Ellie’s Digital Identity

November 26, 2012 by

Elizabeth Couchum  Digital Identity Paper

In doing this project, Creating a Digital Identity, I was more than overwhelmed because I honestly didn’t know what I was doing. I decided to approach this paper as a blog since eventually, I will have to create a blog sometime during this process. In one month’s time, I will go from having only two social sites to having way more sites than I ever thought I would have.

Creating a Digital Identity

November 12, 2012

Discovery of a Digital Presence First thing that I did was to have Corey, a classmate from my Digital History class, Google me to see what or if anything there was about me on the Internet. Corey found my Pinterest site, but there was nothing else to be found. This was good news to me. I never wanted to have a digital presence. I have two social media websites, Facebook and Pinterest. For Corey not to find a digital presence for me means I have a lot of work to do.

Building a Digital Identity

In order to have a digital identity, I had to do was to sign up for Twitter, Word Press, LinkedIn, and Google + based on the recommendation of Dr. Brooks. Having these websites were daunting since I never had any real interest in social media. Choosing a domain name was easy, I just used my email address because it was easy for me to remember. Twitter was the first social site I created. At a workshop that I attended a few weeks ago, I sat at a table with several women and one of the women had a Twitter account. After I told her about this assignment, she helped me create a Twitter account and showed me how to follow other people or just things I liked.

After I had created other accounts on all of the sites I mentioned and now I am trying to link all of them. I was able to link Word Press and Twitter to my LinkedIn. Linking my Google+ to anything was proving to be a challenge. I am unsure of what Google+ actually does. I haven’t figured this site out yet at the time I am writing this. When I tried to link Google+ to LinkedIn, I was entering in my e-mail address. This was allowing people who might want to look at this site to go straight in my e-mails. I knew that this was not right. After a few bad attempts, I reached out for help. A friend came over and was able to link Google+ to LinkedIn and was able to show me what I did wrong. I have also found apps for all these social sites and downloaded them to my iPad. My hope is that once I get everything entered to these sites on the Internet and linked to each other, I may be able to work straight off my iPad wall.

Academia.edu? To use this site or not?

Today in class, Dr. Brooks talked to us about this assignment and answered a few questions, which was good since I had quite a few questions. I learned that if there is a reason why we are not going to use one of the social media sites that was mentioned in class, we should do a write-up of the reason why. So my main question has been, what is adademia.edu? Not knowing what this is, I searched Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academia.edu and found out that it is “a platform for academics to share research papers, monitor impacts, and follow research in a particular field.” I have decided that this particular social media site is not one I will be utilizing for several reasons, I do not plan on going into the academia world at all. However, I understand plans could change. I don’t write enough papers to put it online. At the moment, I am not a part of any graduate program. I am not doing any real work in research that I do not feel comfortable in sharing with anyone except for my teacher and classmates. I do not believe that this site will be of any use to me at this moment in time.

Objectives for online identity

My main goal has always been not to have a digital presence.I have always had a lock down on my Facebook page, I don’t have a lot of friends. It is less than 150 friends. On Facebook, I try to be positive and uplifting and don’t share a whole lot of personal stuff. I say my funny little things or my plans for the day, and share news items and photos. So, my main thing over the past week is to question what I want to share about myself? Who do I want to on these sites? Over the past weekend, I ventured onto LinkedIn and entered my education and places I worked. Is that too much? Who can see that? I did find a button so I can have control of who sees any information about me. That makes me feel somewhat better. Now that I have my sites, my main objective now is to write a blog of things that would interest me.

Current professional goals

Do I have any current professional goals? I think I have a lot of long term goals. At the moment, I am not working. I am taking a course at BSU because I want to go into another direction from the one I was on for a couple of years. I have been testing the waters so to speak to see if this was the right path I should be on. So far I have to say it has been encouraging. My goal and my dream is to utilize my office skills and fascination of research and Native American history all into one. One goal or dream is to create a Native American Cultural Center. In other words, my current goal is to learn as much as I can in order to put this long term goal/dream into place. I would like to work somewhere I would be able to learn how to do this. The problem is of course is my experience. I need either experience and/or the education to do this. So, I guess the next step is to find the right “audience” for my websites and figure out how to make these sites work in my favor to make all of this work.

November 18, 2012

Over the weekend, I have managed to connect all my social sites: Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and WordPress all together. In my settings for each site, I managed to figure out how show my WordPress and my Twitter updates in Facebook. Since I am still unsure how I want to use my Twitter, I set my Twitter status that shows up in Facebook to be seen by only me. The opposite is with WordPress, all my friends in Facebook not only can see my blog, but are able to click the link and go straight into my WordPress site. Last night, I actually made my first real blog. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to write about at first. I wanted to ease into it. With a help of a good friend, I decided to write about the holidays and my childhood memories. Little by little, day by day, I will ease into talking about my grandparents and my memories of them growing up and what I learned from them and the rest of my family about the Native American heritage that they left behind.

November 21, 2012

Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Twitter, and WordPress

I have now all of these social media sites and over this past week, I have learned how each of them works if I didn’t know before. I also have learned how they all work together. I have learned how to tweet mainly on my page, I am not sure how to tweet on other pages that I like. I am still unsure what the “hashtag” or “#” and the “@” sign mean and how to work them so not really sure if I am using them correctly. My Twitter and Facebook are linked, however, I have set my Twitter to be seen only by me on Facebook. I am still unsure about Tweeting and if I want any of my tweets to be seen by any of my Facebook friends. I have also made a few blogs in WordPress. Since I have linked my WordPress to my Facebook and Twitter pages, my friends on my Facebook can see the link to blog and are allowed to click the link and go straight into my blog. The same can be said for Twitter.

Professional needs and goals….

Right now, my goal is to make more contacts on my social sites. I haven’t figured out how to do that. Eventually, I will figure it all out. My professional goals at the moment are none. However, in the future, I hope to have quite a few followers who are interested in history especially in Native American history. Also, I hope to create a professional circle of those who are in administration and research.

November 24, 2012

Feedback

Thanks to my classmate, Molly, who looked at my social sites that I created over the past month, I was given some really good feedback. Based on Molly’s recommendation, I made changes to my blog. I was able to figure out how to change the name of my WordPress blog. I originally had the title of my blog as my sign-in name, and I also changed my tagline on the About page. I didn’t realize that I should add information to the About page. That was very helpful. Also based on Molly’s suggestion, who indicated that she didn’t see my links to my LinkedIn and Google+ on my WordPress blog, I went back in to see what I did wrong. I worked on that so hard, I thought I had all my links visible and her recommending that I should link my other sites was not something I wanted to hear. I worked on it some more and I believe I now have it.

Since I added my Google+ to my blog, I realized that I should fix my Google+ up a little more and have some information about myself instead of just pictures that I like. After finding the edit visibility link on Google, I was able to add some information. I also added more pictures of history and things that I like that I felt represented myself. After looking at Molly’s WordPress blog and her feedback, I have learned that I have a long way to go to have everything come together and have everything look professional. I also learned that even when you think you are done, you really aren’t done. Things are always changing.

Plan for Sustainability

I need a plan on how to make “friends” on LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and WordPress. On my LinkedIn site, I plan to keep it updated as I get a job and take more classes. I am pretty excited that I have more than four followers on LinkedIn. Google+ is a site that I am really trying to figure out. I have managed to edit my personal information and I only have three friends there, but that’s ok. I haven’t put my Google+ site the way I think it needs to be yet. After I do, I plan to invite my Facebook friends to be on this site. I now think I have a handle on Google+ and what it does. Lately, my goal on Twitter is just to “like” what I am interested in, like Pinterest. I have been trying to figure it out. My goal is to reach out to more people who are interested in the same things that I am. As of now, I only have four people who are my “friends”. Another goal is to make my blogs more interesting that people would like to read. I need to focus my WordPress blogs on my Native American heritage. My plan is to write more about my grandparents on my dad’s side. I have so many memories of them both and I want to share that with my friends.

November 25, 2012

What I learned from Feedback Over the past month

I learned that creating a digital identity is not easy. Also, learning what your own link for each site is challenging. I learned after my feedback from Molly that even if you think you did something or created something, it may not come out as you had hoped and that you need to go back and try again. Great to have a second pair of eyes. I still have a lot of work to do, but in a month, I have come a long way in social media. I learned that choosing what to share about yourself online is difficult, perception is everything. A person doesn’t want to appear as a dud but also doesn’t want to have a persona that is so wildly out there or they share everything there is to know about themselves, no one would want to get to know the real person. My goal was to be able to create a digital identity and over the past month the goal has changed into having a low key identity that grows and change as I do in real life. The real life and the digital life don’t have to totally mirror one another, but they can be closely related.

November 26, 2012

Last night was a nightmare. I went into my WordPress blog to add a few buttons for my Twitter and Google+ pages. I ended up deleting a few pages and had to start all over again. I decided that since I was to start over, to change the theme of my blog. I decided at the last minute to also add in Goodreads, a site that catalogs the books that I have been reading. Creating a button for Goodreads was almost as difficult as figuring out Google+. In the end though, my WordPress blog page looks almost professional. I also decided to allow my tweets be seen by the public in order to have a Twitter button on my page. This process was exhausting but a fantastic learning experience. I can now say….. I have a digital identity.

My links are as shown:

WordPress = http://elizamay52site.wordpress.com

LinkedIn = http://www.linkedin.com/pub/elizabeth-couchum/5b/928/b88

Twitter = http://twitter.com/e_506_couc

Google+ = https://plus.google.com/app/basic/113103309308313243969/about

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Native American Voting Rights

October 8, 2012 by

Elizabeth Couchum

Research Project Plan

October 8, 2012

Native American voting rights in New Mexico, Arizona vs. Nevada…..what was going on in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah for Native Americans vs. the State of Nevada?

Thesis:

With the current political climate, the right to vote has been challenged in many swing states.  With many in arms about their right to vote in this very important election year, many are standing their ground to have their voices be heard, while some are working very hard to suppress the vote for those who may vote for the right candidate.  While many think that this is something very new, to have many votes challenged, sadly this has happened before.  Native Americans were not allowed to vote in this country based on their race.  It was not until the 19th Amendment that Native Americans were given the right to vote.  However, many states did not agree with this amendment and did not allow Native Americans to vote for many reasons.  There were three states in particular that fought the Native Americans who were determined to vote. Even though the Indian Citizenship Act was signed into law, when it came to voting, Native Americans did not get the right to vote in many states due to various reasons.  The last states to hold out were Arizona and New Mexico and Utah.  What was going on with these states that they took so long to grant the right to vote to Native Americans? When did Nevada’s Native Americans get the right to vote?  Compared to the State of Nevada, what was the political climate in Arizona and New Mexico and Utah?

Section 1: 

The 19th Amendment and the Native Americans got the right to vote.  How and when did the 19th Amendment came about?  What influences did the 19th Amendment have in the United Sates?

1.  The Nineteenth to the United States Constitution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution, Wikipedia, (Modified on September 25, 2012) (accessed website September 29, 2012)

a. In August 1920 the 19th Amendment was ratified to allow women the right to vote.  According to the United States Constitution the 19th Amendment states that, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

2.  “Native American Citizenship 1924, Indian Citizenship Act,”

http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0700/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0700/stories/0701_0146.html, Nebraskastudies.org 1900-1924, (Accessed website September 29, 2012)

            a. Native Americans who are indigenous to the United States did not get the right to vote until much later than women.  In 1924, Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act.  This Act proclaims, “BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and house of Representatives of the United States of

America in Congress assembled, That all non-citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States: Provided That the granting of such citizenship shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of any Indian to tribal or other property. (Approved June 2, 1924)”

 3. Daniel McCool, Native Vote: American Indians, the Voting Rights to Act, and the Right to Vote, University of Utah 2007.

a. United States Constitution gives the states “the power to prescribe rules for the times, places, and manner of holding elections.”  However, Congress has the power to “alter regulations”.  This has led to conflict between the Federal Government and states.  pg. ix

b. There were major efforts to “define” the Native Americans and their place in the United States and whether or not they were a part of the country’s landscape.  Also, who had sovereignty?  Was it the Native Americans or “Indians”?  No. So since they were not considered citizens, they were not allowed to vote.  According to the U.S. attorney general, Caleb Cushing, in 1856:

“The simple truth is plain that the Indians are the subjects of the United States, and therefore are not, in mere right of home-birth, citizens of the United States…This distinction between citizens proper, that is, the constituent members of the political sovereignty, who are not therefore citizens, are recognized in the best authorities of public law.  (Official Opinions of the Attorneys General 1856, 749-50)” pg. 2

3.  The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in 1865.  Congress began putting together the 14th Amendment in 1866.

a.  “That all persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States.” (Civil Rights Act of 1866) pg. 3

i.  Note:  Wisconsin’s Senator James Doolittle, while debating on the senate floor, proposed to add “Indians not taxed”.  He made two arguments regarding the Native Americans.  One was that they were an “inferior race, and therefore were simply not good enough to hold the title of citizen.”  Doolittle’s second argument was that, “if granted citizenship, and implicitly the right to vote, they could vote in sufficient numbers to change the power structure and overwhelm their white neighbors.” pg. 3-4

ii.  Note:  Another senator made the argument that “Indians were not under the jurisdiction of the United States, and therefore were excluded from the provisions of the proposed amendments.”  pg. 4

4.  Solving the “Indian Problem” in the Nineteenth Century.

a.  Genocide.  As stated by Senator Doolittle, “put…out of the way.”  In other words, “all Indians should be exterminated.”  pg. 5

b. Another solution was to put the “Indians” away until they became “civilized” and were able to socialize with the white people.  So reservations were “set aside for Indians” until they were ready to be with white people. pg. 5

i. Treaties were worked out with Native American tribes to create reservations in 1868.

ii. The treaties came with provisions so that Native Americans can gain “citizenship by receiving a patent for land….. and be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of such citizens, and shall, at the same time retain all rights to benefits accruing to Indians under this treaty,” (Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868, Article 6). pg. 5

iii. Note:  Policymakers also wanted Native Americans to give up citizenship if they could not give up their tribal affiliations and culture.  “Citizenship and the right to vote would be contingent upon abandoning one culture and adopting another.”  pg. 5

iv. The Native Americans needed another statute to obtain citizenship.

5.  The Dawes Act

a. The Dawes Act is a statute that passed in 1887.  It divides up reservation land into individual holdings for members of the tribe.  Later, the remainder of the land was sold to white settlers.

“And every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States to whom allotments shall have been made provisions of this act, or under any law or treaty, and every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States who has voluntarily taken up, within said limits, his residence separate and apart from any tribe of Indians therein, and has adopted the habits of civilized life hereby declared to be a citizen of the United States….(Dawes Act 1887, 390). pg. 6

6.  Office of Indian Affairs, citizenship to Indians, 1922

a. In a letter to Congress, Office of Indian Affairs identified eight legal procedures or conditions of what will enable the Native Americans to become citizens of the United States.  This will be known as the “Universal Indian Citizenship” or the Indian Citizenship Act, June 24, 1924. pg. 7

i. The letter states, “legitimate children born of an Indian woman and a white citizen father are born to citizenship,” (Office of Indian Affairs 1922). pg. 7

ii. “Indians would not have to give up being an Indian in exchange for citizenship.”

iii. “An Indian could be an enrolled member of a tribe.”

iv. “Live on a federally recognized reservation.”

v. “Practice his or her own culture, and still be a U.S. citizen.” pg. 7

7.  Judith Nies, Native American History, A Chronology of the Vast Achievements of a Culture and their Links to World Events, Ballantine Books, 1996 (e-book)

a. Native Americans were excluded from the economy and the political system because they were “segregated within reservations”.  Native Americans were not allowed to vote in the United States.  pg. 224

b. Religion and education among Native Americans were “outlawed”.  “Indian children were compelled to attend white run boarding school, cut their hair, wear citizen clothing, learn English, and adopt Christianity.”  pg. 224

Section 2:

Did the 19th Amendment Change anything in the United States?  If not, why?  What happened in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, compared to Nevada?

1.  Daniel McCool, Native Vote: American Indians, the Voting Rights to Act, and the Right to Vote, Daniel McCool, Cambridge University Press, University of Utah 2007.

a. The Department of the Interior had no idea that the western states would have “opposition” to Native Americans voting. pg. 8

b. A statement was made in 1928 in regards to the Indian voting because there were so many that interpreted the Indian Citizenship Act differently.  pg. 8

c. In 1936, attorney general of Colorado stated that the Native Americans had no right to vote due to the fact that they were “not citizens of the state.”

d. During World War II, Chief Choctaw wrote to the President in the United States.  “Our white friends here say we are not allowed to vote.  If we are not citizens, will it be right for the Choctaws go to war?”  Simply put, yes.  They were expected to fight for their country even if they are not allowed to vote.  pg. 10

e. Fifteenth Amendment 1870 states “limiting voting on account of race.”  States found other ways to “limit Indian voting.” pg. 10

f. There were six ways to limit voting:

i. Residency

ii. Self-Termination

iii. Taxation

iv. Guardianship

v. Literacy

vi. Protecting the Status Quo

2.  “Chavers:  No Voting Right in Indian Country,” http://www.nativetimes.com/life/commentary/3613-chavers-no-voting-rights-in-indian-country, Native American Times, Today’s Independent Indian News, Dr. Dean Chavers, May 17, 2010, (accessed September 30, 2012)

The author writes about conspiracies of why Native Americans did not have the right to vote.  There were many involved in keeping Native Americans from voting and there were also quite a few schemes involved.  The Native Americans who fought in World War II were faced with many problems.

a. Native American veterans still were not allowed to vote, buy a home, get a job, or buy a car.

b. Native Americans faced opponents of the Voting Rights 1965.  Example:  Former governor from South Dakota made comments, wanted to keep Native Americans on the reservation and also raped girls.  He never faced prosecution.

c. Other states to stop Native Americans from voting and were discriminatory against Native Americans were Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington.

3.  “Voting Rights History, Two Centuries of Struggle,” http://www.crmvet.org/info/votehist.htm, Civil Rights Movement Veterans, copyright 2004, 2010 (Labor Donated) (accessed September 30, 2012)

a. This website gives a timeline in regards to voting rights.  There were two dates that were important to Native Americans.

i. 1924 – All American aboriginal people (Native Americans) were given the right to vote by US Congress.

ii. 1948: State laws denying the vote to Native-Americans are overturned.  In one of the post-war period’s few successful legal challenges, the Federal courts overturn the last state laws (Maine, Arizona, New Mexico) that explicitly prevent Indians from voting. Violence, economic retaliation, and different kinds of legal tricks continue to be used to prevent Native-Americans from voting.

4.  “Indian Citizenship Act of 1924”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Citizenship_Act_of_1924 Wikipedia, modified October 3, 2012, (accessed September 30, 2012)

a. “According to a survey by the Department of Interior, seven states still refused to grant

Indians voting rights in 1938. Discrepancies between federal and state control provided loopholes in the Act’s enforcement. States justified discrimination based on state statutes and constitutions. Three main arguments for Indian voting exclusion were Indian exemption from real estate taxes, maintenance of tribal affiliation and the mistaken notion that Indians were under guardianship, or lived on lands controlled by federal trusteeship (Peterson 121). By 1947 all states with large Indian populations, except Arizona and New Mexico, had extended voting rights to Native Americans who qualified under the 1924 Act. Finally, in 1948 these states withdrew their prohibition on Indian voting because of a judicial decision (Bruyneel). ”

 

4.  Schusky, Ernest, Political Organization of Native North Americans, Washington D.C., University Press of America, 1980.

a. President John F. Kennedy had a task force for Indian Affairs, three objectives.

i. Maximum Indian economic self-sufficiency

ii. Full participation in American life

iii. Equal citizenship privileges and responsibilities.  pg. 286

5.  Nies, Judith,  Native American History, A Chronology of the Vast Achievements of a Culture and their Links to World Events, Ballantine Books, Random House Publishing Group, 1996 (e-book)

a. President Kennedy in 1961 recommends the head of Phillips Petroleum Company,

W. Keeler, who recommended the policy of termination.  Under Keeler, there were many others who were
appointed and the “responsiveness to the needs of energy companies continued to be the overriding policy of the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs).” pg. 276.

 

6.  “Arizona Native American Voting Rights History,” www.nativevote.org/photo/arizona-voting?Sarah Gonzales, September 30, 2010 (accessed September 29, 2012)

a. In 1928, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that Native Americans did not have

the right to vote because they were under federal Guardianship.

 

b. World War II veteran, Frank Harrison, appealed that decision.  He believed

Native Americans had the right to vote and on July 15, 1948, court ruled in his favor.  Native Americans were able to vote in Arizona.

 

7.  “One Man, Many Votes, Native Americans struggle with the first freedom,” http://alibi.com/feature/23805/One-Man-ManyVote, Santa Ana Star Center, Jes Abeita, v. 17 no. 27, July 3 – 9, 2008

a. A century ago, Native Americans living in New Mexico were not allowed to vote.

A young marine, Miguel Trujillo, in 1948 brought about a case, Trujillo vs. Garley to decide whether or not Native Americans in New Mexico could vote.

b. “He was a person who always felt that Indian people should be recognized,”

said his daughter, Josephine Waconda.

 

c. August 3, 1948, a panel of three federal judges ruled that Native Americans

living in New Mexico are allowed to vote.  They also ruled that New Mexico violated Amendments 14 and 15.

 

8.  Chronological History of Nevada, www.shgresources.com/nv/timeline/, 2012 (accessed September 29, 2012)

a. By the looks of this website, Native Americans were allowed to vote in the State

of Nevada when the United States Congress passed the law that all “aboriginal” people, meaning Native Americans, are allowed to vote.

 

9.  Daniel McCool, Native Vote: American Indians, the Voting Rights to Act, and the Right to Vote, University of Utah 2007.

a. Case in Utah, Allen vs. Merrell, 1956.  The case was brought to the Utah Supreme

Court that had proved a method of stopping Native Americans in voting.  The Native Americans had to choose to either give up their heritage and being able to vote.  If Native Americans were unable to give up their affiliations with the tribe, they were unable to have their voices heard in the elections.  pg. 11

10.  Judith Nies, Native American History, A Chronology of the Vast Achievements of a Culture and their Links to World Events, Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books, 1996 (e-book)

a. After World War II, it was discovered that the land that was given to the Native

Americans had mineral resources though the Native Americans did not realize this. pg. 234

 

b. There was an effort to “dismantle” the reservations.  According to Nies, “Senator

Watkins from Utah argued in 1950 that while America was spending billions of dollars to fight communism, it was fostering socialist environments on Indian reservations.”  This point was brought back up during the Reagan administration.  pg. 234

 

11.  “Voting Rights Act of 1965,” http://www.crmvet.org/info/votehist.htm, Wikipedia, modified September 25, 2012, (accessed October 7, 1965)

a. The Act states, “voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice,

or procedure … to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.”

 

b. Outlawed discriminatory voting practices against African Americans.

Section 3:

Where are we now in the Right to Vote for Native Americans and as Native Americans as a whole in the United States?

1.    “Chavers:  No Voting Rights in Indian Country,” http://www.nativetimes.com/life/commentary/3613-chavers-no-voting-rights-in-indian-country, Native American Times, Today’s Independent Indian News, Dr. Dean Chavers, May 17, 2010, (accessed September 30, 2012)

a.  Native Americans are now hold office including state legislature in states such as Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico, North Carolina, and South Dakota.

b. Even though there have been huge steps in Native American voting, there are still problems with voter discrimination.

2.  “Voting Rights in Arizona 1982- 2006,” http://www.protectcivilrights.org/pdf/voting/ArizonaVRA.pdf, Protect Voting Rights: Renew the VRA.org, Dr. James Thomas Tucker and Dr. Rodolfo Espino, March 2006

a.  This report shows that the State of Arizona has a long way to go when it comes to the Voting Rights Act for Native American Indians  as well as the Latino community.  The State of Arizona still has signs of discriminatory effects toward those who have been fighting for their right to vote.

b.  This report is a 92 page report that takes you through the history of voting not only in Arizona, but throughout the country to the representation in Arizona and where the state stands today.

3.  Judith Nies, Native American History, A Chronology of the Vast Achievements of a Culture and their Links to World Events, Ballantine Books, The Random House Publishing Group,1996 (e-book)

 

a.  During the 1960s and 1970s all the way through the 1990s, a “new national Indian resistance” came about. pgs. 234 – 235

b. Native Americans created their own programs to deal with their own problems such as “alcoholism on the reservation and prison rehabilitation.” pg. 235

c. Councils were also created for young Native Americans. pg. 235

4. Judith Nies, Native American History, A Chronology of the Vast Achievements of a Culture and their Links to World Events, Ballantine Books, The Random Publishing Group, 1996 (e-book)

a.  From 1995- 2005, United Nations declared that this decade was “The Decade of Indigenous Peoples”.  The United Nations announced that this was declared because in part, “Allowing Native languages, cultures, and different traditions to perish through ‘nonassistance’ to endangered cultures must henceforth be considered a basic violation of human rights.” pg. 302

5.  “Tea party groups work to remove names from Ohio voter rolls,” http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/26/nation/la-na-ohio-voting-fight-20120927, Los Angeles Times, Michael Finnegan, September 26, 2012 (accessed October 8, 2012)

a. Activists say they’re challenging some names to ensure ‘election integrity.’ Others say it’s an effort to suppress the votes of likely Obama supporters.

b. A citizen in Ohio received notification that her right to vote “was challenged by a stranger.”

c. A Tea Party organization in Ohio is challenging 2,100 voters in Ohio to “remove their names from voter rosters.”

6.  “Ohio Challenges Legitimate Student Voters,”  http://www.projectvote.org/blog/2012/09/ohio-group-challenges-legitimate-student-voters/, Project Voting Matters, September 28, 2012, (accessed October 8, 2012)

a.   “Ohio Voter Integrity Project, the state arm of the Tea Party-affiliated True the Vote group, submitted the challenges, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Most of the challenged voters were Ohio State University students who she said should be removed from the rolls ‘because they did not provide address details such as apartment or dorm room numbers’.”

Conclusions

The Native Americans or “Indians” as they were called for many decades, faced countless obstacles regarding their life, heritage, religion, education, home, land, and the right to be seen as   human beings in their native land.  Native Americans were given the option to give up their cultural for the chance to vote.  Native Americans were told that they had to fight in World War II, but when they returned to the United States, they still faced obstacles, including the right to vote.  Thanks to the United States Congress, the 19th Amendment, the Indian Citizenship Act, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, made it possible for Native Americans to vote.  However, many states opposed Native Americans to vote and came up with many schemes to stop them.  With many cases and points that were brought by the Native Americans, the courts sided with them stating that the states’ voting rights for Native Americans were, in fact, illegal.

Now, with many Native Americans in the legislature and on many boards in their own towns and cities, there is still discrimination in many states.  Now with the political climate, there has not only been discrimination against Native Americans, but for others such as African Americans, Latinos, students, and the poor, by those who are challenging their vote by many schemes.  The Right to Vote in this country is a privilege that many have fought for in court cases, demonstrations, and war, and looks like that we, as a country, will continue to fight for, because nothing is more important that to have your voice heard.

Reflections

Initially, I thought that the search online for this topic would be daunting.  However, once I started to do the search and figuring out the proper “search words”, I was able to find articles regarding this topic.  The problem though was that many articles repeated each other.  There was no new real information.  The challenge was to do a different “word search” to find articles that presented the information in a different and engaging way.   Another problem that I found was trying to find narratives online of those whose votes were challenged.  I was able to find one article about a daughter who discussed her father and his fight not only for him to vote, but to allow all Native Americans to vote in Arizona.

 

I had much better luck with books that unfortunately are not online nor in e-books.  There have been several authors who did extensive research in this topic and many others that have plagued Native Americans throughout history.  One of the best online research I was able to do what a chronological history of the states that I was particularly interested in to see the timeline of what was going on in the history of the state and when Native Americans were allowed to vote.  The western states as well as the southern states in the United States had issues with voting rights.  In the south, it was all about the African Americans, but in the west, it was about Native Americans.  With the exception of Nevada who allowed Native Americans to vote as soon as the 1924 Voting Rights was passed, the surrounding states opposed the Native Americans with every turn.  Though I did not look at the State of California, I did find that the state had allowed Mexicans the right to vote before Native Americans.   In New Mexico, some women were given the right to vote before Native Americans as well.  In all of my research, I found that the main reason all states, with the exception of Nevada, many lawmakers were afraid of the same thing, by giving Native Americans the right to vote will cause a shift in the power of balance for these states.  Then there was the land, which has always been a major source of entitlement in the United States.  When it was found that the reservations had source of minerals, such as water and gas, the fight for land was on even though it was the Federal Government gave that land to the Native Americans.  Even today, water rights are still being fought for between the government and Native Americans.

 

While researching this topic and reading up on the voting rights in the United States, I have been watching the political race of 2012.  I could not help noticing when it came out that many voter rights in Florida, Ohio, and South Carolina were being challenged.  Many citizens, like the Native Americans, are angry.  The right to vote in this country is a guaranteed right.  The voting According to the 19th Amendment, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”  With organizations such as the Tea Party and their affiliations, voter rights are being challenged today without any regard to the 19th Amendment or the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  All of this challenging of votes are done to get the person that these organizations want into the White House.  It seems that history is repeating itself.  I felt that I should add to this paper a little of where we are as a nation when it came to voting rights.  I wanted to show that when Native Americans were fighting for the right to vote, how politicians in many states made it almost impossible even though the Native Americans had the Federal Government to back them up.  Now in 2012, many organizations and a few politicians in certain swing states are making it hard for anyone who may vote for the “wrong” candidate to vote in the general election this November.    My reflections are that as we make progress for equality, down the road there will continue to be obstacles for everyone and anyone who may challenge the beliefs of a group who still believe that this country should be seen as a certain way.

Bibliography

 

Primary Sources

 “Arizona Native American Voting Rights History,” www.nativevote.org/photo/arizona-voting?Sarah Gonzales, September 30, 2010 (accessed September 29, 2012)

 “Chavers:  No Voting Right in Indian Country,” http://www.nativetimes.com/life/commentary/3613-chavers-no-voting-rights-in-indian-country, Native American Times, Today’s Independent Indian News, Dr. Dean Chavers, May 17, 2010, (accessed September 30, 2012)

 Chronological History of Nevada, www.shgresources.com/nv/timeline/, 2012 (accessed on September 29, 2012)

 “Indian Citizenship Act of 1924”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Citizenship_Act_of_1924 Wikipedia, modified October 3, 2012, (accessed September 30, 2012)

Nies, Judith, Native American History, A Chronology of the Vast Achievements of a Culture and their Links to World Events, Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books, 1996 (e-book on Nook)

 “Native American Citizenship 1924, Indian Citizenship Act,”

http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0700/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0700/stories/0701_0146.html, Nebraskastudies.org 1900-1924, (accessed website September 29, 2012)

 The Nineteenth to the United States Constitution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution, Wikipedia, (Modified on September 25, 2012) (accessed website September 29, 2012)

“Ohio Challenges Legitimate Student Voters,”  http://www.projectvote.org/blog/2012/09/ohio-group-challenges-legitimate-student-voters/, Project Voting Matters, September 28, 2012, (accessed October 8, 2012)

“Tea party groups work to remove names from Ohio voter rolls,” http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/26/nation/la-na-ohio-voting-fight-20120927, Los Angeles Times, Michael Finnegan, September 26, 2012 (accessed October 8, 2012)

“Voting Rights Act of 1965,” http://www.crmvet.org/info/votehist.htm, Wikipedia, modified September 25, 2012, (accessed October 7, 1965)

“Voting Rights History, Two Centuries of Struggle,” http://www.crmvet.org/info/votehist.htm, Civil Rights Movement Veterans, copyright 2004, 2010 (Labor Donated) (accessed September 30, 2012)

“Voting Rights in Arizona 1982- 2006,” http://www.protectcivilrights.org/pdf/voting/ArizonaVRA.pdf, Protect Voting Rights: Renew the VRA.org, Dr. James Thomas Tucker and Dr. Rodolfo Espino, March 2006

Secondary Sources

 McCool, Daniel, Native Vote: American Indians, the Voting Rights to Act, and the Right to Vote, Cambridge University Press, University of Utah 2007.

Schusky, Ernest L, Political Organization of Native North Americans, Washington D.C. University Press of America, 1980.

Filed Under: Research project plans

1906 Earthquake

October 3, 2012 by

The day of the earthquake, find your family and navigating through the city, finding clues and meeting people along the way and helping them, and they help you. Setting:  Day of, first person on Market Street, mundane day, event happens, changes everything, changes a lot. Character:  First person shooter Goal:  Reunite a family and feed them Time:  2-3 days.  The time in the game is space related.  Events in the game are triggered by placement, time events are a possibility. Game Elements: Suspense Obstacles: Ruin of the city, aftershocks, chaos, fog of war, emotional activation, hope, trail/clues of hope, Social Connection/Satisfying Work: interactive with other characters, help others and they save you, Meaning:  Learning about the 1906 earthquake

Filed Under: Games, Uncategorized

Interview with Dr. Timothy Powell

September 18, 2012 by

Blog of Dr. Timothy Powell, Senior Research Scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, Phone Conversation September 12, 2012

My phone conversation with Dr. Timothy Powell, Senior Research Scientist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology was fascinating.

“First of all,” Dr. Powell said, “can I ask you a question?  How did you hear about me?”  After explaining to him about my professor, Dr. Leslie Brooks, and the interview was for an assignment for Digital History, he seemed to relax as our interview turned into a conversation.

Dr. Powell started off the conversation by asking about the program at Boise State.  In some circles, he explained, the field is known as digital humanities vs. digital history.  He reflected on the University of Pennsylvania where he has worked for six years.  The university does not have such a program.  Here he is, a digital humanist professor, but no students to teach digital humanities to.  He does teach and with his position with the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, he writes grants for digital humanities.  He commended Boise State for having such a program as MAHR, Master of Applied Historical Research, because it is such a new and growing field.  When he was in grad school, there was no such program.

“Let’s start off with you briefly telling me your preparation to become a digital historian.”  I said.

Dr. Powell reflects back to his time at grad school, the University of Georgia.  “It was the late 80s, early 90s.  The emphasis at that time was multiculturalism.”  The dissertation that he was working on during this time was on the differences of culture which became a book in 2000, Ruthless Democracy – Multicultural Interpretation of the Native American Renaissance.  Since there were no digital humanitarian courses, he became what he calls a “hands on person” when it came to the field.   During grad school, he worked on a digital humanities project through the Library Service Grant, “The Southeastern Indian Project”.

He then started working with the Native American communities, asking people in the Cherokee tribe what kind of things can be digitalize?  Dr. Powell realized that with digital technology, information can be shared more effectively and easily such as digitalizing material for Native American communities.

“It was at that time,” Dr. Powell reflected, “my career changed directions – a scholar of public history.”

With his position at the University of Pennsylvania, Museum of Anthropology and Archeology, Dr. Powell is a busy man.   As he previously stated, there is not a digital humanities program at the university, however, he does teach Native American Literature and Native American Religion as well as write grants.  It is his work with the museum that keeps him the busiest.  The museum is active with the Native American Patriot Act.  They consult with Native American people and ask them questions regarding the artifacts that are in the museum’s possession.  Then the museum digitalizes the artifacts then the public can have access to Native American culture.

Currently, Dr. Powell explains, he and the museum’s staff are working on a Native American project called “Digital Archives for Recordings for Endangered Language.”  He goes on to explain this project in depth.

“There are three parts to the project.  There are 3,000 hours of Native American languages.  The first part of this project is to digitalize the Native American Language.”

To me, this part is very cool because I explain to him that my dad did the exact same thing with my grandmother.  Before she died, my dad made audio recordings of my grandmother telling her stories and singing her songs in Shoshone Indian.  Dr. Powell indicated that this was very nice and told me that obviously my dad was on the cusp himself with this endeavor to protect the Native American language.

The second part is working in partnership with four Native American tribes: Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina; Ojibwe in Manitoulin Island, Canada; Penobscot Nation in Maine; and Tuscarora Nation in New York.  He has had collaboration with the Cherokee and Ojibwe tribe for twelve years.  Dr. Powell travels twice a year to work with these tribes.  The information that he gathers can be multisensitive for the culture, therefore, the museum restricts production of the material by “creating protocols.”

“So how do you work with the tribes?” I ask.

The museum is in partnership with the tribes to work with those who are selected for the Native American Library Fellowship.

“Let me explain about this fellowship.  It’s different from most fellowships because one would have to have PH.D, but with this fellowship, the tribes select those who they think are knowledgeable about the artifacts.  Those who are chosen are paid to come to Philadelphia and they digitalize the material.”  Dr. Powell explains that this is the third part of the project. Once those who are chosen get to the museum, he then starts working with them to digitalize the artifacts.  Not only the artifacts, he goes on to explain, but the oral history.

“An example of this,” Dr. Powell said, “would be the Ojibwe Native Americans telling their stories.  Here you get to the essence of Native Americans.  This technology allows the students to hear the stories told by Native Americans.”

Dr. Powell hopes that Native American Literature is seen and read in new ways.

 

 

Filed Under: Digital Humanist Interview