Benjamin A. Railton's Blog, page 23

March 6, 2025: Hockey Histories: Black Players

[On March 3rd,1875, the first organized ice hockey game was played. So this week forthe sport’s 150th anniversary I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of hockeyhistories, leading up to a weekend post on some SportsStudiers we can all learnfrom!]

On threegroundbreaking players who together reflect the sport’s gradual evolution.

1)     HerbCarnegie (1919-2012): As with baseball in the US, for much of the early 20thcentury hockey in Canada was racially segregated, with organizations like the ColoredHockey League of the Maritimes offering the only consistentopportunities for Black players. That means that, as with the Negro Leagues inbaseball, we have far too many instances of clearly exceptional, Hall of Fameworthy players (as the first hyperlink above reflects) who never had the chanceto play in the full professional leagues. Herb Carnegie is very high on thatlist, winning MVP multiple times in lowerprofessional leagues in Canada and even receiving a tryout with theNew York Rangers in 1948. But the Rangersrefused Carnegie an NHL roster spot and offered him lessmoney to play in their minor league system than he was making in the lowerleagues and he turned them down, one more reflection of what was lost in thissegregated era of hockey.

2)     WillieO’Ree (1935- ): A decade after Carnegie’s tryout, the “Jackie Robinsonof ice hockey” finally broke the NHL’s color barrier. A prodigy from a veryyoung age, playing on teams at the age of 5 and playing in league playoffsbefore he was 16, O’Ree actually met Robinson while still that talentedteenager in New Brunswick (not long after Robinson had broken into the majorleagues). Just a few years later, in January 1958, O’Ree was called up to theBoston Bruins from the minor league Quebec Aces; he would play in only twogames in that year, but would stay in the league and play more than 40 gamesduring the 1960-61 season. He also faced racist taunts from Chicago Blackhawksplayers and fans (among many many other during that year), leading to meleeafter which, he laterreflected, he was “lucky to get out of the arena alive.” Like Jackie inmore ways than one, was Willie O’Ree.

3)     GrantFuhr (1962- ): O’Ree didn’t exactly open the floodgates, but gradually moreand more Black players did join the NHL over the next few decades. One of themost groundbreaking and talented was Grant Fuhr, the first Black goalie to playin the league and the first to win a Stanley Cup when his Edmonton Oilers didso five times in the 1980s (and eventually the first to be inducted into the HockeyHall of Fame as well). Fuhr being the first in those categories a centuryafter the creation of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes is asfrustrating a fact as any produced by segregated histories—but we can remember thefrustrations while still celebrating the iconic and inspiring individuals whohelped change them, a list that includes all three of these hockey stars.

Lasthockey history tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Hockey histories you’d highlight?

March 5, 2025: Hockey Histories: The Miracle on Ice

[On March3rd, 1875, the first organized ice hockey game was played. So thisweek for the sport’s 150th anniversary I’ll AmericanStudy a handfulof hockey histories, leading up to a weekend post on some SportsStudiers we canall learn from!]

On the symbolicrole of sports in society, and the line between history and story.

For a solidfive-year period in the early 1980s, the sports world and the Cold War feltinextricably linked. Beginning with the February1980 Olympic hockey semifinal between the U.S. and Soviet Union teams (onwhich a lot more momentarily), continuing through the two prominent Olympicboycotts (the US boycott of the 1980Summer Olympics in Moscow, and the retaliatory Soviet boycott of the1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles), and culminating, of course, with 1985’s Rocky IVand its climactic, ColdWar-ending boxing match between American underdog Rocky Balboa and Soviet machine (literallyand figuratively) Ivan Drago, the stories and images of internationalsports in the period mirrored quite strikingly the politicaland cultural clashes between the two superpowers.

One of thosefour sports events is not like the others, of course—the fight between Rockyand Drago, compelling as it undoubtedly was, took place only in the realms offilm and fiction, unlike the actual historical events surrounding the 80 and 84Olympics. Yet I don’t believe that the line between those categories of eventsis nearly as clear as it might seem. While the Olympic boycotts of course hadvery tangibleand often desctructive effects, not only for the athletes and teams but forthe respective host cities and countries, they were, first and foremost, aboutthe manipulation of and contests over images and narratives. And while the 1980hockey semifinal was not scripted by a team of Hollywood screenwriters, howevermuch it might have felt that way (and the subsequent TV and Hollywood filmsnotwithstanding), the narrative of the “Miracle on Ice,” which was developed quite literally inthe moment and has become the defining image of that game, representsimage-making at its most potent and enduring.

The question,though, is even more complicated than whether the phrase “Miracle on Ice”represents an image rather than the event itself (it certainly does). I wouldask, instead, whether we collectively remember the event not only through butalso because of the image; because, that is, of how the event was turned into astory that can have cultural and symbolic resonance far beyond even the moststriking individual historical moment. Whether the image and story are accurateto the history is a separate (and important) question, and in this case I wouldsay that they largely are (the US team was a huge underdog to the powerfulSoviet squad, and the victory thus one of the moreunexpected in sports history); but to my mind, the question of accuracy canblur the importance of the process of image-making, can make it seem as if “miracle”refers to the game rather than to the narrative that was and has been developedin response to it. A great deal of the Cold War was defined by such image- andmyth-making, never more so than duringthe Reagan Administration; to recognize the way in which sports can befolded into such narratives is thus a historical analysis, as well as one with contemporaryand ongoing implications.

Nexthockey history tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Hockey histories you’d highlight?

March 4, 2025: Hockey Histories: Fighting

[On March3rd, 1875, the first organized ice hockey game was played. So thisweek for the sport’s 150th anniversary I’ll AmericanStudy a handfulof hockey histories, leading up to a weekend post on some SportsStudiers we canall learn from!]

On the waynot to argue for a sport’s violent tradition, and a possible way to do so.

First, inthe interest of full disclosure: of the four major sports, I know by far theleast about hockey. And that’s especially true of hockey history—other than afew big name players and theoccasional interestingstory (both of those hyperlinked pieces focus on Boston-related topics, which islikely why I know a bit more about them than I do other hockey histories), whatI know about the history of hockey can be fit inside a box much smaller thanthe penalty one. Researching this week’s series has helped with that to besure, but I know I’ve only scratched the surface still. So as always, andespecially when it comes to topics like this one on which I am generally andadmittedly ignorant, I’ll very much appreciate any responses and challenges andother ideas in comments (or by email). I don’tthink I’m ever gonna get to full octopus-on-the-ice levelhockey fandom, but there’s no topic about which I’m not excited to learn more,this one very much included.

So withall of that said, it’s my understanding that one of the most heated debates inthe hockey world is over whether fighting is a centraland beloved element of the sport that must be preserved or an outdatedand dangerous aside that should be discarded to attract morewidespread fan support. Obviously I don’t know enough to have a strong opinion(I’m opposed tofighting-based sports, but this is somewhat of a different story ofcourse), but I will say this: from what I can tell, many of the arguments infavor of fighting seem to come from what we could call hockeytraditionalists. And having had more than my share of experiences with baseballtraditionalists, I’d say that “This is how we have always done things” is anincredibly ineffective way to argue for any aspect of a sport (or most anythingelse for that matter). For one thing, such an argument would by extension makeany change impossible, and anything that is going to endure over time needs toevolve in at least some ways in order to do so. And for another thing, thereare many cases where we learn things that require specific changes in the waywe do things—and it seems to me that what we now know abouthead injuries, for example, just might make that the case when it comes to fighting in hockey.

I’m prettyserious about CTE (although I haven’t been able to give upfootball yet), so if I were to weigh in more fully on the fighting inhockey debate, I’d likely be in the opposition camp. But I try to be open todifferent perspectives of course, and in a debate like this what I’d beinterested to hear is how pro-fighting perspectives might argue for its role inhow the sport is played. That is, when it comes to fightingin baseball (something I know a lot more about), fights represent an entirelyunsanctioned and illegal element, one that always leads to ejections andsuspensions and fines and so on. Whereas fightingin hockey is more or less entirely sanctioned, with the two fighters surrounded bythe referees and allowed to complete their fight before the regular gameplayresumes. So perhaps there are reasons beyond tradition alone, ways thatfighting contributes to the play of hockey within games, within a season, as asport. After all, all rules in sports are arbitrary and constructed, and don’tnecessarily need changing as a result. This one features violence to be sure,but so for that matter does hockey overall—so I’m open to hearing (includinghere if you’d like!) for how this element of hockey might also feature othersides to this sport, past and present.

Nexthockey history tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Hockey histories you’d highlight?

March 3, 2025: Hockey Histories: Origin Points

[On March3rd, 1875, the first organized ice hockey game was played. So thisweek for the sport’s 150th anniversary I’ll AmericanStudy a handfulof hockey histories, leading up to a weekend post on some SportsStudiers we canall learn from!]

On threetelling and compelling layers to that first organized game.

1)     James Creighton: Railwayengineer and lawyer Creighton is known as the father of organized hockey, as hecertainly didn’t invent the sport itself (compared for example to JamesNaismith and basketball); an informal, outdoor version known as both hockeyand “shinny”was already being played on frozen ponds in the 1850s Nova Scotia of Creighton’syouth. But as I discussed with baseball’s 19th century evolution in my recent podcast (the ThirdInning in particular), it took a while for that local, community version of thesport to become organized, and a key step in that process was Creightongathering groups of players (many from nearby McGill University) and providingsticks for workouts at Montreal’s VictoriaSkating Rink in the early 1870s (he knew the rink from his work there as a judgefor figure skating competitions). After years of practicing together, thoseplayers were finally ready to put on a full, organized game, with Creighton captainingthe Montreal Football Club against the Rink’s home team.

2)     The Game: The pre-game announcementin the Montreal Gazette noted a specific change that would significantlyreshape the sport’s future: “Some fears have been expressed on the part ofintending spectators that accidents were likely to occur with the ball flyingabout in too lively a manner, to the imminent danger of lookers on, but weunderstand that the game will be played with a flat circular piece of wood,thus preventing all danger of its leaving the surface of the ice.” Thataddition of the puck would be more than enough to make this 1875 game a trueorigin point for the sport (with shinny/pond hockey, which uses a ball, almosta distinct sport in its own right that likewise endures to this day), but the Gazette’s follow-up report on the game makesclear that its play was also quite representative of how the sport wouldevolve, as exemplified by the phrase “the efforts of the players exciting muchmerriment as they wheeled and dodged each other.”

3)     TheMelee: Of course, hockey players don’t always dodge each other, and theirhits aren’t limited to in-play collisions. I’ll write more in tomorrow’s postabout the overall history and place of fighting in the sport, but it’s prettytelling that this first organized game likewise concluded with an extendedbrawl. The fact that this fight wasn’t just between players—instead, playersfrom both teams apparently brawled with Victoria Skating Club members who were angrythat the rink had been used for this purpose—only reiterates how much fighting waspart of hockey’s collective DNA from the outset. As the Daily British Whig newspaper described this telling postgamescene, “Shins and heads were battered, benches smashed, and the lady spectatorsfled in confusion.”

Nexthockey history tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Hockey histories you’d highlight?

March 1-2, 2025: February 2025 Recap

[A Recapof the month that was in AmericanStudying.]

February3: Inspiring Sports Stories: The Celestials: For this year’s Super Bowlseries, I wanted to focus on the very needed topic of inspiring sports stories,starting with my recent podcast on my favorite one!

February4: Inspiring Sports Stories: Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The series continueswith two ways to parallel the pioneering athlete to legendary men, and one keyway not to.

February5: Inspiring Sports Stories: Chubbtown: Two contrasting & equallyimportant ways to contextualize an inspiring family story, as the series cheerson.

February6: Inspiring Sports Stories: Jaylen Brown: Two inspiring layers to the mostrecent NBA Finals MVP, way beyond the basketball court.  

February7: Inspiring Sports Stories: FSU Student-Athletes: The series concludeswith a tribute to six of the amazing student-athletes I’ve been able to teachin my 20 years at FSU.

February8-9: Inspiring Sports Stories: Aidan and Kyle Railton: But I couldn’t writea series on inspiring sports stories without highlighting my two favorite athletes& humans!

February10: Love Letters to the Big Easy: New Orleans and America: For this year’sValentine’s Day series, I wanted to share love letters to my favorite Americancity, starting with how it helps us engage with America’s defining identity.

February11: Love Letters to the Big Easy: The Battle of New Orleans: The seriescontinues with three striking sides to one of America’s most insignificantvictories.

February12: Love Letters to the Big Easy: Treme: Five characters through which thewonderful HBO show charts New Orleans stories, as the series parades on.

February13: Love Letters to the Big Easy: Fats Domino: A few iconic moments in thecareer of the legendary New Orleans rock ‘n roller.

February14: Love Letters to the Big Easy: Literary New Orleans: The seriesconcludes with five of the many books through which we can read New Orleans.

February15-16: One More Love Letter to the Big Easy: & a special Valentine formy Valentine, a few magical moments my wife & I experienced during ourrecent trip to New Orleans!

February17: Places I Love and Hate: Cville: For this year’s installment of mypost-Valentine’s non-favorites series, I focused on formative places that I havea love-hate relationship with, starting with my troubled hometown.

February18: Places I Love and Hate: CHS: The series continues with prisons, pains,& promises in a public school.

February19: Places I Love and Hate: Harvard: Individuals who made my undergradexperience great and an institution that did not do so, as the series of mixedemotions rolls on.

February20: Places I Love and Hate: Philly: Frustrating attitudes, fantasticacademics, and a secret third thing.

February21: Places I Love and Hate: Salem: The series concludes with theMassachusetts city that embodies the worst and best of American collective memories.

February24: AlaskaStudying: Seward’s Folly: For the 100th anniversary ofGlacier Bay becoming a National Monument, an Alaska series kicks off with thecomplex reasons behind territorial expansion.

February25: AlaskaStudying: Mardy Murie: The series continues with three factorsthat help explain the unique life & legacy of the “Grandmother of the ConservationMovement.”

February26: AlaskaStudying: Glacier Bay: For its 100th anniversary,three forces of nature who helped preserve Glacier Bay before it became aNational Monument.

February27: AlaskaStudying: Nenana Ice Classic: What a unique Alaskan tradition tellsus about both Alaska & tradition, as the series explores on.

February28: AlaskaStudying: McKinley or Denali?: The series concludes withrevisiting a decade-old column to think about the recent re-renaming of Denali.

Nextseries starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Topicsyou’d like to see covered in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to contribute? Lemme know!

February 28, 2025: AlaskaStudying: McKinley or Denali?

[100years ago this week, Calvin Coolidge designated Alaska’s Glacier Bay aNational Monument. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy that beautiful spot andother Alaskan places, people, and stories!]

On twoways to contextualize formal renamings.

Nearly adecade ago, I wrote for my TalkingPoints Memo column about the controversies over President Obama formallyrenaming Mount McKinley as Denali. I’d ask you to check out that column if youwould, and then come on back for a couple more layers to such debates.

Welcomeback! I’m glad that I focused most of that column on Native American historiesand perspectives, and would very much still argue that any debate over suchrenamings which in any way centers white Americans is a non-starter from thejump. There is of course a good deal of irony (as the I included in that post argues) in using Native American names for places that,in almost every case, have been forcibly taken from those communities, a removalprocess without which (for example) theNational Park system quite literally would not exist. But at the same time,these places remain important (and in many cases sacred) to those indigenouscommunities, a key reason why they and their allies advocate for returningthe names of places like McKinley to their indigenous names instead. It is,to be honest, the least we can do to honor those demands.

When wedo, though, it doesn’t mean we should forget the complexand telling histories that led to names like Mount McKinley for a peakthousands of miles away from William McKinley’s Ohio birthplace. I tend tobelieve (as I argued inthis post nearly four years ago) that the phrase “settler colonialism” getsused a bit willy-nilly these days without the necessary contexts and nuances, orat least without a great deal of thought as to what it helps us understand. Butwhatever we want to call it, there’s something profoundly telling about recentwhite arrivals to a place like Alaska deciding to rename one of its moststriking natural wonders (and indeed thetallest mountain in all of North America) after a white leader with prettymuch no connection whatsoever to that place (other than that he was presidentof the entire United States, of course). Such brazen intellectual ownershipover places and communities in a setting with such rich natural and human historiesis, I would argue, far more foolish than anything Seward could have ever done.

February Recapthis weekend,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Alaska contexts you’d share?

February 27, 2025: AlaskaStudying: Nenana Ice Classic

[100years ago this week, Calvin Coolidge designated Alaska’s Glacier Bay aNational Monument. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy that beautiful spot andother Alaskan places, people, and stories!]

On what aunique Alaskan tradition tells us about both Alaska and tradition.

The annual contest in whichparticipants bet on the exact day and time that ice will break up on the TananaRiver near the small community of Nenana,Alaska developed in a fewdistinct stages. It started very informally in 1906, with six locals forming abetting pool and the winner getting treated to a couple drinks at the localbar. It was revived a decade later in 1916 on a larger but still local scale,with railroad workers and other Nenana residents buying tickets at Jimmy Duke’sRoadhouse. And when the word was spread by railroad workers across the region,the 1917 contest was opened to all residents of both the Alaska and Yukonterritories. That 1917 contest is the one that the official websitehighlights as the contest’s genuine origin point, and it has been run everyyear since, with the original betting pool of $800 reaching nearly half amillion dollars in some recent years (and over $200,000 in the 2023edition). The technology involved in determining the precise moment whenthe ice breaks up has also evolved significantly over that century, as this local newsstory details.

One of themost important but complicated things for any AmericanStudier to try to wraptheir head around is just how big and multi-part this nation of ours is, withevery state featuring some pretty distinct layers and contexts that have helpedshape its identity and community and that it contributes to the whole of theU.S. as a result. I believe that’s genuinely true for every state, but as Idiscovered during my one visit to Alaska in the summer of 2005, I’d say Alaskais one of the most distinct and unique of all 50 states (perhaps onlyrivalled by the one territory which gainedstatehood later, Hawai’i). Part of Alaska’s uniqueness is unquestionably due toits natural landscapes, an environment utterly different from anywhere else inthe United States and one primarily defined by ice (although I’m sad to thinkabout how much thathas changed in recent years). And part is due to the way in which a greatdeal of the territory and state have been constituted by migratory communities,both individuals and broader cohorts like railroad workers (all, of course,alongside Alaska’sindigenous communities). We can see all those layers to Alaska’sstory and identity in the Nenana Ice Classic, both its existence and how itevolved to become the annual tradition it remains.

This wholeblog series focused on such distinctive local traditions, but I hope it alsooffered windows to consider the overarching concept of tradition and how it iscreated, how it evolves, and how it works in a society (all topics about whichI learned a great deal from one of my favorite scholarly books, MichaelKammen’s Mystic Chords of Memory). In thecase of the Nenana Ice Classic in particular, I’d say that we can see how atradition can be at once quite genuinely connected to key aspects of its localcommunity (as I argued above) and yet thoroughly constructed over time,constructions driven as likely always by a combination of more cynical factorslike tourism and capitalism and more sentimental ones like fun and communitypride. One thing I try really hard not to be is the kind of scholar who leansso far into the cynicism or even the analysis that I lose sight of those latterfactors, and so I’ll end this post with something I’d say for each and everyentry in the series: I’d love the chance to be at an event like the Nenana IceClassic, preferably with my sons and other loved ones, and to enjoy this uniquetradition for all that it is.

LastAlaskaStudying tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Alaska contexts you’d share?

February 26, 2025: AlaskaStudying: Glacier Bay

[100years ago this week, Calvin Coolidge designated Alaska’s Glacier Bay aNational Monument. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy that beautiful spot andother Alaskan places, people, and stories!]

On threeforces of nature who together helped preserve Glacier Bay (on the 100th anniversary of its designation).

1)     TheHuna Tlingit: As with every history in Alaska—and every history in America—thestory of Glacier Bay is inextricablyinterconnected with the worst and best of Native American histories. We can’tcelebrate its natural beauty, nor its evolution from endangered site to NationalMonument to (when Jimmy Carter signed the act intolaw in 1980) National Park, without recognizing and mourning the removal ofthe Huna Tlingit people from the area. But we can’t only mourn, either—even beforethe Huna Tlingit were able to return to and reconnect with Glacier Bay inrecent decades, as traced in the first hyperlink above, their legacy waseverywhere in this iconic place, and defining in shaping it across centuries ifnot millenia. Every visitor to Glacier Bay must remember and engage with thatworst and best of its, and our, histories.

2)     John Muir:Speaking of the worst and best. As that hyperlinked article notes, Muir reliedon Tlingit guides for his exploration of Glacier Bay; yet despite his unquestionableadmiration for Native Americans, Muir was also far too often a purveyorof racist attitudes towards these American communities. That’s all part ofMuir’s story and legacy, and of what he found and advocated for in Glacier Bay.But at the same time, I don’t know of any more beautiful writing about America’snatural wonders than Muir’s chapter “InCamp at Glacier Bay” in his book Travelsin Alaska (1915), among the many other places in that book where hewrites movingly about Glacier Bay. As he did with so much of America’swilderness, Muir’s perspective on Alaska helped his audiences see this placedifferently, a vital step toward preserving rather than simply exploiting ournatural wonders.  

3)     WilliamS. Cooper: Muir was an advocate for all of our natural spaces, but the plantecologist and activist WilliamS. Cooper made Glacier Bay his specific, lifelong focus. Cooper firstvisited Glacier Bay a year after Muir’s book was published, fell in love, andmade the area aliving laboratory for his researches for the rest of his groundbreakingcareer. But he also and especially became a determined advocate for thepreservation of Glacier Bay, writing to anyone and everyone about theimportance of not turning this natural wonder over to those who saw only profitin it (and continuingthose efforts for decades after the 1920s act). Conservation is acollective effort, but it also requires individuals like Cooper (or others I’vewritten about in this space such as MarjoryStoneman Douglas), and I’m deeply grateful for every one of them.

NextAlaskaStudying tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Alaska contexts you’d share?

February 25, 2025: AlaskaStudying: Mardy Murie

[100years ago this week, Calvin Coolidge designated Alaska’s Glacier Bay aNational Monument. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy that beautiful spot andother Alaskan places, people, and stories!]

On threefactors that help explain the unique life and legacy of the “Grandmotherof the Conservation Movement.”

1)     Alaska: Born Margaret Elizabeth Thomas inSeattle in 1902, Mardy and her family moved to Fairbanks, Alaska when she was9; although she briefly attended colleges in both Oregon and Massachusetts, shewould return to Alaska to finish school at the AlaskaAgricultural College and School of Mines[ (becoming its first female graduatein 1924). While her life,inspiring marriage (on which more momentarily), and conservation efforts wouldtake her to many other places for much of the rest of her life, Alaska alwaysremained a focal point, as illustrated by her successful 1956 campaign tocreate the ArcticNational Wildlife Refuge and her late 1970s testimony in support ofthe AlaskaNational Interests Lands Conservation Act (signed by President Carter in 1980).Alaska is of course hugely singular on the American landscape, but it’s alsolong served as an exemplification of the broader need to protect public lands,and no one has been more instrumental to those efforts than Mardy Murie.

2)     Her Marriage: She was Mardy Murie because of OlausMurie, a biologist and fellow conservationist she met in Fairbanks and married (atsunrise in the village of Anvik) the same year she graduated college. I’m notsure any single detail could better capture their genuine partnership than thefact that theirhoneymoon consisted of a 500-mile dogsled journey around Alaska to researchits wildlife and ecosystems. The lifelong, deeply inspiring partnership thatdeveloped from there would eventually take the Muries to Moose, Wyoming (nearJackson Hole), where the ranch that served as both their home and theirresearch base has since become a NationalHistoric Landmark (linked to Grand Teton National Park) as wellas an operatingscientific and conservation school. Mardy’s activisms weren’t defined(and certainly weren’t circumscribed) by her marriage, but they were absolutelycomplemented and amplified by it, as were his.

3)     TheWilderness Act: While it doesn’t really make sense to boil centuries-longmovements down to individual moments or laws, it’s nonetheless fair to say thatone of the most significant such turning points for the environmental andconservation movements in America was the 1964 passage of theWilderness Act, the first law to create a national legal definition of“wilderness.” That act was written by the then-Executive Director of theWilderness Society, HowardZahniser, and in both its creation and its nearly decade-long fight forpassage represented a collaboration between many of the leading voices in thatlongstanding organization—a community that featured Mardy and Olaus Muriethroughout their lives. While Olaus had tragically passed away in 1963, Mardyattended the ceremony at which President Lyndon Johnson signed theAct, as is only appropriate for an activist without whom every 20thcentury conservation effort would look different and far less successful.

NextAlaskaStudying tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Alaska contexts you’d share?

February 24, 2025: AlaskaStudying: Seward’s Folly

[100years ago this week, Calvin Coolidge designated Alaska’s Glacier Bay aNational Monument. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy that beautiful spot andother Alaskan places, people, and stories!]

A fewexamples of why it’s not at all foolish to consider the specifics of how, when,and why America’s territory expanded.

Let me getthis out of the way at the start: despite having had the singular dishonor ofvaulting SarahPalin, and her erroneousand destructive visions of American identity and history, onto thenational stage, Alaska is a very welcome part of our 21st centuryAmerican community. Everything I wrote about Sitka inthis post on complex and instructive American places isequally true of the state overall; it opens up landscapes, histories, andcommunities without which we’d be a less rich and diverse nation. Yet we can’tfully appreciate much of what Alaska brings and means if we don’t betterunderstand the contexts of its addition to our nation: the complexhistory of Russian imperialism in the region; the pre-Civil War arguments overinternational expansion that led to the first consideration of buying Alaska,under the Buchanan Administration; and the very dividedReconstruction-era moment and Johnson Administration during which Seward finallygained approval for that purchase in 1867 (and received the funds in 1868), andwhich produced the very vocal andfamous critiques of the acquisition.

At leastas complex, and far more explicitly dark and tragic, is the history surroundingthe American “acquisition” of Hawai’i a few decades later. My January 25thMemory Day nominee, Charles Reed Bishop [NOTE: I’ve since changed thatnomination for these reasons], illustrates some of the powerful and inspiringsides to American connections to Hawai’i in the mid-19th century;yet at the same time, Bishop’sstruggles to hold onto his late wife’s ancestral lands (on which they hadstarted their school) in the face of pressures from subsequentsettlers and big business to acquire that land exemplify the kinds of forcesthat leddirectly to America’s annexation of Hawai’i. There are few historical figureswhose stories reflect more poorly on the US’s actions than QueenLiliuokalani (although she has plenty of competition, of course), and we can’tpossibly understand the place’s history or meaning outside of a much fullerinclusion of her in our national histories and narratives. Such an inclusionwouldn’t make it impossible to appreciate the state’s natural beauties, nor itsmost famous contribution to 21stcentury America—but it would force us to recognize at which price those beauties,and the resources they include, were bought, and what that reveals about late19th century American imperialisms.

IfHawai’i’s history is one of the nation’s most dramatic and tragic, the evolvingstory of Maine would seem to be one of the quietest and most diplomatic.Although the area had been part of the United States (and specifically ofMassachusetts) since theRevolution, and had gained its own statehood in 1820, it hadthroughout those years served as a flashpoint for continuing conflicts betweenthe US and England. Thoseconflicts turned into the so-called “Aroostook War” (or Pork and Beans War) of1839, a bloodless struggle over the state’s borders and resources thatwas resolved through diplomacy three years later with the Webster-AshburtonTreaty. Besides revealing how tense relations between the US and itsformer mother country remained throughout the first half of the 19thcentury, that Treaty also illustrates some of the many other issues to whichthat relationship connected—besides settling the Maine/New Brunswick border,the treaty also stipulated the creation of a joint American and British navalforce for the sole purpose of patrolling the African coast and “suppressing theSlave Trade,” enforcing laws thathad been on the books in both nations for decades but which clearlyremained an issue. Engaging with the history of Maine, then, allows us tobetter understand multiple complex and crucial, Early Republic internationalinfluences and relationships.

NextAlaskaStudying tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Alaska contexts you’d share?