What does the victor owe the defeated after a conflict?
The accounts of history are more often written by the victors than the defeated; and many times the defeated has no voice at all. The motives, plans, and excuses of the triumphant are the ones most told and because of this the winning side is often seen as the side that deserved the victory.
The Europeans that came into the new world of America came for different reasons. Some wanted religious or political freedom, some money, some adventure, and others any opportunity they could find. Once they came they began setting up their settlements, towns and trading posts. The Europeans wanted the American land because they saw how untainted it was and how much potential it had.
The settlers brought their culture and ideas with them to America to set up along with their homes. They established their churches, stores and schools to make the land into a livable and acceptable society. All of the Europeans had their ideas of how people should behave and the world should be run and were going to do what it took to make the new land what they believed it should be.
Most of the Europeans believed that the Indians were in the way. The Indians were a hindrance to what many of the Europeans were trying to do in America. The Indians did not dress or behave the way the Europeans did and they were on the land that the Europeans wanted. The Europeans were trying to progress and many found the Indians were backwards and needed to be civilized or taken care of in another way. When changing the Indians did not work some found it not only necessary but justifiable to move or destroy them by violence.
The Indians lived on the European’s new land; but it wasn’t new to them. The Indians had lived there for centuries before. They knew and loved the land that their ancestors had lived on before them and were buried in. It was sacred to many of them. The Indians watched as the Europeans came on to their land and set up their lives. The Europeans spoke, dressed and behaved different than the Indians did. The Indians saw the Europeans pushing in to their lands, and often without kindness.
Some Indians tried to welcome the white people, and some did the opposite, but in the end it didn’t matter; the white people began trying to change the Indians. Some Indians changed willingly, but others did not understand or want the European ways. The Indians saw themselves as being oppressed as the Europeans tried to press their ways upon them.
The Indians wanted to live their lives in their culture, but were met with aggression from the Europeans who found them unruly and in the way. The Indians who wanted to live their lives as they had before the white people arrived, and the Indians who refused to leave the land of their fathers found themselves in the midst of violence, reservations, terror, massacres, and eventually, a form of defeat. The Europeans succeeded in wiping out or pushing aside the Indians that lived on the land first.
The victorious party owes the defeated it’s story. When the Europeans killed or moved the last of the Indians and began telling the stories and writing the histories of America; how and why the Indians were displaced, the Indians should have been able to speak as well. The victorious owes the defeated the ability to tell the world and the people to come their motives, feelings, and reasons for fighting the battles they lost.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Thematic Question #1
Why does the story of “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” begin in 1492?
In 1492 Columbus set out on a sea journey, on a route that he believed would lead him to the East Indies. He traveled under the financial aid of Spain, hoping that his way would make a better trade route. When Columbus landed on the 12th of October, he was convinced that he had landed in India. In fact, he was standing on a whole different continent that most of his world had no idea existed.
Believing he was in India, Columbus called the people native to the land he was now on “Indios” or Indians; thinking that they were people of India. Even after the realization that the land was not India, the name had already been used many times and stayed. This was the first misunderstanding of many that separated many of the new settlers from the Native Americans.
Columbus sailed back to Europe and told of the land he had found and the people he had found there. The Spanish began to send explorers and missionaries to this new land; and some Spaniards went on their own in search of gold or mysterious fountains. This was the beginning of the rush of Europeans that streamed into the Americas.
English and French were quick to follow, spreading into the land already occupied by the Indians. With Spanish, English and French men all coming into the Indian territories, confusion, hostility, misunderstanding and change for both parties was certain. The English however, seemed to have the most conflict and lasting changes with the Indians; or so it would read from a history book.
The culture of the Indians was drastically different from the culture of the English; and neither group understood the other. Wamditanka an Indian of the Santee Sioux said “The whites were always trying to make the Indians give up their life and live like the white men…If the Indians had tried to make the whites live like them, the whites would have resisted, and it was the same with many Indians.” When the English came and saw the ways in which the Indians lived, they did try to change them, in many different ways; but almost all ended up in violence.
Some Indians complied with the white English people’s requests; others started out seeking good will with the white men, but became fed up with their forceful and often cheating ways, and some never tried at all. Red Cloud said: “If white men come into my land again, I will punish them again.” In almost all cases the confrontations or submissions ended in Indians being pushed out of their land, or bloody fights.
The fights and battles between the English and the Indians only escalated and became bloodier their treatment of each other only worsened. The Indians adopted the European weapons when they could but not their culture and the Europeans would not let the Indians be in their culture and continued to try and move change or kill them.
When Columbus landed in America by mistake he could hardly have known that he was going to start the first wave of countless Europeans that would come to the land; but it was the beginning. Europeans came with their ideas and wants and found the Indians to either need changing or to be moved out of their way, and when this wasn’t as easy as they wished it to be, loss and bloodshed followed, escalating up to the point of the massacre at Wounded Knee.
In 1492 Columbus set out on a sea journey, on a route that he believed would lead him to the East Indies. He traveled under the financial aid of Spain, hoping that his way would make a better trade route. When Columbus landed on the 12th of October, he was convinced that he had landed in India. In fact, he was standing on a whole different continent that most of his world had no idea existed.
Believing he was in India, Columbus called the people native to the land he was now on “Indios” or Indians; thinking that they were people of India. Even after the realization that the land was not India, the name had already been used many times and stayed. This was the first misunderstanding of many that separated many of the new settlers from the Native Americans.
Columbus sailed back to Europe and told of the land he had found and the people he had found there. The Spanish began to send explorers and missionaries to this new land; and some Spaniards went on their own in search of gold or mysterious fountains. This was the beginning of the rush of Europeans that streamed into the Americas.
English and French were quick to follow, spreading into the land already occupied by the Indians. With Spanish, English and French men all coming into the Indian territories, confusion, hostility, misunderstanding and change for both parties was certain. The English however, seemed to have the most conflict and lasting changes with the Indians; or so it would read from a history book.
The culture of the Indians was drastically different from the culture of the English; and neither group understood the other. Wamditanka an Indian of the Santee Sioux said “The whites were always trying to make the Indians give up their life and live like the white men…If the Indians had tried to make the whites live like them, the whites would have resisted, and it was the same with many Indians.” When the English came and saw the ways in which the Indians lived, they did try to change them, in many different ways; but almost all ended up in violence.
Some Indians complied with the white English people’s requests; others started out seeking good will with the white men, but became fed up with their forceful and often cheating ways, and some never tried at all. Red Cloud said: “If white men come into my land again, I will punish them again.” In almost all cases the confrontations or submissions ended in Indians being pushed out of their land, or bloody fights.
The fights and battles between the English and the Indians only escalated and became bloodier their treatment of each other only worsened. The Indians adopted the European weapons when they could but not their culture and the Europeans would not let the Indians be in their culture and continued to try and move change or kill them.
When Columbus landed in America by mistake he could hardly have known that he was going to start the first wave of countless Europeans that would come to the land; but it was the beginning. Europeans came with their ideas and wants and found the Indians to either need changing or to be moved out of their way, and when this wasn’t as easy as they wished it to be, loss and bloodshed followed, escalating up to the point of the massacre at Wounded Knee.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was a slave in the 1800’s. He hardly knew his mother before she died due to the separation between parents that usually occurred for all slaves. He was never sure who his father was, though it was whispered that it was his own master. If it was his master who parented him, it did not help him against the cruelties of slavery; and wasn’t expected to, as very few of the mulatto slaves were helped in any way by their white parents. As Frederick said, “slave holders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers”. Frederick did follow his mother into slavery, and met much harsh treatment and saw many things starting at an early age. Frederick wrote the events of his life to show people the cruelties, injustices, and unchristian ways of slavery.
When Frederick was sent to Baltimore, he found he was living with a mistress much less experienced in the ways of slavery, and from her he learned his letters. This was a crucial point in his life. Besides getting the foundations of his learning, this brief teaching from his mistress showed him the biggest reason why the white people were able to enslave his race. Education leads to freedom; or at the very least a greater hunger for it. The more he read, the more he began to fully realize the horrors of slavery and how completely unreasonable, and inexcusable it was and resolved not to stay in slavery forever and to escape when the best chance came; or die trying. Frederick learned the arguments against slavery and placed them beside his own experiences to see the truth. He wrote about this to show the world what they didn’t want to see.
Where ever Frederick was he saw cruel treatment of slaves. Countless horrific episodes or comments are scattered through out the pages of his life. He wrote about the first terrifying scene he saw that, “he made her get upon the stool, and tied her hands to the hook…her arms were stretched up at their full length, so that she stood on the ends of her toes…he commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin and soon the warm red blood came dripping to the floor.” Beatings were not the only offences that slaves endured, lack of food, separation from families and friends, and verbal abuse were also very common. Frederick watched this happen to those around him and felt the pains himself. He wrote all these things so people could really see what was happening and could not deny the cruelty without a stone heart. He wrote so the tortures his fellow slaves endured wouldn’t slip by without any notice at all.
Often, through out the writings of his life, Frederick spoke out on how unchristian the ways of slavery are. He was appalled by the cruelty of his Methodist masters who professed that they had great faith and were very religious, sometimes even twisting scripture to justify themselves. Frederick went as far as to say that “Were I again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that of enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that could befall me.” He could not accept the things that these slave holders would do as anything but far from Christian. After reading pieces from the book The Columbian Orator, such as a narrative between slave and master and speeches on Catholic emancipation, he knew it wasn’t Christian; and wrote to prove it.
Frederick Douglass knew first hand the inhumanity of slavery, and just escaping himself was not enough for him. Thousands of other slaves were still suffering, and their children looked to the same fate. Many people in the North did not know the full extent of the horrors of slavery. He wrote the truth of slavery. He wrote all the events in his life so that they would be exposed undeniably, and the world, after seeing would be held accountable to change its ways.
When Frederick was sent to Baltimore, he found he was living with a mistress much less experienced in the ways of slavery, and from her he learned his letters. This was a crucial point in his life. Besides getting the foundations of his learning, this brief teaching from his mistress showed him the biggest reason why the white people were able to enslave his race. Education leads to freedom; or at the very least a greater hunger for it. The more he read, the more he began to fully realize the horrors of slavery and how completely unreasonable, and inexcusable it was and resolved not to stay in slavery forever and to escape when the best chance came; or die trying. Frederick learned the arguments against slavery and placed them beside his own experiences to see the truth. He wrote about this to show the world what they didn’t want to see.
Where ever Frederick was he saw cruel treatment of slaves. Countless horrific episodes or comments are scattered through out the pages of his life. He wrote about the first terrifying scene he saw that, “he made her get upon the stool, and tied her hands to the hook…her arms were stretched up at their full length, so that she stood on the ends of her toes…he commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin and soon the warm red blood came dripping to the floor.” Beatings were not the only offences that slaves endured, lack of food, separation from families and friends, and verbal abuse were also very common. Frederick watched this happen to those around him and felt the pains himself. He wrote all these things so people could really see what was happening and could not deny the cruelty without a stone heart. He wrote so the tortures his fellow slaves endured wouldn’t slip by without any notice at all.
Often, through out the writings of his life, Frederick spoke out on how unchristian the ways of slavery are. He was appalled by the cruelty of his Methodist masters who professed that they had great faith and were very religious, sometimes even twisting scripture to justify themselves. Frederick went as far as to say that “Were I again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that of enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that could befall me.” He could not accept the things that these slave holders would do as anything but far from Christian. After reading pieces from the book The Columbian Orator, such as a narrative between slave and master and speeches on Catholic emancipation, he knew it wasn’t Christian; and wrote to prove it.
Frederick Douglass knew first hand the inhumanity of slavery, and just escaping himself was not enough for him. Thousands of other slaves were still suffering, and their children looked to the same fate. Many people in the North did not know the full extent of the horrors of slavery. He wrote the truth of slavery. He wrote all the events in his life so that they would be exposed undeniably, and the world, after seeing would be held accountable to change its ways.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Virtue
I chose to practice the virtue of Resolution, because I don't feel like I make that many, and often when I do I don't follow completely through with them. Franklin defines the virtue of resolution with two short simple sentences: "Resolve to preform what you ought. Preform without fail what you resolve." I hope I do well with this because it seems like something I already should be doing.
Sunday:
Today I made a pretty simple resolve, but it wasn't the easiest to keep however. I resolved to not get frustrated with my siblings on the long ride to and from church. It is about an hour and a half ride one way, and I have six younger siblings, so it can get a little crazy and I often get stressed out, but today I think I did pretty well. They kicked my seat, got loud, and put (accidentally) a dirty shoe on my book, but I took a few deep breaths and just read some of Ashley's Autobiography.
Monday:
Today I resolved to make my bed all week. I kind of slack off in that area and my mom doesn't like it too much. So I made my bed, but otherwise I didn't do anything special. Not the best day.
Tuesday:
I made my bed! I'm finding this more difficult than I thought at first because I don't know what to resolve. I don't want to just make something up, but I'm getting a little desperate!
Wednesday:
Franklin said "Resolve to preform what you ought." So if I just resolve to do every chore and help out when I should, does that count? Anyway, that's what I did for today.
Thursday:
So today was another failure to think of something good to resolve to do, but I do all the regular things I'm supposed to do today; including making my bed, and making the bed for Ashley to sleep in with new clean sheets and all that. =]
Friday:
Today I did all the usual things again, but I did resolve something else! I've been meaning to start running again and get back in shape, and so, I figured now was a good time to start. So, I did. =]
Saturday:
Today was bad. I didn't go running because I got some bad news and didn't really feel like doing much of anything, and didn't. Kind of a bad way to end the week, but the circumstances weren't so great, however, virtues are virtues and should probably be practiced at all times. Most people don't usually like excuses. I plan to continue my running resolution though tomorrow.
Evaluation:
I think besides my last day I did pretty well. It was hard trying to think of something to resolve every day, but eventually I decided to think of everyday as one big resolution to do my best at "preforming what I ought". That might seem pretty simple but it isn't always as simple as it seems. And besides my last day, I did try every day to follow through.
Sunday:
Today I made a pretty simple resolve, but it wasn't the easiest to keep however. I resolved to not get frustrated with my siblings on the long ride to and from church. It is about an hour and a half ride one way, and I have six younger siblings, so it can get a little crazy and I often get stressed out, but today I think I did pretty well. They kicked my seat, got loud, and put (accidentally) a dirty shoe on my book, but I took a few deep breaths and just read some of Ashley's Autobiography.
Monday:
Today I resolved to make my bed all week. I kind of slack off in that area and my mom doesn't like it too much. So I made my bed, but otherwise I didn't do anything special. Not the best day.
Tuesday:
I made my bed! I'm finding this more difficult than I thought at first because I don't know what to resolve. I don't want to just make something up, but I'm getting a little desperate!
Wednesday:
Franklin said "Resolve to preform what you ought." So if I just resolve to do every chore and help out when I should, does that count? Anyway, that's what I did for today.
Thursday:
So today was another failure to think of something good to resolve to do, but I do all the regular things I'm supposed to do today; including making my bed, and making the bed for Ashley to sleep in with new clean sheets and all that. =]
Friday:
Today I did all the usual things again, but I did resolve something else! I've been meaning to start running again and get back in shape, and so, I figured now was a good time to start. So, I did. =]
Saturday:
Today was bad. I didn't go running because I got some bad news and didn't really feel like doing much of anything, and didn't. Kind of a bad way to end the week, but the circumstances weren't so great, however, virtues are virtues and should probably be practiced at all times. Most people don't usually like excuses. I plan to continue my running resolution though tomorrow.
Evaluation:
I think besides my last day I did pretty well. It was hard trying to think of something to resolve every day, but eventually I decided to think of everyday as one big resolution to do my best at "preforming what I ought". That might seem pretty simple but it isn't always as simple as it seems. And besides my last day, I did try every day to follow through.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
History: Author's Intent for A Midwife's Tale
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is a professor at Harvard University and also a historian of women and early American history. Along with A Midwife’s Tale she has written other books including Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History and Good Wives and The Age of Homespun. A Midwife’s Tale was likely her most recognized and won the Pulitzer Prize for history and was the source for a documentary. Ulrich had three main reasons for writing her book A Midwife’s Tale; for Martha, for women, and for herself.
Martha Ballard was an incredible hard working woman even by eighteenth and nineteenth century standards. Martha took care of her neighbors through sickness and troubles while maintaining her own home and watching over her family. She delivered over eight hundred and fourteen babies, carefully documenting each along with her daily activities. The fact that Martha kept such a diary that documented so much was amazing; but few other people seemed to feel this way. Ulrich realized the unique and remarkableness of the diary and of Martha herself and wanted to give them some justice. Many people found Martha Ballard’s diary to be dull or to have too many topics that related to sexual behavior, so not much was done with it. Ulrich wanted to change that, and so wrote her book; not as a substitution for Martha’s diary, but to shed some light on the importance of the diary and on Martha’s unique and laborious life.
As a feminist, Ulrich was especially drawn to Martha Ballard’s diary. Through her diary one can see that some of the common assumptions about woman during Martha’s time might not be completely true. It is clear in the diary that women not only kept house and garden while raising children, (hard work in itself) but many also had other jobs such as midwifery, or in the area of textiles and were business women in their own way. Ulrich wanted to show the importance of women in early American communities as they don’t always get their due; she wanted to show all the work that women really did do.
As a historian Ulrich was interested in Martha Ballard’s diary on a personal level as well. By researching events in Martha’s diary Ulrich delved into many historical documents and learned a great deal of history not only about Martha, but about the community in which she lived and other historical events surrounding the diary and revelations on the ways people lived during Martha’s time.
The history of Martha and the history hidden in her diary, also the ability to explore the roles of women in Martha’s time and show their crucial place interested Ulrich. She wanted to give Martha Ballard’s under appreciated diary some of the attention it deserved, and so with these reasons combining she wrote her book A Midwife’s Tale: The life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812.
Martha Ballard was an incredible hard working woman even by eighteenth and nineteenth century standards. Martha took care of her neighbors through sickness and troubles while maintaining her own home and watching over her family. She delivered over eight hundred and fourteen babies, carefully documenting each along with her daily activities. The fact that Martha kept such a diary that documented so much was amazing; but few other people seemed to feel this way. Ulrich realized the unique and remarkableness of the diary and of Martha herself and wanted to give them some justice. Many people found Martha Ballard’s diary to be dull or to have too many topics that related to sexual behavior, so not much was done with it. Ulrich wanted to change that, and so wrote her book; not as a substitution for Martha’s diary, but to shed some light on the importance of the diary and on Martha’s unique and laborious life.
As a feminist, Ulrich was especially drawn to Martha Ballard’s diary. Through her diary one can see that some of the common assumptions about woman during Martha’s time might not be completely true. It is clear in the diary that women not only kept house and garden while raising children, (hard work in itself) but many also had other jobs such as midwifery, or in the area of textiles and were business women in their own way. Ulrich wanted to show the importance of women in early American communities as they don’t always get their due; she wanted to show all the work that women really did do.
As a historian Ulrich was interested in Martha Ballard’s diary on a personal level as well. By researching events in Martha’s diary Ulrich delved into many historical documents and learned a great deal of history not only about Martha, but about the community in which she lived and other historical events surrounding the diary and revelations on the ways people lived during Martha’s time.
The history of Martha and the history hidden in her diary, also the ability to explore the roles of women in Martha’s time and show their crucial place interested Ulrich. She wanted to give Martha Ballard’s under appreciated diary some of the attention it deserved, and so with these reasons combining she wrote her book A Midwife’s Tale: The life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
History Post 2: A midwife's Tale Thematic Question 2
What was the role of a Midwife during the late 18th and early 19th century Maine? What changes did Martha Ballard see in medical practices during her life time?
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century midwives had many duties and were often skilled in more than just delivering babies. Being a midwife at that time was hard and tiring work for skilled women. During Martha’s career and especially toward the end, male doctors became more common and pushier and began to change medical practices of the time.
Being a midwife was difficult for many reasons. There were troubles and annoyances, even dangers before they even got to the birth site. Midwives had to be prepared to be called at any hour of the day or night while they were busy or sleeping. “Snowd. I was calld at 7 hour Evening to see Mrs. Mthews who is in labor. I tarried all night. Slept none.” (1) Martha was almost always deprived of sleep, because delivering babies was not the only thing a midwife had to do. When Martha arrived home after a tiring delivery had to be prepared to finish her house hold work of baking, mending, washing and more before she could act on the thought of rest.
Braving the travel to the patient’s house was often a dangerous part of being a midwife. Crossing rivers in the night and the cold of winter, and being thrown from horses were only some of the troubles encountered by Martha Ballard and other Maine midwives.
Midwives had to be prepared to deliver babies and know what to do if the birth did not go properly on its own. Not only did they have to know how to deliver babies, but how to care for them or their mothers if they became ill. Many Midwives were not just skilled in midwifery, but also often in herbal medicines, and treatment of the sick. Martha Ballard made many hundreds of sick calls as well as the calls that came from mothers in labor. This often called for extra work at home for the midwife, such as more gardening than the average woman because of the special herbs needed and also medical attention for family members as well as those who pay for the service. “I have done my hous work and dug gardin.” (1)
Originally a midwife was much more common to be called for a delivery than a doctor. If a doctor was called it was usually only in extenuating circumstances. The midwives were very competent and the people knew it. During Martha Ballard’s time this began to change, especially toward the end of her life, doctors called for sickness and births were becoming more common.
For a time it seemed as though doctors knew their place; and that place was taking care of the more serious issues. Midwives delivered babies unless there were serious complications and then a doctor was called. For sicknesses or discomforts healers had their herbs. Doctors were sometimes consulted or even worked with without real competition or hostility, and midwives and healers were even invited to attend dissection autopsies. “I was Calld to my sons to see the Desection of the Son of Esquire Davis which was preformd very Closly.” (1)
Quietly competition came and grew as doctors became more determined to deliver the services that had long since been the woman midwife or healer’s tasks. Many midwives and healers disapproved of some of the doctor’s methods such as bleeding and always seeming to use the most drastic methods first. “They inform me that Dr Page says it must be opined, which I should think improper from present appearance.” (1) They also did not like the lack of experience of some doctors, midwives and healers had to stand by quietly as they were slowly pushed out of the way. Eventually it became unfitting for a woman to perform the duties that they had been practicing for so long.
Being a midwife in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries took skill, diligence, competence, sacrifice and the good heart of a neighbor. Being a midwife meant long days and nights of hard work, whether for their practice or what was expected of them as a woman running a house hold. Martha Ballard delivered over eight hundred and fourteen babies in her life time while also keeping up her house, taking care of her own family and tending to hundreds of sick people. Male doctors eventually took this away from the women, making midwife and healer duties not fit for women and therefore taking over their practice, but they couldn’t keep the women away from medical practices forever. Women began trying to gain their rights to attend the sick once again. Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in the United States to graduate from medical school, and one of her followers, Mary Hobart, who was related to Martha Ballard, was herself a pioneer in the medical world of women.
Source:
(1) A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century midwives had many duties and were often skilled in more than just delivering babies. Being a midwife at that time was hard and tiring work for skilled women. During Martha’s career and especially toward the end, male doctors became more common and pushier and began to change medical practices of the time.
Being a midwife was difficult for many reasons. There were troubles and annoyances, even dangers before they even got to the birth site. Midwives had to be prepared to be called at any hour of the day or night while they were busy or sleeping. “Snowd. I was calld at 7 hour Evening to see Mrs. Mthews who is in labor. I tarried all night. Slept none.” (1) Martha was almost always deprived of sleep, because delivering babies was not the only thing a midwife had to do. When Martha arrived home after a tiring delivery had to be prepared to finish her house hold work of baking, mending, washing and more before she could act on the thought of rest.
Braving the travel to the patient’s house was often a dangerous part of being a midwife. Crossing rivers in the night and the cold of winter, and being thrown from horses were only some of the troubles encountered by Martha Ballard and other Maine midwives.
Midwives had to be prepared to deliver babies and know what to do if the birth did not go properly on its own. Not only did they have to know how to deliver babies, but how to care for them or their mothers if they became ill. Many Midwives were not just skilled in midwifery, but also often in herbal medicines, and treatment of the sick. Martha Ballard made many hundreds of sick calls as well as the calls that came from mothers in labor. This often called for extra work at home for the midwife, such as more gardening than the average woman because of the special herbs needed and also medical attention for family members as well as those who pay for the service. “I have done my hous work and dug gardin.” (1)
Originally a midwife was much more common to be called for a delivery than a doctor. If a doctor was called it was usually only in extenuating circumstances. The midwives were very competent and the people knew it. During Martha Ballard’s time this began to change, especially toward the end of her life, doctors called for sickness and births were becoming more common.
For a time it seemed as though doctors knew their place; and that place was taking care of the more serious issues. Midwives delivered babies unless there were serious complications and then a doctor was called. For sicknesses or discomforts healers had their herbs. Doctors were sometimes consulted or even worked with without real competition or hostility, and midwives and healers were even invited to attend dissection autopsies. “I was Calld to my sons to see the Desection of the Son of Esquire Davis which was preformd very Closly.” (1)
Quietly competition came and grew as doctors became more determined to deliver the services that had long since been the woman midwife or healer’s tasks. Many midwives and healers disapproved of some of the doctor’s methods such as bleeding and always seeming to use the most drastic methods first. “They inform me that Dr Page says it must be opined, which I should think improper from present appearance.” (1) They also did not like the lack of experience of some doctors, midwives and healers had to stand by quietly as they were slowly pushed out of the way. Eventually it became unfitting for a woman to perform the duties that they had been practicing for so long.
Being a midwife in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries took skill, diligence, competence, sacrifice and the good heart of a neighbor. Being a midwife meant long days and nights of hard work, whether for their practice or what was expected of them as a woman running a house hold. Martha Ballard delivered over eight hundred and fourteen babies in her life time while also keeping up her house, taking care of her own family and tending to hundreds of sick people. Male doctors eventually took this away from the women, making midwife and healer duties not fit for women and therefore taking over their practice, but they couldn’t keep the women away from medical practices forever. Women began trying to gain their rights to attend the sick once again. Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in the United States to graduate from medical school, and one of her followers, Mary Hobart, who was related to Martha Ballard, was herself a pioneer in the medical world of women.
Source:
(1) A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Friday, July 11, 2008
Honors English 11 Spirit Bear 2
While on the island, Cole works very hard on his Totem Pole almost every day carving animals that have taught him something into it. I chose to research the totem pole to understand them more fully seeing as Cole’s totem pole is very important to him and seems to help him calm himself.
For Native American’s on the Pacific Northwest coast totem poles are a long running tradition. Edward Malin, author of Totem Poles of the Pacific Northwest Coast, thinks that totem poles started by the Haida people in the Queen Charlotte Islands and from there it spread to the Tsimshian and Tlingit and then down to British Columbia (Where the Spirit Bear is from) and northern Washington state. As the poles progressed through the different areas they also expanded from being used as house posts to other things like memorial markers and funerary containers to symbols that expressed clan or family wealth, position, and importance.
Some anthropologists think that Native Americans did not start making totem poles until after the Europeans arrived, however the Native American’s oral tradition says differently. Because totem poles are made from wood they decay easily and relatively quickly so there is no evidence beyond oral tradition for evidence except that the forms and designs of the poles are so distinctive and developed that it seems to support that they aren’t the tradition is not a very recent one. European wood carving tools did spur the amount of poles made though.
Totem Poles are still made today, but in order to have one you would have to be willing to spend a lot of money. The real totem poles are made from only one tree usually cedar; only one solid piece, hand carved, and carefully painted.
Cole used his totem pole to symbolize all he had learned and together he and Peter found forgiveness and balance and together completed the totem pole carving those feelings into a circle on the top.
Works Cited
"American Indian Totem Poles." Nativelanguages.Org. 11 July 2008 http://www.native-languages.org/totem.htm.
"Totem Poles." Crystalinks.Com. 11 July 2008 http://www.crystalinks.com/totempoles.html.
For Native American’s on the Pacific Northwest coast totem poles are a long running tradition. Edward Malin, author of Totem Poles of the Pacific Northwest Coast, thinks that totem poles started by the Haida people in the Queen Charlotte Islands and from there it spread to the Tsimshian and Tlingit and then down to British Columbia (Where the Spirit Bear is from) and northern Washington state. As the poles progressed through the different areas they also expanded from being used as house posts to other things like memorial markers and funerary containers to symbols that expressed clan or family wealth, position, and importance.
Some anthropologists think that Native Americans did not start making totem poles until after the Europeans arrived, however the Native American’s oral tradition says differently. Because totem poles are made from wood they decay easily and relatively quickly so there is no evidence beyond oral tradition for evidence except that the forms and designs of the poles are so distinctive and developed that it seems to support that they aren’t the tradition is not a very recent one. European wood carving tools did spur the amount of poles made though.
Totem Poles are still made today, but in order to have one you would have to be willing to spend a lot of money. The real totem poles are made from only one tree usually cedar; only one solid piece, hand carved, and carefully painted.
Cole used his totem pole to symbolize all he had learned and together he and Peter found forgiveness and balance and together completed the totem pole carving those feelings into a circle on the top.
Works Cited
"American Indian Totem Poles." Nativelanguages.Org. 11 July 2008 http://www.native-languages.org/totem.htm.
"Totem Poles." Crystalinks.Com. 11 July 2008 http://www.crystalinks.com/totempoles.html.
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