My mom spent some time trying to track out family history. I swear she got something wrong, because there's no way that back when intercontinental travel took months by sea they were going around getting kicked out of countries and doing what she claims they were doing.
You'd be surprised how mobile people were in the nineteenth century. In the course of my work I'm constantly impressed by the mobility of many people I study, willing to pack up their entire lives repeatedly and shuttle across the globe.
Interesting - thanks for sharing. This seems to align quite a bit with the position of Native Americans: frequently homeless, destitute, drug or alcohol addicted. There are few opportunities for them.
Interesting as well that you mention the prospect of an apology from the government. I wonder if that would really mean anything to native peoples - "hey, we messed up, but we really have no intention of giving up anything we gained at your expense." The words seem meaningless without action.
I don't mean to turn this thread into a history nerd thing, but here's one last item about Aboriginal history I came across and found intriguing. Apparently it is a British illustration of legal consequences directed at Aboriginal peoples:
Perhaps we should take this to the Australia thread in LS, but:
Yep, that's pretty much the position of Aboriginals. Their educational attainment and health statistics compare poorly with many third world countries. They are typically marginalised to far-flung rural and Outback communities with little opportunity for improvement or advancement, and when they get in trouble with the law the rates of incarceration are disturbingly higher than that for any other group. I'm sad to say that in inner city suburbs, Aboriginals are most visible in the homeless population. Usually the only time you ever see positive depictions of Aboriginals in the Australian mainstream is in sport, especially Aussie Rules (in which they have been particularly successful). It's honestly shocking to people like me who come from New Zealand. Kiwi race relations aren't perfect, but Maori play a major part in society. Maori is an official language, they have had parliamentary representation for 150 years, we've had a Maori as Deputy Prime Minister and a Maori PM wouldn't be considered that unusual whenever it happens, there is a well-established tribunal for land claims and other historic injustices, we have a Maori Party in parliament that has been part of coalition governments, and Maori are prominent in both business and the arts. Most of these are a pipedream in Australia right now. I've spoken with numerous other New Zealanders who have been simply stunned when they came to Australia to find how marginalised Aboriginals are by comparison. Most white Australians don't even notice or realise; Aboriginal people are often invisible.
As far as the apology goes, it was a huge political controversy here. In 1992, Prime Minister Paul Keating gave what is known as the Redfern Park speech (possibly the best speech in Australian political history), in which he became the first PM to acknowledge the crimes committed against Aboriginals. This, and the release of the Bringing Them Home report that documented the Stolen Generations, encouraged a campaign for the government to apologise. Unfortunately, in 1996 Keating's government fell and was replaced by the conservative administration of John Howard, who was vehemently opposed to an apology. There were massive marches; to bring this back to music, you might remember Midnight Oil's performance at the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony when they came out dressed in clothes saying "sorry". The apology only happened after Howard fell in the 2007 election... at the time there was some skepticism that it would lead to tangible results, but also a quiet optimism that the wheels were now in motion for greater, more constructive government engagement with Aboriginals now that historic injustices had been acknowledged and Rudd professed an intent to improve Aboriginal livelihoods. Today, well, I don't know if much has really changed. The election of Tony Abbott has probably set us back decades.
And yeah, that picture is widely shown in Aussie high schools and university courses. It's depressing just how often the third panel, of an Aboriginal man being hanged, occurred, and how infrequently the fourth ever happened despite widespread murder and rape.
As far as the apology goes, it was a huge political controversy here. In 1992, Prime Minister Paul Keating gave what is known as the Redfern Park speech (possibly the best speech in Australian political history), in which he became the first PM to acknowledge the crimes committed against Aboriginals. This, and the release of the Bringing Them Home report that documented the Stolen Generations, encouraged a campaign for the government to apologise. Unfortunately, in 1996 Keating's government fell and was replaced by the conservative administration of John Howard, who was vehemently opposed to an apology. There were massive marches; to bring this back to music, you might remember Midnight Oil's performance at the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony when they came out dressed in clothes saying "sorry". The apology only happened after Howard fell in the 2007 election... at the time there was some skepticism that it would lead to tangible results, but also a quiet optimism that the wheels were now in motion for greater, more constructive government engagement with Aboriginals now that historic injustices had been acknowledged and Rudd professed an intent to improve Aboriginal livelihoods. Today, well, I don't know if much has really changed. The election of Tony Abbott has probably set us back decades.
And yeah, that picture is widely shown in Aussie high schools and university courses. It's depressing just how often the third panel, of an Aboriginal man being hanged, occurred, and how infrequently the fourth ever happened despite widespread murder and rape.