interject a request, which is, please send us 520 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: a picture of your cat tattoo when you get it. Yeah, 521 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:58,680 Speaker 1: I'd love to see that. Um, if you want to 522 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:01,120 Speaker 1: send us a note about anything, we're History podcast that 523 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 1: i heart radio dot com. We're also all over social 524 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,120 Speaker 1: media at MS in History. That's where you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, 525 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,640 Speaker 1: and Instagram. And you can subscribe to our show on 526 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:12,800 Speaker 1: the I heart radio app and wherever you like to 527 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:20,880 Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. Stuff you missed in History Class is 528 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from 529 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 530 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:29,600 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.