The Peoples of Utah, ed. by Helen Z. Papanikolas, © 1976 “Jews in Zion,” pp. 187–220 by Jack Goodman Except for the pitifully few American Indians occupying remnant of their once pristine homeland, we are a nation peopled solely by the descendants of immigrants. “Americans all, immigrants all,” Franklin Roosevelt once said. Rather than a melting pot, the United States as …
The Peoples of Utah, The Pioneer Chinese of Utah
The Peoples of Utah, ed. by Helen Z. Papanikolas, © 1976 “The Pioneer Chinese of Utah,” pp. 251–77 by Don C. Conley The distance from the subtropical rice paddies of China’s southernmost province to the mountainous desert of the Great Basin spans one-third of the earth’s circumference. Along this tumultuous course of Pacific Ocean waves and Sierra Nevada mountain peaks came …
The Peoples of Utah, After Escalante: The Spanish Speaking People of Utah
The Peoples of Utah, ed. by Helen Z. Papanikolas, © 1976 “After Escalante: The Spanish Speaking People of Utah,” pp. 437–68 by Vicente V. Mayer Poor Mexico! So far from God and so near to the United States. ..Attributed to Porfirio Diaz To the Spanish is owed the distinction of being the first Europeans to explore, map, and describe the area …
The Peoples of Utah, The Continental Inheritance
The Peoples of Utah, ed. by Helen Z. Papanikolas, © 1976 “The Continental Inheritance,” pp. 221–50 by Davis Bitton and Gordon Irving [We are] all the descendants of immigrants. That is, in fact, the quality and the experience all of us have in common; the differences are of degree only in that for some of us the experience is immediate and …
The Peoples of Utah, The Utes, Southern Paiutes, and Gosiutes
The Peoples of Utah, ed. by Helen Z. Papanikolas, © 1976 “The Utes, Southern Paiutes, and Goshiutes,” pp. 27–59″ by Floyd A. O’Neil “….. teach ’em to speak Ute. And don’t let them ever forget how we’re supposed to live, who we are, where we came from.”…Connor Chapoose Confined on reservations, no longer free to range over the mountains and deserts …
The Peoples of Utah, Blacks in Utah History
The Peoples of Utah, ed. by Helen Z. Papanikolas, © 1976 “Blacks in Utah History: An Unknown Legacy,” pp. 115–40″ by Ronald G. Coleman This essay is gratefully dedicated to Mary Lucille Perkins Bankhead, a descendant of three Black pioneer families and related through marriage to others. She has contributed greatly to this writer’s research and to that of others in …
My Native Land
The Peoples of Utah, ed. by Helen Z. Papanikolas, © 1976 “My Native Land,” pp. 11–13″ by Fred Conetah I am standing on a high hill overlooking a vast amount of country and wondering if one of my forefathers stood here and saw the same country as I see now. If so, he saw a completely different kind of country. He …
Improbable Ambassadors: Black Soldiers
BLACK SOLDIERS AT FORT DOUGLAS, 1896–99 Michael J. Clark Utah Historical Quarterly, Summer 1978 Although the record is clear, few people know that on the east bench, overlooking Salt Lake City and touching the boundaries of the University of Utah, more than six hundred Black people—soldiers of the United States Twenty-fourth Infantry, wives, children, and others—lived, worked, and attended school …
African Americans at Fort Douglas
THE 24th INFANTRY BROUGHT AFRICAN AMERICANS TO FORT DOUGLAS Jeffrey D. Nichols History Blazer, February 1995 In October 1896 Salt Lake City experienced a small but important change in the racial makeup of its population. The arrival of the U.S. Army’s 24th Infantry Regiment at Fort Douglas brought approximately 600 African American men, women, and children to the city. Only …
Utah’s Early African American Farmers
Miriam B. Murphy History Blazer, May 1996 In the 19th century Utah’s small number of African Americans worked at whatever jobs they could find. Discrimination and a lack of educational opportunities generally meant low-income, often menial, work. Some remained slaves until Congress banned slavery in the territories on June 19, 1862. Still, according to historian Ronald G. Coleman, “a few …