On display since San Francisco's George Washington High School opened in 1936, it offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide. You have compelled us to do that which has made us ashamed. But the Iroquois Indians of the time bestowed on Washington another, not-so-flattering epithet: Conotocarious, or "Town Destroyer. Become a member. Hear our case, many nations inhabited this Country, but they had no wisdom, and therefore they warred, together. When I was a child, I was told that George Washington was our first president and that he had . Is the blame all ours? When a circus tent gets erected in his Oakland neighborhood, it causes him to muse on the legacy of the freak show, and how his own status as a differently-abled person echoes both the conspicuousness and invisibility of those whose physicality makes them societal outliers. In obeying him we did no more than you yourselves had lead us to promise. SFist spoke to the duo . TOWN DESTROYER - Sullivan-Clinton Campaign We also invite you to join the conversation on ourFacebook,Twitter, andInstagram. Following the 2017 clashes at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Trump presciently observed: So, this week its Robert E. Lee [] I wonder, is it George Washington next week [] Thomas Jefferson the week after [] Where does it stop? The short answer is that it doesnt stop until the US contends not only with its history of slavery but also its history of dispossession. What Happens When Art Gets Competitive on Television? Police funding, tax cuts, and spending equity will be on the table as the supes take on a brutal budget season. An installation of video projected onto a bust of George Washington mounted on a surveyor's tripod. The Indian World of George Washington | AMERICAN HERITAGE description ends Colonial ser., 16:5018), as well as other grievances. Town Destroyers armies burned and plundered 60 of our towns and hundreds of our farms, fields, orchards and livestock, forcing our people to evacuate. Town Destroyer in Paradise: How George Washington Ended up Just Outside Note: The annotations to this document, and any other Just an hour long, Snitow and Kaufman's documentary offers a fascinating overview of a case that encapsulates many of the bitterest divisions of our era. Kevin McCarthy is No Edward Snowden, But He Should Find the Comparison Flattering, Assessing Nicaraguas Long Haul toward Liberation and Economic Democracy, A National Divorce? The spring of 1780 saw the surviving Haudenosaunee forced to rebuild their lives with broken families and destroyed villages. public. In other accounts, Washington was given the nickname sometime after the 1779 Sullivan Expedition in the American Revolutionary War, which destroyed at least 40 Iroquois villages. After all, the issue goes back to 1779 when Washington ordered the destruction of the Iroquois villages. Conotocaurious (Town Destroyer) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Native Americans in 1753. Sign up to receive the latest updates from U.S News & World Report and our trusted partners and sponsors. Every tax-deductible donation helps us grow to cover the issues that mean the most to our community. TOWN DESTROYER happening at Walnut Creek Library - Contra Costa County, 1644 N. Broadway,Walnut Creek,CA,United States, Walnut Creek, United States on Fri Jan 13 2023 at 07:30 pm . Hundreds perished of starvation, disease and exposure a Haudenosaunee Trail of Tears. If you want to leave all these Earthly woes behind, there is warm, fuzzy and interplanetary comfort to be found inGood Night Oppy. Devourer of Towns | H-AmIndian | H-Net Yet to this day, the Iroquois (more properly, the Haudenosaunee) call Washington Conotocaurius, or "Town Destroyer." His army razed their well-constructed, permanent villages and laid waste to huge quantities of their food. He suggests that Arnautoffs work ought to be preserved, not destroyed and used as a vehicle to teach students about both the past and the present. But the title stuck even tighter than the Seneca chief could have imagined. Few visitors to the museum had ever heard of the Sullivan Campaign, or knew that most of New York state was our original homeland. Records Commission (NHPRC) is part of the National The Iroquois, whose tribes had lined up on both sides of the conflict, were too distracted by their own internal divisions to see the crisis coming. LS (signed with mark), DLC: Thomas Jefferson Papers; Gen, George Washington meets with representatives of the Iroquois nation before departing for Y. Town Destroyer will shed new light on our first president. George Washington and the Iroquois - YouTube But if Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman have their way, George Washington will also be remembered as the town destroyer. Thats the title of a new documentary that they have written, directed and produced about the controversial murals in San Francisco at George Washington High School. We saw that we were wrong: we wished for peace. Scarcely considered or acknowledged, our catastrophic losses, like those of other Native nations, are treated as settled business, rather than unsettling travesties in need of redress. Town Destroyer - Rotten Tomatoes They would soon face one of the largest amphibious invasions yet seen. Not all U.S. presidents are missed once they leave the White House. 4.On John Livingstons role in the New York-Genesee Land Companys 999year lease with Cayuga, Oneida, and Seneca chiefs, see John Livingston In 1779, General George Washington suspended the colonial war against England and moved to extinguish the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois) with his "Sullivan-Clinton Scorched Earth Campaign." Washington's soldiers were paid with land. MVFF is an acclaimed eleven-day cinema event celebrating the best in US . Conotocaurius (Town Destroyer) George Washington David Humphreys Life of General Washington with George Washingtons Remarks. Athens, Ga., 1991. description ends 10). The surviving Onondaga were homeless; some began to rebuild; some headed west to find shelter with their brother nations the Cayuga and Seneca. In 2019, he had a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA. . We have already said how we came to join against you. 'Town Destroyer' Versus the Iroquois Indians - US News & World Report On the one hand, things were said like If you support this mural, you have a colonized mentality and (on a signboard) Stop Protecting White Supremacy. On the other, the whole situation was termed identity politics gone off the rails, and the suggestion that the murals were traumatizing an easy way to justify the erasure of things you dont like.. This address was signed by the Allegheny Seneca chief, Cornplanter (for an identification, see GW to Timothy Pickering, 4 Sept. 1790), and the minor chiefs Half Town (Gahgeote, Achiout) and Great Tree (Kiandoch-gowa, Big Tree, Big Log, not to be confused with a more important Seneca chief named Big Tree or Great Tree; see Henry Knox to GW, 27 Dec. 1790, n.4). that the King had ceded the lands to the thirteen fires, The Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series, David Humphreys Life of General Washington,, David Humphreys Life of General Washington with George Washingtons Remarks., Early American Land Companies: Their Influence on Corporate Development, Report on Canadian Archives . "And to this day when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the necks of their mothers," Cornplanter said. January 31, 2023. It dates back to as early as 1776, inspired by his roles in the Revolutionary War and Constitutional Convention. On the next day we let them know, that we were unwilling to sell all the Lands within their State, and proposed to let them have a part of it which we pointed to them in their map. But the issue was more complex than that, with painfully strong feelings on all sides, many of whose participants more typically found themselves on thesameside. Theres just brief note of the flurry of drastic state rulings since then, and a tag re: Roes June overturn. The British agent George Beckwith reported to Lord Dorchester from New York on the course of Streets mission, noting that The application of Mr. Street in behalf of the Indians of the Five Nations by means of Mr. Wadsworth has drawn a declaration from the President, expressive of his intentions to pay every attention to the Indians in general, and Mr. Street is assured by General Knox, that his business will be taken into immediate consideration. Beckwith subsequently reported, however, that Mr. To the Irouqois, General George Washington was Ha-no-da-ga-nears, which means Town Destroyer, and this remained the name they gave to all Presidents of the United States. More decades passed before the issue flared up again, though this time it seemed the criticisms were coming less from individual students than outside organizations. On George Washington, Destroyer of Towns - Anarres Project for New Documentary Dives Into the Furor Over That Wildly Controversial THANK YOU TO OUR COMMUNITY PARTNER JEWISH FILM INSTITUTE, The California Film Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Derryveagh Evictions, and Town Destroyer | Bullfrog Films: 1-800-543-3764: Environmental DVDs and In the summer of 1788 Livingston accompanied Phelps to a meeting with the Seneca chiefs at Buffalo Creek, and on 8 July Phelps concluded an agreement to purchase the Indian rights to the eastern third of the area purchased from Massachusetts (Livermore, Early American Land Companies, description begins Shaw Livermore. The brutal 1778 Cherry Valley Massacre prompted a wide-ranging punitive expedition that broke Iroquois power. Pennsylvania Archives. with filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman"Town Destroyer the Art of Controversy". You told us say they, that the line drawn from Pensylvania, to lake Ontario, would mark it for ever on the East, and the line running from Beaver Creek, to Pensylvania, would mark it on the west; and we see that it is not so. Newsletter by watchingGood Night Oppy, and this movies spoonful-of-sugar emotional appeal was really tailored for them. ", This lesser-known title also had its origins in 1779, when General Washington ordered what at the time was the largest-ever campaign against the Indians in North America. START or Stop: Do Nuclear Weapons Treaties Matter? 'Town Destroyer' contra los indios iroqueses Cuarenta aldeas indgenas, y una poderosa nacin indgena, fueron arrasadas por orden de George Washington Para 1779, George Washington ya se haba ganado el famoso apodo de "Padre de su pas". [1], Washington was given the name in 1753 by the Seneca leader Tanacharison. to GW, 15 Aug. 1789, note 1. Longtime Bay Area documentarians Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman interview historians, artists, activists, and GWHS students to probe a fascinating microcosm of todays culture wars. The saw marks are still visible on the fence scars as enduring as those that the American Revolution and its aftermath left on the Native nations of Turtle Island (North America). The voice of the Senecca Nation speaks to you the great Councillor, in whose heart, the wise men of the thirteen fires, have placed their wisdom. Art can make viewers uncomfortable. These questions and many more were the subject of hot debate when Victor Arnautoffs thirteen-panel mural The Life of Washington became an object of local controversy, then a media firestorm. Nov. 6thBenefit forThe Association of Ramaytush Ohlone Q & A with filmmakers + Jonathan Cordero, chair of Ramaytush Ohlone peoples. Like the statue of Christopher Columbus targeted in Boston last month, it was beheaded and the crown finials of its surrounding fence sawn off. In Town Destroyer, the filmmakers focus on the image of a dead Indian lying face down on the ground while settlers with guns stand close-by. Upon this threat our Chiefs Washington himself was given or assumed an Indian name, Conoto carious, meaning "Town Destroyer" or "Devourer of Villages," and an Indian messenger who arrived at Fort Harmar in July 1788 was identified as "George Washington, a Delaware." He was not the only Indian to bear Washington's name. What they agreed to has bound our nation. Staked Plains. Handagayas Alan Michelson George Washington: US History for Kids - American Historama Cynthia LowensBattlegroundoffers some insight on that score. Did George Washington have a nickname? - TeachersCollegesj . Conotocaurius (Town Destroyer, Seneca: Handaganyas) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois peoples in 1753. His mural, "Life of Washington," is widely . The exploration vehicle/device dubbed Opportunity was sent into space in 2003, landed on the Red Planet six months later, and sent a steady stream of photos and intel back to NASA long after. Town Destroyer - en-academic.com After fighting with the Haudenosaunee in the French and Indian War, the colonists called upon the Haudenosaunee to a meeting at Ft. Pitt in 1775 to ask in their aide in the upcoming revolution against the British. No such document has been found, but the presence of the cover letter to Wadsworth in the Knox Papers suggests that Wadsworth gave the document to GW, who referred it to Knox. The name in its original language(s) has been given variously as "Caunotaucarius", "Conotocarious", "Hanodaganears", and "Hanadahguyus." It is translated as "Town Taker", "Burner of Towns", "Devourer of Villages", or "he destroys the town". They told us they must have the whole: That it was already ceded to them by the great King at the time of making peace with you, and was their own. (The Iroquois dubbed him Town Destroyer.) But some present-day students, parents, and observers found those depictions racially offensive, calling for the work to be removed or destroyed. Black muralist Dewey Crumpler came of age in the era of Black Power. Elaborate reenactments of the robots experience via Industrial Light & Magic wizardry are accompanied by a treacly, heart-tugging orchestral score. Archives. History first: in 1779, three years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and in the thick of a violent revolution, Washington ordered the total destruction and devastation of Iroquois villages allied with King George. America and the Six Nations - Native Americans after the Revolution fort Stanwix, commissioners from Pensylvania, told our chiefs, that they had come there to purchase from us, all the Lands belonging to us within the lines of their State, and they told us that their line would strike the river Susquehanna below Tioga branch. Mural That Helped Ignite School Board Recall Inspires Debate An Arab stallion with a light grey . Several of the latter have a Bay Area slant, notably two opening this Fri/4 at SFs Roxie Theater. New Anti-Colonialist Documentary Asks Big Questions, California Institute for Community, Arts & Nature, The CIAs Changing Take on the Climate Emergency, Emancipation, Hollywoods Best Civil War Film Ever. Conotocarious George Washington's Mount Vernon Nicole Flatterys Nothing Special Tackles Authorship inside Warhols Factory, Frieze Editors Picks: Jafar Panahis No Bears. America's love affair with mass murderers has a long history - whether it unfolds as empathizing with Ted Bundy or as the canonization of town destroyer George Washington as a founding father . We asked each other what we had done to deserve such severe chastisement. Sat. Part of Colonial Williamsburg's "Prelude to Victory" weekend. In recent times, probably no San Francisco news story has traveled as far or as wide as the story about Victor Arnautoffs murals which subvert the myths and depict the life of George Washington as a foe of the Iroquois and an owner of Black slaves. When you kindled your thirteen fires seperately, the wise men Completed in 1840, the statue was soon exhibited in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol and then moved to the Capitol's east lawn in 1843. Degrowth or Debunk: Do Degrowth proponents have a strategy? Conotocaurious - Iroquois for Town Destroyer, also translated as Town Taker, Burner of Towns, or Devourer of Villages, was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Indians. Become a 48 Hills Hero and support the only daily progressive news source in the Bay Area. When he met with Washington 11 years after the devastating campaign, Chief Cornplanter, who headed the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois, stressed the durability of "Town Destroyer" as the commander in chief's nickname. "Town Destroyer" will have its world premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival, Oct. 6-16, with the first of three screenings at the CinArts Sequoia Theatre in Mill Valley, Oct. 8, at 8 p.m. It may be very small in your ears, & we therefore entreat you to hearken with attention. Town Destroyer opens Fri/4 at the Roxie, with the filmmakers and special guests present at all shows. They are in the early stages of promoting the 55-minute film about the controversial murals at George Washington High School in the Richmond District. When the Ronald Reagan arrived to replace the George Washington in 2015 . oy. We have found no proof the great grandfather ever got that nickname. Town Destroyer examines how a changing society should reckon with On display since San Francisco's George Washington High School opened in 1936, it offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide. Roxie Theater: Town Destroyer November 4, 2022 @ 6:45 pm - 8:45 pm We recollect that you did not promise to punish those who killed our people, and we now ask, Was it intended that your people should kill the Seneccas, and not only remain unpunished by you: but be protected by you against the next of kin?6. Now Arnautoffs Works Progress Administration murals were being decried for depicting slavery and tribal genocide at all, something now criticized as triggering. 1790. The name in its original language(s) has been Battlegroundis almost entirely limited to the game-changing year of 2020, when RBGs death, Amy Coney Barretts appointment, and other events turned a tide. After Phelps departure the Seneca made another speech to GW accusing Phelps of fraud and of defaulting on the terms of the 1788 agreement (see Seneca Chiefs to GW, 10 Jan. 1791). By August, the expedition was moving through Iroquois country, meeting almost no resistance. This is the skeleton of Napoleon Bonaparte's favourite steed, "Marengo". Conotocaurius (Town Destroyer, Seneca: Handaganyas) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois peoples in 1753. Washington High School Murals the Subject of 'Town Destroyer' Film In his book, George Washington and Native Americans In July 2020, Americans are once again divided, gathering in the streets and tearing down statues. Nov. 5thBenefit forPrecita Eyes Muralists Q & A with filmmakers + Precita Eyes founder Susan Cervantes. The title by which Washington was known to Native nations, Handaga:yas or Town Destroyer, was one he inherited from his great-grandfather, John Washington, a slave-owning planter and colonel in the Virginia militia who, during Bacon's Rebellion of 1676, had the chiefs of several tribes killed. description ends Colonial ser., 16:5078). We are community supported journalism. The issues reached a tipping point not long ago when the members of the San Francisco Board of Education listened to impassioned testimony and voted to cover up the murals. Conotocaurius ( Town Destroyer) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois peoples in 1753. CODE OF CONDUCT, Workshop: In Our Own Words: Poetry on Film. Summary: George Washington (1732-1799), nicknamed the "American Cincinnatus", was the 1st American President and served in office from 1789-1797. Pawpaws. But they said they would not take advantage of that, and were willing to pay us for it after the manner of their Ancestors. It has also been translated as "Town Taker", "Burner of Towns", "Devourer of Villages . The long-running Mission arts venue's charms come through in diverse music, poetry, dramatic readings, and comedy shows. For first one, and then another, come and take it away, by order of that people, who promised to secure it to us. Our chiefs were unable to contend at that time, & therefore they sold the Lands up to the line which was then shewn to them as the line of that State. Street presented a document listing the grievances of the Five Nations to Jeremiah Wadsworth, with the request that Wadsworth put it into GWs hands (Street to Wadsworth, 5 Aug. 1790, NNGL: Knox Papers). Conotocaurius (Town Destroyer) was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Native Americans in 1753. The Haudenosaunee pledged neutrality with this statement, We see this as a fight between father and son. The Haudenosaunee took notice of General George Washingtons actions. are back withTown Destroyer, which premiered at the Mill Valley Festival last month. We told you we would open our hearts to you. The current dispute over monuments in the US is not new. 6 vols. AI Chatbots are Even Scarier Than You Think, DeSantiss Educational Policies Come Right Out of the Fascist Playbook, Erase the Memory to Erase a People? After suffering for nearly two years from Iroquois raids on the Colonies' northern frontier, Washington and Congress decided to strike back. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more.. Town Destroyer - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia Chief Cornplanter, who headed the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois, stressed "And to this day when that name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, Philadelphia and Harrisburg, 18521949. During the Revolutionary War, Washington, known to the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) as Handaga:yas, or Town Destroyer, ordered a brutal campaign against them in which his generals devastated some 60 villages, and hundreds of prosperous houses, farms, and orchards. In April 1779, the colonial army attacked the capital of the Haudenosaunee, the Onondaga Nation. Town Destroyer? Washington Square Park Arc, 2020. What Recent Independent Cinema Closures Mean for Scotland, Bjrks Fossora Guides Listeners Through Jagged Heights, the musician tackles mourning and uses memory as a way to enrich lifes soil, The National Windrush Monument Is a Bittersweet Tribute to Courage, Sonia Boyces Performances Defy Easy Categorization, WochenKlausurs Language Schools for Refugees, How Topshops Business Model Cannibalized Youth Culture, How Open-Access Resources Can Support Disabled Artists. He's the first and a reluctant first, at that . Documentary TOWN DESTROYER Screening and Q&A with the Filmakers He paid us two thousand & five hundred dollars in hand part of the Ten thousand, and he sent for us last Spring to come and receive our money; but instead of paying us the remainder of the Ten Thousand dollars, and the one thousand dollars due for the first year, he offered us no more than five hundred dollars, and insisted he had agreed with us for that sum only to be paid yearly. What are George Washington's nicknames? - Quora The Game which the great Spirit sent into our Country for us to eat, is going from among us: We thought he intended we should till the ground as the white people do, and we talked to one another about it. To some, the brouhaha confirmed a stereotype of SF as the kingdom of liberal snowflakes who experience a meltdown at anything potentially troubling. Shady Details About George Washington - Grunge.com Non Military History of the War of the Rebellion. That did not happen, and in fact the murals fate (should they be removed? Washington was elected with 69 of the 69 first-round votes cast in the United States Electoral College. Town Destroyer; George Washington/Nicknames. Signed at Philadelphia the first day of December. Categories: . How did we get here after 50 years, during which span a majority of Americans came to support abortion access? What was George Washington's favorite fruit? should Doyle be convicted, there was little doubt of his being capitally punished (Pa. Archives, description begins Samuel Hazard et al., eds. 5.Samuel Street, reportedly born in New England, kept a store at Niagara. Produced and Directed by Alan. left as is, but with explanatory text?) Forty Indian villagesand a powerful indigenous nationwere razed on the orders of George Washington, Town Destroyer Versus the Iroquois Indians, By 1779, George Washington had already earned the famous moniker "Father of His Country." Town Destroyer, also translated as Town Taker, Burner of Towns, or Devourer of Villages, was a nickname given to George Washington by Iroquois Indians. 1.By GWs account the name Towntaker (variously rendered as Town-destroyer) was bestowed upon him by the Seneca chief Half-King in 1753, when he met that chief on his way to Fort Le Boeuf. George Washington, also known as Enthroned Washington, is a large marble sculpture by Horatio Greenough commissioned by the United States Congress on July 14, 1832 for the centennial of U.S. President George Washington's birth on February 22, 1732.