Tipis and Puppies

After  Andrew Jackson’s Trail of Tears pushed many Native Americans west in 1838-1839, the available land Indians were allowed to ‘own’ grew smaller and smaller, until it was practically non existent.  Small pockets of reservation land have been maintained even today; however, the land taken from them grew exponentially as the white man colonized the North American continent from the very beginning.

A West Virginia Coal Miner and his family during the American Depression

Contemplating Life, with an Orangutang

 

Lincoln Continued

National Geographic did a really neat spread on portraits of Lincoln before and throughout his presidency.  While I feel the post Chris Mackowski did over at Emerging Civil War really captured the quick aging of the president, considering the amount of stress that was put on him throughout his presidency, the very brief National Geographic article covers several photographs over the span of eight years.  Here’s a few photos I’ve compiled from the Library of Congress, covering 1860, before the start of the war, to just before his death on April 14, 1865:

Lincoln in 1860, 1863, 1864, and 1865.

 

Lincoln did a lot for the United States, at several great costs to both the North and the South, finally succeeded in reuniting the country just before his heartbreaking assassination.  His legacy and the progressive choices he made in a time of extreme turmoil came with improvements, consequences, and altered ways of life.  Yes, it took America a long time to get to where it is today (perhaps with some backwards steps here and there), but Lincoln set in motion the amendments that would free around 4 million slaves.

What do you think?  Can you see a difference in the photographs above?  Do you think his legacy still lives?

Sending you a wire

Wow, it’s been a bit of a time since I’ve posted anything from Chuck or Clarese.  To recap, Chuck was planning on driving out to Idaho from Illinois, a 27 hour drive, to visit Clarese, but was having difficulty in finding a car or another means of transportation.  Her entire letter is devoted to vacation planning, and it’s making me itch to hit the open road and go on a vacation of my own!

Road trip! Photo courtesy of Lindenwood University, c.1940s

A Long Standing Tradition: Washington DC’s Cherry Blossom Festival

Several years ago, I happened to be in DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival (by complete chance, too!) – a spring festival spanning several weeks commemorating the gift of 3000 cherry blossoms to the US from Japan.  These trees were planted around the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park starting in 1912.

Cherry Blossoms surrounding the Tidal Basin, with the Washington Monument in the background, c. 1920.