1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. He hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Crying. It's time 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,599 Speaker 1: for some Six Impossible Episodes. If you are new to 5 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:22,479 Speaker 1: the show. A couple of times a year, we do 6 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: an episode that looks at six different stories that, for 7 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: whatever reason, we can't really do as a standalone show. 8 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: A lot of the time it's because there's not enough 9 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: information to fill out a whole show, or because there 10 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 1: are six stories that have some similar themes in common. 11 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: Back in we did an episode called Six Impossible Episodes 12 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: Deja Vu Edition, and that was on topics that were 13 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 1: so similar to things we had already covered that if 14 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:49,280 Speaker 1: we had done a whole episode, it would have sounded 15 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 1: almost like a rerun, just with different names and dates. 16 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: Just swap those out. It's the exact same story, and 17 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: today we're doing something a little bit similar to that. 18 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: Several times over the past few years, we've done an 19 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: episode about something that happened in the United States, and 20 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 1: then afterward we've gotten lots of notes from listeners about 21 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:11,319 Speaker 1: the same thing happening in Canada. Although the first story 22 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: that we're going to get into is actually the reverse 23 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:15,400 Speaker 1: of that. Also, I do want to note that these 24 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 1: are mostly not happy stories. Apparently mostly people tell us 25 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:23,400 Speaker 1: that also happened in Canada about really appalling incidents in history. 26 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,320 Speaker 1: So we saved the most heroic one for last. So 27 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: starting out on July, we published a podcast on Le 28 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:35,680 Speaker 1: fi Duchroix, or the King's Daughters, And this was an 29 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: effort by Francis, King Louis the fourteenth to send eligible 30 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 1: young women to New France. In the sixteen hundreds, francis 31 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: focus in northern North America had been on the fur trade, 32 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: not on establishing permanent settlements with families, and as a consequence, 33 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,279 Speaker 1: by sixteen sixty three, there were six frenchmen for every 34 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: frenchwoman in what is now Canada. So the monarchy recruited 35 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: French women and paid for their transport to North America 36 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: in an effort to try to balance things out. A 37 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:09,640 Speaker 1: very similar scenario also played out in French Louisiana. At first, 38 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:13,239 Speaker 1: authorities had expected that French men would go to Louisiana 39 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,640 Speaker 1: and marry Native women, and then they also expected that 40 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 1: these brides would assimilate into French colonial society. That is 41 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: not how it worked out, though. It turned out that 42 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: the women in question had their own opinions on this subject, 43 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: which was to do essentially the opposite. By the late 44 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: seventeenth century, French officials were actively discouraging colonists from marrying 45 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: native women to try to preserve the frenchness and the 46 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: whiteness of the colony. But then that meant that they 47 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: needed more French women because there weren't enough to marry 48 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: these men. The first group to arrive by order of 49 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: King Louis the fourteenth came aboard a ship called the 50 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:53,079 Speaker 1: Pelican and are nicknamed the Pelican Girls as a consequence. 51 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 1: The ship arrived at Dauphin Island in what's now Mobile County, 52 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: Alabama in seventeen o four. It's passengers included twenty three 53 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 1: frenchwomen and two families. Sent after repeated requests by Governor 54 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:10,920 Speaker 1: Jean Baptiste Lemoine de Bienville and other colonial officials. The 55 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: Chancellor of France wrote to the governor about these women, 56 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: and this is what the letter said, quote. Each of 57 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: these girls was raised in virtue and piety and knows 58 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: how to work, which will render them useful in the 59 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: colony by showing the Indian girls what they can do 60 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:28,919 Speaker 1: for this, there being no point in sending other than 61 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: a virtue known and without reproach, His Majesty entrusted the 62 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: Bishop of Quebec to certify them in order that they 63 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: not be suspected of debauch. You will take care to 64 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: establish them the best that you can, and to marry 65 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: them two men capable of having them subsist with some 66 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: degree of comfort. Although most of these women got married 67 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: very quickly beyond that, this first effort did not go well. 68 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: Recruiters had described Louisiana as an amazing and wealthy paradise, 69 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 1: which was not even remotely true. The women arrived during 70 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: a persistent and severe food shortage. Diseases were rampant, and 71 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: the terrain. If you've ever been to Louisiana you know 72 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:15,360 Speaker 1: this was swampy, and the French colonists faced ongoing and 73 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:20,799 Speaker 1: justified threats from the region's enslaved and indigenous populations. Conditions 74 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: were so bad and so different from what they had 75 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,279 Speaker 1: been promised that in seventeen oh six a lot of 76 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: these women launched a protest trying to get passage out 77 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,919 Speaker 1: of the colony. And back to France. This uprising was 78 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: given the disparaging nickname the Petticoat Insurrection. Today, this protest 79 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 1: is folded into the lore about the origins of Creole cuisine. 80 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:46,720 Speaker 1: Supposedly everything was resolved when the governor's housekeeper, Madame Langnois, 81 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 1: taught the women how to cook with local ingredients and spices, 82 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: because that would solve all the problems shrug um. But 83 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: it is not clear whether Lanois ever existed, and this 84 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: story really minimizes as indigenous and African contributions to Creole cuisine. 85 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: But it is clear that this protest was about a 86 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:11,160 Speaker 1: lot more than cooking ingredients. Yeah, even in in accounts 87 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,919 Speaker 1: written by like the male leaders of the time were like, 88 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: they're just unhappy because they don't like to eat corn, 89 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,279 Speaker 1: and that was not That was like one tiny piece 90 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: of this whole situation. Regardless, though, word got back to 91 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: France about what this Louisiana colony was really like, and 92 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: soon women were no longer willing to go there. Unsurprisingly, 93 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:35,359 Speaker 1: so authorities started recruiting women from orphanages, hospitals, and prisons, 94 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 1: and especially when it came to women who had been 95 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:40,480 Speaker 1: convicted of a crime. These migrations were forced, they were 96 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:44,360 Speaker 1: not voluntary as that first shipload had been, and even 97 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 1: for the ones that were technically voluntary, the women in 98 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: question a lot of the time did not have many 99 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: other options either way. Many of these women died on 100 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: the way to Louisiana, and the ones who survived often 101 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:58,919 Speaker 1: were not all that eager to marry a colonist and 102 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,839 Speaker 1: start keeping house for him. France ended the formal migration 103 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: program in seventy but the most famous group of women 104 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: arrived in New Orleans early the following year. These are 105 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,479 Speaker 1: the ones most commonly known as the Casket Girls. These 106 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:17,479 Speaker 1: were eighty eight women recruited from a hospital in Paris 107 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: that wasn't just a medical facility, but was also housing 108 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: for both orphans and prisoners. Although nineteen of these women 109 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,920 Speaker 1: married quickly and thirty one married later on, the rest 110 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: either refused to marry or return to France. The name 111 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: casket was reportedly from the boxes that these women were 112 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 1: using to carry their belongings as they traveled. They'll see 113 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 1: articles online that variously explained the name casket is coming 114 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:50,160 Speaker 1: from the French caskette or cassette, even though caskett is 115 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: not a box it is a hat the story of 116 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: the Casket Girls departs from reality, though articles all over 117 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:00,360 Speaker 1: the web describe a group of women who arrived in 118 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:04,479 Speaker 1: New Orleans in seventy eight, all meticulously chosen to be 119 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: attractive and virtuous, but the migration program had been over 120 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: for years by that point, and according to Marcia A. Zug, 121 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: who has written a book on these programs, the only 122 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: ship carrying a group of women that arrived in New 123 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: Orleans in seventeen was carrying ursuline nuns, not women available 124 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: for marriage. As a side note, if you want to 125 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 1: hear Zug talk more about this, she is on episode 126 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: one twenty of the podcast Ben Franklin's World that has 127 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: titled Marcia Zug History of Mail Order Brides in Early America. 128 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: This is not the only departure from reality when it 129 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: comes to the story of the Casket Girls, though if 130 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: you go on a ghost tour of New Orleans, you 131 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: might hear a story about how these mythical seventeen eight 132 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 1: arrivals came with their caskets and were immediately suspected to 133 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 1: be vampires because they sun burned easily and the trunks 134 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: they were carrying looked like coffins. This just doesn't hauled 135 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: up from the beginning because it was completely normal for 136 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 1: new arrivals in the colony to get sunburns and the 137 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: subtropical sun and to carry their things in trunks and 138 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,600 Speaker 1: other boxes. There's a whole story about these women being 139 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:16,640 Speaker 1: taken to that ursuline convent in the French Quarter and 140 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: then their caskets being found to be mysteriously empty, after 141 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: which point the nuns had the attic windows nailed shut 142 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: using just an astounding number of silver nails. All of 143 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: this because vampires shure. Uh. These women's stories are not 144 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: as well documented as the King's daughters, though possibly because 145 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:39,880 Speaker 1: there were far fewer of them, and also because the 146 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:43,280 Speaker 1: program in Louisiana was just not as successful as it 147 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,319 Speaker 1: had been in Canada. Yeah. That and we we talked 148 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 1: so much and so much more detail about the program 149 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 1: uh in in what's now Canada, where the women had 150 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: a lot of choices, they had a lot more freedoms. Um. 151 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 1: It was one of those circumstances where you're like, Okay, 152 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: people probably didn't have as many options in Europe as 153 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:02,959 Speaker 1: they did in North America, and in a lot of 154 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: ways that life turned out to be better, and in 155 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: most cases that was not the case. In Louisiana's women 156 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: showed up and we're not really appreciated, and we're made 157 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: fun of and called ugly, and we're much smaller in number. 158 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 1: So when you look at French Canadian genealogy, so many 159 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 1: French Canadians are descended from these these women in Canada, 160 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 1: but it's not um. There's not as much of a 161 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,439 Speaker 1: through line in Louisiana, although an astounding number of people 162 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: say they were descended from these um fictitious seventeen twenty eight, 163 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: meticulously chosen to be virtuous and beautiful casket Curl. I 164 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: feel like that happens in almost any mythology, right, I mean, 165 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:49,440 Speaker 1: we've been to places that are are famous for various reasons, 166 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: and there are often people who are like, yes, I 167 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:56,319 Speaker 1: am descended from person X, Y or Z, and it's like, um, 168 00:09:56,320 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: I have some questions that person did not live here though, right, 169 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: Like there's some possibilities going on, But who am I 170 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:08,000 Speaker 1: to take that away from them? Yeah, at least were 171 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: real and complicated women in their stories have been really 172 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:17,800 Speaker 1: pretty heavily mythologized. To move on. On November seventeen, We 173 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:20,160 Speaker 1: put out a two part podcast on the Fort Shaw 174 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: Indian School girls basketball team, and a big part of 175 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 1: that episode was the system of boarding schools established in 176 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,160 Speaker 1: the United States to separate Native children from their cultures 177 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: into so called americanized them. Colonel Richard Henry Pratt, who 178 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: was a major figure in establishing this whole system, summed 179 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: it up as quote, killed the Indian and save the man. 180 00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:45,959 Speaker 1: Canada had a nearly identical system of boarding schools known 181 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 1: as residential schools, as was the case in the United States. 182 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:52,440 Speaker 1: Mission schools in Canada went all the way back to 183 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 1: the early colonization of New France, but in terms of 184 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: a more formalized, systemic program that started in the eighteen 185 00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:03,560 Speaker 1: thirty expanding dramatically in the eighteen eighties after changes to 186 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:08,560 Speaker 1: federal policy regarding both education and Indigenous people. By nineteen 187 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:11,559 Speaker 1: thirty one, when the Canadian system was at its largest, 188 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:15,480 Speaker 1: there were about eighties schools. With the exception of Newfoundland, 189 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:18,960 Speaker 1: Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, every Canadian province and 190 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: territory had at least one school. Over the course of 191 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:25,839 Speaker 1: the program, about a hundred and fifty thousand children were 192 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:30,000 Speaker 1: separated from their families for months or years at a time, 193 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:32,160 Speaker 1: and the last of these schools did not shut down 194 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:35,480 Speaker 1: until nineteen ninety six. These schools were part of a 195 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: government program, but until nineteen sixty nine they were run 196 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 1: by churches, primarily the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, 197 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:47,080 Speaker 1: the United Church of Canada, and the Presbyterian Church. The 198 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:51,400 Speaker 1: Methodist Church also operated some schools up until nineteen twenty five. 199 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:55,120 Speaker 1: These schools had the same goals as the ones in 200 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: the United States did, to separate Canada's first nations Inuit 201 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 1: and may teach children from their cultures, to christianize them, 202 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,200 Speaker 1: to teach them English and French, and to assimilate them 203 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 1: into Euro Canadian society. Conditions at the schools were often 204 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:12,520 Speaker 1: very cruel. There were also documented cases of physical and 205 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:16,720 Speaker 1: sexual abuse. As many as six thousand children died in 206 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:20,560 Speaker 1: these schools, including from disease and malnutrition, and some of 207 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 1: these students were experimented on. There was a series of 208 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,760 Speaker 1: experiments carried out in the nineteen forties and fifties that 209 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: studied the effects of malnutrition, and these were conducted with 210 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: the government's knowledge. Basically, somebody visiting the school had noticed 211 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:37,920 Speaker 1: that the children were malnourished, and instead of fixing the problem, 212 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:40,520 Speaker 1: only supplemented the diets of parts of some of the 213 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:43,960 Speaker 1: children to study what happened with the others. In the 214 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:47,520 Speaker 1: nineteen nineties, the Canadian government convened a Royal Commission on 215 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:51,280 Speaker 1: Aboriginal Peoples in response to a call from Phil Fontane, 216 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: who would later become the National Chief of the Assembly 217 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:57,719 Speaker 1: of First Nations. Advocacy had already been going on at 218 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,439 Speaker 1: that point, but Fontane was really the key figure bringing 219 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,440 Speaker 1: it to national attention. The Commission issued a report about 220 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 1: the schools and recommended a public inquiry, although the public 221 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:12,200 Speaker 1: inquiry never happened. A later class action settlement resulted in 222 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:16,080 Speaker 1: the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, which came into effect 223 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,840 Speaker 1: in September of two thousand seven. This agreement included the 224 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: Common Experience Payment, which was a one point nine billion 225 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 1: dollar compensation program for people who had been forced to 226 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 1: attend these schools. Former students were eligible for ten thousand 227 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:33,920 Speaker 1: dollars for their first year or partial year in attendance 228 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:37,360 Speaker 1: and three thousand dollars for each subsequent year, and as 229 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:41,760 Speaker 1: of September, one point six billion dollars had been paid 230 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,640 Speaker 1: on more than a hundred and five thousand cases. The 231 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:49,440 Speaker 1: agreement also set up an assessment process for cases of physical, 232 00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:54,679 Speaker 1: psychological and sexual abuse. It established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 233 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:58,400 Speaker 1: and set up a commemoration fund. There have been some 234 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:02,360 Speaker 1: criticisms of this settlement, though, including unethical lawyers who took 235 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:06,720 Speaker 1: advantage of people seeking restitution, and the exclusion of Newfoundland 236 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:10,720 Speaker 1: and Labrador from the settlement. Yeah, the argument was that 237 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:14,200 Speaker 1: that wasn't part of Canada yet during a lot of 238 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: this time, but there were still people there who were affected. 239 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 1: Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologized for the boarding school 240 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 1: system on Jounal eleventh, two thousand eight, and several churches 241 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 1: that were involved in these programs have apologized as well. 242 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission that was established under the 243 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: settlement agreement issued its final report in TWI. Its introduction 244 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: began quote for over a century, the central goals of 245 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:46,640 Speaker 1: Canada's Aboriginal policy were to eliminate Aboriginal governments, ignore aboriginal rights, 246 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:51,400 Speaker 1: terminate the treaties, and, through a process of assimilation, cause 247 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:57,120 Speaker 1: Aboriginal peoples to cease to exist as distinct, legal, social cultural, religious, 248 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:01,480 Speaker 1: and racial entities in Canada. The establishment and operation of 249 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 1: residential schools were a central element of this policy, which 250 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:09,440 Speaker 1: can best be described as cultural genocide. This report went 251 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 1: on to make ninety four recommendations to repair the damage 252 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:16,680 Speaker 1: caused by the schools. This report also noted a related 253 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: practice that became known as the sixties scoop. From the 254 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:24,000 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties through the nineteen eighties, thousands of Indigenous children 255 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 1: in Canada were taken from their families and placed in 256 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:30,640 Speaker 1: foster care, then adopted by white families, sometimes white families 257 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:33,520 Speaker 1: who lived in the United States or the United Kingdom 258 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:37,360 Speaker 1: between nineteen fifty in the mid nineteen sixties, these Aboriginal 259 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:40,200 Speaker 1: children went from making up about one percent of the 260 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:43,240 Speaker 1: children in care in Canada to making up more than 261 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:46,320 Speaker 1: a third of the children in care. And that also 262 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:49,600 Speaker 1: has parallels to another past episode in our archives, which 263 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:53,240 Speaker 1: is Australia's Stolen Generations. What's followed a really similar pattern 264 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 1: from about nineteen ten to nineteen seventy And we should 265 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:59,880 Speaker 1: also note that there are ongoing issues with Indigenous and 266 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:04,440 Speaker 1: Aboriginal children in the child welfare systems in the United States, 267 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:09,680 Speaker 1: in Australia and Canada, all all three nations. Um we 268 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 1: mentioned these boarding schools really briefly in those in that 269 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 1: too part are about the Fort Shot Indian School program. 270 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 1: But I wanted to take the opportunity to go in 271 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:21,360 Speaker 1: a little more detail here today and we will talk 272 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 1: about something else that similarly happened in Canada. After a 273 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 1: quick sponsor break on February fifteenth and seventeen seventeen, we 274 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:39,960 Speaker 1: did a two part podcast on Executive Order nineties sixty 275 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: six and the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World 276 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 1: War Two. When we posted these episodes on our social media, 277 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: one of the comments that we got was this happened 278 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:52,920 Speaker 1: in Canada to which is not something we had mentioned 279 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: in that episode at all. But it's not just that 280 00:16:56,240 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: this happened in Canada to The Canadian incarc ration of 281 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:05,480 Speaker 1: its Japanese citizens and residents directly followed what happened to 282 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,920 Speaker 1: the United States during World War One. The Canadian government 283 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,520 Speaker 1: had passed the War Measures Act, which granted very broad 284 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:15,919 Speaker 1: authority when it came to restricting civil liberties during wartime. 285 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:19,440 Speaker 1: During World War two, the War Measures Act was used 286 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:23,560 Speaker 1: to incarcerate about twenty four thousand people in Canada, nearly 287 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: all of them Japanese Canadians. Other people incarcerated included German 288 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:31,879 Speaker 1: Canadians who were members the Canadian Nazi Party or German 289 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 1: sponsored organizations, and approximately six hundred Italians who were suspected 290 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:41,359 Speaker 1: of supporting fascism. About three thousand refugees from Germany and 291 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: Austria were also incarcerated, many of them Jewish, and many 292 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: of the Jewish refugees were incarcerated along with Nazi prisoners 293 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:53,080 Speaker 1: of war. When it came to the Japanese Canadians, though, 294 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:58,200 Speaker 1: all Japanese Canadians, regardless of their citizenship status, were required 295 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,440 Speaker 1: to register with the government in March of nineteen forty one, 296 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:06,240 Speaker 1: and then after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in December 297 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:09,120 Speaker 1: of nineteen forty one, events in Canada followed the same 298 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 1: basic pattern that they did in the United States that 299 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: we talked about in detail in those two episodes. A 300 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,359 Speaker 1: small number of Japanese nationals were taken into custody right away, 301 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:22,639 Speaker 1: and then white business owners, farmers, and political leaders on 302 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 1: the Pacific coast of Canada started pressuring the government to 303 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:30,480 Speaker 1: remove their Japanese neighbors. These arguments and language that were 304 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:33,639 Speaker 1: used were just virtually identical to what was used in 305 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:38,600 Speaker 1: the United States. First Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King 306 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:42,479 Speaker 1: ordered the removal of adult men of Japanese ancestry from 307 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 1: Canada's West coast on January fourteenth, ninety two. Then on 308 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:52,720 Speaker 1: February nineteenth, nineteen forty two, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed 309 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 1: Executive Order ninety sixty six regarding the removal of all 310 00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:00,680 Speaker 1: Japanese Americans from the U s. West Coast. Five days 311 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 1: after that, the Canadian Cabinet followed suit in Canada and 312 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: approved Order in Council PC fourteen eighty six, which the 313 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:12,600 Speaker 1: Prime Minister announced on February twenty six. This broadened the 314 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:17,120 Speaker 1: earlier removal to include everyone of Japanese ancestry living within 315 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:21,680 Speaker 1: one hundred miles of Canada's Pacific coast. The British Columbia 316 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:25,600 Speaker 1: Security Commission was created to oversee and manage the expulsion 317 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 1: and incarceration. About sixty five percent of the twenty two 318 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:34,200 Speaker 1: thousand Japanese Canadians who were removed following this order had 319 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,400 Speaker 1: been born in Canada, and in many cases their property 320 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:40,720 Speaker 1: was confiscated and sold or otherwise never returned to them. 321 00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:44,120 Speaker 1: Japanese fishers on the west coast of Canada were also 322 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:46,640 Speaker 1: required to turn over their boats, which was of course 323 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,720 Speaker 1: the source of their livelihood, and these also were not returned. 324 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:53,760 Speaker 1: During this removal. More than two thousand single men were 325 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:56,560 Speaker 1: sent to work on road labor camps, and about thirty 326 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 1: five hundred were sent to work on sugar beet farms 327 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:03,880 Speaker 1: outside to British Columbia. Everyone else was sent to segregated 328 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:07,680 Speaker 1: concentration camps. As was true in the United States, these 329 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:11,320 Speaker 1: Canadian camps were very hastily built or were converted from 330 00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:15,680 Speaker 1: facilities like abandoned mining camps. They were totally insufficient to 331 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: provide shelter from the elements and the United States, the 332 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 1: government had provided food, clothing, and schooling for incarcerated children, 333 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:28,440 Speaker 1: although overwhelmingly these were inadequate at best. The Canadian government 334 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:31,480 Speaker 1: provided the camps, but no food or clothing, and no 335 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,920 Speaker 1: education beyond elementary school for the incarcerated children. There was 336 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,719 Speaker 1: also an organized resistance to this in Canada, including the 337 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:44,160 Speaker 1: creation of the niss A Mass Evacuation Group. The incarcerations 338 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 1: in the United States and Canada ended slightly differently. In 339 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:51,679 Speaker 1: the US, many Japanese Americans returned to the West Coast 340 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,440 Speaker 1: after the end of the war, even though often they 341 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,639 Speaker 1: had to start completely over and they faced ongoing prejudice 342 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:02,439 Speaker 1: and discrimination in Canada. Japanese Canadians were not allowed to 343 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:06,879 Speaker 1: return to British Columbia. Instead, they had two choices to 344 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:10,960 Speaker 1: settle somewhere in Canada outside of British Columbia, or to 345 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:15,440 Speaker 1: return to Japan. Although some people did return to Japan voluntarily, 346 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:19,600 Speaker 1: thousands were forcibly deported after refusing to move out of 347 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,879 Speaker 1: British Columbia, which had been their home. And I should 348 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:25,680 Speaker 1: also note that some of them were not originally from Japan. 349 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:28,080 Speaker 1: They were born in Canada and had never been to Japan. 350 00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:33,480 Speaker 1: Investigations conducted after this incarceration was over concluded that the 351 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,639 Speaker 1: property of Japanese Canadians that had been sold during the 352 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:39,440 Speaker 1: war was sold for far less than it was worth, 353 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:43,119 Speaker 1: But the Canadian government really resisted offering any kind of 354 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:48,760 Speaker 1: compensation or acknowledgement for this, or in general, for the incarceration. Then, 355 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:52,960 Speaker 1: in September of Canada reached a settlement agreement that included 356 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 1: an official apology and a redress payment of twenty one 357 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 1: thousand dollars for each person who was affected, along with 358 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,119 Speaker 1: the estab pulishment of a twelve million dollar funds to 359 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: create a Canadian Race Relations Foundation. The United States had 360 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:08,600 Speaker 1: taken similar steps in a law that was signed in 361 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:10,760 Speaker 1: August tenth of the same year. So that was another 362 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,880 Speaker 1: way that the two countries paralleled each other and all 363 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:18,000 Speaker 1: of this so moving on to our next uh again 364 00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:21,719 Speaker 1: not super delightful story. UH. At the beginning of our 365 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,399 Speaker 1: podcast on Executive Order ninety six, we set the stage 366 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:28,879 Speaker 1: by talking about the history of immigration from Japan and 367 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:32,080 Speaker 1: other parts of Asia to the United States, as well 368 00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:36,240 Speaker 1: as the history of discrimination against these immigrants. A big 369 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: part of that discussion was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 370 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two, and that act has come up in 371 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:45,840 Speaker 1: other episodes as well, including our episodes on Levi Strauss, 372 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 1: the Bisbee Deportation, and the history of Foreign Foods in 373 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 1: the US. This act banned all immigration from China for 374 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,959 Speaker 1: a period of ten years. It was the United States 375 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,200 Speaker 1: first major law restricting immigration and the first time time 376 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:04,360 Speaker 1: that the US banned people from a specific nation. Canada 377 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:08,200 Speaker 1: faced a very similar trajectory in the late nineteenth century. 378 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,879 Speaker 1: Large numbers of Chinese immigrants arrived in Canada, first with 379 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: the gold rush and then to work on the construction 380 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:18,080 Speaker 1: of the Canadian Pacific Railway. As the number of Chinese 381 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:22,439 Speaker 1: people in Canada increased, so did anti Chinese prejudice. A 382 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:26,119 Speaker 1: lot of white residents resented Chinese immigrants under the idea 383 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:30,040 Speaker 1: that they were stealing jobs. Then this sense increased as 384 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:33,480 Speaker 1: the railway was finished and these laborers started finding work 385 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: in other industries. Emotion was made in Parliament to enact 386 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 1: a law prohibiting all Chinese immigration into British Columbia, just 387 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:45,399 Speaker 1: as the United States had done. Rather than simply passed 388 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 1: the law, Parliament established the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration 389 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: to evaluate quote all the facts and matters connected to 390 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,840 Speaker 1: the whole subject of Chinese immigration. Although the Commission had 391 00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: been established after a call to ban Chinese immigration and 392 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,439 Speaker 1: heard a lot of racist testimony, the Commission found that 393 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:08,639 Speaker 1: these racist stereotypes were untrue and that overall Chinese labor 394 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: was beneficial to Canada. It did recommend implementing a ten 395 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:16,400 Speaker 1: dollar duty on immigrants from China to pay for health 396 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:20,520 Speaker 1: inspection at the port and other administrative costs. Some of 397 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:24,640 Speaker 1: the study was actually conducted in San Francisco, UH specifically 398 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:28,719 Speaker 1: with officials from the Chinese consulate there, but the Chinese 399 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:32,760 Speaker 1: Immigration Act of eighteen eighty five ignored the findings from 400 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:37,000 Speaker 1: the Commission and instead instituted a duty of fifty dollars 401 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,720 Speaker 1: a person specifically to act as a deterrent. The act 402 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:46,080 Speaker 1: did allow some exceptions from this duty, including diplomats, government officials, tourists, 403 00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:49,960 Speaker 1: and students. It also imposed restrictions on the vessels that 404 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:54,120 Speaker 1: were carrying Chinese immigrants to Canada. There could be only 405 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: one Chinese person for every fifty tons of the ship's weight. 406 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,959 Speaker 1: Ships carrying European immigrants, on the other hand, could have 407 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 1: one immigrant for every two tons. This was Canada's first 408 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:09,719 Speaker 1: major immigration lots and to target immigrants based on their 409 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:13,119 Speaker 1: nation of origin. The fifty dollar fee did reduce the 410 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:16,159 Speaker 1: number of Chinese people who tried to enter Canada, but 411 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 1: not for long. As the economy of British Columbia continued 412 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:22,679 Speaker 1: to expand, there was more and more demand for labor. 413 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,400 Speaker 1: There weren't enough people in British Columbia to meet this demand, 414 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,439 Speaker 1: so within five years the number of Chinese immigrants to 415 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: Canada was increasing again. In response, the Canadian government kept 416 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:37,240 Speaker 1: increasing that duty, which had been fifty dollars, and it 417 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:39,840 Speaker 1: rose all the way up to five hundred dollars in 418 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:43,760 Speaker 1: nineteen o three. Then twenty years after that, the Chinese 419 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:48,440 Speaker 1: Immigration Act of banned nearly all Chinese people from entering 420 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,880 Speaker 1: Canada at all, with the exception of students, merchants, diplomats, 421 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,800 Speaker 1: and Canadian born people who were returning to Canada. There 422 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:01,919 Speaker 1: were also some exceptions to the exceptions. Urchants excluded, laundry, 423 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:07,280 Speaker 1: restaurant and retail operators. The three Act also required everyone 424 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:11,040 Speaker 1: of Chinese descent to register for an identity card, regardless 425 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,680 Speaker 1: of whether they were Canadian citizens. This Act was repealed 426 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:17,919 Speaker 1: in ninety seven, although there continued to be traces of 427 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 1: these restrictions in Canadian immigration law until nineteen sixty seven. 428 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 1: We're going to get to some more Canadian history after 429 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:34,920 Speaker 1: we pause for a little sponsor break. In eleven, previous 430 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: hosts Sarah and Dablina released an episode on the New 431 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:41,440 Speaker 1: York Draft Riots. We rereleased that episode as a Saturday 432 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:45,920 Speaker 1: Classic on July seven, eighteen, and, like its name suggests, 433 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 1: the New York Draft Riots of eighteen sixty three started 434 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:51,960 Speaker 1: because of the Civil War draft. But the riot was 435 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:56,960 Speaker 1: not only about the draft. Another big factor was discontent 436 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,719 Speaker 1: among working class people who were facing increasing competition for 437 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:04,439 Speaker 1: jobs as escaped slaves and other people of African descent 438 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:07,919 Speaker 1: were moving into New York. Race also was a huge 439 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: part of it, and the rioters primarily targeted the black community. 440 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:16,639 Speaker 1: The Shelburne Riots of seventeen eighty four weren't identical to 441 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,080 Speaker 1: the New York Draft riots, but they had a lot 442 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 1: of similarities and parallels, including connections to war, labor, and race. 443 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,680 Speaker 1: During the Revolutionary War, roughly a fifth of the black 444 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:30,399 Speaker 1: residents of the British colonies fought on the side of 445 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:34,320 Speaker 1: the Loyalists, who wanted American colonies to remain part of Britain. 446 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:38,200 Speaker 1: The vast majority had been enslaved and expected that after 447 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,640 Speaker 1: the war was over they would be granted their freedom 448 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:44,359 Speaker 1: in exchange for their service. But when the loyalists side 449 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,600 Speaker 1: lost the war and the colonies became independent, some of 450 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,359 Speaker 1: those people were recaptured and returned to slavery. Many of 451 00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:55,439 Speaker 1: those that weren't ultimately made their way into Canada. In particular, 452 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:59,920 Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty three, about fifteen hundred black Loyalists settled 453 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,679 Speaker 1: in Nova Scotia, many of them concentrated in Shelburne County, 454 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,439 Speaker 1: which was home also to about sixteen thousand white loyalists. 455 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:11,080 Speaker 1: Most black Loyalists made their homes in a community that 456 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,000 Speaker 1: was not far from the town of Shelburne called Birchtown, 457 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,200 Speaker 1: and soon that became the largest community of free black 458 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:22,440 Speaker 1: people in North America. However, slavery also existed in Canada, 459 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:27,159 Speaker 1: including in Shelburne. Slave owners in Shelburne felt threatened by 460 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:30,040 Speaker 1: the free black community in Birchtown and the effects that 461 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:34,120 Speaker 1: it might have on their enslaved workforce. Nova Scotia's white 462 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: residents also tended to view all people of African descent 463 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:41,400 Speaker 1: as slaves, regardless of whether they were enslaved or free. 464 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:46,000 Speaker 1: Working class white residents also faced increasing competition for paying 465 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:49,880 Speaker 1: work from this growing black community, especially since people who 466 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,880 Speaker 1: needed to hire labor could do it much more cheaply 467 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:57,160 Speaker 1: by exploiting the black population. Another complication in all this 468 00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,120 Speaker 1: was soldiers who were returning home from the Revolutionary a 469 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 1: War who no longer had employment or income. A lot 470 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:06,640 Speaker 1: of people in the area had also been promised land grants, 471 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,560 Speaker 1: but those grants had been repeatedly delayed, and a lot 472 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: of the land turned out not to be suitable for farming. 473 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,040 Speaker 1: So in both New York in eighteen sixty three and 474 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:19,800 Speaker 1: Shelburne nearly eighty years earlier, white residents were increasingly resentful 475 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,000 Speaker 1: of a growing population of free black residents as a 476 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,680 Speaker 1: result of a war and the effect it was having 477 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:29,280 Speaker 1: on their lives and income. In New York, the draft 478 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:33,560 Speaker 1: tipped this resentment into violence. In Shelburne, that spark came 479 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 1: from the intersection of religion and racism. Baptist preacher David 480 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,800 Speaker 1: George had been born in Virginia in seventeen forty two 481 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: and was enslaved from birth. He escaped to South Carolina 482 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:47,680 Speaker 1: and lived in hiding for several years before being captured 483 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 1: and sold back into slavery. He fled to British occupied 484 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,240 Speaker 1: Savannah during the Revolutionary War in seventeen seventy eight, and 485 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:57,320 Speaker 1: then traveled to Charleston, where he was evacuated along with 486 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:01,680 Speaker 1: about five thousand black residents in seventeen eighty two. Although 487 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 1: most of these evacuees wound up being enslaved again and 488 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:07,320 Speaker 1: sent to the Caribbean, George wound up in Nova Scotia. 489 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:11,200 Speaker 1: He established his church in Shelburne rather than in Birchtown, 490 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: and some of his congregation built their homes on church property, 491 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,600 Speaker 1: and at first the white residents of Shelburne mostly left 492 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:23,720 Speaker 1: them alone, but eventually George started baptizing white loyalists. The 493 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:28,000 Speaker 1: idea of a black minister baptizing white people, especially at 494 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:32,280 Speaker 1: a church in quote their part of town, outraged many 495 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:36,440 Speaker 1: white residents. In July sight four, a group of white 496 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:39,960 Speaker 1: loyalists tried to forcibly remove a white woman who was 497 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:43,280 Speaker 1: about to be baptized by David George. Then, on the 498 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,840 Speaker 1: twenty sixth of that month, a group of about forty 499 00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:50,320 Speaker 1: white loyalists attacked Georgia's house, physically pulling it down using 500 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: a ship's tackle. They went on to tear down other 501 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:56,000 Speaker 1: homes that had been built on the church property, destroying 502 00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:00,479 Speaker 1: about twenty houses. This swelled into a riot that lasted 503 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,640 Speaker 1: for about ten days, with the white residents of Shelburne 504 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: trying to drive the black residents out of both Shelburne 505 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:11,240 Speaker 1: and Birchtown. Eventually, four companies of the sevente Regiment and 506 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:15,080 Speaker 1: later a naval frigate were dispatched to restore order. The 507 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,120 Speaker 1: rioters did not succeed in evicting the black community from 508 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:22,520 Speaker 1: Nova Scotia, but that community did continue to face racism 509 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:26,800 Speaker 1: and discrimination in the years that followed. Economic changes also 510 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 1: made life more difficult. Seven years after the riot, when 511 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:33,200 Speaker 1: black residents were offered the chance to relocate to a 512 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: colony in Sierra Leone, about half of them accepted. We've 513 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,880 Speaker 1: talked repeatedly on this show about how the term race 514 00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:43,760 Speaker 1: riot is really a misnomer because it makes it sound 515 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:47,440 Speaker 1: like people of multiple races were equal aggressors and some 516 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:51,920 Speaker 1: kind of mass violence. Overwhelmingly, though, these incidents of mass 517 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:55,120 Speaker 1: violence are really the result of a white mob attacking 518 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 1: members of an already oppressed race or religion or ethnic group. 519 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:02,720 Speaker 1: That said, the Shelburne Riots are often described as North 520 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:06,440 Speaker 1: America's first race riot. This also has a connection to 521 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,440 Speaker 1: another previous episode. Nova Scotia is where a large number 522 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,680 Speaker 1: of Maroons wound up after the Maroon Wars in Jamaica, 523 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:17,520 Speaker 1: which we talked about in February of seen. And now 524 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:20,640 Speaker 1: we will move on to our last and less appalling, 525 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:24,760 Speaker 1: h impossible episode on this show. For a long time, 526 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:28,920 Speaker 1: every time we mentioned Paul Revere on our social media 527 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:32,080 Speaker 1: or whatever, folks would ask what about Sybil Lettington? So 528 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:34,640 Speaker 1: we talked about her in our second ever installment of 529 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:39,960 Speaker 1: six Impossible Episodes on September six. There were already episodes 530 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:43,160 Speaker 1: in the archive about Paul Revere and his famous ride. 531 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:46,880 Speaker 1: Now it is just as likely that mentioning either Paul 532 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,080 Speaker 1: Revere or Sybil Lettington will prompt people to ask what 533 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,400 Speaker 1: about Laura c Cord. Paul Revere was one of three 534 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:56,080 Speaker 1: men who rode to raise the alarm of a British 535 00:32:56,120 --> 00:33:00,680 Speaker 1: attack on Lexington, Massachusetts, on April eighteenth, seventeenth seventy five. 536 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:04,360 Speaker 1: Sybil Luttington rode to raise the alarm of a British 537 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:09,640 Speaker 1: attack on Danbury, Connecticut, on April seventeen seventy seven, although, 538 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:12,320 Speaker 1: as we noted when we talked about her, there is 539 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:16,920 Speaker 1: no primary source documentation of that ride. And in eighteen thirteen, 540 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,480 Speaker 1: Laura see Cord raised the alarm of an incoming American 541 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:24,480 Speaker 1: attack on British forces on foot. This was during the 542 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:27,239 Speaker 1: War of eighteen twelve. S Cord was the wife of 543 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,000 Speaker 1: James c. Cord, who had been serving as a sergeant 544 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:33,240 Speaker 1: in the First Lincoln Militia when he was injured in 545 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:36,480 Speaker 1: the Battle of Queenston Heights. His wife rescued him from 546 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:40,760 Speaker 1: the battlefield personally. After the fighting was over, while Laura 547 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 1: was nursing James back to health, American troops occupied Queenston 548 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:48,520 Speaker 1: in present day Ontario, where they lived. After the c 549 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:52,520 Speaker 1: Cords were forced to house some American officers, Laura overheard 550 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:55,840 Speaker 1: them talking about a planned attack on British forces at 551 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,200 Speaker 1: beaver Dam's, who were under the command of James Fitzgibbon. 552 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,760 Speaker 1: Since Ja names her husband James c Cord was still recovering, 553 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,720 Speaker 1: Laura decided that she would raise the alarm herself. Beaver 554 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 1: Dams was about thirty two kilometers or twenty miles away, 555 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:14,640 Speaker 1: and Laura Secord made this trip on foot through occupied territory, 556 00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:18,040 Speaker 1: taking a really winding route over difficult terrain to try 557 00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:23,880 Speaker 1: to avoid detection. She arrived on June twenty or thirteen, 558 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:28,560 Speaker 1: and on the incoming American force was ambushed by a 559 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,320 Speaker 1: First Nations fighting force that was allied with the British. 560 00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:35,120 Speaker 1: The American force, which numbered about five hundred men, ultimately 561 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:40,440 Speaker 1: surrendered before British reinforcements arrived. As was true of Sybil Luddington. 562 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:42,920 Speaker 1: There was no mention of se cords warning in the 563 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:48,239 Speaker 1: official report. However, unlike Leddington, Secord petition the government for 564 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:51,880 Speaker 1: a pension leader in her life. This led James Fitzgibbon 565 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:54,680 Speaker 1: to testify that yes, se Cord had warned him of 566 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:58,000 Speaker 1: the incoming attack, so we do have an official statement 567 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:01,520 Speaker 1: from someone who was actually there. It's not clear whether 568 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:04,520 Speaker 1: c Cord's warning arrived ahead of the indigenous scouts who 569 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 1: also brought fits given the same intelligence, but her trip 570 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:13,280 Speaker 1: definitely did happen. The petition for her pension was also unsuccessful, 571 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:15,960 Speaker 1: but Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who would later become 572 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:20,360 Speaker 1: Edward the seventh, did award her one hundred pounds. Another 573 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:23,480 Speaker 1: parallel between Sybil Luttington and Laura cie Cord is that 574 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:27,560 Speaker 1: they have both become really heavily mythologized and commemorated, especially 575 00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:30,719 Speaker 1: in a whole lot of children's literature. There's also a 576 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:34,680 Speaker 1: candy company that bears laurasie Cords name. I think listeners 577 00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:38,400 Speaker 1: have sent us laurasie Cord chocolate before that company was 578 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:42,040 Speaker 1: started in nineteen thirteen by Frank P. O'Connor who named 579 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:45,680 Speaker 1: it after her, And those are our six things that 580 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:49,040 Speaker 1: also happened in Canada, which I guess is really five 581 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:51,239 Speaker 1: things that also happened in Canada and one thing that 582 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:56,680 Speaker 1: also happened in the United States, most of them terrible. Yes, 583 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:01,080 Speaker 1: do you have terrible email? I mean it depends on 584 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:07,520 Speaker 1: whether you find Sir Walter Raleigh's head funny, terrible, or terrible. 585 00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:11,240 Speaker 1: So this is from Susannah, and Susannah says, Hello, Holly 586 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,040 Speaker 1: and Tracy, thank you for your podcast on Sir Walter Raleigh. 587 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:16,840 Speaker 1: I grew up in a small English town that was 588 00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:19,719 Speaker 1: home to Sir Walter for a while, then immigrated to 589 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 1: the US and specifically to Raleigh, North Carolina. Given this, 590 00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:25,600 Speaker 1: if you would think I would know more about him, 591 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:28,600 Speaker 1: alas I did not. What you said you knew in 592 00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,800 Speaker 1: the opening was about all I knew, with the addition 593 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:35,200 Speaker 1: of thinking that he was beheaded for his marriage to Bess. 594 00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:37,919 Speaker 1: Thank you for filling in all my gaps. I would 595 00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:42,440 Speaker 1: like to take a moment to pause and say, I 596 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:44,920 Speaker 1: am so glad I'm not the only person who seems 597 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:47,520 Speaker 1: like I should know a lot more about Sir Walter 598 00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:50,040 Speaker 1: Raleigh than I did when I started on that episode. 599 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:52,640 Speaker 1: To return to the letter, I wanted to let you 600 00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:55,520 Speaker 1: know about a Sir Walter Raleigh legend that I grew 601 00:36:55,600 --> 00:37:00,680 Speaker 1: up with. Sir Walter Raleigh was given Sherburne Castles. Sent 602 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:02,680 Speaker 1: a link to that website, which is in the town 603 00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:05,600 Speaker 1: I am from. Rumor has it that in the nineteen 604 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:08,920 Speaker 1: seventies some Americans were working on the lake. As they 605 00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:12,400 Speaker 1: were working, Sir Walter in ghost form, walked on the 606 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:16,640 Speaker 1: lake toward them, holding his head under his arm. The 607 00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:19,600 Speaker 1: Americans ran and refused to finish the work on the lake. 608 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:21,719 Speaker 1: I'm sure this is not true, but it is a 609 00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:24,680 Speaker 1: fun story. I myself have had an experience with ghosts 610 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:27,240 Speaker 1: in this castle, so maybe it was a different ghost 611 00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:30,120 Speaker 1: and not Sir Walter. Side note, my uncle worked at 612 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:32,640 Speaker 1: this castle for his whole working career and he has 613 00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:36,840 Speaker 1: many many ghost stories. Thank you for all your amazing episodes. 614 00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,680 Speaker 1: I also saw you live and rally a few months ago, 615 00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:42,880 Speaker 1: which I really enjoyed. Susannah. Thank you Susannah for this 616 00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:45,800 Speaker 1: note and for this story that I found very funny. 617 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:48,040 Speaker 1: Just the idea of some workers and lake being like 618 00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:51,799 Speaker 1: no gooda go that cracked me up. A little bit, 619 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:53,879 Speaker 1: and also thank you for coming to our show and rally. 620 00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:56,680 Speaker 1: We had a very good time there. Indeed, if you 621 00:37:56,680 --> 00:37:58,560 Speaker 1: would like to write to us about this or any 622 00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:00,880 Speaker 1: other podcast where a history pie gasts at how stuff 623 00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:02,920 Speaker 1: Works dot com and then we are all over the 624 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:05,399 Speaker 1: internet at missed in History. That is where you will 625 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:09,680 Speaker 1: find our Facebook, our Pinterest, our Instagram, our Twitter. You 626 00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:11,879 Speaker 1: can come to our website miss in history dot com 627 00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:14,080 Speaker 1: and find show notes on all the episodes that Holly 628 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:16,280 Speaker 1: and I have ever done together in a searchable archive 629 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:19,840 Speaker 1: of every episode ever and you can find it. Subscribe 630 00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:23,319 Speaker 1: to our podcast in iTunes, the I Heart Radio app, 631 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:30,839 Speaker 1: and wherever else to get your podcasts. For more on 632 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:33,640 Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff Works 633 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:40,000 Speaker 1: dot com