Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons^™

Brewington, Dean, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Dean (Thomas Norwood) Brewington

Interviewer: Maxine

Date of Interview: October 8^th, 2008

Summarized by Michael Kavanagh

Born Thomas Norwood Brewington in 1937 in Goldsboro, North Carolina, he ventured to the Bronx by train at four years old. While growing up in the Bronx, he had the opportunity to meet and play with the best jazz musicians of all time. Also known by names Norwood and Dean, he currently lives in Minnesota and regularly does musical gigs at local clubs in Minnesota and around the country.

At four years old, his relatives put him on a train from …

Press Release: Rodney Hurst "It Was Never About A Hot Dog And A Coke", Ron Miller

Textual material from the Rodney Lawrence Hurst, Sr. Papers

A press release about Rodney Hurst's book "It was never about a hot dog and a coke." In addition, it advertises the Amelia Island Book Festival on October 2-4, 2008.

Looking Backward, Looking Forward: Puerto Ricans In The Quest For The New York City Mayoralty, José Cruz

Policy Documents

This paper examines the history of Puerto Rican efforts to win the mayoralty of the city of New York, highlighting the 2005 election. By doing so, it seeks to fill a gap in the history of Puerto Rican political participation in New York. The struggle of Puerto Rican elites to win representa- tion at the highest level of office in the city is long-standing. The paper chronicles the circumstances and terms according to which they sought political incorporation at that level. . The paper looks critically at the issue of runoff elections. The role of money is examined through the …

Appalachia’S Borderland Brokers: The Intersection Of Kinship, Diplomacy, And Trade On The Trans-Montane Backcountry, 1600-1800, Kevin T. Barksdale

History Faculty Research

This paper and accompanying historical argument builds upon the presentation I made at last year’s Ohio Valley History Conference held at Western Kentucky University. In that presentation, I argued that preindustrial Appalachia was a complex and dynamic borderland region in which disparate Amerindian groups and Euroamericans engaged in a wide-range of cultural, political, economic, and familial interactions. I challenged the Turnerian frontier model that characterized the North American backcountry as a steadily retreating “fall line” separating the savagery of Amerindian existence and the epidemic civility of Anglo-America. On the Turnerian frontier, Anglo-American culture washed over the Appalachian and Native American …

Should Women Vote?, E. Thomas Ewing, Heather L. Gumbert, David Hicks, Amy Nelson, Robert P. Stephens, Jane L. Lehr

Ethnic Studies

No abstract provided.

Jawo, Omar, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

INTERVIEWER: Dr. Mark Naison and Dr. Jane Edwards

INTERVIEWEE: Omar Jawo

SUMMARY BY: Andrew O’Connell

Born in 1952 in the Republic of Gambia, Omar Jawo, comes from the Fulani, an ethnic group in Gambia known primarily for agriculture and the raising of livestock. Seeing as how the Fulani placed little to no emphasis on formal education, Jawo followed his uncle to a Catholic Mission, where he attended elementary and high school, to pursue scholarship. Although a Muslim by religion, Jawo claims that he felt no pressure to convert at this mission school.

Following his education on the mission, Jawo become …

Interest And Action: Findings From A Survey Of Asian American Attitudes On Immigrants, Immigration, And Activism, Michael Liu, Shauna Lo, Paul Watanabe

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

This report presents results from a survey of 412 Chinese and Vietnamese in the Boston area about attention paid to immigration issues, views on the impact of immigrants and on immigration policies, and likeliness to engage in political activities around immigration rights.

In The Balance: Immigrant Economic Contributions And The Advancement Of Human Rights In Nebraska - Ollas Policy Brief No. 1, Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, Lourdes Gouveia

Latino/Latin American Studies Policy Briefs

No abstract provided.

Molding Memory: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Representations Of Candomblé In Public Places Of Memory And The Afro-Brazilian Community, Lauren Hobby

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over eighty-five percent of the population of Salvador, Brazil is of African descent, creating a rich history of cultural, political and social development. Nevertheless the majority of the museums in Salvador have historical spoken very little of this culture and its relationship to the city. In 1982, the Museu Afro-Brasileiro opened, introducing a small museum focused solely on the cultural exchange between Africa and Brazil as well as the development of Afro-Brazilian religiosity. Thinking critically about the importance of museums in the construction and dissemination of awareness, knowledge and respect for cultures as well as the current debates over the …

Commentary I: Celebration, Edna Glenn

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

In March, 1981, Texas Tech University hosted a conference, “The Hopi Year: A Tricentennial Symposium,” and at that conference discussions centered upon a complex topic, the meaning of HOPI.1 The conference featured cultural interchanges among experts of both Hopi and non-Hopi origins, and this volume contains the substantive and visual presentations of this unusual gathering. The content is interdisciplinary and presented in the context of both historic and contemporary viewpoints. Also important is attention given to land-use patterns and to environmental systems of human and physical growth and survival as related to the arid regions of the Hopi Reservation. Perhaps …

Chapter 2 Hopi Mesas And Migrations: Land And People, Lomawywesa (Michael Kabotie)

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

Survival and revival; the varied landscapes, buildings and environment; agricultural practices, arts and crafts; community institutions, cultural programs, clan beliefs and rituals—these all have meaning to our Hopi people and Hopi land.

The Hopi Reservation is situated in northeastern Arizona, about seventy-five or one hundred miles from the San Francisco Peaks, one of our sacred mountains. We call it Nuvatukwiovi. An examination of the geographical area reveals that to the far eastern edge of the Hopi Reservation is Keam’s Canyon, the region in which the Federal Government offices are located. Westward from Keam’s Canyon are the three Hopi mesas with …

Exemplary Arts: Section B — Subject: Corn As Life Essence, Edna Glenn

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

Five Paintings by the Artist Hopid

Figure 13: Four Mother Corn — Dawakema (Milland Lomakema)
Figure 14: Kachina Maiden Watching Fields — Coochsiwkioma (Delbridge Honanie)
Figure 15: Harvest Prayer — Honvantewa (Terrance Talaswaima)
Figure 16: Kachinas Germinating Plants — Dawakema (Milland Lomakema)
Figure 17: Angak’ China (Long-haired Kachina) — Honvantewa (Terrance Talaswaima)

“Hopi basically are corn people. We believe in agriculture because our greatest symbol is the corn, the ‘Corn Mother’.”—Lomawywesa

Commentary Ii: Ceremony, Edna Glenn

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

A typical Hopi ceremonial day offers a visual reality. At Walpi, a village on First Mesa, it is summer and Niman time, and a thanksgiving ritual is beginning. The Kuwan Heheya Kachinas set the first foot movements. Their body actions of their dance begin while their “uncle,” Tu-uqti,1 vigorously performs his solo act in front of their dance lines. A cluster of Koshari clowns,2 starkly visible in their body-paint stripes, collect their parade paraphernalia for antics later in the day. The plaza is crowded, action is anticipated. It is a Hopi celebration day.

The all-encompassing character of the scene itself …

Exemplary Arts: Section A — Subject: Concepts Of Emergence And Migration, Edna Glenn

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

Three Paintings by the Artist Hopid

Figure 7: Emergence — Dawakema (Milland Lomakema)
Figure 8: Migrational Patterns — Lomawywesa (Michael Kabotie)
Figure 9: Spiritual Leadership — Dawakema (Milland Lomakema)

“We believe that we are a part of a great living force which began hundreds of years ago ... Our concept is that we came from the Third World of the Hopi and that now, we are in the Fourth World ... We emerged from underground, somewhere in the Grand Canyon.”—Honvantewa

Ideas of EMERGENCE and MIGRATION permeate the consciousness of every Hopi. They structure ceremonial time and provide patterns for daily …

“Frontmatter” To Hopi Nation, Edna Glenn, John R. Wunder, Willard Hughes Rollings, C. L. Martin

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

Contains:
Editor’s Note
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface by Edna Glenn, Texas Tech University and John R. Wunder, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The Hopi Nation reminds itself daily that it is “at the center” of life on the arid mesas of the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. It has been doing so for over 1000 years, and it will likely do so for many centuries to come. Hopi life is not an easy life, but it is a full and rewarding life. Read this book and enjoy a visual and intellectual celebration of the Hopi Nation.

Hopi Nation: Essays On Indigenous Art, Culture, History, And Law [Complete Work], Edna Glenn, John R. Wunder, Willard Hughes Rollings, C. L. Martin

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

Contents

EDITOR’S NOTE

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PREFACE: Edna Glenn, Texas Tech University and John R. Wunder, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

COMMENTARY I: CELEBRATION: Edna Glenn

1 THE HOPI NATION IN 1980: “It is a time to recall and to revitalize the good things of Hopi life and to celebrate Hopism.” Abbott Sekaquaptewa, Chairman, Hopi Tribal Council

EXEMPLARY ARTS: SECTION A — Subject: Concepts of Emergence and Migration: Edna Glenn

2 HOPI MESAS AND MIGRATIONS: LAND AND PEOPLE: “Here among the sandstone mesas you will find the Hopis. ‘Among them we settled as rain....’” Lomawywesa (Michael Kabotie), Hopi Cultural Center and …

Exemplary Arts: Section D — Subject: Contemporary Arts And Crafts, Edna Glenn

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

Hopi people have always been very fine artists. In 1950 we developed the Hopi Arts and Crafts Cooperative Guild . . . The Hopi Co-op supports some four hundred artists and craftsmen . . . Basketry and pottery are the oldest of the art forms among our people. — Lomawywesa

Sixteen examples are presented in this section. Other examples of painting, photography, and graphics are included throughout the book.

Ceramics, Figures 43-51
43. HOPI CERAMIC PROCESSES, 2 photographs — Sylvia Naha Talaswaima, potter,First Mesa, Arizona. 1981
45 – 48. ONE CERAMIC BOWL (four views) — Sylvia Naha Talaswaima, potter,First Mesa, …

Commentary Iii: Challenge, Edna Glenn

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

A visual challenge results from experiences with original works of art reproduced on these pages. These are contemporary Hopi paintings and craft-works executed by young artists who call themselves the Artist Hopid. Coochsiwukioma (Delbridge Honanie), a painter of the Artist Hopid group, presents a view of “Hopi Life,” the title of an extremely complicated work completed in 1974. Examining this painting is indeed valuable in the pursuit of defining the contemporary HOPI. “Hopi Life,” according to its painter, symbolically evolves from the central theme of Hopi migrations. 6 Ideas of migration, fertility, and growth, structure the centuries-old concept of Hopi …

Bibliography — Hopi Nation, John R. Wunder

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

Selected Basic Hopi Bibliography — 51 works
General Hopi Bibliography — 71 works

Chapter 1 The Hopi Nation In 1980, Abbott Sekaquaptewa

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

“It is a time to recall and to revitalize the good things of Hopi life and to celebrate Hopism.”

The Hopi people have retained their cultural life to perhaps a greater degree than most Indian peoples in the United States today. Customary practices which govern the pattern of life from birth to death for most Hopi are still carried out to a large extent.

The Hopi mesas are located in northeastern Arizona in the plateau country where the Hopi clans began gathering a millennium ago. The clans were not strangers to the land at that time, for many had passed …

Chapter 3 The Hopi Way: Art As Life, Symbol, And Ceremony, Honvantewa (Terrance Talaswaima)

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

“As artists, we try to document every aspect of Hopi life. We know the Hopi way; we live it, we can taste, we can see, and we can smell Hopi.”

Spiritual essence is the heart of the Hopi way. It is the ceremonial way, but also it is the every-day way of Hopi, human life. It is the physical world of beauty which surrounds us in animals and plants, but also it is the spiritual world, because everything in nature has a spirit. Our concept of the Hopi way is that a spiritual essence touches every part of our lives; …

Exemplary Arts: Section C — Subject: Ceremony — Ancient And Contemporary Images, Edna Glenn

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

The Artist Hopid were inspired and challenged when we took time in the early years of the 1970s to study wall paintings from kivas unearthed at the ancient villages.... We did some intensive research for the purpose of learning about ancient, Hopi ceremonial art. Primarily, we were interested in the style of images, form and composition, and symbolic meaning.—Honvantewa

Twenty-three examples are presented:

Ancient Awatovi site: Figures 20-23(Courtesy of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts)
20. AWATOVI KIVA MURAL, Arizona,Room 529, Right Wall, Design 1
21. AWATOVI KIVA MURAL, Arizona, Room 788, Composite of Left and Right Walls, Design …

Chapter 4 Hopi Kachinas: A Life Force, Barton Wright

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

“Everything has an essence or life force, and humans must interact with these or fail to survive.”


It is not known where the Kachina Cult originated, but some evidence points to a Meso-American origin, brought possibly with the clans which migrated from north to south and north again. There are a few archaeological hints which indicate that there was a viable Kachina Cult by the time the Hopi settled at the center of their world in 1100. The Kachina Cult is shared with all the other Pueblo peoples who live to the east, from Zuni to Taos and formerly Pecos …

Exemplary Arts: Section E — Subject: Kachinas, Edna Glenn

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

“The central theme of the Kachina Cult is the presence of life in all objects that fill the universe.” — Barton Wright

“The concept of fertility is central in Hopi thinking. It applies not only to good crops but to the general multiplication of good and desired objects and beings . . . Thus, as women give birth to the people and cause them to multiply, so do the kachinas cause food and other blessings to multiply.” — Alice Schlegel

Eight examples are presented in this section; others are included on previous pages

Sculptural forms: Figures 68-70
68. EOTOTO AND …

Chapter 5 Hopi Social Structure As Related To Tihu Symbolism, Alice Schlegel

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

“Life is the highest good; in an environment where survival requires constant effort, . . . the richest blessing is abundance of food and children.”


Kachina dolls, those representations of the dancers who impersonate the supernatural kachinas, have captured the fancy of many art lovers for their colorfulness, the skill with which they are frequently made, and the variety of kachina forms they represent. To the collector, they are art objects, to be appreciated in terms of color, design and quality of craftsmanship. To the historian or museum curator, they are representative of the kachinas; as such, they are classified …

Chapter 6 Contemporary Hopi Courts And Law, Piestewa (Robert H. Ames)

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

“We believe we are ‘at the center’ and this gives us a very secure feeling about where we are, where we have been, and what we are going to do.”


To understand how Hopi courts are trying to utilize custom and tradition, it is necessary first to understand the court structure, jurisdiction, and procedures of the Hopi Nation’s judicial system. The Hopi court system is composed of two courts—the Hopi Tribal Appellate Court and the Hopi Tribal Trial Court. My present appointment is Chief Judge of the Hopi Tribal Trial Court. The Hopi Trial Court is the highest trial court …

Chapter 7 The Enduring Hopi, Peter Iverson

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

The Hopi world is centered on and around three mesas in northeastern Arizona named First, Second, and Third. It is at first glance a harsh and rugged land, not always pleasing to the untrained eye. Prosperity here can only be realized with patience, determination, and a belief in tomorrow. For over 400 years, the Hopis have confronted the incursion of outside non-Indian societies. The history of white-Indian relations in this country suggests that men and women of good will may differ over the appropriate strategy, over the proper behavior, and over the definition of identity. The Hopis are not exceptions …

Hopi Essence: Self-Portrait And Poem, Lomawywesa (Michael Kabotie)

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

The somber face, the snow-misting hair and the eyes looking at me/you is me—Lomawywesa, Antelopes Walking in Harmony. Born to the Snow/Water Clan of Shungopavi, a migratory people who traveled to the Hopi mesas from the legendary Red City to the South, Paalotkwapi.
It was at Paalotkwapi that our Father, the Serpent, emerged and gathered us, his children, and blessed us with Clouds. “Go northward my Children,” he directed us. So northward we journeyed and among the barren mesas we emerged to reside with the Bear Clan and build our Cloud-Inspired Homes.
And
to these Cloud-Terraced homes our Cloud Fathers/Mothers …

Contributors — Hopi Nation, [The Editors]

Hopi Nation: Essays on Indigenous Art, Culture, History, and Law

Robert H. Ames (PIESTEWA)
Edna Glenn
Peter Iverson
Michael Kabotie (LOMAWYWESA)
Alice Schlegel
Abbott Sekaquaptewa,
Terrance Talaswaima (HONVANTEWA)
Barton Wright
John R. Wunder

Bonsu, Sonia, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

INTERVIEWER: Mark Naison, Jane Edward

INTERVIEWEE: Sonia Bonsu

SUMMARY BY: Patrick O’Donnell

Sonia Bonsu was born in the Bronx on March 16, 1977. She attended public school in the Bronx, then the Calhoun School in Manhattan, and Harvard University as an undergraduate. She then attended law school at Fordham University, and she is currently the Director of Annual Giving at the Calhoun School. She was raised by both her parents, who were Ghanaian immigrants (Ashanti people). Her father had come to the Bronx in 1969 on a student visa for a job and brought his wife with him shortly thereafter. …