Jake Thibodeau

My dad is a retired Lawrence firefighter, who was here during the crazy times of the sixties.  He has related to me about how they were shot at during the 60’s.  Luckily, he was not injured or even around any of the shooting, but he did say that anytime they went out there was a risk.  At the height of the unrest, the fire department made it a policy to not go to smaller fires in bad neighborhoods for fear of being shot at.  The fire at the Kansas union was a culmination of the events during this time.  After the burning of the union, many people stopped the violent actions.  With the deaths of the two students and the burning of the union, many people felt that the protesting had gone too far.  Although, firefighters were shot at, it is important to state that none of them were hit or injured during this time. 

My mom also grew up in Lawrence and was here when all of this unrest was going on.  She feared that my father could be injured, but for the most part she knew he had a job to do and accepted this fact.  She went to school with some of the Dowdell kids and knew Tiger Dowdell (the student killed by police).  This was a tough time for everybody, but many of the locals were not happy with the way the students were conducting themselves.  The locals, for the most part, thought that the students and protesters were going too far, so when two of them got killed, many felt that it was justified.  The thing about Lawrence is that it is a city in two worlds.  On one side you have the locals that like to think of it as a small town with small town values.  The other side is represented by the university, where students come in with more open minded views.  During the 60’s these were in conflict, making Lawrence in the 60’s, a crazy place to be.  

Check out this book from the Lawrence Fire Department http://www.lawrencefiremed.org/Images/LFD%20History%201859-1975%20(PL).pdf

 

 

“I like Ike”

Jake Thibodeau

 

The story of Dwight D. Eisenhower is a remarkable one.  He was born in Texas and raised in Kansas.  When he graduated from high school he was offered a chance to go to West Point Military Academy.  He went and there he was a several sport star, even playing football against the likes of Jim Thorpe.  While there, he played baseball and even boxed.  He aspired to play major league baseball, but was unsuccessful, which he felt was a great disappointment. 

From there, he went on to work his way up through the ranks of the army eventually earning the rank of general.  Early during World War II, Eisenhower led an attack in North Africa against Nazi and Italian forces.  This operation was mostly unsuccessful.  However, this operation helped pave the way for the D-Day invasion that would come 3 years later.  It showed the Americans that they would need to be more organized and more cunning to defeat the Germans.  Before the plans for the D-Day operation were put into motion, Eisenhower was named Supreme Allied Commander of the European theatre.  In this position, he not only commanded the American military, but he also gave orders to England and Canada.  This was a very honorable position.  There were other Generals that were contemplated for this position, but Eisenhower was chosen because he was very diplomatic and well liked by all allies involved. As everyone knows, D-Day was a success, but Eisenhower was saddened that so many had to lose their lives for this important mission. 

After the war Eisenhower was a hero.  He ran for president in 1953 and served 2 terms.  He was noted for his compassion and temperance in pushing the American agenda.  He was restrained and realized that America needed to be an example of peace to the world.

         “We are summoned to act in wisdom and in conscience, to work with industry, to teach with persuasion, to preach with conviction, to weigh our every deed with care and with compassion.” *

 

 

http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/eisenhower

I forgot to add the link to the Brown site, so here it is (Brown)

Jake Thibodeau

 

I had the opportunity to visit Monroe Elementary school, which is the site of the Brown v. The Topeka Board of Education Historical site while I was taking C&T 200.  This class was about diversity in the classroom as well as in the community, so one of our assignments was to take a trip to the museum a write a reflection about our experiences.  There were many things that I enjoyed about the museum as well as many things that I learned while there.  I was struck by impact that the decision had on many other facets of life.  There was one whole room dedicated to highlighting the various other social changes that occurred because of the Brown decision.  It paved the way for greater freedom for Native Americans as well as help start the Civil Rights Movement.  This decision also had impacts around the world.  One example of this was demonstrated in Ireland.  At the time schools were segregated based on religion.  There were Protestant and Catholic schools, with the Protestant schools usually being of a lower standard than the Catholic schools.  While arguing for equality and desegregation, the Protestants and their sympathizers cited the Brown v. Board decision. 

Another part of the museum that I found very insightful was the part that chronicled the fight for desegregation.  In this section, there was a hall that the visitors walked through that had large T.V.’s showing whites yelling racial slurs and derogatory comments at blacks while they tried to attend an integrated school.  The close proximity of the screens made the visitor feel as though they were the ones being yelled at.  I thought this was a powerful use of technology and help open my eyes to the torment that blacks went through just to get an equal education as their white peers.  I strongly suggest going to the museum if you haven’t been there.  Check out their website here.  In addition, for those of you going into the teaching field like myself, there are educational opportunities available for students, so take your students there because students learn more through experiences like this!    

Jacob Thibodeau

 

My Grandpa, Ivan Eugene Wiggins, is one of the many Kansans who proudly served in the army during World War II.  When war broke out, my grandpa was a teenager.  2 of his older brothers were drafted at the time.  Like many kids at the time, he was jealous for his opportunity to go and fight the Germans and Japanese.  Most people of the time really wanted to fight the Japanese more than the Germans.  They felt that the Germans were bad, but the Japanese were worse for what they did at Pearl Harbor.  I had the opportunity to write a paper on his experiences during my World War II class and he reflected on his experiences before and during the war.  He heard the news about the attack on Pearl Harbor on the radio.  When he heard the news he instantly wanted to join the fight against them.  However, he would have to wait until he was of age.  After his brothers were taken, my grandpa felt that his time would never come.  However, in early 1944, he was drafted at the age of eighteen and shipped out to basic training in Texas.  At this point he had never been out of Kansas, so this was a big adventure to him.  After basic training, he boarded a train with his fellow soldiers and headed for the east coast where he was to board a boat and head for the European theatre.  As he approached Washington, D.C. they heard the news that Germany had surrendered.  There was a lot of celebration, as one can imagine.  He was then sent to the west coast, where he was to board a ship and head to the Pacific Islands.  This was a long train ride and even longer boat trip.  He made it to the Pacific, where he served as a cook to the officers.  After a few months Japan surrendered and my grandpa was sent to Korea to serve with the newly formed military government, where he was again a cook for the officers.  While in Korea, my grandpa met many great people.  He said this was a great opportunity for him because he had never met anyone from Asia before.  He had had many misconceptions about the Korean people before this, but while there he said they were the nicest people he could have hoped for, being so far away form home.  This experience opened his eyes and challenged many of his thoughts about foreign people.  He returned home late in 1946 after spending almost a year in Korea.  He never took advantage of the G.I. Bill, but was fairly successful as a carpenter and construction foreman.  I looked and found his name Here on the Kansas State Historical Societies website.  He is now 82 years old and still going strong, building wood furniture to give to his kids, grandkids, and great grand kids.      

Jacob Thibodeau

I have always been interested in the lives of gunfighters.  I’m not sure why, perhaps it is the movies I have seen and stories that I have been told by my Grandpa, but I have always enjoyed the stories that surround these mysterious gunmen.  So, as we were discussing Dodge City and its notorious past of gunfights and general trouble making, I started thinking about the gunfighters again.  Gunfighters generally travelled from town to town, scraping a living together by gambling, robbing, and working odd jobs.  Sometimes these gunfighters even became lawmen.  Their reputations as courageous fighters and deadly shots earned them respect.  So, many towns offered them the position of sheriff to help clean up their towns.  Famous gunfighters turned law men were “Wild Bill” Hickok, Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and Bat Masterson.  All of these men spent some time in the Kansas town of Dodge City.

Dodge City was established in 1872, just before the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad. It initially did a booming business in buffalo bones and hides, as well as serving as a rendezvous for soldiers from Fort Dodge. By 1875 its days as a “cattle town” had arrived and for the next 10 years it was the “Cowboy Capital” of the world, and “Queen of the Cowtowns.” It was served by more top notch lawmen and gunfighters than any other. Wyatt Earp; Bat, Ed, and Jim Masterson; Doc Holliday; William Tilghman; Clay Allison; Ben and Billy Thompson; Lake Short; and many others spent time in Dodge City. *

 

  Dodge City was famous during these times for a few things: Cattle, Prostitutes, and Gunfighters.  Bat Masterson has one of the more famous stories involving Dodge City.  Bat came to dodge and was arrested because he interfered in the arrest of a fellow gunfighter.  Not long after his arrest he was hired by the Dodge City Council to help clean up the town.  He accepted, but as one can imagine there was a bit of conflict of interest going on.  Bat was friends with many of the trouble makers, so he let a lot of things slide.  However, he along with other gunfighters, were responsible for cleaning up Dodge City.

 

I think this is important because it adds to the mystique and intrigue of Kansas.  It also shows a time when Kansas was wild and at the forefront of the nation.  These times and people have been popularized in many movies and books and to know that Kansas was an integral part of them, is interesting. In addition, I think this is important because it shows how dynamic Kansas History is.  Through stories and movies, these gunfighters epitomize bravery, courage, and an independent spirit.  Perhaps, this had a lasting influence on Kansans today.  I’d like to think so. 

Note:  I think gun fighting is bad and in no way should it be used to settle disputes.  Generally, these people were not good human beings.  They killed without regard and ruined many lives.  So, don’t be a gunfighter.      

 

(Full Article)

*  http://www.kshs.org/portraits/dodge_city.htm

Jacob Thibodeau

 

I was very interested about the “Indian Wars” after our lecture earlier this week so I decided to do a little more research on the subject.  Often, we look at the wars as military actions with armed conflict.  However, after doing some research I realized that the settlers and U.S. Military tried other means to root out the Indians from their traditional lands.  Many of these means included economic and environmental aspects of destruction.  As noted in the lecture by Ms. Epps, the whites and the military were responsible for the decimation of the buffalo.  While we were talking of this, I was thinking that they were killing the buffalo simply for their own gain of hides and meat.  However, after reading an article I found on the Kansas State Historical Society website (article).  I found that, in addition to killing them for their own advantage, the whites made a concerted effort to kill the buffalo as a means of destroying the native’s way of life:

 

   The wanton destruction of the American buffalo, however, was central to the conflict. To many people, the buffalo were simply a barrier to westward expansion. With this animal eliminated, they reasoned, the Plains tribes would be forced to settle on reservations and become wards of the state. In addition, the rich pastureland of the West could then be utilized for domestic cattle production. Thus, few white Americans protested as hunters slaughtered millions of buffalo for their hides and meat between 1865 and 1880. *   

In my opinion, it is obvious that this was a war tactic used to destroy their way of life, which would perhaps cause them to acquiesce to a more “white” way of life.  I find this interesting because I was looking for articles about the actual wars and violent acts that were fought between these two groups.  In my thoughts about war, I forgot that there are other means through which one can destroy a nation, rather than confrontation and battle.  This helped me realize that the destruction and the end of the Indians in Kansas was brought about by a very concise and systematic manner.  I sometimes fall into the trap that people back in these times were less intelligent than we are now days.  Even though I disagree with the settlers and the Military on how they dealt with the Native people, I think this example shows that they were very “smart” to “hit them where it hurts”.  I put “smart” in quotations here because I think that word almost means that I agree with their actions and in fact I feel quite the opposite.  

In addition, through reading this article one gets a better sense of just how one-sided the wars were.  Of course the Indians participated and did things that were atrocious, but they had little chance of defeating the settlers and the U.S. Military.  These two groups had more resources and more people on their side, where as the Native people were already weak through starvation and being forced to defend themselves frequently.  I think it is remarkable that they were able to put up a fight as long as they did dispite these disadvantages.      

 

*  www.kshs.org/research/topics/war/essay_plains.htm

 

Jacob Thibodeau

 

1) Based on our readings and discussion of Indian removal, how did the U. S. government determine who had the most legitimate right to claim land? For that matter, is the environment something that can be “possessed”? Explain your answer and why you have taken this position.

            Based on our readings and discussions of Indian removal, I feel the U.S. government determined that whites had the most legitimate right to claim land.  This is evident by the way that native peoples were treated by the U.S. government through broken treaties and broken promises.  This was also demonstrated by their belief in Manifest Destiny, which stated that whites were destined by God to rule the land because they were the legitimate rulers of the land.  This sentiment was supported by many in America at the time and was used as justification for kicking the Native peoples off of their lands.  As stated earlier, evidence as to why whites were seen as having the most legitimate right to claim land can be demonstrated by the treaties that were signed with the Native Peoples.  These treaties were made under the presumption that they were to protect Native People’s land from interference from whites.  However, many of the treaties were not enforced in the way they should have been.  When the Native Peoples signed these treaties they were told that they would be there for life and that the lands would be protected, but as whites encroached on their lands the Government did nothing about it.  This is illustrated by a letter from Amelia Josephine Labedia to James W. Denver:  Letter  

            *I take the opportunity of writing you a few lines concerning our lands I mean the New York land as I belong to that nation we were drove away from there last spring by the squotters [squatters] We had ben [been] there evey [ever] since 1850 and had very good improvements and cattle hogs and every things to live my husband worked hard so we could have a good place but we had to leave it all they come to our hous [house] in the night to kill my husband but he was not there so we left and some other familys [families] the same we think according to our treaty that is our land but the squtter [squatter] have driven us from it now.

 

Amelia wrote this letter begging the Government for help in enforcing her tribe’s rights to the lands they were given in the treaty.  However, no help came and they were forced to leave the land for fear of being killed by whites.  I think this clearly illustrates who the government felt had the most legitimate right to claim land.

I feel that there are two sides to the question of whether the environment is something that can be possessed.  I feel in one sense, the environment is not something that can be possessed.  I feel that this is shared by many Native Peoples of the time period we are discussing.  The environment is something that we can live with and cultivate, but it is not something one can possess.  I ask myself “where do we get the right to claim land that was here long before us and will be here long after us?” 

In another sense, I feel that as land and resources gets scarcer and the population continues to grow, there is a need to define who owns what.  So, in this sense, I feel that the environment is something that can be possessed and in fact, something that must be possessed, to ensure the continuation of society.  However, possession is contingent upon the ability to keep it, as the Native People found out so long ago.  Perhaps, the idea of possessing land is what drives things like war.  So, maybe the next question should be “Should the environment be something that we pursue to own?”  

*Retrieved From   http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/208235/text 6/12/08     

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