Captives
Captives NMAI has made great advances in working with communities to create meaningful and educational exhibits about the North American indigenous communities. Recently they had an exhibit called IndiVisible which had an online as well as in museum component. This exhibit discussed the African American and Native American interaction and heritage. This exhibit showed a group of forgotten people who also are part of the Native American community. Another group of people who have not seen an exhibit is those of the captives of North America. How would you go about creating an exhibit that would represent those who had been kidnapped and assimilated into the cultures as well as those who returned to the societies they had been taken from? There are many problems concerning how to be fair to all groups involved, those of the kidnappers, the people who went after the victims and the families that became caught up in the pursuit and recovery of those people. The goal here is creating a meaningful educational exhibit that tells the stories of these situations in a respectful and enlightening way.
The process of how this exhibit should be started has best been talked about by Ruth B. Phillips in her commentary called Community Collaboration In Exhibitions: Introduction. Phillips (2003) explains that the communities and the museum must work together to discuss the theme, research methods to be used, objects that will be part of the exhibit and the text panels that will explain the collection of the exhibit. Not only do all these things need to be discussed by the community and the museum but things like the gift shop and advertising need to be included in the grand collaboration of any exhibit. The theme then is captives of North America and now we need to understand the communities that must be involved. According to S. Crew and J. Sims: (1991)
"Ideas and historical themes are important parts of the interpretations presented in exhibitions. Through them, visitors are introduced to the intricate interplay between people and events that constitutes the historical process. This alters the concept of history, changing it from a succession of dates of important events to a maze filled with unexpected turns, surprises, and sometimes dead ends. These are the aspects of history that excite historians and engage the public."
The various Native American communities that took captives and were themselves captives, the European settlers who were captives as well as those who took captives, skipping in this exhibit the African-American captors and captives to shorten this example for this exhibit.
Next we need to discuss what has to be represented in the research. What does it mean to be a captive, why were they taken, how did they feel, who took them and where did they originally come from. The questions need to be researched by all the groups and then a discussion of the answers reveled to a core group who will make the final decision they should be of all the parties. The communities must agree upon the representative of each group for the core. Then they will be the governing body of how the questions and answers will be displayed to the public.
About the captives: they come from many incidences, warfare being the top reason. Although when we talk about North America it comes from more than just war. According to Laura Redish and Orrin Lewis (2007):
"It was common practice throughout the Americas to capture and adopt people from enemy tribes (particularly children, teenagers, and women). In a few tribes this was a traumatic kidnapping, sometimes involving a violent hazing ritual prior to adoption. In other tribes it was a mere formality, with eligible young women going out to a rendezvous point at night to be "carried off" by a neighboring tribe so they could find husbands there. In most tribes, intertribal kidnapping fell somewhere in between those two extremes--a well-established convention of war that simultaneously encouraged exogamy (new blood in the tribe) and ensured the safety of women and children on both sides."


Here we have a basic understanding of Native American view of captives. So when Native Americans took Europeans it was with this same notion and with the ability to use those people for trading as ransom also. Trading slaves and captives was a common practice by many historical accounts, so it is not surprising that settlers would also be exchanged for good or other captives.
We know that the African-American community was originally brought here as slaves for household laborers and field hands. When Europeans took Native Americans it was to try to assimilate them into European culture, some were taken as field hands and other taken to foreign countries to be put on display. There is one story told of some Native American taken to Spain some sold into slavery others being taken by friars to learn Christianity. (Forbes: 1993, 55) "In any case, abductions began to play a key role in English plans for colonization. Interpreters were needed as well as precise geographical information. In 1605 five Americans were kidnapped from the St. George River, the first (apparently) of a large number seized from the New England area. "By 1610 taking captured Indians to England had become routine. Would-be-colonizers such as Sir Fernando Gorges hoped to impress the captives�., to learn as much as they could about the lay of the land, and to acquire mediators with the local Indians" (Forbes: 1993, 55). If we just look at this portion of to represent this part of an exhibit items that would be the most beneficial might be some kind of visual narrative about the circumstances of captivity which could be portrayed by video or dialogue box series with some of the old drawing or woodcarvings of captives being lead by other people. Here we should also consider the notion that the visitors be confined in some way to a specific path through the exhibit as though they are the captives being lead to a new destination.
We now have the why and how they came to be captives; next we need to consider the question of adoption into the captors' families or escape, exchange and how this affected the groups of captives and the individuals. Stories like that of Cynthia Ann Parker, Pocahontas, Sacagawea or Mary Jemison show those who chose to stay with their captors. Cynthia Parker taken by Comanche at age 8 or 9 later marries and gives birth to Quanah Parker, Comanche chief and leader of the Native American Church. It should also be noted here that Cynthia Parker was restored to European civilizations and tried to escape back to the tribe and eventually starved herself to death (Hacker: 2011). Pocahontas after helping Captain John Smith is captured later then marries Englishman John Rolfe and moves to England (Historic Jamestowne: 2011) Sacagawea kidnapped by rival tribe then sold to French Trader who she married, noted for accompany Lewis and Clark (Sacagawea: 2011) Mary Jemison taken by Shawnee remained as a Indian maiden till she died (Mary Jemison: 2011) Stories, photos and drawing that depicting the lives of those who chose to stay with those who become the new family.
"According to Laws (1995), on the American frontier another means of obtaining children was through abduction or reciprocal kidnappings, which evolved into a type of adoption practices both by Native Americans and by European settlers. Native American children kidnapped by European-Americans and European-American children kidnapped by Native American tribes suffered trauma and grief that was largely ignored by the kidnappers-cum-adoptive parents. Prior to colonization, Native American tribes generally regarded their children as valuable resources and adoption as a means of safeguarding these human resources. Among the Blackfoot Indians, a benefit to the child because he gained an experienced parent, and a benefit to the adoptive mother because the child could help her in her old age." (Babb: 1999)
Those brought back to European life had problems reintegration back into the community, these stories show the life in turmoil in their decision to chose one of the two communities. An example of this would be the Benjamin children, whose parents were killed and the children were taken for a short time. The boys were returned to the community in Pennsylvania but the girl remained with the tribe. She later was brought home by her brother, but couldn't take the longing for her new family so she returned to the tribe (Heard:1973).
Those who escaped or preferred death to living in captivity also show a valuable side to the story. The Martin brothers fled on horseback from a party of Sioux and were hit by two arrows, one that pinned them together, they both survived the incident. (Lee: 1993) The photos of the boys in their later years and the two arrows that stuck them both together would be ideal item for this part of the tale. In 1867 four children of the Peter Campbell family were kidnapped, and exchanged some months later although the boys were well partial due to the fact that the boys where twins are prized highly in the community and Spotted Tail (the chief during the negotiations with the army) seemed to have grown an attachment to them (Dunlap, 1882: 109). The two girls however had peculiar ticks from their captivity, Christina would wrapping calico cloth around rocks and the Janet would periodically looking out the window and said that they will come back for her (Campbell).
The communities of the individuals who where parts of these tales should also be brought into the exhibit story, it is important to give meaning to each of the locations where the events happened as well as the stories of the people involved. We need to represent the places and their lives at the place of interaction with the captors. Then on to the places that become their home for part or all their lives then on to the outcome of the individual lives that have been impacted by the events.
This exhibit is one of those that will depend on collaboration of all involved. In some ways this is like the 25th Anniversary of Little Big Horn when all those who took part met together in peace to leave something of the past behind. Those Native Americans and the Army came together in a new found peace to remember and forget. Here to is an idea for the communities to come together and leave part of the past behind, but inform the generations what took place the meanings why and how and bring that growth of the nation full circle to involve all the participants.
The entrance to this exhibit should be confined with a rope that leads people along the path of the stories. People should get a sense of the terror, being taken out of the comfort zone and enveloped in a different culture. Videos portraying life of the captives, along with photos of some of the people and places, with excerpts of stories can all contribute to the understanding of the exhibit as a whole. Sound should be added to sections which should be things like thundering hoofs, bird calls, wind rustling all these things help to bring the intensities of the events that are being portrayed. Lastly items of clothing, tools and the way people where living at that time also need to be displayed in some fashion throughout the exhibit. The surrounds must tell the story as well as the photos and commentary.
More public awareness to all aspects of the collective community that is now North America, with those experiences of the past have helped to shape the country and an exhibit of this nature can also bring that kind of understanding though unity to all participants in making an exhibit that will be educational for all.
Bibliography
Babb, Linda Ann. (1999). Ethics in American adoption. Westport, Ct. Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Cameron, Catherine M. (Eds.). (2008). Invisible Citizens. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
Campbell Family Diaries, (1870's-1880) unpublished.
Crew, Spencer R.& Sims, James E. (1991). Locating Authenticity: Fragments of a Dialogue. In Karp, Ivan, & Lavine, Steven D. (Eds.). Exhibiting Cultures. (pp. 159- 175). Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Dunlap, L.C. & Dugger, Christina C. (1882). The Campbell Clan. Coopersville, MI
Forbes, Jack D. (1993). Africans and Native Americans: the language of race and the evolution of Red-Black Peoples. University of Illinois.
From Captors to Captives: American Indian Responses to Popular American Narrative Forms. (http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assetserver/controller/item/etd-Gregor-3488.pdf)
Historic Jamestowne: Pocahontas (2011) (http://www.preservationvirginia.org/rediscovery/page.php?page_id=26)
Heard, J. Norman. (1973). White Into Red. N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Hunter, John Dunn. (1973). Memoirs of A Captivity Among The Indians of North America. New York: Schocken Books.
Lee, Wayne C. (1993). Bad men and bad towns. Caldwell, ID. Caxton Printers, Ltd.
Margaret Schmidt Hacker, "PARKER, CYNTHIA ANN," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpa18), accessed April 06, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
Mary Jemison (2011) (http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Jemison__Mary.html)
Native Languages of the Americas website (1998-2007). (http://www.native-languages.org/iaq17.htm)
Phillips, Ruth B. (2003). Community Collaboration In Exhibitions: Introduction. In Laura Peers and Alison K. Brown (Ed.), Museums and Source Communities: A Routledge Reader (pp. 155-170). London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
Sacagawea Biography (2011). (http://www.biography.com/articles/Sacagawea-9468731)
Tayac, Gabrielle. (Eds.). (2009). IndiVisible. Washington, D.C.
Texas State Historical Association. (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/bxi01).


Shroud of Turin Abstract
The Shroud of Turin has been in the possession of The Catholic since 1355. Here we are going to discuss some of the main points under consideration about the Shroud of Turin's authenticity. (1) A description of the Shroud. (2) The history and early investigations of the cloth. (3) Biblical accounts. (4) Style of cloth for the time period, traditional manners of burial during the period in question and treatment of the body during the time frame. New findings from burial dated to same time period and the Sudarium of Oviedo. (5) Blood and pollen. (6) Reproductions of the Shroud. (7) Photographic images of the Shroud. (8) Radio carbon dating evidence on the Shroud. (9) Who is it really and the faith involved. All these are key points in the discussion of the Shroud, and must be taken into consideration when discussing the validity of the object.

The Shroud of Turin is a rectangular piece of linen cloth measuring 442 cm long by 113 cm high plus a 8 cm strip sewed lengthwise . There is an image of a front and back view of a crucified man, the image is on one side only with no soak through. Also the image of the man is slightly uneven for a real human body. The cloth is a 3 to 1 herringbone twill of flax.
According to documented history the Shroud first makes its public appearance in 1357 on display to the public in the Church in Lirey France . The Shroud was said to be "true Burial sheet of Christ". In 1389 Henri de Poitiers was urged to investigate the cloth. Bishop Pierre d'Arcis sent a report to the Pope letting him know that the item is question was not real. During his investigation he found out that it had been painted by an artist although the name of the artist is never given nor are the documents that go along with that portion of the investigation. A quick note on the painter's identity, it has been proposed the Leonard da Vinci maybe the mastermind of the Shroud but the time frame of the facts would discount this theory. Short time later the Bishop of Troyes ordered the cloth to be taken off display and destroyed, but the cloth ends up being hidden by the de Charny family of France for another 30 years before it is seen again. It goes through these cycles till it becomes the property of the church which sends it from one church to another then finally settling in Turin in 1578.
Early in the history of the Shroud the church told anyone exhibiting the shroud that they would be excommunicated if it was put on display. It was rescinding on occasion if they presented in the proper manner, "the priest should declare in a loud voice that it was not the real shroud of Christ, but only a picture made to represent it". The Papal see has always steered clear of claiming the Shroud to be real. Even the most recent Pope Benedict stated, "This is a burial cloth that wrapped the remains of a crucified man in full correspondence with what the Gospels tell us of Jesus.
According to the Codex Sinaiticus: Matthew 27:59-60 "And taking the body Joseph wrapped it in clean linen, and laid it in his new sepulcher which he had hewn in the rock; and having rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher he departed." Mark 15:46 "And he bought linen, took him down, wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulcher that had been hewed out of a rock, and rolled a stone to the door of the sepulcher." Luke 23:53 ".and having taken it down, he wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulcher hewed in rock, where no one had yet lain." John 19:39-40, "But Nicodemus also came, he that had come to him by night at the first, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Jesus was anointed with myrrh and aloes then bound in linen clothes; the head was the only part of the body to be covered with a single sheet." According to the next chapter of John, when the disciples had returned to the tomb they saw that the sheets lay separate from the head linen which had been folded way from the other pieces. Luke also in the following chapter mentions the "linen clothes." Linen strips for wrapping the body back during the first century is talked about by many biblical scholars, and a one sheet sudarium or sweat cloth would be placed over the head and face.
At that time period of Jesus death, it is true that Jews where wrapped in multiple cloth pieces but the cloth of the period was a simple weave. The Shroud is of the complex 3 to 1 herringbone twill weave, not the simple cloth of the time period and it is one large sheet not a number of smaller sheets. This poses an issue of the cloth contradictions to biblical facts except those of John concerning a one piece sheet; also the Shroud has never shown that the body was anointed with the items from the biblical account. Recently another burial has been found dating from the time of Jesus and it confirms the biblical account on how people were buried at the time. This burial was also of a wealthy person and he was wrapped in cloth strips and anointed. The commentary that Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy man who purchased all the items needed for the burial of Jesus does not give enough evidence to suggest that the cloth would have been anything but a simple weave. The Sudarium of Oviedo said to have covered the face of Jesus is a plain-weave linen and is keeping with the facts about linen from that time. The unfortunate fact that this relic has now been linked with the Shroud doesn't help it be any more authentic. The history of the Sudarium also comes into question with disputed tracts of where it traveled even though the carbon dating from this relic is older than the dates for the shroud. This item creates more problems for the Shroud believers in the fact that if it was over the face and under the Shroud how come there is no image on that cloth. If it was removed before being placed in the Shroud how is there more "blood" on the Shroud then on the Sudarium. These relics need to be treated as two completely different relics.
The blood on both items, here we have two breaks the authenticity group and the skeptics group. The Shroud shows blood patterns that are unrealistic for a person who is laid in a sheet. The person would have to be standing. Two bleeding at the scalp does not produce nice ringlet flow, it mats in the hair. The blood itself over time on a cloth would turn black, not so on the Shroud or the Sudarium. Testing by the authenticity faction would have you believe that it is in fact blood and that in both items it is AB type. Proponents would tell you that it could have been blood from the painter in the shroud case or maybe diluted blood in the Sudarium. All though this blood type is uncommon now it doesn't make the case for a specific group or time in history that gives anymore credence to the Shroud or the Sudarium being from the 1st century time frame. As for the DNA found on both items here again this could be from any time frame in history. Both items were handled and this could have come from anyone. In the case of the blood I would have to see it taken from the items to the lab and done in front of me to believe any of this. As for the pollen on both items, this could have come from the travels of both items.
In June of 2010 a publication became available on the internet about the reproduction that Dr. Luigi Garlaschelli from the University of Pavia Italy had created. This show how a shroud can be made even in modern times. Dr. Garlaschelli goes into all the previously known facts about the shroud and other scientists who have examined the shroud. He also discusses previous attempts to create a reproduction. One key point is that the real face will produce distortions in the fabric, but as the Professor noted the Shroud has a "very conspicuous and strange mark, which looks like a neck or a collar." This would be a product of "bas-relief" used for the face instead of a real face, and this would be the most logical conclusion. The rest of the body is done in a different method would also follow this logic. Without going into all the methods and processes he used to create the reproduction let it be said that it is the best reproduction ever right down to the photographic properties that his Shroud produces.
The unusual reverse photographic image of the Shroud was originally seen in 1898 by an amateur photographer named Secondo Pia. He was allowed to photograph the Shroud during an exhibition. This image has been used to argue that the Shroud must be the real Shroud of Christ. The Shroud that was produced by Dr. Garlaschelli also produces this same unusual image when photographed. The most recent creations from the photographic evidence were made by Ray Downing. These 3D images of the man in the Shroud were shown on a History Channel special this year. He not only tried to prove that a person was inside the cloth but takes years off the photographic negative view of the crucified man. Making the man younger and in the case of people interview much sexier. After watching the show, it presented no factual evidence for the conclusions he presented. It is artistic but not factual.
The radio carbon dating of the shroud has been contested since the day it was done. I discussed the procedure with other students who have used radio carbon dating and understand the procedure and had them look over the document pertaining the testing of the Shroud. Each told me that they believed the results to be accurate but also said that the procedures discussed in the documentation was somewhat unorthodox. Other samples taken from the Shroud not only show the pollen but other items that could have been picked up where ever the cloth may have traveled during the course of its existence. If we use the cloth style and the carbon dates as real hard facts we see it was produced during the middle ages.
So the real question is who is the person on the shroud? Besides Jesus another person has been offered as the possible person depicted by the Shroud. This is the Grand Master of the Templar order by the name of Jacques de Molay. The Knights Templar was a monastic order created to protect pilgrims in the holy land. The order was created in 1119 and ended with the accusation of heresy in 1314. According to documents from the time of the trial of the Grand Master he was first interrogated. This interrogation consisted of the punishments that Jesus was put through after being taken into custody before his death. The beatings, the crown of thorns, and a crucifixion, de Molay survived all this to be burned at the stake in public. During the interrogation he passed out according to the account, he was then wrapped in a shroud. The first owner of the Shroud of Turin according to the undisputed record was Geoffroy de Charny. You will notice that they have different spellings for their surnames; this is not out of the norm for that period in history. He is believed to be the grandson of the brother of Geoffroi de Charney the Preceptor of Normandy and a Knight Templar burned along with de Molay. The shroud used on de Molay is said to have been taken by Geoffrey's father Jean de Charney. This passed to the son over time. The first person to have ownership of the Shroud of Turin was a hidden member of the Templar's. This raises many questions as to the motives behind showing the Shroud. Who had the painting done on the shroud was it Jean or Geoffroy and what was the end result supposed to produce.
The Shroud is an object that has grown in popularity and controversy over the years. A number of the faithful believe it is Jesus. The Catholic news agencies are concerned with maintaining that it is a real relic, even though the Catholic Church itself stops short on that conclusion. It should also be noted that over the years the church has done its own private investigations into the Shroud and has never released the results to the public. As for the Sudarium, it's sad that it is now linked with the Shroud. It should be a separate relic based on its own identity. It's said that if you take all the pieces of the true cross you could build 2000 wooden ships. Veneration of relics to some Christians is as bad as idol worship. Yet it would appear that to others it is some means of holding something more tangible about their faith. Begging the question is their faith that insecure that they need an item to make it more tangible. Even if it is found that the Shroud is of someone else will that change the minds of the faithful? Or does that really matter. They see the suffering man in the Shroud and feel comforted and maybe that's all that is important. Like the people in Minnesota that believe the Kensington stone proves that their ancestry journeyed here before Columbus. Pride and faith maybe all that is needed, for that is part of the nature of the human condition, faith will never go away.
After looking over all the evidence presented on both side the conclusion of an unbiased mind would have to say the Shroud is not a product of a human body after death. It is a incredible moving painting created during the middle ages to remind people of the suffering of men who died for their beliefs. Wither this was a depiction of Christ or a depiction of Jacques de Molay does not really matter to most, it's the exhibit of the torture of a crucified individual. That statement said this is a part of history that should never be repeated. As for the Sudarium of Oviedo, as I have said before it is sad that this is linked with the Shroud. The cloth is the plain weave and its carbon dating shows it to be older, but not old enough. I have not found enough scientific data to make any clear conclusion on this relic, but it would appear also to be nothing more than an artistic representation of what general happened during the 1st century after a person had died and was prepared for burial.
References
Catholic Encyclopedia New Advent (2010). http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13762a.htm
Codex Sinaiticus (2010). http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/
Damon, P. E.; Donahue, D. J.; Gore, B. H.; Hatheway, A. L.; Jull, A. J. T.; Linick, T. W.; Sercel, P. J.; Toolin, L. J.; Bronk, C. R.; Hall, E. T.; Hedges, R. E. M.; Housley, R.; Law, I. A.; Perry, C.; Bonani, G.; Trumbore, S.; Woelfi, W.; Ambers, J. C.; Bowman, S. G. E.; Lesse, M. N. Tite, M. S. - Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin. Nature 1989, 337, 611-615
Garlaschelli, Luigi (2010),Life-size Reproduction of the Shroud of Turin and its Image, J. Imaging Sci. Technol. 54, 040301 DOI:10.2352/J.ImagingSci.Technol.2010.54.4.040301
Knight, Christopher & Robert Lomas (1998). The Second Messiah. UK: Element Books.
Live Science (2010). http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/Is-Shroud-of-Turin-Real-100503.html
Michelet, J. (1841-51) Les Proc�s des Templiers, 2 vols. (Collection de Documents In�dits sur l'Histoire de France), Paris, [ notarial record of Paris hearings, October and November 1307 and hearings of papal commission between 1309 and 1311, based upon the copy deposited at Paris at the close of the papal commission.
MSN Cosmic Log (2010). http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/03/30/4349690-the-face-in-the-shroud
Nickell, Joe (1998). Inquest on the Shroud of Turin: Latest Scientific Findings. US. Prometheus Books.
Nickell, Joe (2007). Relics of The Christ. US. University Press of Kentucky
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2009, December 16). DNA of Jesus-era shrouded man in Jerusalem reveals earliest case of leprosy.
The Shroud History (2010). Retrieved from http://www.shroud.com/history.htm
Thomas, Terry (2010). Hidden Secrets of The Vatican: The Ark, The Holy Grail and the Turin Shroud. UK: Swordworks Books


Murder in Dakota

Walking In Soft Moccasins. The Story of Anna Mae Aquash.
A students look at the events of Anna Mae Aquash’s death.

“If someone follows carefully in my footsteps, they will learn what I know”
– Anna Mae Aquash 1975
A gunshot shot cuts through the air; a body drops into an ancient wash, coyote’s howl. A rancher finds the body sometime later while checking his fences. No identification was found on the body. The woman is decomposing and according to the initial autopsy, she had died of exposure he said. Her hands are cut off and sent to Washington D.C. for the FBI to get fingerprints from.
Sounds like a bad dime store novel, but it’s all true except maybe the coyote’s howl. This is about Anna Mae Aquash, or in her native tongue Naguset Eask, mother, activist and as a member of the American Indian Movement. This woman activist fought not only for the Indian community in general and but for the native women. The people talked about in this story about the life and death of Anna Mae will be fully addressed in the appendix at the end.
She was born in Nova Scotia 1945 as part of the Mi’kmaq tribe, with her two sisters and a younger brother. Anna Mae lost her father to cancer early in life moved after his passing to the reservation. She later meets Jake Maloney and during their relationship she gave birth to her two daughters. Jake and Anna Mae slowly drifted apart, and after their divorce, Anna Mae spent more time in the native community of Boston and become an activist. Anna Mae would later give the girls to Jake to take care of in the mid-70s. She was one of the founders of the Boston Indian Council this group later became known as the North American Indian Center of Boston. She went to Plymouth Massachusetts to participate in what would become National Day of Mourning. AIM was also invited to participate. The protest of Thanksgiving by boarding the Mayflower II, the incident occurred in 1970 about the governments’ refusal to addressing the issues of broken treaties. At this point, Anna Mae found AIM as a group that had the passion she had and became part of their movement. The march on Washington happened in 1972, and during the course of the activities the Bureau of Indian Affairs building was taken over by AIM, this was known as the Trail of Broken Treaties.
During this time, they took many documents from the BIA talking about sterilization of Native women, water issues and mining rights. Because of the documents AIM would now become targets for government agencies. Later she was at the takeover of Wounded Knee in 1973 were she was married to Nogeeshik Aquash by Wallace Black Elk. She separates from Aquash in 1974 and started working with AIM full-time. Anna Mae started working at the St. Paul, Minnesota, AIM office for a while. She was not at the Jumping Bull compound when the two FBI agents where shot but she did ending up participated in bomb building activities with Leonard Peltier in a mobile home owned by Marlon Brandon. He had loaned this to the AIM leadership, and he also gave them 10,000 dollars. The money was used by Leonard Peltier and Dennis Bank’s to purchase some guns. Peltier had been implicated in the shooting of the FBI agents, and while Anna Mae was with Peltier and Banks it was said that she may have overheard Peltier confessing to killing the 2 agents. During the time of her participation in the movement, she was arrested, like many others, but unlike those others, she would be released on lower bond. The last time this happened she missed a court appearance and the judge issued a bench warrant, this was the first time she became a fugitive. The suspicion would grow that Anna Mae was an FBI informer because of things like the releases from jail with a lower bond then everyone.
AIM says that even though they had no formal title they have been a movement for 500 years according to Laura Waterman Wittstock and Elaine J. Salinas who have written a brief history of AIM on the movement’s website. They start making their presence known in the late 1960s. The group started in prisons and with women who were fighting for survival. On some occasions, protests were armed and on other occasions were violent. Certain members of the movement advocated vocal disobedience over violent disobedience.
FBI are always present in respect to anything happening in the US, but they come into the Anna Mae story more during the march on Washington D.C. at the Trail of Broken Treaties. AIM took over BIA building and trashed the place during their occupation. Because of this action in Washington D.C. they became seen as a possible treat to the US government and were put onto the government watch list. She was first arrested in 1975 and released. This first run in and release occurred after Douglas Durham, who had been working closely with Dennis Banks, revealed that he was an FBI informant in 1974. This started the suspicions about Anna Mae possibly being an FBI informant, as well. However at that time, she managed to dissuade the AIM leadership from believing that she was working with the FBI.
The last time Anna Mae jumped bail she had been scurried off to the St. Charles hotel in Pierce, South Dakota. From there some people friendly with the American Indian Movement at the time where called and they left Rapid City to come picked her up in Pierce. They picked up Anna Mae and were told to head to Denver where they had a place waiting for her to stay. According to the accounts the weather was the worst blizzard and snow seen in a while. They stopped outside of Denver at a bar that was owned by Theta Nelson aka Theta Clark. This was the last time this group of people would see Anna Mae. She was then taken over to the house of Troy Lynn Yellowwood in Denver. Troy Lynn then kept Anna Mae for some time, this part of the story is sketchy because of the time factor involved, but they became friends. Anna Mae just stayed and Troy Lynn who provided her with clothing and other items because Anna Mae only had the clothes on her back when she had showed up at Troy Lynn’s home. They had passed the time discussed matters. Memories fade how long it was before the phone call came saying the she was to be brought up to Rapid City.
In Rapid City, she would have to explain herself to the AIM leadership about what had happened before she ended up in Pierce. Theta Clark along with John Graham and Arlo Looking Cloud came down from Pine Ridge to bring Anna Mae up to Rapid City, South Dakota. Then she was tied up with a rope getting her ready for the trip to Rapid City in the night, the dead of night. You may wonder why it was necessary to tie Anna Mae up at this point she was considered a liability to AIM community because it was feared that she was a spy for the FBI. They didn’t want her to get away before they could question her. Before Anna Mae left Lynn Yellow Wood’s house, she had pled “Please don’t make me go you will never see me again.” Troy Lynn was so upset, she cried and pleaded with the three, “Don’t take her, don’t take her she’s safe here.” Troy Lynn kept on arguing knowing that something disastrous would happen. Troy Lynn started to call the Denver Police and somebody hung up the phone on her, and they didn’t let her call anyone. Anna Mae, fearing for Troy Lynn who had now become a good friend to her, she said to her, “Don’t get yourself in trouble on my account.” Then they stuck her in the back of the Pinto hatch back tied up. Nothing much has come out about the trip to Rapid City.
When they reached Rapid City she was taken to the house of a Native American woman, this place was considered to be a safe house. This empty apartment, all wood apartment she was kept and that the before she was taken to Russell Mean’s brother’s house to be questioned. During that time, she was being questioned and shuttled from one place to another, Anna Mae was also raped by John Graham. After the questioning of Anna Mae, Theta Nelson received a note from someone that read, “Take care of this baggage.” So from there John Graham, Arlo Looking Cloud, Theta Nelson left with Anna Mae was still stuck in the hatch back of the car. Taken to Dick Marshall’s house were Dick Marshall supplied them with a gun. So at this point Theta Clark was the one in charge, and it was time to take care of what AIM now had decided was a problem.
John Graham, Theta Nelson and Arlo Looking Cloud with Anna Mae tied up in the back headed out to a lone stretch of highway. It was very dark as the sun was just about to come up during the dead of winter. They stopped be the side of the road. Theta Clark handed the gun to John Graham. John and Theta then got out of the car. They proceeded to get Anna Mae out of the car. Anna Mae started praying in her native language, sobbing and crying. She begged them not to do this, telling them that they were making a huge mistake getting involved with this. Theta also told Arlo to go out with John. Anna Mae was made to kneel on the ground. She asked if she could make a request, “can I have a minute to pray?” As she started to pray in her native language, John Graham took hold of the pistol pushed it to the back of her head pulled the trigger. She fell over the edge of the ravine and was left there to die (if she had not already died instantly).
It was mid-December when she was murdered. Because of the weather and the time of the year, her body was slow to decompose. On February 24, 1976, her body was discovered by Roger Amiotte (the rancher) looking for a place for his cattle and checking the fences. It seems from all the records that this wasn’t a place that was planned. They found it to be off the road and out of the line of sight for the deed.
AIM’s front men from the 70s were, for the most part, Dennis Banks and Russell Means. Both men had an enormous amount of charisma and, it should be noted, not averse to causing violence to get their point across. Dennis Banks would later be linked to having a relationship with Anna Mae but in his autobiography that only makes a passing mention of her and his sorrow over her death. Means, on the other hand, never mentions her in his autobiography even though Russell Means would make a statement to the press talking about two people from AIM who ordered Anna Mae’s death, that of Vernon and Clyde Bellecourt. Leonard Peltier also makes a passing mention of Anna Mae in his book.
Of three people who were ordered to carry out the murder of Anna Mae, John Graham, Arlo Looking Cloud and Theta Nelson Clark only Arlo and John have been tried and convicted. Theta is unfit to stand trial and remains in a nursing home. Arlo is the only one to have called the family and apologized for what happened. None of the AIM leadership showed up for the most recent trial of John Graham. Newspapers reported that Russell Means had fled the country before the trial; he was on the list of people to testify.
During the 70s one, incidents stand out among many that Anna Mae was involved in which is the Wounded Knee Incident. This uprising of some 200 Native American was to impeach the tribal president of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Richard A. “Dick” Wilson, who had formed a GOON squad that was persecuting Indians on the reservation who did not like how things were going. Economics were the major issue with those of mixed race getting most of the jobs and support by Wilson’s government. According to FBI some 57 people died during the Goon Squad’s reign of terror. Listening to the accounts coming from the AIM camp and members of the Goon Squad, the FBI was supplying Wilson’s Goon Squad with weapons and ammunition to silence the opposition. The Incident lasted 71 days.
Two FBI men were murdered in Pine Ridge shootout on June 26, 1975. The agents were driving in two separate vehicles follow a red pickup onto the Jumping Bull ranch. A shootout commence between the FBI and AIM members on the ranch. The agents died, and one AIM member was also killed. According to the stories, and they are many, the agents never identified themselves before they opened fire. The one man in prison for the murder of the agents, Leonard Peltier claim he knows who the real shooter was and would not give him up. The story also goes that while Peltier was fleeing from the law, hiding out in a mobile home that was owned by Marlon Brando, he told Anna Mae that he had killed the agents. Anna Mae never appeared at Peltier’s trial it should be noted. People like Robert Redford believe Peltier to be innocent, and this is what they tried to show in the documentary, Incident at Ogallala. A number of FBI agents are seen in this movie as well as give their side of the events that happened there.
Agent David Price would play a role in the death of Anna Mae, as he stated that when Anna Mae’s body was found at the dry wash he didn’t recognize her. Price had questioned her about another case and was on the lookout for her. Price was one of the few agents who knew what she looked like and had talked with her about the deaths of the Agents at the Jumping Bull compound.
Anna Mae was buried more than once, but now she rests at the Indian Brook Reservation in Nova Scotia. Anna Mae Aquash was a woman who was passionate about the Indian people. She saw what was happening and wanted more than anything to help fix what was broken. She worked to educate as well as being an activist. Helping AIM with fund raising and organizations. She slowly moved into the upper management of AIM. Even though people will tell you that they believe she was a warrior and equal to any man you can’t help but wonder were the men of AIM feeling threatened by her. Did it come down to the men of AIM feeling emasculated by this efficient and eloquent woman? Was this all they needed for an excuse to get rid of her. Anna Mae went out of her way to find out things that even the government would have wanted to get rid of her for, such as the mining issues and water pollution affecting the reservation during that time. One movie that brings all the issues about AIM, the FBI and the death of Anna Mae together is Thunderheart. This movie hints at all the stories that play into the life of Anna Mae’s life and death. Telling the tale while changing the names of all involved, it grabs hold and makes you wonder. One thing may never be known totally is how many people were FBI informers, but one thing is clear Anna Mae was not, but by the time of Anna Mae’s death, both sides may have wanted her out of the way.
From all sides, the details of this case have been muddy, wither deliberately, or not it makes many of the situations surround the life and death of Anna Mae something to question. Going over every piece of information associated with her death brings up new groups of questions every time one takes a look at it. The amount of information would take longer than one semester to study and sift through. There are so many different sides that present evidence, from the FBI, AIM, the family and others. Things that can honestly be said about Anna Mae’s life and death are that she cared for Indian people and was willing to fight for the rights of those people in any means she knew how. She was an eloquent woman, who could fund raise, build bombs, and love her children, as well as those people around her. Her agenda was to make a place and a good life for all Native people. She would never help the FBI, they were part of the establishment that had persecuted and hunted the Natives. She would keep as secret at all costs, and she would search out the truth of a situation. Her relentless pursuit of helping the Native people would cost her. It is said that her death split AIM and that could be very true. Not all the people responsible for her death have been brought to justice.
It is only conjecture how many people were involved, people like Bellecourts’, Dennis Banks, Russell Means and other members of AIM are said to be somehow involved her death. We know that some have shown their remorse over her loss by honoring her memory, namely fighting those battles against mining and other causes that hurt Native communities everywhere. Arlo Looking Cloud showed his remorse by talking with Anna Mae’s family. Arlo seems to be the fall guy, as the being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As for members of the FBI who knew Anna Mae like David Price and others, their involvement in her life only hastened her death.
It’s hard to believe that David Price who had questioned Anna Mae as often as he did would not recognize Anna Mae’s lifeless body, but it could be that Price realized the trouble that would arise from Anna Mae’s death and opted to say he didn’t recognize her, so he would have time to inform the FBI who had been found.
There is far more here that has not come to light about the death of Anna Mae, but maybe someday all the pieces will come together. No team ever gives up a member no matter what they have done, and others will sacrifice the most important and helpful member for their own power instead of saving them for the greater good of the group. Anna Mae was promising eloquent women, activist and mother when she died, may her spirit live on always.

Appendix

Nogeeshik Aquash: Second husband of Anna Mae, artist & activist, married during occupations of Wounded Knee site. Said to have died mysteriously when it is said he figured out who killed Anna Mae.

Dennis Banks: AIM co-founder and charismatic figure said to have had a relationship with Anna Mae. He received amnesty from the Governor of California for his part in the Custer riots, but later decided to turn himself in and do 18 months in prison. Involvement in Anna Mae’s death in question.

Clyde Bellecourt: AIM co-founder, implicated by Russell Means as ordering the death of Anna Mae.

Vernon Bellecourt: AIM co-founder, implicated by Russell Means as ordering the death of Anna Mae.

Theda Nelson Clark: AIM member, implicated in Anna Mae’s murder, not able to stand trial due to medical reasons.

Arlo Looking Cloud: AIM member, convicted in 2004 in the death of Anna Mae and serving a life sentence. Appeared in John Graham trial.

Douglas Durham: Chief Security Officer for AIM met with Russell Means and Dennis Bank frequently. Admitted to being an FBI informer, sold information during the occupation at Wounded Knee and was to let them know of any other illegal actions that AIM was planning.

Wallace Black Elk: son of Nicholas Black Elk bearer of the sacred pipe, Lakota elder & spiritualist, activist.

John Graham, aka John Boy Patton: AIM Member charged with kidnapping, rape and murder he was convicted of the felony murder of Anna Mae December 2010. Premeditated murder was dropped, as well as rape charges because of decomposition of Anna Mae’s body it was hard to prove rape. The testimony given by Arlo Looking Cloud was not enough evidence to charge him with the rape.

Jake Maloney: First husband to Anna Mae they met when her family moved to Shubenacadie Reserve after the death of Anna Mae’s father. Indian school was where they first met. Married 1965 and divorced in 1970. They had two daughters together Denise and Deborah Maloney.

Denise Maloney: First daughter of Anna Mae and Jake. Director of “Indigenous Women For Justice” to help native women find justice.

Deborah Maloney: Second daughter of Anna Mae and Jake. Canadian Police officer.

Richard “Dick” Marshall: AIM member and bodyguard of Russell Means, acquitted of providing the gun that killed Anna Mae.

William Means: Brother of Russell Means, his home was used to interrogate Anna Mae before her death.

Russell Means: AIM leader starting in the 70’s. Involvement in Anna Mae’s death in question.

Leonard Peltier: AIM member convicted in 1977 or the death of the 2 FBI agents at the Jumping Bull Compound in 1975. Dino Butler and Robert Robideau were acquitted on the same charges. Peltier is serving two consecutive life sentences.

David Price: FBI agent who had question Anna Mae on several occasions, and may have had Anna Mae followed on some occasions hoping to find other AIM fugitive member. Was one of the agents at the scene when Anna Mae’s body was found, claimed not to recognize her due to decomposition of the body.

Thelma Rios: AIM member who passed along the message that Anna Mae needed to her brought to South Dakota for questioning.

Richard A. “Dick” Wilson: Tribal leader at Pine Ridge, leader of the Goon Squad. Passed a law on the reservation to eject any AIM member found there. He is implicated in deaths during his “reign of terror” that may have been carried out by the Goon Squad.

Troy Lynn Yellow Wood: AIM member who Anna Mae stayed within Denver. It is unclear wither Anna Mae was being held prisoner at her house or she had no other place to hide at the time.

Bibliography

Anna Mae: Gun In Her Mouth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc2pz1C5bQ4. Video.

Brand, Johanna. The Life and Death of Anna Mae Aquash. Toronto: J. Lorimer, 1978. Print

DeMain, Paul. “John Graham trial for the murder of Annie Mae Aquash – ICTV Compilation.” Performed Dec 2010. News From Indian Country. http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10689&Itemid=108. Internet.

“Douglas Durham Was FBI Informer During Wounded Knee” NBC Nightly News, New York, NY: NBC Universal, 03/13/1975. Accessed Sat Feb 11 2012 from NBC Learn: https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=36293

FBI History: History of the BI. Washington, D.C.: Federal Bureau of Investigation, n.d.. http://www.fbi.gov/. Internet resource.

Hendricks, Steve. The Unquiet Grave: The FBI and the Struggle for the Soul of Indian Country. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2006. Print.

Kilmer, Val, Sam Shepard, Graham Greene, and Fred Ward. Thunderheart. Burbank, CA: Columbia TriStar Home Video, 1992. Film.

Martin, Catherine A, Kent Martin, and Angela Baker. The Spirit of Annie Mae. Montreal, Quebec: National Film Board of Canada, 2002. Film.

Oswald, Rod. Assistant Attorney General South Dakota Prosecutor. Conversations from March 2012 with Heidi Short.

Peltier, Leonard, Michael Apted, Robert Redford, and Arthur Chobanian. Incident at Oglala: The Leonard Peltier Story. Santa Monica, Calif: Artisan Home Entertainment, 2004.

Smith, Paul C, and Robert A. Warrior. Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. New York: New Press, 1996. Print

Sonneborn, Liz. A to Z of Native American Women. New York: Facts on File, 1998. Print.

Transcripts from the John Graham trial. Jury Trial Dec 1-10, 2010. South Dakota 7th Judicial District. Print.

Trimbach, Joseph H, and John M. Trimbach. American Indian Mafia: An FBI Agent’s True Story About Wounded Knee, Leonard Peltier, and the American Indian Movement (aim). Denver, Colo: Outskirts Press, 2008. Print

Weller, Robert. “AQUASH MURDER CASE: AIM leaders point fingers at each other”, AP, at News From Indian Country, 4 November 1999, accessed April 2012. http://www.indiancountrynews.info/aquashmurder.cfm.htm. Internet.

Wittstock, Laura Waterman and Elaine J. Salinas. A Brief History of AIM. 2012. accessed April 2012. http://www.aimovement.org/ggc/history.html. Internet.


How Jack the Ripper Changed Whitechapel

Abstract
Some cities have a personality, and some have an unusual life of their own due to the people, places and environment they create. To an anthropologist its a different kind of human being in a sense. Whitechapel district is no different. Here their pile up of people created a man who committed the most horrendous crime spree of the late 1880 but his career would also affect change in this area. Jack the Ripper was a product of the environment and he impacted the environment. The influx of immigrants settling in this area caused competition for jobs, and forced women have to resort to prostitution to stay alive. Religious leaders were pleading for help to change the slums of Whitechapel and nearby Spitalfields. Not only did the Ripper, influence how housing changed here but also helped to promote the field of forensics. To understand how things changed in this town we have to understand who the killer was, his victims and the people and places. Contained here is an overview of his killings, and the situation in the area, the killer and his environment, and how this one thing changed the nature of the area.
 
Victorian London 1888, White Chapel and the East End, an area that soon becomes center stage for a serial killer and his victims. Jack the Ripper may not have been a resident of this area of London, but he found its design a use to his ends. The streets are narrow and not well lit. The people of the area are its prostitutes, fishermen, thieves and other poor and lower class persons. In this section of London factories sprang up, work that was hazardous and undesirable for people, this area of London soon turned into the slums. Places where immigrants from other countries would come and try to make a living. The police are spread thin in this area of London, forensic, and the sciences are just starting to modernize but are still not quite there. The Newspapers are finding their own little nitch in this society in that they are learning how to spin a story to influence the masses and sell more papers than the next guy. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes the first of the Sherlock Holmes stories. All these factors helped to make Jack the Ripper not only one of the most feared men in history but one that still influences the way we look at London and the East End to this very day. His attacks in the East End forced change in this area of London.

When people visit London today many tourists flock to the East End for Ripper tours as they did at the end of the Ripper’s killing spree. We may never figure out who Jack was, but the suspects are endless and does it matter really who Jack was since he did get away with all those murders? Probably not. What is fascinating is how this one event has changed the way people think of Whitechapel and the East End throughout the ages. From an anthropological view, the city also changed because of what happened with Jack here but it was also the means for Jack to get away with his crimes before they fixed this area of London. There is only a handful of places that when you mention the name of this place we can think of one particulate event. So when people say Whitechapel they almost always think of Jack the Ripper. The city has a scar, and the name is Jack the Ripper.

Much has been written about Jack and who he might well be, but what is far more interesting are the things that made Jack. The environment where Jack came to practice his trade is our primary focus. What we need to talk about now is who were the people of Whitechapel and the East End of London, plus what was life like in these neighborhoods? How did the design of the area and its buildings play into its notoriety and does it help us in geographic profiling of the killer. We also need to look at serial killers statistics and who were the people suspected of the murders and why? Using the anthropology of cities and the people that inhabit them, plus forensic science, psychology, profiling and historical information I hope to explain how this area of London became the life of Jack the Ripper.

Whitechapel District

Casebook.org

Most of the books about Jack the Ripper cover the look and feel of the neighborhood of East End. The streets a narrow for the most part and very few lights that work at night, the police were far and few between during the evening hours. During the murders, the police force was increased and according to the police they had some suspects tailed for a time.(House, 2011) Stanford’s Street Maps of Victorian London, 1863(Old House Projects) (2013) maps are a great tool in locating where all the events occurred and an overview of the street system in the area. It helps show how tight the streets were. Let’s you see how cramped the housing was and how there were small alcoves were people could do almost anything without being seen for at least 30 minutes or more. Clack and Hutchinsonis The London of Jack the Ripper: Then and now (2007) helps to show us the town at the peak of the time in photographs of the city and some of how the city has changed. In the case of the murder of Mary Ann Nichols, they have a quote from another author Leonard Matters on the spot where she was killed and how it looked in 1928….

“It is a narrow, cobbled, mean street, having on one side the same houses – possibly tenanted by the same people – which stood there in 1888. They are shabby, dirty little houses of two stories, and only a three-foot pavement separates them from the road, which is no more than twenty feet from wall to wall.

On the opposite sides are the high walls of the warehouses which at night would shadow the dirty street in a far deeper gloom than its own character would in broad daylight suggest. All {the street} is not so drab and mean, for by some accident in the planning of the locality – if ever it was planned – quite two thirds of the thoroughfare is very wide and open.”

For this was the first murder (canonical murder) committed by Jack and not long after it happened in this happened the people complained of the unwanted attention on their street and the street was renamed Durward Street before the end of 1888. I will discuss what I mean by canonical murders later in this paper.

Even though other things would take longer to change in this area of London, this murder could make some things change quite fast. I found the two TV shows “Ripper Street”(2013) showing the East End as it used to be and “Whitechapel”(2010) showing the areas as they are now is very helpful with the mapping the happenings through the sections of London.

The photographs and TV shows have given a better perspective of the confining aspects of the area. It brings together how cramped the people must have felt as well as showing the dirty, squalid conditions in which these people were trying to earn a living and live out their lives. You can also understand that it would be an easy feat for someone to evade the police in such an area.

From a letter printed in The Times, written by Rev. Samuel Barnett, Sept. 18,1888…
“1. Efficient police supervision. In criminal haunts, a license has been allowed which would not be endured in other quarters. Rows, fights, and thefts have been permitted, while the police have only been able to keep the main thoroughfares quiet for the passage of respectable people. The Home Office has never authorized the employment of a sufficient force to keep decent order inside the criminal quarters.
2. Adequate lighting and cleaning. It is no blame to our local authority that the back streets are gloomy and ill-cleaned. A penny rate here produces but a small sum, and the ratepayers are often poor. Without doubt, though, dark passages lend themselves to evil deeds. It would not be unwise, and it certainly would be a humane outlay, if some of the unproductive expenditure of the rich were used to make the streets of the poor as light and as clean as the streets of the City.
3. The removal of the slaughter-houses. At present animals are daily slaughtered in the midst of Whitechapel, the butchers with their blood stains are familiar among the street passengers, and sights are common which tend to brutalize ignorant natures. For the sake of both health and morals the slaughtering should be done outside the town.
4. The control of tenement houses by responsible landlords. At present there is lease under lease, and the acting landlord is probably one who encourages vice to pay his rent. Vice can afford to pay more than honesty, but its profits at last go to landlords. If rich men would come forward and buy up this bad property they might not secure great interest, but they would clear away evil not again to be suffered to accumulate. Such properties have been bought with results morally most satisfactory and economically not unsatisfactory. Some of that which remains might now be bought, some of the worst is at present in the market, and I should be glad, indeed, to hear of purchasers.”
Samuel Barnett was one of the most outspoken critics of the times. He and other clergy were calling for change in the East End. According to Barnett, the vices in the East End helped to promote the depravity of the people there. He blames as he points out in section one is due to police having little to no control in the area. Only small sections seem to be “passable for respectable people.” Most policemen won’t venture into some area’s themselves for fear of being set upon by the inhabitants. (House, 2011)
In his second criticism of the area, we see the comments about the lighting and the filth of the area. In most books describing this area of London during the Victorian era, this is a point that always comes up. Poor lighting and the dirty streets are what Barnett complains contributes to the vices and evil reflecting in the neighborhoods

Point three of his assessment of the problems in the East End concerns the butcher shops that practice their trade in this part of London. Well in reality before this city’s boom it was a less crowded area of London. The influx of immigrants, the building of other crafts stores and the poor congregation of the city is what turned the meat packing district into an area that also housed people. It is true that people probably became immune to the smell and the disgust of the butcher shops because of their proximity to these places, but when Jack started his reign of terror the horror of slaughter would be nothing like the butcher shops, it would be worse.

The last point is probably the most important about the East End area. People were sent out into the streets if they could not pay for their night’s lodging. This fact more than any other reason is what encouraged women to do what they could to earn enough to get out of the cold streets for one night.

The social outcries were heard but not until the murders were in full swing did it have an impact all the way up to the Queen of England.

The People
Housing in the East End was horrible by most standards with some houses containing as many as seven in one room. These overcrowded conditions along with the malnutrition and poor jobs created a troubled area for the people of London. According to House, 150,000 people lived in the Whitechapel area and that any people trying to find jobs and stay alive was a daily issue.(House, 2011)

Bulmer (1991), Chinn (1988), Greenwood (1869), Joyce (2008), House (2011) and Johnson (2006) all paint a pretty bleak picture of this part of London. At one time known for its factories and shipping this area turned into slum and an area, where the influx of people from other countries ended up living. According to Rev. Samuel Barnett, this area of town had the lowest moral standards of any area in London and because prostitution, thieves and killers were the most prevalent in this society.(House, 2011) Even though they had outlawed prostitution there were more than 300 brothels, and over 80,000 women who worked the streets, and according to Robert House, the police prosecuted 6000 prostitutes each year.(House, 2011) People had to do what they could to stay alive and feed their families. This created the biggest black eye for London. They had been in a recession for a number of years and 100 people for every job, made this the worst time in the history of London. Disease was rampant in the area, with death people still being found in houses weeks after they had died. The people who made a living looking for valuables in the sewer systems were the only ones not often affected by epidemics that swept through these communities; because of their association with the filth they seemed to have immunity to these outbreaks.(House, 2011)

Another problem in this area of London was the sweat shops. People were being sold into work in these stores by other people; they were pimps of the tailoring industry. This had its own problems because these tailoring stores were owned by the Jews and during this time in the East End they were being blamed for the majority of work related issues and the poverty in the area. Magistrates and Lords were investigating these shops, and some were on the take turning a blind eye to the problems in the area, because this is where most of the clothing came from for the rest of London.(House, 2011)

When Jack the Ripper killed what was considered his first canonical victim in 1888, it created fear in the East End, but not enough to stop the prostitutes from making their nightly rounds. Not until the second of these crimes did the people of East End and London start to be truly afraid of what was now taking place, even America would take interest in what was happening.(Whitehead, 2007) It is worth noting that in all of the books on Jack the Ripper one thing stands about the people of Whitechapel, no matter who yelled “murder,” a great many people would not even check to see what was going on. With the fighting and altercations of the population in the district, it would seem that this was a normal occurrence and for as often as this word was yelled it seemed of no importance. Many of the witnesses questioned said they never looked when people yelled “murder.” The attitude was we would here the yelling all right, but it was not happening to us so why check.(all Ripper Books) Seems a little similar in today’s issues with people not wanted to get involved a lot of the time.

In Storey’s book A grim almanac of Jack the Ripper’s London, 1870-1900 (2013) you get a real sense of the violent nature of London. He presents cases of murder and abuse from many sections of London and presents facts about the ripper cases as well, but he also goes into the prison system as well as the judicial systems and how some cases were punished. This helps to cement the impression that even though there was murder and crime going on at this time, what Jack did was a shock to the community at large. It affected not only the people of Whitechapel but also the people of London and abroad. Of the 80 murders that happened the year prior to Jacks rampage none of them were committed in the Whitechapel district. Those murders that did occur in the East End were mostly accidental deaths up to September 1888. (2007)

The Press
The press in its infancy would use crime to compete over who could make the most money reporting a crime and in some of the papers what they could makeup to get people to buy more papers. When Jack started his spree, it only got worse. The newspapers would make wild speculations on who the murder might be. A side effect of the made up things brought even more heat to the Jewish situation in the East End. One of the made up pieces of journalism that was reported at the time were letters reported to be written by the Ripper.(Curtis, 2001) Also, the letter which was sent to Mr. Lusk, head of the vigilance committee was, according to most investigators real. This one was accompanied by a women’s kidney supposedly the one removed from Catherine Eddowes. After examination, they came to the conclusion that it was not the kidney of Eddowes.(Casebook) I will go into more details about this later. The papers did get the attention of everyone, and they made trouble for the police as well with political cartoons about how they could not get the killer.(Connell, 2012) Everyone from the beat cop to the higher ups were a target for the press. They wanted to sell papers, and with that they would do their best to get the public heated up about the criminal activity in the area.

All of this has now given the area of Whitechapel an identity that will never die. Because of the press, the murders and the people living in the city they have a very distinct identity from the rest of London. This is now the home of the Ripper Tours. For during the crimes and afterwards, touring the areas where the ripper killed his victims is still big business. There is even a DVD virtual tour that one can by to see the sites and here the gruesome tale of Jack the ripper in the comfort of their own home. This year as a matter of fact the BBC History Magazine reported that there was a twiting of the 1888 murders going on. The object of this event was to promote looking at social segregation (the Jews slums of the East End) and also present press sensationalism, which is still going on to this very day.

Geographic Profiling
This is a relatively new way of thinking about how criminals use the areas they live in or practice their craft. The TV series called “Hidden City” has given me a view into this type of profiling and has helped out in how crime leaves a mark on the city itself. Geographic profiling is mentioned in the House’s (2011) book on Jack, and it is an interesting new way of looking at a series of crimes. Even though I would say this might work better for other crimes it has held up as a means of finding killers in some cases. Only two problems occur if you depend on this for locating the criminal. Is the crime committed by a person who is coming into an area, does he not live or work in the area and have what they consider to be a safety zone.

If he is coming from outside the area, this profiling style does not work. The way this is used is by making a map of all the crimes than entering them into a computer database that has been designed to take those sites and make a new map of the probable places in which the killer may live in the center of all known crimes. The ECRI (Environmental Criminology Research Inc.) has taken all the major events of the Ripper crimes and produced the map you see above. The large red orange areas are the possible areas that Jack may have lived if he lived in the area and not outside the Whitechapel district. The reason I mention this style of profiling at all has to do with the fact that the killer has never been found.


ecricanada.com
We make certain presumptions in the ripper case. One of those being that he must have known the area well and could make his escapes quickly for this reason. We assume that the killer could not be from outside this area for that reason also, but that is not a fair assumption to make. Committing the murders of at the darkest part of the evening, wearing dark clothes and not making a large bloody mess at the time of the crime are all factors to consider with concerns as to his capture.
The areas highlighted in the map above are places the police did do house to house questioning at the time of the murders. It is worth noting that during the 1880’s police were not permitted warrants to search people’s homes. They could search only if the owner invited them in. Most people would never let them do such a thing back then but when Jack started to cause the issues in the East End people were more cooperative than at any other time in the East End. For someone like Jack who was collecting trophies, if his house had been searched, they found no trace or that he must live outside the area.

Serial Killers
Flanders (2013),anew book, The Invention of Murder, goes into how the fascination with murder becomes interesting to the Victorian public and gets turned into book, theatre and tabloid fascination. Serial Killers seem to be the most popular, for papers and other entertainment means. Soothill (1996), suggests in his article, Murder: the importance of the structural and cultural conditions of society, he explains the Serial Killing is not a new phenomenon; it has been going on for a long time, and why it happens in some counties more than other. He talks about a previous serial killer in France, one Baron Gilles de Rais, known as Joan of Arc’s General. He was responsible for killing anywhere from 80 to as many as 800 have been suggested, mostly children and mostly boys. When on trial he told them that he enjoyed it.

According to Aamodt’s (2013) report on Serial Killers Statistics the US has more than any other country after 1900. The UK gets second billing. Of all the serial killer lists, I went through only 28 of the thousands or so serial killers listed murdered prostitutes. What is these killers motivation for eliminating these women? This part can be the most difficult when it comes to Jack because Jack had never been caught, and the speculation by most profilers is that he had schizophrenia. Some Serial Killers do it because they enjoy it and other because they feel the need to dominate their victims.

The FBI as well as many other criminologist today say that the things that stand out about this case in particular is that most of the attacks were not planned out well in advance. They were crimes of opportunity. They also say his motive for killing could have been being infected by a prostitute. Part of his profile would have been an overbearing mother and absent father. The factors that could have made Jack this way are numerous.

There has also been some disagreement on the actual number of victims for Jack the Ripper. This has to do with what some profilers say is that the killer practicing a few times before he starts honing his craft, so there is speculation on a number of other murders. Did our suspect mutilator animals before they moved on to women. There are some who theorize that animal castration is where some of these suspects get their start. Some theories about these people being social unable to deal with other people, hatred of women for things that happen during childhood, absent father figures early in life and well as masturbation and domination fantasies have been parts of theories that create this kind of killer.(House, 2011 & FBI) Looking into a number of crimes that happened in the East End before and after the five canonical killings, I am willing to bet that he did some perfecting before he ripped his first victim. That the police refused to believe he was still around after the Mary Kelly murder even though it appears in Storey’s book that there may have been others not attributed to Jack because they were not as extreme as Mary Kelly. This could be due to the fact that he did not have the time he had with his most famous last victim.

The Victims of Jack the Ripper
According to Keppel, Weis, Brown and Welch’s (2005) paper in the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, they discuss in each case and what can be gleaned from what the killer did to his victims. First its best to discuss the women considered being “the canonical murders of Jack the Ripper,” and then we will add the other murders that may have also been his handy work. “Mary Ann Nichols, a known prostitute, was about 43 years old. She was about 5 feet 2 inches tall, with brown or grey eyes, dark complexion and dark brown, graying hair.”(Keppel et al.,2005) Last seen in a state of drunkenness around 2:30 am and found murdered in a secluded yard around 3:40 am at Bucks Row.(Keppel) Anne Chapman, “was a widow between the ages of 45 and 47 years old, 5 feet tall, with a fair complexion wavy dark brown hair and blue eyes.”(Keppel) She was found dead at the back or 29 Hanbury Street at about 5:45 am, time of death between 3:30 and 4:30 am.(Keppel) Elizabeth Stride was found dead in Dutfield’s Yard, Berner Street at 1:00 am. (Keppel) “She was Swedish, about 45 years old, with a pale complexion, light gray eyes, dark, curly hair, and approximately 5 feet 3 inches tall.(Keppel) Catherine Eddowes was found dead in Mitre Square, around 1:45 am. (Keppel) “Her age was estimated as between 43 and 46 years old. She was not a prostitute at the time, but was given to drinking.”(Keppel) “She was 5 feet tall and had auburn hair and hazel eyes and the letters TC tattooed in blue ink on her left forearm.”(Keppel) Mary Jane Kelly was found dead at 10:45 am in her room at Dorset Street, and was a known prostitute. (Keppel) “Kelly was 24-25 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall, slim blonde headed, of fresh complexion and attractive.” (Keppel)

Each woman was posed with their faces turned left and legs spread and bent knees. Most of the women had been prostitutes at one time, or another, and they all had drinking issues. All of the women had been missing some body parts, which seems they had been taken as trophies, but one had rings also taken from her. It is unknown if jewelry was taken from the other women because the reports are no longer as complete as they once was. (Whitehead, 2007)

Even though Mary Jane Kelly murder would have been what was considered the pinnacle of a serial killers murder, many think that this was not his last murder. Jack had been given the opportunity to take his time in an unusual situation. Even thought the killers MO changed because this one was indoor, and the others were outdoors, his signature had not changed. His MO was white, female prostitutes, ages 24 to 45, and poor. Murdering his victims between midnight and 6:00 am.(Keppel) Keppel and his group after doing a database analysis of murders in the US they concluded in their paper.

“The initial analyses demonstrated that many of the individual features and the combination of the signature characteristics observed in the Jack the Ripper murders were rare. In fact, murders who stab and kill female prostitutes, leave their bodies in strange positions, and probe, explore or mutilate body cavities are extremely rare. It would be extremely unusual to find more than one of these killers, exhibiting that combination of signature characteristics, operating in the same area at the same time.(Keppel et al. 2005)

He was the lone killer; there would be no copycats according to their estimation. So the other murders that had similar MO’s that occurred after Mary Kelly may well have been his handy work even thought the police did not want to believe it.

Jack the Ripper

BBC News UK online 20 Nov 2006
The police at the time had seven suspects they though could be the ripper. The press and public had their own theories of who might be the ripper, and they had a list of 6 people. Later authors propose another 14 + people some of whom are so farfetched it is hard to believe how they got on the list.(Casebook)

Briefly I will go over the description of what people had seen and why this is interesting plus some of the many suspects. All the descriptions of Jack come from people who had seen the women before they died talking with a man or going off with said man. Jack’s description ranges from 5 ft. 5 in. to 5 ft. 11 in., between late 20’s to late 30’s. Some say he was dark complexion with dark hair, and others say he had a fair complexion. Facial hair can be said to be clean shaven or beard and moustache or just a moustache with the ends turned up. Stout, shabby but genteel and respectable, were also used to describe these men. Some thought his voice was English while some others thought he had a foreign accent.(Begg, 2010)

It’s been said that eyewitness testimony is what people base the facts of the case on, but it is also well known that the witness can be wrong and remember things that didn’t happen. (Tversky) Oddly enough only one man had ever given a thorough description of a man seen with Mary Kelly the night of her murder, and at some point he was also listed as a suspect.(Begg)

According to the doctors working for the police department and the Home Office at the time, they believed the Ripper had to have a working knowledge of anatomy. So naturally doctors and butchers were part of the list of suspects. At one point, the suspect was known as “Leather Apron” that also heightened suspicions about butchers in the East End.

Suspects ranged from a Polish tailor from Russia to Duke of Clarence; there were also doctors and other well to do gentlemen, and most butchers living in and working in the East End were suspected. In all, most of these men had solid alibis for where they were at the times of the murders. Somewhere people who frequented the asylums. More than one criminal profiler has said this killer was insane, but he had to function a some level to have been unseen by the police or the average person. Also these are not the type of people who would commit suicide. They have a death wish, but not as we think it. They in some ways want to be caught. Some have hung themselves in jail, and other look forward to their execution. (Schechter, 2006)

Final
The real idea here is to find out how this section of town played into his life. How this one thing has changed the way we will always think about Whitechapel and the East End. More than any other serial killer in time, because he did not have the most kills or the fewest number of killings. He is one of the few who were never caught. “They did not die in vain. Jack is accredited with instigating social reform where others had failed.”(Whitehead, 2007)

Thanks to the killer the 80,000 or so people in this area and the massive poverty there as well as because the focus of the country. It is said that even Queen Victoria offered suggestions on how to catch him. (So if it had been Prince Edward, I do not think she would have been making suggestions.) According to Whitehead and Rivett, “233 overcrowded common lodging houses” and they accommodated some 8,500 people. As was stated earlier, with the close quarters in adequate lighting, the few and far between policeman and assortment of high fenced small alcoves, these areas of Whitechapel were the perfect place for this killer.

Writers like Jack London, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens and others wrote about the human conditions in and around London. Dickens died before the Ripper did his work, but I can only imagine what he would have said. The close cramped quarters, the people trying their best to make a living each day in what can now be worse than sweat shop conditions. The constant influx of immigrants added to the situation. Living conditions in the area what could be called rats in a barrel.

Over the next 20 to 30 years this area would have a building burned down and bombed out, and new places put up that would accommodate large numbers of people and not have the confined and dirty conditions of the 1880’s. New lighting would make it better to see most of the nooks and crannies at night, making it harder for would-be killers to ply a trade. Workhouses would close, and people could get a slightly better wage and not have as many people fighting for the same job.

Police departments would hire more men, and there are detectives would be equipped with the latest in up in coming forensic science and technology. Even though they had the opportunity to use blood hounds and chose not too in the Mary Kelly murder they were now starting to figure out things like fingerprints. Fingerprinting was in its infancy at this time, and most detectives were not convinced of it’s worth. Bloodhounds to hunt down suspects, still in use today, may have played a factor in finding Jack if the Detectives had still had the dogs they were testing in there possession at the time of the investigation. Line ups were being used in cases where the witnesses said they could positively identify the person they saw near the scene of the crime. Some people during that time did not want to be the only witness that sent someone to the gallows.

Prostitution would become a thing of the past more or less. Morality would become the new way once again. Vigilance communities would help in protecting women who didn’t have enough for them and their children, and vicars and parish priests would play a role in helping the unfortunates get away from the workhouses and brothels. Slowly putting the workhouses out of business.

Thanks in part to what Jack did in Whitechapel maybe the whole of London was reawakened. He would probably turn over in his grave if he knew he had sparked so much change. For he changed the face of Whitechapel, even though it is the one thing no one will ever forget. He sparked the advancement of forensic sciences, made the city planners think about how to plan better lighting, better housing and keep the streets cleaner than they had been before. Moving the industrial complex to other areas, changing where people could work and getting them more business. Also adding new educational institutions to the area. People being helped by others so they would’t relying on peoples needs for evils to make a living.

Granted things took time to change, even if one of the streets had its name change that year of terror; the rest took time. This section of London may forever be known as “Jack the Rippers home” but it is certainly no longer Jack the Rippers haunt. This community changed because of Jack, and those changes had turned it into a thriving community. It still may have its issues from time to time, but nothing like before. Still the toughest part of London, the anthropology would suggest it likes that definition.

From an anthropological perspective it helped to promote more understanding in forensics, living conditions, people, environmental conditions and working conditions. All of these things changed in this one area, some things faster something slower, but overall they changed, and that was due to Jack. Jack would be the scar that will never fade off the face of Whitechapel, but maybe it should not. It is the one thing that reminds them what it used to be like before they changed it all.

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