Post by cinemo on Sept 21, 2013 12:55:14 GMT -5
Between 1908 and 1913, Lewis RodmanWanamaker, a wealthy merchant, commissioned three photographic expeditions to the American Indians intended to document a vanishing way of life and make the Indian "first-class citizens" to save them from extinction. At that time, Indians were viewed as a "Vanishing Race," and efforts were made to bring them increasingly into the mainstream of American life, often at the expense of their culture and traditions. Joseph K. Dixon was the photographer. On the first expedition, he made many portraits and captured scenes of Indian life. Wanamaker co-published a book with Dixon titled "The Vanishing Race." The second expedition in 1909 involved a motion filming a reenactment of the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
Afterwards, Wanamaker hosted in New York a dinner party to honor Colonel William (Buffalo Bill) Cody. It was at this dinner that he first publicly proposed his idea for a monument to honor the North American Indian. The dinner guests enthusiastically responded to the idea. On December 8, 1911, Congress set aside the federal land ( at Fort Wadsworth ) needed for the project but did not otherwise provide for any expenses. The major part of the memorial was to be a 165-foot-tall statue of a representative American Indian warrior atop a substantial foundation building housing a museum of native cultures, similar in scale to the Statue of Liberty.
The National American Indian Memorial was to be erected on the site of Fort Tompkins Staten Island, New York, United States. Fort Tompkins, a component of the larger Fort Wadsworth, is located on a bluff high above the west side of the Narrows. It was and still is owned by the federal government. For many years Fort Wadsworth, along with Fort Hamilton on the east shore of the Narrows, provided harbor defense for New York City. Virtually all ocean-going ships destined for New York pass the site, so the monument would have been highly visible to visitors, seen well before the Statue of Liberty would come into view.
On Feb. 22, 1913, President Taft attended the dedication ( ground-breaking ) ceremony. He used both a shovel and an Indian ax-head made from a buffalo bone to turn over the dirt. Amongst the guests there on that rainy day were thirty two Indian chiefs representing fifteen tribes. After the ceremony, the chiefs were invited,to sign the > Declaration of Allegiance to the United States <
Afterwards, Wanamaker initiated in 1913 an expedition of citizenship to all the tribes and was given the document by the government to proceed and obtain signatures from all who wished to sign. The expedition took seven months, covering more than 20.000 miles by train, boat, stagecoach, automobile, horseback and donkey. Every tribe, without exception, signed.
The Declaration of Allegiance of the American Indians to the United States must rank as one of the five greatest documents in American history, if not in world history.The others being; The Declaration of Independence of the United States, The United States Constitution, The Emancipation Proclamation and The Bill of Rights. Although it marks the end of the sad conquest and assimilation into European-type society of the native Americans, a fact which detracts from its greatness, the document possesses many amazing attributes. First, the document is signed by over 900 Chiefs, far more leaders than any other document in world history. These leaders represented 189 tribes who were at one time considered as independent Nations.
Equally important, these 189 tribes included every tribe in the United States with no exceptions. It is the only document ever signed by all native American tribes in the United States. The Declaration is the first voluntary acknowledgement of the sovereignty of the United States over all American Indian tribes. The fact that no tribe refused to sign and all tribes volunteered to sign may seem strange today, but it was a special time of reconciliation even between Indian tribes. This document marked the beginning of a ten year movement to grant full citizenship rights to the American Indian, finally given by the Act of Congress on June 15, 1924.
Unfortunately, it was soon discovered, however, that Wanamaker was not to be the donor of the cost of the project, but rather its chief fundraiser. Very little money was actually raised, and newspapers that were originally supportive now called the project "philanthropic humbug." With the advent of World War I in 1914, enthusiasm for the unfunded project on the site of a harbor defense installation waned.
Sources : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_American_Indian_Memorial
www.rain.org/~karpeles/decfrm.html
www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21380791
Here you can see an short video of the < First Sign> at the dedication ceremony in 1913 :
cinemo
Afterwards, Wanamaker hosted in New York a dinner party to honor Colonel William (Buffalo Bill) Cody. It was at this dinner that he first publicly proposed his idea for a monument to honor the North American Indian. The dinner guests enthusiastically responded to the idea. On December 8, 1911, Congress set aside the federal land ( at Fort Wadsworth ) needed for the project but did not otherwise provide for any expenses. The major part of the memorial was to be a 165-foot-tall statue of a representative American Indian warrior atop a substantial foundation building housing a museum of native cultures, similar in scale to the Statue of Liberty.
The National American Indian Memorial was to be erected on the site of Fort Tompkins Staten Island, New York, United States. Fort Tompkins, a component of the larger Fort Wadsworth, is located on a bluff high above the west side of the Narrows. It was and still is owned by the federal government. For many years Fort Wadsworth, along with Fort Hamilton on the east shore of the Narrows, provided harbor defense for New York City. Virtually all ocean-going ships destined for New York pass the site, so the monument would have been highly visible to visitors, seen well before the Statue of Liberty would come into view.
On Feb. 22, 1913, President Taft attended the dedication ( ground-breaking ) ceremony. He used both a shovel and an Indian ax-head made from a buffalo bone to turn over the dirt. Amongst the guests there on that rainy day were thirty two Indian chiefs representing fifteen tribes. After the ceremony, the chiefs were invited,to sign the > Declaration of Allegiance to the United States <
Afterwards, Wanamaker initiated in 1913 an expedition of citizenship to all the tribes and was given the document by the government to proceed and obtain signatures from all who wished to sign. The expedition took seven months, covering more than 20.000 miles by train, boat, stagecoach, automobile, horseback and donkey. Every tribe, without exception, signed.
The Declaration of Allegiance of the American Indians to the United States must rank as one of the five greatest documents in American history, if not in world history.The others being; The Declaration of Independence of the United States, The United States Constitution, The Emancipation Proclamation and The Bill of Rights. Although it marks the end of the sad conquest and assimilation into European-type society of the native Americans, a fact which detracts from its greatness, the document possesses many amazing attributes. First, the document is signed by over 900 Chiefs, far more leaders than any other document in world history. These leaders represented 189 tribes who were at one time considered as independent Nations.
Equally important, these 189 tribes included every tribe in the United States with no exceptions. It is the only document ever signed by all native American tribes in the United States. The Declaration is the first voluntary acknowledgement of the sovereignty of the United States over all American Indian tribes. The fact that no tribe refused to sign and all tribes volunteered to sign may seem strange today, but it was a special time of reconciliation even between Indian tribes. This document marked the beginning of a ten year movement to grant full citizenship rights to the American Indian, finally given by the Act of Congress on June 15, 1924.
Unfortunately, it was soon discovered, however, that Wanamaker was not to be the donor of the cost of the project, but rather its chief fundraiser. Very little money was actually raised, and newspapers that were originally supportive now called the project "philanthropic humbug." With the advent of World War I in 1914, enthusiasm for the unfunded project on the site of a harbor defense installation waned.
Sources : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_American_Indian_Memorial
www.rain.org/~karpeles/decfrm.html
www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21380791
Here you can see an short video of the < First Sign> at the dedication ceremony in 1913 :
cinemo
