Five Lost Native American Languages Rediscovered in Massachusetts

A club from Massachusetts in the shape of a fish, probably Atlantic sturgeon, dates to about 1750. The area was previously thought to have only one language at the time of European contact, but new research reveals there were five Native American languages were spoken in the Connecticut Valley of central Massachusetts. (National Museum of the American Indian, catalog 202196).

American history has just been slightly rewritten. Previously, experts had believed that the Native Americans of central Massachusetts spoke a single language, Loup (pronounced “Lou,” literally meaning “wolf”). But new research shows that they spoke at least five different languages.

“It’s like some European families where you can have three different languages at the dinner table,” says Ives Goddard, curator emeritus and senior linguist in the department of anthropology at the Smithsonian’s Natural Museum of Natural History. “There was probably a lot of bilingualism. A question that is raised by there being so many languages is ‘how did that work?’ How did they manage to maintain five different languages in such a small area?”

The lost languages were re-discovered by taking another look at several manuscripts written by French missionaries who were also working as linguists in the late 1700’s. While working on her master’s thesis at the University of Manitoba, Holly Gustafson compiled a list of verb forms found in one of the manuscripts. Goddard noticed some contradictions in the compilation.

“In the course of doing this [Gustafson] sometimes says there’s this set of forms that is this way and another set of forms another way,” says Goddard. The fact that there were three different words recorded for beaver was also suspicious. “And I looked at this and thought there is too much difference. That made me think that there was more than one language involved,” he says … read more –>  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/

Apr 04, 1968 Dr. King Assassinated

pic courtesy of:  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/437271445041991727/

Just after 6 p.m. on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. is fatally shot while standing on the balcony outside his second-story room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

The civil rights leader was in Memphis to support a sanitation workers’ strike and was on his way to dinner when a bullet struck him in the jaw and severed his spinal cord. King was pronounced dead after his arrival at a Memphis hospital. He was 39 years old.

In the months before his assassination, Martin Luther King became increasingly concerned with the problem of economic inequality in America. He organized a Poor People’s Campaign to focus on the issue, including an interracialpoor people’s march on Washington, and in March 1968 traveled to Memphis in support of poorly treated African-American sanitation workers. On March 28, a workers’ protest march led by King ended in violence and the death of an African-American teenager. King left the city but vowed to return in early April to lead another demonstration.

On April 3, back in Memphis, King gave his last sermon, saying, “We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop…And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”

One day after speaking those words, Dr. King was shot and killed by a sniper. As word of the assassination spread, riots broke out in cities all across the United States and National Guard troops were deployed in Memphis and Washington, D.C. On April 9, King was laid to rest in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to pay tribute to King’s casket as it passed by in a wooden farm cart drawn by two mules … read more, watch video —>  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/

 

Feb is African American History Month

Founder of Black History Month, Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, distinguished Black author, editor, publisher, and historian (December 1875 – April 1950).  Launched Negro History Week in 1926, chosen in the second week of February between the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, which evolved into Black History Month in 1976.  Known for writing the contributions of black Americans into the national spotlight, received a Ph.D at Harvard University. Founded the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History in 1915, founded the Journal of Negro History in 1916. Author of the book, “The Miseducation of the Negro”, published in 1933.

Black History Month, or National African American History Month, is an annual celebration of achievements by black Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of African Americans in U.S. history. The event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans.

Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating black history.

Origins of Black History Month

The story of Black History Month begins in 1915, half a century after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. That September, the Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson and the prominent minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), an organization dedicated to researching and promoting achievements by black Americans and other peoples of African descent. Known today as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the group sponsored a national Negro History week in 1926, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event inspired schools and communities nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances and lectures.  The NAACP was founded on February 12, 1909, the centennial anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.

In the decades the followed, mayors of cities across the country began issuing yearly proclamations recognizing Negro History Week. By the late 1960s, thanks in part to the Civil Rights Movement and a growing awareness of black identity, Negro History Week had evolved into Black History Month on many college campuses. President Gerald R. Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976, calling upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

Since then, every American president has designated February as Black History Month and endorsed a specific theme. The 2013 theme, At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington, marks the 150th and 50th anniversaries of two pivotal events in African-American history.

courtesy of, see vids:  http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-month, http://freemaninstitute.com/woodson.htm

SAN DIEGO JAN, 2016 FUN EVENTS

January 1, New Year’s Day Brunch Cruise

Toast to the New Year with a delicious Champagne brunch, free-flowing champagne, and amazing San Diego Bay views.

Time: 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM

Price: Starting at $62.95 per person (Price Subject to Change)

Location: 1800 North Harbor Dr., San Diego, CA 92101

For more info:  888.467.6256 or visit www.hornblower.com

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January 2, Pajama Jam: New Year’s Family Night Out

Celebrate the New Year at an after-hours party at The New Children’s Museum! Jump into your jammies and join us for delicious dinner, New Year’s theme art activities, games, music, entertainment and our famous countdown balloon drop! Adults will enjoy one drink token with ticket and the chance to win amazing prizes in an opportunity drawing.

Time: 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Price: $15-$35

Location: 200 W Island Ave., San Diego, CA 92101

For more info:  619.233.8792 or visit www.thinkplaycreate.org/fundraising-events

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 January 6, First Wednesdays: Besos de Coco

Besos de Coco is stirring up a great deal of excitement with their fresh and intense sound that maintains its roots in the romantic music of the old-world Mediterranean, Latin American, and Jazz traditions. Tap-dancer Claudia Gomez Vorce, double-bassist Evona Wascinski, and classical guitarist / vocalist Lorraine Castellanos make up this musically magnetic trio.

Time: 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Price: General Admission – Free

Location: 340 N Escondido Blvd., Escondido, CA 92025

For more info:  800.988.4253 or visit artcenter.org/event/besos-de-coco

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January 9 – 24, SDJT Presents: Ivy+Bean the Musical

Pancake Court is no ordinary cul-de-sac! Start with two completely opposite 8-year olds: Ivy, the quiet reader who loves magic and wants to be a witch, and Bean, the outgoing, rambunctious and often devious counterpart who has never been shy.

Time: 11:00 AM

Price: $11-$15

Location: 1650 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101

For more info:  619.239.8355 or visit juniortheatre.com

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January 10, 2014 – January 29, 2016 Gaslamp Ghosts Walking Tour

Take a stroll through the Gaslamp’s haunted history with Davis House historian, Sandee Wilhoit, who will recount ghostly happenings of the past…and of the present. Visit hotels, saloons, brothels and a long-ago funeral parlor, and end your tour inside the Gaslamp’s most haunted edifice – the William Heath Davis House.

Time: 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

Price: Adults – $20

Location: 410 Island Ave., San Diego, CA 92101

For more info:  619.233.4692 or visit www.gaslampquarter.org

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January 14 – 16, Cristela Alonzo

Cristela Alonzo made TV history in 2014, by being the first Latina to create, produce and star in a network TV sitcom, “Cristela,” an achievement which caps a whirlwind year. She released “Some of the Hits,” her first stand-up CD through Comedy Central and will be making her feature film debut in the upcoming Angry Birds movie.

Time: 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM

Price: $18

Location: 818 B 6th Ave., San Diego, CA 92101

For more info:  619.795.3858 or visit  americancomedyco.com

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January 15, Quicksilver

“Fantasticus: Extravagant and Virtuosic Music from 17th-century Germany” Led by violinists Robert Mealy and Julie Andrijeski, Quicksilver brings together some of the leading historically informed performers in America today.

Time: 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM

Price: General – $30-$35

Location: 743 Prospect street, La Jolla, CA 92037

For more info:  619.291.8246 or visit www.sdems.org

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January 15, Jerry Seinfeld

America’s premier comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, will be performing his signature stand-up routine. Seinfeld has been hailed for his uncanny ability to joke about the little things in life that relate to audiences everywhere.

Time: 7:30 PM to 11:00 PM

Price: Starting at $46.50

Location: 3666 Fourth Ave., San Diego, CA 92103

For more info:  www.broadwaysd.com/jerry-seinfeld.htm

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January 16, Kids Marathon Mile at LEGOLAND California

LEGOLAND® California is host to a special, 1-mile fun run for kids of all ages and abilities.  Before the doors open to the public, they’re opened for us to enjoy the sights and sounds of LEGOLAND®! Participants can run, walk, skip or stroll, or even be pushed in a stroller or carried on a back as they wind through the park, making their way to an exciting, spectator-filled finish line. Each finisher is presented with a shiny finisher’s medal and treated to a fun post-event party with a DJ, activities, light refreshments and booths. The event concludes at 10 a.m. with the opening of LEGOLAND® and SEA LIFE™ Aquarium where registered participants age 12 & under can enter the park for free and moms and dads can enter for 50% off admission.

Timeline:

• 6:30 AM: LEGOLAND parking lot opens (parking is free at this time with no reentry)
• 7:00 AM: Event day registration
• 8:00 AM: Mile races start

Time: 6:30 AM to 10:00 AM

Price: $10-$30

Location: One LEGOLAND Dr., Carlsbad, CA 92008

For more info:  619.291.8246 or visit www.carlsbadmarathon.com

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January 16 – March 6, The History and the Hair Story

The History and the Hair Story: 400 Years Without a Comb is a journey through the history of the African American hair industry and its role in our present culture. From its origins in the seat of civilization to the epicenter of the civil rights movement, the comb’s untold story takes the spotlight in this exhibition by way of 400 years’ worth of artifacts, photography, historical accounts, propaganda, and much more.

Time: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Price: General Admission – $8, Kids 12 & Under – Free

Location: 340 N Escondido Blvd., Escondido, CA 92025

For more info:  800.988.4253 or visit artcenter.org

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January 24, Nordic Landscapes | Mingle @ the Mingei

Music of Scandinavia: Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen, Christian Sinding & Kaveli Aho woodwind quintet, violin, cello, piano.

Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Price: General – $30

Location: 1439 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101

For more info:  619.231.3702 or visit www.classicalmusicsandiego.com

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January 29, The Opening Night: Ed Ruscha Then & Now

Celebrate MCASD’s latest exhibition at The Opening Night with cocktails, live music, food trucks, guided tours, and more! The iconic artist Ed Ruscha first gained attention in the 1960s for work that combines text and image with deadpan takes on American vernacular culture. An innovator of West-Coast Pop and Conceptual Art, Ruscha’s work defies and exceeds both categories, drawing upon popular media, commercial culture, and the landscape of Los Angeles.

Time: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Price: Included with admission

Location: 700 Prospect St., La Jolla, CA 92037

For more info:  858.454.3541 or visit www.mcasd.org

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January 31, 2015- June 17, 2016 San Diego Invites the World: The 1915 Expo

The definitive commemorative exhibition of the 1915 Exposition is set in a framework of innovation as an event and as a showcase of innovations in commerce, industry, agriculture and arts/culture during that era.

Time: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Price: Included with admission

Location: 1649 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101

For more info:  619.232.6203 or visit www.sandiegohistory.org/The1915Expo

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IVAN SOLIS, JR.  / Sr. Sales Executive / Ivan.Solis@Title365.com  / (619) 804-9000

KRISTINE COSTA / Sales Executive / Kristine.Costa@Title365.com

Title 365 / 8880 Rio San Diego Drive / Suite 1100 / San Diego, CA 92108 / (619) 857-6347

A Few Things About Thanksgiving …

An engraving depicts the Mayflower pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620. In reality, the pilgrims never wrote of any such rock. The first written mention of Plymouth Rock was in 1835.

When the Mayflower pilgrims and the Wampanoag sat down for the first Thanksgiving in 1621, it wasn’t actually that big of a deal. Likely, it was just a routine English harvest celebration. More significant—and less remembered—was the peace treaty that the parities established seven months earlier, which lasted for 50 years.

“There’s in fact very little historical record of the first Thanksgiving, which is why Thanksgiving wasn’t really celebrated as a holiday until the 19th century,” says Charles C. Mann, author of 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. “To historians, it seems kind of funny that the celebration … now seems more important than the treaty itself.”

President Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday during the Civil War, and the feast has since become an American tradition. Yet the story of the Wampanoag and the pilgrims who first broke bread is not commonly known …

read more —> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

Thanksgiving’s Story Told in a Vanishing American Language

A new film could be a vehicle for saving a dying American Indian tongue.

The saga of the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock has been told, for the most part, in just one language: English.  The voices of the Native Americans who were there—speaking in their own languages—have usually been left out.

The new film Saints & Strangers, which recounts the events surrounding the arrival of the Mayflower in the New World in the autumn of 1620, attempts to change that. In this telling, Native Americans are as much at the heart of the story as the Pilgrims. And those Native Americans are speaking in a native tongue, in a language called Western Abenaki.

“This was a huge challenge,” says Jesse Bowman Bruchac, 44, a fluent speaker of the language, who coached the film’s Native American actors on how to deliver their lines in Western Abenaki. (Watch Bruchac on the set of the film.)

The language has just a handful of living speakers. But Western Abenaki becomes a character of sorts in Saints & Strangers, creating a living window into personality, history and culture.

Abenaki is an amalgamation of a vast group of Algonquin languages once spoken throughout what’s now New England, including Vermont, New Hampshire, and parts of eastern Canada.

With the exception of one character whose role is to interpret for the Pilgrims, every line of native dialogue is delivered in Abenaki.

(Read “What They Ate at the First Thanksgiving.”)

By giving voice to real historical figures like the Wampanoag Indian chief Massasoit, his counselor and head warrior Hobbamock and the Patuxet interpreter Squanto—who served as a liaison to the religious Pilgrims and adventurer-outcasts of the Plymouth colony—the film is also a vehicle for growing efforts to keep endangered native languages from extinction.

Bruchac hopes that Saints & Strangers becomes a “permanent” audio record for future generations and for anyone who wants to learn Abenaki, which has just 12 fluent speakers left … read more plus vids —> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

On The Menu, First Thanksgiving Meal

The feast, held in 1621 at the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, was very different from the Thanksgiving dinner that we enjoy today. It went on for three whole days, and the colonists and their Native guests probably didn’t sit at a table or use forks. Staples of modern Thanksgiving—like pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce—weren’t even served.

So what did they eat? While nobody knows the full menu, based upon various sources, it’s possible at least to make some educated guesses.

1. Goose and duck. Edward Winslow, a colonial leader, wrote a 1621 letter in which he described how Gov. William Bradford had sent four men out to hunt for fowl for the feast. Though the letter doesn’t specify which birds, Nathaniel Philbrick, author of “Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War,” notes that migratory geese and ducks were plentiful in the area during the autumn, so it seems likely that they were among the foods served.
2. Venison. We definitely know that this meat was served at the first Thanksgiving feast. The Native American guests at the feast—who actually outnumbered the Pilgrims—brought along with them five deer, according to Winslow.
3. Fish. In the autumn, striped bass, bluefish and cod were abundant in local waters, according to Philbrick, and he thinks they may have been eaten that day.
4. Turkey. In a 1621 letter, Bradford commented on the “great store of wild turkeys” that the colonists had hunted. So it seems possible, or even likely, that turkey was on the menu, even though Winslow didn’t specifically mention it in his description of the event. Turkey already was a popular gourmet food on the other side of the Atlantic, ever since Spanish conquerors returned in the early 1500s with birds that had been domesticated by the Aztecs.
5. Lobster and mussels. In Winslow’s letter, he describes the local abundance of these aquatic animals as well, so it’s conceivable that they were on the menu.
6. Stew. The colonists liked to make what they called pottages, in which various meats and vegetables were tossed in, according to Philbrick.
7. Beer. The Pilgrims liked beer, which they brought with them on the Mayflower. The 1621 harvest had yielded a crop of barley, which for the first time made it possible for the colonists to make their own home brew, according to Philbrick.
8. Cornbread. The colonists had just harvested their initial corn crop, so it would have been appropriate to include it on the menu. But it wasn’t the sweet yellow corn that we serve today as a side dish. Instead, they raised Indian corn, which was dried and pounded into meal for baking.
9. Pumpkin. While the Pilgrims didn’t make pumpkin pies, it’s conceivable that they served stewed pumpkin or bread made from pumpkin and corn meal, both of which were eaten by colonists, according to Alice Morse Earle’s 1898 book “Home Life in Colonial Days.”
10. Squash. This was another crop from the 1621 harvest, so it may have been served at the feast as well. The Native American style of preparation was to boil or roast it.

courtesy of:  http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/

November Is Native American Heritage Month

 

courtesy of:  https://www.facebook.com/PowWowscom-6228167895/

Max Flower Power – Dogwood Tree

Mexican version of the American Dogwood Tree

courtesy of:   http://www.pinterest.com/

DNA Search for First Americans Links Amazon Groups to Indigenous Australians

More than 15,000 years ago, humans began crossing a land bridge called Beringia that connected their native home in Eurasia to modern-day Alaska. Who knows what the journey entailed or what motivated them to leave, but once they arrived, they spread southward across the Americas. The prevailing theory is that the first Americans arrived in a single wave, and all Native American populations today descend from this one group of adventurous founders. But now there’s a kink in that theory. The latest genetic analyses back up skeletal studies suggesting that some groups in the Amazon share a common ancestor with indigenous Australians and New Guineans. The find hints at the possibility that not one but two groups migrated across these continents to give rise to the first Americans.

“Our results suggest this working model that we had is not correct. There’s another early population that founded modern Native American populations,” says study coauthor David Reich, a geneticist at Harvard University.

The origin of the first Americans has been hotly debated for decades, and the questions of how many migratory groups crossed the land bridge, as well as how people dispersed after the crossing, continue to spark controversy. In 2008, a team studying DNA from 10,800-year-old poop concluded that a group of ancient humans in Oregon has ancestral ties to modern Native Americans. And in 2014, genetic analysis linked a 12,000-year-old skeleton found in an underwater cave in Mexico to modern Native Americans.

Genetic studies have since connected both these ancient and modern humans to ancestral populations in Eurasia, adding to the case that a single migratory surge produced the first human settlers in the Americas. —> read more:  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/

My Body Is Different, My Hair Is Different …

[07/01/2015]   Congratulations to Misty Copeland who was just named principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre! With today’s announcement, Copeland became the first African-American ballerina to achieve that status in the 75-year history of the ABT, one of the world’s premier classical ballet companies. Her promotion came six days after the 32-year-old dancer made her New York debut in the role of Odette/Odile in “Swan Lake.” The emotional performance ended with Copeland being greeted onstage by trailblazing black ballerinas of earlier generations.

While Copeland has now reached the pinnacle of the ballet world, her rise to such heights was far from traditional. Her family was living out of a hotel room when she took her first ballet class; she and her five siblings struggled for space to sleep on the floor. She also had a comparatively late start in ballet and was 13 when she took her first lesson at her local Boys & Girls Club. At the time, she was anxious and saw herself as undersized and gangly: “I was never, you know, the popular one, the pretty one,” she says. “These big long feet and skinny legs and skinny limbs were all these things that I thought were negative things in how we view beauty in our society, and then when I was introduced to the ballet world, all of those qualities were beauty for a ballerina.”

Copeland’s talent, however, was obvious immediately, and within three months, she was already dancing on pointe, a technique that many dancers work for years to achieve. At the age of fifteen — two short years after starting lessons, and competing against girls who would have been training for ten or more years — Copeland won the Los Angeles Music Center’s Spotlight Award. That’s where she caught ABT’s eye, and soon, they had offered her a spot with the company. In 2007, six years after joining the company, she became their third ever black soloist.

Even with her abundant talent, she has been honest about her encounters with racism in the ballet world in the past. Speaking to Elle magazine last year, she said, “People make comments. For some people, I don’t look like a ballerina.” But she says that things are changing for the better. She told the BBC, “as much criticism as I get for talking about it as much as I do, I think it’s forcing people to make changes. It’s putting the spotlight on the ballet world and in a way that it’s never been done before.”

Ultimately, Copeland hopes that she can inspire young dancers of all races and backgrounds as she continues to perform. “I had some really incredible people who mentored me… I think it’s so important for young dancers of color to have someone who looks like them as an example — someone they can touch.” And to all the girls out there who feel like they don’t belong, she shared these powerful works of support: “You don’t have to look like everyone around you, you don’t have to follow the exact same path as someone before you. I think that’s been my experience — that it’s okay to be different, it’s okay to be unique, that you can set your own path.”

To learn more about her unique life story, Misty Copeland recently published an excellent memoir for older teen and adult readers, “Life In Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina” at http://amzn.to/1qah0xn

She is the author of a recent picture book about a little girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina, “Firebird,” for ages 4 to 8 …………… read more at —>  https://www.facebook.com/amightygirl?fref=photo

10 Countries Racing to Buy American Homes

International homebuyers are attracted to the United States for a number of reasons. These include favorable housing prices, good weather, the country’s relative economic stability and an attraction to America in general. As the housing market improved and home prices rebounded, the interest of foreign buyers in U.S. properties has soared.

Interest in U.S. property increased dramatically in a number of countries between 2009 and 2013. In all, interest in home buying, according to housing market firm RealtyTrac, increased by 95% or more in 10 countries, and at least doubled in nine of these nations. Interest in U.S. property by residents of the United Arab Emirates rose 352%, the most out of any country. Based on subscription data provided by RealtyTrac, these are the 10 countries where interest in buying American homes is on the rise.  (read more —> http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/04/12/countries-buying-american-homes/7586991/ )

courtesy of:  http://www.usatoday.com/

Native American – By The Numbers

 

courtesy of:  http://lgbtweekly.com/