title: Jean Lafitte

text: The brothers soon acquired a third ship, "La Diligente". They outfitted it with 12 fourteen-pounder cannons. "Dorada" captured a fourth ship, a schooner they renamed "Petit Milan". The brothers stripped down their original ship and used its guns to outfit the new one. They sailed three ships, which Davis described as likely "one of the largest privately owned corsair fleets operating on the coast, and the most versatile." For several months, the Lafittes would send the ships directly to New Orleans with legal cargo and would take on outgoing provisions in the city. The crew would create a manifest that listed not the provisions that had been purchased, but smuggled items stored at Barataria. Uninterested in exports from New Orleans, customs agents rarely checked the accuracy of the manifests. The ship would sail to the mouth of Bayou Lafourche, load the contraband goods, and sail "legally" back to New Orleans, with goods listed on a certified manifest.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Governor William C.C. Claiborne took a leave of absence in September 1810, leaving Thomas B. Robertson as acting governor. Robertson was incensed by Lafitte's operation, calling his men "brigands who infest our coast and overrun our country". The residents of New Orleans were grateful to the Lafittes for providing them with luxuries otherwise prevented from importing by the embargo. When Claiborne returned to office, he was relatively quiet on the subject.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Britain. Britain maintained a powerful navy, but the United States had little naval power. The US built warships to operate on the Great Lakes but in other areas supplemented its navy by offering letters of marque to privately-owned armed vessels. New Orleans issued six such letters, primarily to smugglers who worked with Lafitte at Barataria. The smugglers often held letters of marque from multiple countries, authorizing them to capture booty from differing nations. They submitted booty from captured British ships to the American authorities at New Orleans, and booty from all other ships was often channeled for sale on the markets through Lafitte's operation.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: As the smuggling operations reduced the amount of revenue collected by customs offices, American authorities were determined to halt business at Barataria. Because the US Navy did not have enough ships to act against the Baratarian smugglers, the government turned to the courts. On November 10, 1812, United States District Attorney John R. Grymes charged Lafitte with "violation of the revenue law." Three days later, 40 soldiers were sent to ambush the Baratarians and captured Lafitte, his brother Pierre, and 25 unarmed smugglers on November 16, and confiscated several thousand dollars of contraband. Officials released the smugglers after they posted bail, and they disappeared and refused to return for a trial.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Although under indictment, in March 1813 Lafitte registered as captain of "Le Brig Goelette la Diligente" for a supposed journey to New York. Biographer Jack Ramsay speculates that the voyage was intended to "establish ... [Lafitte] as a privateering captain". Lafitte soon acquired a letter of marque from Cartagena, but never sent any booty there. He brought all captured goods to Barataria.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Lafitte's continued flouting of the laws angered Governor Claiborne, who, on March 15, issued a proclamation against the Baratarian "banditti ... who act in contravention of the laws of the United States ... to the evident prejudice of the revenue of the federal government". The proclamation was printed in the nationally read "Niles' Weekly Register".


title: Jean Lafitte

text: In October, a revenue officer prepared an ambush of a band of Lafitte's smugglers. The smugglers wounded one of the officers and safely escaped with the contraband. The following month, the governor offered a $500 reward for Lafitte's capture. Within two days of his offer, handbills were posted all over New Orleans offering a similar award for the arrest of the governor. Although the handbills were made in Lafitte's name, Ramsay believes "it is unlikely [the handbills] originated with him". Following the reward offer, Lafitte wrote Claiborne a note denying the charges of piracy.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Given the success of his auctions at the Temple, in January 1814 Lafitte set up a similar auction at a site just outside New Orleans. Many of the city's merchants were unhappy with this auction, because it allowed their customers to buy goods directly from Lafitte at a lower price than the merchants could charge in the city. Officials tried to break up this auction by force. In the ensuing gunfight, one of the revenue officers was killed and two others were wounded.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Claiborne appealed to the new state legislature, citing the lost revenues due to the smuggling. He requested approval to raise a militia company to "disperse those desperate men on Lake Barataria whose piracies have rendered our shores a terror to neutral flags". The legislature appointed a committee to study the matter but, as most of their constituents benefitted by the smuggling, they never authorized the militia. A grand jury indicted Pierre Lafitte after hearing testimony against him by one of the city's leading merchants. He was arrested, tried, convicted, and jailed on charges of "having knowingly and wittingly aided and assisted, procured, commanded, counselled, and advised" persons to commit acts of piracy".


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Following the charges of November 10, 1812, and subsequent arrest and jailing of his brother Pierre, Jean Lafitte operated the piracy and smuggling business. Over the next few months, the British Navy increased patrols in the Gulf of Mexico, and by August they had established a base at Pensacola. On September 3, 1814, the British ship HMS "Sophie" fired on a pirate ship returning to Barataria. Lafitte's ship grounded in shallow water where the larger British ship could not follow. The British raised a white flag and launched a small dinghy with several officers. Lafitte and several of his men rowed to meet them halfway.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Captain Nicholas Lockyer, the commander of the "Sophie", had been ordered to contact the "Commandant at Barataria". He was accompanied by a Royal Marine infantry captain, John McWilliam, who had been given a package to deliver to Lafitte. The Baratarians invited the British officers to row to their island. When they had disembarked and were surrounded by his men, Lafitte identified himself to them. Many of the smugglers wanted to lynch the British men, but Lafitte intervened and placed guards outside his home to ensure their protection.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: McWilliam brought two letters in his packet for Lafitte: one, under the seal of King George III, offered Lafitte and his forces British citizenship and land grants in the British colonies in the Americas (by then, these consisted of islands in the Caribbean and territory in Upper and Lower Canada). In exchange, the king asked for Lafitte and his forces to promise to assist in the naval fight against the United States and to return any recent property that had been captured from Spanish ships. (Spain had become an ally of the British against the French.) If they refused the offer, the letters informed Lafitte that the British had orders to capture Barataria to put an end to their smuggling. The second item was a personal note to Lafitte from McWilliam's superior, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Nicolls, urging him to accept the offer.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Believing that the Americans would eventually prevail in the war against Britain, Lafitte thought he could more easily defeat the US revenue officers than he could the British Navy. He had also been told in August that American officials were planning an assault on Barataria with forces under the command of Commodore Daniel Patterson. They feared that Lafitte and his men might side with the British.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Lafitte tried to convince the Americans that they had nothing to fear from him. He sent a message to the Americans that few of his men favored helping the British but said he needed 15 days to review their offer. Lafitte had copies of the letters sent to Jean Blanque, a member of the state legislature who had invested in the Barataria operation. In a personal note, Lafitte reminded Blanque that his brother Pierre was still in jail and deserved an early release.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: I am the stray sheep, wishing to return to the sheepfold... If you were thoroughly acquainted with the nature of my offenses, I should appear to you much less guilty, and still worthy to discharge the duties of a good citizen.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Lafitte committed himself and his men for any defensive measures needed by New Orleans. Within two days of Lafitte's notes, Pierre "escaped" from jail.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: The US ordered an attack on Lafitte's colony. On September 13, 1814, Commodore Daniel Patterson set sail aboard the for Barataria. He was accompanied by six gunboats and a tender. The fleet anchored off Grande Terre and the gunboats attacked. By midmorning, 10 armed pirate ships formed a battle line in the bay. Within a short period, Lafitte's men abandoned their ships, set several on fire, and fled the area. When Patterson's men went ashore, they met no resistance. They took 80 people captive, but Lafitte escaped safely. The Americans took custody of six schooners, one felucca, and a brig, as well as 20 cannon and goods worth $500,000.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: On September 23, Patterson and his fleet, including the eight captured ships, began the return trip to New Orleans. Widely publicized, the raid was hailed by the "Niles' Weekly Register" as "a major conquest for the United States".


title: Jean Lafitte

text: a man who, for about two years past, has been famous for crimes that the civilized world wars against. ... [He] is supposed to have captured one hundred vessels of all nations, and certainly murdered the crews of all that he took, for no one has ever escaped him.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Following the custom of the times, Patterson filed a legal claim for the profits from the confiscated ships and merchandise. An attorney representing Lafitte argued that the captured ships had flown the flag of Cartagena, an area at peace with the United States. One of Lafitte's men testified that the Baratarians had never intended to fight the US but had prepared their vessels to flee. The judge ruled that Patterson should get the customary share of profits from the goods that had already been sold, but he did not settle the ownership of the ships. They were held in port under custody of the United States Marshal.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Likely inspired by Lafitte's offer to help defend Louisiana, Governor Claiborne wrote the US Attorney General, Richard Rush requesting a pardon for the Baratarians, saying that for generations, smugglers were "esteemed honest ... [and] sympathy for these offenders is certainly more or less felt by many of the Louisianans". According to Ramsay, Claiborne next wrote to General Andrew Jackson, "implying Patterson had destroyed a potential first line of defense for Louisiana" by his capture of Lafitte and his ships. Jackson responded, "I ask you, Louisianans, can we place any confidence in the honor of men who have courted an alliance with pirates and robbers?"


title: Jean Lafitte

text: When General Andrew Jackson arrived in New Orleans on December 1, 1814, he discovered the city had not created any defenses. It had approximately 1,000 unseasoned troops and two ships for its use. Although the city kept control of the eight ships taken from Lafitte, it did not have enough sailors to man them for defense. Resentful of the raid on Barataria, Lafitte's men refused to serve on their former ships.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: In mid-December, Jackson met with Lafitte, who offered to serve if the US would pardon those of his men who agreed to defend the city. Jackson agreed to do so. On December 19, the state legislature passed a resolution recommending a full pardon for all of the former residents at Barataria. With Lafitte's encouragement, many of his men joined the New Orleans militia or as sailors to man the ships. Others formed three artillery companies.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: On December 23, advance units of the British fleet reached the Mississippi River. Lafitte realized that the American line of defense was so short as to potentially allow the British to encircle the American troops. He suggested that the line be extended to a nearby swamp, and Jackson ordered it done. The British began advancing upon the American lines on December 28, but were repulsed by an artillery crew manned by two of Lafitte's former lieutenants, Renato Beluche and Dominique Youx.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Patterson praised the Barataria men who served on one of the US Navy ships, and whose skill with artillery was greater than their British counterparts. On land and sea, the former pirate gunners earned praise as the battle continued. On January 21, Jackson issued a statement praising his troops, especially the cannoneers and "Captains Dominique and Beluche, lately commanding privateers of Barataria, with part of their former crews and many brave citizens of New Orleans, were stationed at Nos. 3 and 4." Jackson named Jean and Pierre Lafitte for having "exhibited the same courage and fidelity". He formally requested clemency for the Lafittes and the men who had served under them. The government granted them all a full pardon on February 6.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: In late 1815 and early 1816, the Lafitte brothers agreed to act as spies for Spain, which was embroiled in the Mexican War of Independence. Collectively they were known as "Number thirteen". Pierre was to inform about the situation in New Orleans. Jean was sent to Galveston Island, a part of Spanish Texas that served as the home base of Louis-Michel Aury, a French privateer who claimed to be a Mexican revolutionary. By early 1817, other revolutionaries had begun to congregate at Galveston, hoping to make it their base to wrest Mexico from Spanish control. Lafitte visited in March 1817. Two weeks into his stay, the two leaders of the revolutionaries left the island.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: The following day, Lafitte took command of the island and appointed his own officers. On April 18, he sailed for New Orleans to report his activities. With Spanish permission, Lafitte returned to Galveston, promising to make weekly reports of his activities.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Lafitte essentially developed Galveston Island as another smuggling base. Like Barataria, Galveston was a seaward island that protected a large inland bay. As part of Mexico, it was outside the authority of the United States, and was largely uninhabited, except by the Karankawa, a Native American people. Texas was lightly populated at this time, and the base had no significant populations nearby. It was, at least initially, relatively free of scrutiny from any of the governments in the region.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Lafitte named his colony "Campeche", after a Mexican outpost further south along the Gulf Coast. His men tore down the existing houses and built 200 new, sturdier structures. Ships operating from Galveston flew the flag of Mexico, but they did not participate in the revolution. Lafitte wanted to avoid a Spanish invasion. Aury returned to Galveston several months later, but he left in July when he realized that the men were unwilling to revolt.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: In less than a year, Lafitte's colony grew to 100–200 men and several women. Lafitte interviewed all newcomers and required them to take an oath of loyalty to him. The headquarters consisted of a two-storey building facing the inland harbor, where landings were made. The building was surrounded by a moat and painted red; it became known as "Maison Rouge." Lafitte conducted most of his business aboard his ship, "The Pride", where he also lived. Lafitte forged letters of marque from an imaginary nation to fraudulently authorize all the ships sailing from Galveston as privateers. The letters gave the ships permission to attack ships from all nations.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: At its peak the colony had more than two thousand inhabitants and 120 separate structures. Annual income reached more than $2 million ($ in today's terms) in stolen currency and goods. Lafitte for a time lived a lavish lifestyle, complete with servants and the finest housewares and other accoutrements.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: In April 1818, the United States passed a law prohibiting the import of slaves into any port in the United States. The law left several loopholes, giving permission to any ship to capture a slave ship, regardless of the country of origin. Slaves captured in such actions who were turned over to the customs office would be sold within the United States, with half the profits going to the people who turned them in. Lafitte worked with several smugglers, including Jim Bowie, to profit from the poorly written law. Lafitte's men identified slave ships and captured them. Smugglers would purchase the slaves for a discounted price, march them to Louisiana, and turn them in to customs officials. A representative of the smuggler would purchase the slaves at the ensuing auction, and the smuggler would be given half of the purchase price. The smuggler became the lawful owner of the slaves and could resell them in New Orleans, or transport them for sale in other parts of the Deep South, which was the major slave market of the time. It was being developed for cotton culture, as invention of the cotton gin had made short-staple cotton profitable.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: In 1818, the Campeche colony suffered hardships. After Lafitte's men abducted a Karankawa woman, warriors of her tribe attacked and killed five men of the colony. The corsairs aimed the artillery at the Karankawa, killing most of the men in the tribe. A hurricane in September resulted in flooding of most of the island, and several people died. It destroyed four ships and most buildings. Only six houses survived as habitable.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: According to historian William C. Davis, Laffite began a public relationship with his mistress in 1815, Catherine (Catiche) Villard, a free woman of color. She was the sister of Marie Villard, the mistress of his brother, Pierre. Catiche became pregnant and gave birth to their son, Jean Pierre, on November 4, 1815. Catiche had given birth to a daughter named Marie on November 10, 1813. It's not known who her father was. Some speculate it was Jean. After Jean's reported death in the mid-1820s, the widowed Catiche took up with Feliciano Ramos. They had two children together. Jean Pierre, her son with Jean Lafitte, died at 17 during a cholera epidemic in New Orleans in October 1832. Catiche died July 2, 1858, around the age of 65.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Another account says Lafitte married Christina Levine at the age of seventeen. They had 3 children together: Jean Antoine Lafitte, Lucien Jean Lafitte, and Denise Jeanette Lafitte. Christina died after the birth of their daughter. After his three children were grown, Lafitte fell sick in his 50s. He was nursed back to health by Emma Hortense Mortimer. They married and had two sons together, Jules Jean and Glenn Henri. Lafitte possibly took an assumed name, John Lafflin, and may have given that surname to his younger two sons.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: In 1821, the schooner was sent to Galveston to remove Lafitte from the Gulf. One of the pirate's captains had attacked an American merchant ship. Lafitte agreed to leave the island without a fight, and on May 7, 1821, departed on "The Pride". His men burned the Maison Rouge, fortress, and settlement. Lafitte reportedly took immense amounts of treasure with him, and was accompanied by his mulatta mistress and an infant son . Maison Rouge is believed to have stood at 1417 Harborside Drive near the Galveston wharf, but the foundations there have been dated to the 1870s.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Most of his men had believed that Lafitte had a valid privateering commission although there was confusion as to which country had issued it. Two weeks after setting sail, they captured a Spanish ship, which they sent to Galveston, hoping the Longs would smuggle the goods to New Orleans. Lafitte's men buried some of the cargo on the island and ran the captured vessel aground, but an American patrol spotted the ship and, after investigating, discovered the buried cargo. Several of Lafitte's men were arrested and convicted of piracy.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: The remainder of the crew rejoined Lafitte, who finally acknowledged that he did not have a valid commission. He said his ships would sail as pirates. Almost half of the combined crew refused to sail as pirates; Lafitte allowed them to leave aboard his largest ship, the brig "General Victoria". That night his remaining men reboarded the "General Victoria" and destroyed its masts and spars, crippling the ship, but they left the crew unharmed.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Lafitte and his men continued to take Spanish ships in the Gulf of Mexico and often returned to Galveston or the barrier islands near New Orleans to unload cargo or take on supplies arranged by Pierre. The congressional delegation in Louisiana began to demand that the federal government do something to halt the smuggling, and more US Navy ships were sent to the Gulf. Their patrols and interventions reduced the number of active pirates in the region. In October or November 1821, Lafitte's ship was ambushed as he attempted to ransom a recent prize. After first escaping with some crew, he and his men were captured and jailed. On February 13, he escaped, likely with outside help.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Over the next few months, Lafitte established a base along the coast of Cuba, where he bribed local officials with a share of the profits. In late April 1822, Lafitte was captured again after taking his first American ship. The American warship which captured him turned Lafitte over to the local authorities, who promptly released him. When Lafitte and other pirates operating in the area began attacking merchant ships carrying legal goods to Cuba, they angered Cuban officials. By the end of 1822, Cuba had banned all forms of sea raiding.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: In June 1822, Lafitte approached the officials in the Great Colombia, whose government under General Simón Bolívar had begun commissioning former privateers as officers in its new navy. Lafitte was granted a commission and given a new ship, a 43-ton schooner named "General Santander" in honor to Vice-President General Francisco de Paula Santander. For the first time, Lafitte was legally authorized to take Spanish ships.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Lafitte continued to patrol the shipping lanes around Cuba. In November 1822, he made news in the American press after escorting an American schooner through the pirate-infested area and providing them with extra cannon balls and food.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: In February 1823, Lafitte was cruising off the town of Omoa, Honduras, on his schooner "General Santander". Omoa was the site of the largest Spanish fort in Central America, built to guard the Spanish silver shipments from the mines of Tegucigalpa to overseas destinations. Lafitte attempted to take what appeared to be two Spanish merchant vessels on the night of February 4. It was cloudy with low visibility. The Spanish ships appeared to be fleeing but at 10:00 pm turned back for a frontal counterattack against Lafitte's ship. The Spanish ships were heavily armed privateers or warships and returned heavy fire.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Wounded in the battle, Lafitte is believed to have died just after dawn on February 5. He was buried at sea in the Gulf of Honduras. The "Gaceta de Cartagena" and the "Gaceta de Colombia" carried obituaries that noted, "the loss of this brave naval officer is moving." No American newspaper published an obituary of him.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Davis writes that Lafitte's death prevented his becoming obsolete; by 1825 piracy had been essentially eradicated in the Gulf of Mexico, and "the new world of the Gulf simply had no room for [his] kind." Given his legendary reputation, there was much speculation about whether, or how, Lafitte had died. Rumors abounded that he had changed his name after leaving Galveston and disappeared, that he was killed by his own men shortly after leaving Galveston, or that he had rescued Napoleon and that both had died in Louisiana. In 1843, Mirabeau B. Lamar investigated many of the Lafitte stories and concluded that, while there were no authentic records of death, Lafitte was likely dead.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Ramsay compares the numerous legends related to the life and death of Jean Lafitte to those about King Arthur and Robin Hood. Lafitte is rumored to have buried treasure at many locations, including Galveston and sites along coastal Louisiana, such as Contraband Bayou in Lake Charles. Ramsay believes that over time, almost "every foot of Grande Isle has been spaded for pirate gold". In 1909, a man was given a six-year prison sentence for fraud after swindling thousands of dollars from people, by claiming that he knew where the Lafitte treasure was buried and taking their money for the promise to find it.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop is named after him. Located on Bourbon Street, it is associated with Lafitte, who may have spent time there in his earlier years. He was said to use it as a base for arranging the transfer of smuggled goods. His brother Pierre Lafitte was a blacksmith.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Constructed in the 1720s, the structure stands today as possibly the oldest building in the United States housing a bar (Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar).


title: Jean Lafitte

text: The Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour, held in the eponymous Jean Lafitte National Park and Barataria Preserve, is also named after the pirate/privateer. Located 25 minutes from downtown New Orleans, Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours has been operating daily bayou tours since the 1980s. Guides educate the public on wildlife, Cajun culture, and life on the bayou.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: In 1948, John Andrechyne Laflin approached the Missouri Historical Society with a French-language manuscript he claimed was a journal Lafitte kept from 1845 until 1850. When the historical society could not authenticate the claim, Laflin approached Louisiana author Stanley Arthur. He wrote "Jean Laffitte: Gentleman Rover" based on the journal. In 1958, Laflin self-published an English translation of the journal. He refused to allow anyone else to see the original documents until 1969, when he sold them to a professional document dealer. The paper and ink were analyzed and confirmed to be of mid-19th-century origin. An archivist for Bexar County, Texas, declared the papers to be authentic.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: In 1980, the manuscript was donated to the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center in Texas. For the first time, it was made available for research. Many researchers noticed a similarity between John Laflin's handwriting and the writing in the journal. Handwriting analysis experts affirmed that conclusion. Laflin had been previously accused of forging letters purportedly from Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, and Davy Crockett. Most historians now believe the Lafitte journal to be a forgery.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: Lafitte is paid tribute at Disneyland by a ship anchor monument with an accompanying plaque found in New Orleans Square. He is also referred to in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in which the boat dock is labeled LaFitte's Landing.


title: Jean Lafitte

text: There were also plans to connect the Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion attraction and Tom Sawyer's island using Laffite. Guests could've been able to enter Laffite's crypt near the Haunted Mansion. Inside a tunnel stylized as pirate's cattacombs would've led to Laffite's old hideout, a capsized ship in Sawyer's island. Although the plans were scrapped, a bricked up entrance close to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride pays homage to this idea.


title: Flag of Finland

text: The flag of Finland (, ), also called "" ("Blue Cross Flag"), dates from the beginning of the 20th century. On a white background, it features a blue Nordic cross, which represents Christianity.


title: Flag of Finland

text: The state flag has a coat of arms in the centre but is otherwise identical to the civil flag. The swallow-tailed state flag is used by the military. The presidential standard is identical to the swallow-tailed state flag but also has in its upper left corner the Cross of Liberty after the Order of the Cross of Liberty, which has the president of Finland as its grand master. Like Sweden's, Finland's national flag is based on the Scandinavian cross. It was adopted after independence from Russia, when many patriotic Finns wanted a special flag for their country, but its design dates back to the 19th century. The blue colouring is said to represent the country's thousands of lakes and the sky, with white for the snow that covers the land in winter. This colour combination has also been used over the centuries in various Finnish provincial, military, and town flags.


title: Flag of Finland

text: The first known "Flag of Finland" was presented in 1848, along with the unofficial national anthem "". Its motif was the coat of arms of Finland, surrounded by laurel leaves, on a white flag.


title: Flag of Finland

text: The current blue-crossed design was first used in Finland by Nyländska Jaktklubben, a yacht club founded in Helsinki in 1861. In addition to the blue cross on the white background, the yacht club flag had the crowned arms of the province of Uusimaa within two crossed branches in the upper hoist quarter. Except for the position of the cross, the flag was similar to the flag of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, founded the previous year. The design can be traced to the Russian Navy ensign, which has a blue cross saltire on a white background. During the Crimean War, Finnish merchant ships captured by the British-French fleet flew a flag called "Flag of St. George", which was based on the Russian Customs flag. In this variant, the cross was thinner than in the modern flag, and the proportions were equal. Another blue-cross flag was made official in 1861 for private vessels.


title: Flag of Finland

text: In 1910, in connection with Russification of Finland, the Russian authorities decreed that a Russian flag was to be added to the canton. However, this was met with resistance; the flag was derided as the "slave's flag" (""), and most Finns refused to fly it. Instead, a triangular pennant without this modification was flown, thereby circumventing the decree concerning flags.


title: Flag of Finland

text: Shortly after Finland gained independence in 1917, a competition was held for the design of the Finnish flag. Several different designs were submitted. Regarding the colours, the entries fell mainly into two categories – one using the red and yellow from the Finnish coat of arms, and the other using the present blue and white colours.


title: Flag of Finland

text: One entry had the Dannebrog cross design, but with a yellow cross on a red background. Another entry had diagonal blue and white stripes, but it was criticized as being more suitable for a barber shop than a newly independent country. Akseli Gallen-Kallela proposed a similar cross flag, but with colours inverted (white cross on blue), but this was considered too similar to the Swedish flag and particularly the Greek flag of the time. Finally, artists Eero Snellman and Bruno Tuukkanen specified the final form of the flag. According to tradition, the flag was based on a design by the poet Zachris Topelius in about 1860.


title: Flag of Finland

text: The Finnish state flag was further modified in 1922 when the coronet was removed, and again in 1978 when the shield-shaped coat of arms was changed into a rectangular shape.


title: Flag of Finland

text: Under Finnish law, the ratio of the flag is 11:18 (height:width), very close to the golden ratio. The swallow-tailed state flag is one unit longer and the tails are five units long. The cusp width of the blue cross is three units of measure, giving a ratio set of 4:3:4 (vertical) and 5:3:10 (horizontal). When flown from a flagpole, the flag is recommended to have a width equalling one-sixth of the height of the pole.


title: Flag of Finland

text: The Finnish flag is used in three main variants. The usual national flag is used by all citizens, organizations and Finnish municipalities and regions. Anyone is allowed to fly the national flag whenever they deem it suitable. The rectangular state flag is used by bodies of the Finnish national and provincial governments, by the cathedral chapters of the two national churches (Evangelical Lutheran and Orthodox), and non-naval vessels of the state.


title: Flag of Finland

text: The swallow-tailed national flag, which is also the naval ensign, is flown by the Finnish Defence Forces. The presidential standard and the command signs of the minister of defence, chief of defence, and commander of the Finnish Navy are flown only by the respective persons.


title: Flag of Finland

text: All public bodies as well as most private citizens and corporations fly the flag on official flag flying days. In addition to the official flag flying days, there are about ten unofficial but generally observed flag flying days. Besides flag flying days, normally, no flags or corporate flags are flown. Flag Day is celebrated on Midsummer's Day.


title: Flag of Finland

text: The Finnish flag is raised at 8 am and lowered at sunset, however not later than 9 pm. On Independence Day, the flag is flown until 8 pm, regardless of the dark. On the occasion of great national tragedies, the Ministry of The Interior may recommend flying the flag at half-mast throughout the country.


title: Flag of Finland

text: As a special custom in Finland, the flag is flown at Midsummer from 6 pm of Midsummer eve until 9 pm of Midsummer's day. This is done to symbolize the fact that the darkness does not come to any part of Finland during Midsummer's Night. Midsummer is also celebrated as the day of the Finnish flag.


title: Flag of Finland

text: The colours are defined in both CIE 1931 and CIE 1976 standards, Swedish standard and by the Pantone Color Matching System:


title: Flag of Finland

text: There is no official RGB definition for the colours because its color gamut is too narrow. From the CIE L*a*b* colors the unofficial approximations in sRGB are (range 0–255): blue R=24, G=68, B=126, red R=181, G=28, B=49 and yellow R=237, G=167, B=0. The yellow colour actually lies outside the sRGB colourspace. The blue colour is called "sea blue", which is a dark to medium blue. It is not very dark navy blue, and not any bright or greenish shade such as turquoise or cyan. It may be substituted for heraldic tincture azure.


title: Flag of Finland

text: Under Finnish law, it is forbidden to deface the flag or to use it in a disrespectful way. It is also illegal to remove a flag from its pole without permission. Anyone who breaks these regulations may be fined for disgracing the flag.


title: Flag of Finland

text: Finnish law also forbids the use of the presidential standard or state flag without permission, as well as the addition of any extra symbols to the flag. One may not sell a flag which has different colours or geometry than defined by the law. These are considered violations of the flag regulations and can lead to a fine.


title: Flag of Finland

text: There are also common rules on how to treat the flag respectfully. The flag must not be dirty or damaged. The flag must never touch the ground. When the flag is washed, it must be dried indoors. A worn-out flag must be disposed of by burning (though not with the intent to disgrace it), or alternatively by cutting it to pieces small enough not to be recognizable as parts of the flag. The flag must not be buried in the ground or the sea (including not throwing it into the garbage).


title: Flag of Finland

text: A Finnish speciality is that any yachting club registered in Finland may apply to have a flag with the club emblem officially approved for use on yachts. Such an ensign will be the civil ensign with a white cross, of a unit-wide, superimposed on the blue cross and with the club emblem in the upper hoist corner. Most yachting clubs distribute these ensigns to their members, and they are much used, but their use is not recommended outside Finnish waters to avoid confusion. Officially, however, the yachting club ensign is valid even for international use.


title: Canapé

text: A canapé () is a type of hors d'oeuvre, a small, prepared, and often decorative food, consisting of a small piece of bread (sometimes toasted) wrapped or topped with some savoury food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite.


title: Canapé

text: The name comes from the French word for sofa, drawing on the analogy that the garnish sits atop the bread as people do on a couch.


title: Canapé

text: Because they are often served during cocktail hours, it is often desired that a canapé be either salty or spicy, in order to encourage guests to drink more.


title: Canapé

text: A canapé may also be referred to as finger food, although not all finger foods are "canapés". Crackers or small slices of bread or toast or puff pastry are cut into various shapes, used as the base for savory butters or pastes, and often topped with other savory foods such as meat, cheese, fish, caviar, "foie gras", purées or relish.


title: Canapé

text: Traditionally, "canapés" are built on stale bread (although other foods such as puff pastry, crackers, or fresh vegetables may be used as a base) cut in thin slices and then shaped with a cutter or knife into circles, rings, squares, strips or triangles. These are then deep fried, sautéed, or toasted, then topped or piped with highly processed and decoratively applied items. Colorful and eye-pleasing garnishes often complete the presentation.


title: Canapé

text: The composition of a canapé consists of a base (e.g., the bread or pancake), a spread, a main item, and a garnish.


title: Canapé

text: The spread is traditionally either a compound butter, made by creaming butter with other ingredients such as ham or lobster, or a flavored cream cheese. Mayonnaise salads can also be prepared as spreads.


title: Canapé

text: Common garnishes can range from finely chopped vegetables, scallions, and herbs to caviar or truffle oil.


title: Canapé

text: They could be served hot or cold, spread with anchovy, crab or caviar paste, served with garnishes like green and red peppers, paprika, and lemon juice.


title: Canapé

text: Mustard can be use as a spread for canapés garnished with chopped bacon, grated cheese, or chopped olives.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: The Tracey Ullman Show is an American television variety show starring Tracey Ullman. It debuted on Fox on April 5, 1987, the network's second original primetime series to air following "Married... with Children", and ran until May 26, 1990. The show was produced by Gracie Films. The show blended sketch comedy with musical numbers and dance routines, choreographed by Paula Abdul, along with animated shorts. The format was conceived by creator and executive producer James L. Brooks, who was looking to showcase the show's multitalented star. Brooks likened the show to producing three pilots a week. Ullman was the first British woman to be offered her own television sketch show in both the United Kingdom and the United States.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: The show is also known for producing a series of shorts featuring the Simpson family, which was later adapted into the longest-running American scripted primetime television series, "The Simpsons". "The Tracey Ullman Show" was the first Fox primetime show to win an Emmy Award, winning a total of 10 over its run.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: "Rolling Stone" ranked "The Tracey Ullman Show" as the 25th-best sketch comedy show in its "40 Greatest Sketch-Comedy TV Shows of All Time" list.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: British actress, comedian, singer and former dancer Tracey Ullman was encouraged to try to break into American television by her husband, British producer Allan McKeown, who was looking to station himself in the United States. Ullman, who was already a household name in her native England, had already been making the rounds in the US promoting her film and music career in the early 1980s. Unlike in England, Americans were not aware of her comedy background outside of humorous appearances on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and "Late Night with David Letterman". Ullman already had three British comedies under her belt, garnering her awards and accolades. "I didn't believe there was anything above "Webster" standard [in America]. I was wrong." Her British agent put together a compilation of her work and began circulating it around Hollywood. Her tape landed in the lap of Craig Kellem, vice president of comedy at Universal Television. "I could not believe my eyes. It was just about the most extraordinary piece of material I'd seen in a long time." He wanted production on a series to begin immediately for her. "Saturday Night Live" scribe and creator of CBS's "Square Pegs", Anne Beatts was hired to write the pilot. Universal liked the script; Ullman reportedly threw her hands up in the air, hating it. Recalling the project: "We'd just hit on an idea, then some white-haired executive – very, very important – would come in from the race track and say, 'I don't like that idea. I think Tracey should be a caring person. I think there should be a kid in this. Now, I'm just pitching here. I don't know if this is funny. But I think Tracey should love this kid and maybe there's a moment where she tells the kid something about life.' And I'd say, "Look – I don't want to work with little kids being cute who I eventually adopt'."


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: Ullman's new agent, Martha Luttrell sent her tape to James L. Brooks, who had a deal with Fox. Fox, dubbed America's "fourth network", was looking to create its own brand of original primetime programming. Brooks was bowled over by Ullman's material. "I saw original talent, and how often does that happen to you?" "I started showing [her work] to people like you'd show home movies." "I was just startled by the size of the talent. I got chills." Ullman explained to Brooks her situation at CBS and the fact that she was now pregnant. Brooks convinced her to get out of it, and after she had her baby, they would do a show together. Brooks felt that a sketch show would best suit her assets (acting, singing, and dancing). "Why would you do something with Tracey playing a single character on TV when her talent requires variety? You can't categorize Tracey, so it's silly to come up with a show that attempted to."


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: To ensure that she was well-versed in American comedy, Brooks began sending her tapes of American sitcoms and variety shows to watch and study. Ullman also began visiting and spending time at the Museum of Television & Radio.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: "After I made [the 1985 film] "Plenty", I thought it was sad that everyone left London to go home to Hollywood. Thought I'd join 'em. [...] I thought of myself as a Peter Sellers type. No one does American accents better than him. Look at "Dr. Strangelove" and "Lolita"". As one critic noted, Sellars had American director Stanley Kubrick as his visionary and Ullman would get American television and film director James L. Brooks, the man behind such hit television shows as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "Taxi", and "Rhoda", and the films "Terms of Endearment" and "Broadcast News". "I came to America in 1985 and James made me stay. If I had a mentor like him in Great Britain, I would've stayed there."


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: "Variety hadn't been done for sometime and we wanted to do a show that would allow me to do the things I like to do and can do," stated Ullman in 1987. "I think, literally, the word unique and mean it," said Brooks in regards to Ullman's talent. "We're so obsessed with comparisons. The only one I could even think of that comparing her to is Peter Sellers – he's the only one you can mention. He could do a variety of Americans. And then you have to add that Tracey sings and dances."


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: The key to getting Ullman ready for primetime was "assembling the right people" according to Brooks. Brooks, along with co-executive Jerry Belson, Ken Estin, and Heide Perlman, went on a retreat in Northern California to think through the show. "We wanted to tell a story, to be involved in character. We did not want to do spoofs or takeoffs. You define a show by what you don't want want to do as well as by what you do. We rushed on the air and have been finding the show while we're on the air. You lose a lot of sleep that way, but it's great. Now, we have five or six characters that we repeat from time to time, and new ones are candidates for repetition." When it came to Fox, Brooks stated, "It was helpful for us to do the show without any preconceived context. Not only were we new, but so was Fox. There was no notion of something to fit into." Fox was reportedly backing the show with nearly $1,000,000 per broadcast. The series landed an initial 26-episode commitment deal, unheard of for a television comedy; Fox ordered a further 30 episodes in October 1987. Describing the show proved difficult; creator Ken Estin dubbed it a "skitcom".


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: An array of original and diverse characters was created for Ullman to perform. Extensive makeup, wigs, teeth, and body padding were used, sometimes rendering her completely unrecognizable. One original character created solely by Ullman back in Britain was uprooted for the show: long-suffering British spinster Kay Clark. Kay was based on a real woman who worked in a Midlands bank that Ullman kept in touch with long after leaving Britain for the United States. "Kay" would ask her about Hollywood on the telephone; Ullman would subsequently do the voice she heard on the other line to her dog. She had been obsessed with spinsters ever since she was a small child, and kept a mental file on them. She never saw "Kay" and imagined what she looked like. "Tracey Ullman Show" costume designer Jame Ruhm suggested a drooping bust and cellulite-covered hips for the character. Ruhm created a costume complete with "hydraulic pistons". "Tracey is really, really interested in what her characters look like," revealed Ruhm. "She is constantly going around collecting pictures of people and coming to me and saying, 'I want to do a character dressed like this!' I file that in my memory, and then we'll get a script and I'll say, 'That character that you wanted to do, can we use it on this?' She'll say, 'Yeah!' And we'll go." "It's a real thrill to me that someone like Kay can be famous in America." For other characters, she drew upon people she either knew or celebrities for inspiration. "I based one character on Maggie Smith, which the script supervisor suggested. I remember her in "California Suite" saying, 'Well, I don't care if I didn't win the fucking Oscar.'... It sounded good. It made me laugh, and then I felt that I could do the character." She based the character Francesca on a neighbor, an awkward teenaged girl, who would come to visit her in her kitchen and would sheepishly stand in the corner. "I wanted to portray painful adolescence, but not an adolescent that was spoiled. I'd seen so many that were just, 'Like I really want to go to the movies, and you're totally stupid.' I didn't want to play a horrible kid." Ullman believed in progressing the characters, adamant that they didn't stagnate. "You have to advance the characters [...] you have to find new situations for them [...] They have to do something or say something or grow as people. And they have to be unusual." Like Kay, another character created and performed by Ullman first for British television ("Three of a Kind") and then adapted for the Fox show was impoverished housewife Betty Tomlinson.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: Producers decided to add animated segments when they had trouble figuring out a way to end one sketch and go into the next. They had considered talking animals, specifically a talking bear. "I don't know why we were so into a bear," explained Ken Estin. "Nobody was in love with that idea, but we just couldn't think of how else to do it. In most variety shows, it was just sketches that were so short that they didn't have to worry about from going from one to the next. Nobody had ever really done this before." Estin was given with a drawing of "Life in Hell" by Matt Groening from Richard Sakai. "It was very different. It was smart. It was unusual. It was drawn poorly, which I thought added the charm [...] I said, 'What if we have this guy do these little cartoons in between the scenes? Is that possible? Does anybody like that idea?' They all said they liked the idea. This is how Matt ended up being our guy." James L. Brooks was also familiar with Groening's work. Polly Platt, producer of his film "Terms of Endearment" had given him a cartoon called "Success and Failure in Hollywood" drawn by Groening as a gift. Platt suggested that he do a special on the characters. Heide Perlman found another artist to do animated segments – M.K. Brown, who worked for "National Lampoon". She agreed to do a cartoon based around a female psychiatrist, Dr. N!Godatu. Producers stopped hearing from Groening when Fox wanted to take over "Life in Hell" merchandising as part of his deal, resulting in his passing on the project. Estin asked Sakai to ask Groening if he had any characters that he would be willing to allow Fox to merchandise. Groening said that he did have other characters and would send them over for consideration. "Well, two, maybe three days after I spoke to Richard, Matt sends us a drawing of the Simpsons exactly as–well, not exactly–almost exactly as they are. Anyhow, everybody said, 'Fine. That's fine. We like them.' And Matt made his deal with Fox." Eventually, producers found that Groening's work suited the show better than Brown's and her segments were no longer used. Tracey Ullman was approached to do one of the voices of the Simpsons, but with her already spending up to three hours in the makeup chair, adding voice-over work was not feasible. Fellow cast member Julie Kavner then agreed to do it. Groening approached Ullman sporadically about doing a guest voice for the shorts, but with her heavy workload, she never had the time.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: Early reports regarding the show's premise were: The focal point would be Ullman starring in one, 12-minute-long "playlet", a shorter sketch, some music, and a weekly lecture from Harry Shearer. The show would start with no pilot and a 26-episode commitment, and would be produced by Brooks along with some of the top writers from "Cheers". Shearer's weekly lecture never materialized.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: When the time came to go out and promote the show, Fox only allowed Ullman to tour Los Angeles and New York. In 1988, she insisted that she be allowed to tour Middle America. Never a fan of dialect coaches, this promotional tour would allow her to have ample opportunity to do some character study. "I want to see America a bit, I really do. I've only been to LA and New York, and they make very disparaging remarks about Middle America there. I mean, Des Moines, Iowa, is the place network executives always talk about, like, "Would they like this in Des Moines?' They think you just want "Facts of Life" and "She's the Sheriff", that you really want that type of television, and I don't really believe that you do. There's no intelligence, no truth in anything like that. I think you want something a bit smarter. [...] We take pictures everywhere [on this promotional tour]; we're taping people's voices. I'm taking it all in, and it's great. Some journalist once said that I was a 'social satirist,' and I thought, 'That sounds quite intelligent, doesn't?' So that's what I'm doing, I'm meeting people from a social satirist's point of view." Whenever she was stuck on particular voice or accent, she would open a phone directory. "If I wanted to do somebody from Brooklyn, I would call the library in Brooklyn and listen to their voice and tape them surreptitiously so they didn't know." Also helping her in her quest for accents was the show's staff. When she had to find a Brooklyn accent distinctive from the Queens accent she used for her character, United States postal worker Tina, she had the show's staff make a long compilation tape of genuine Brooklyn accents (recordings from radio stations and even randomly placed phone calls placed to random Brooklynites). Ullman would also call car dealerships in different parts of the country pretending to be interested in buying a car just to hear how the people there spoke.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: Dan Castellaneta, a relative unknown, was asked to read for the show after he was spotted by Ullman at Chicago's The Second City. Castellaneta's portrayal of a blind man who wants to be a comedian brought her to tears instead of making her laugh. He gave up the opportunity to appear in the short-lived sitcom version of the film "Nothing in Common" in which he appeared so as to star in the Ullman show. "Tracey always says, 'You're so lucky, Dan. You can always go back to "Nothing in Common"," joked Castellaneta in a 1988 interview. Describing the show, Castellaneta stated, "Essentially what dictates it is that there are no parodies and even if it's an unusual situation, Tracey and (executive producer) Jim Brooks try to keep things as believable and real. You've got to be honest." He would continue to stay true to his Second City philosophy when playing comedy and characters. "Don't ever do what's expected. Always try to find a different way of doing something. ...Always play to the top of your intelligence. A character should be as smart as you are. And if the character isn't a smart as you are, you can't make a comment about it, you can't make fun of the character." Castellaneta felt that audiences could see right through a character that wasn't done honestly and that "The Tracey Ullman Show"'s audience were both pretty demanding, as well as intelligent. "They're people who like something different, they're certainly an intelligent audience. And they're an audience that isn't as easily offended as other people might be." Actress Julie Kavner had co-starred in Brooks' spin-off series to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "Rhoda", starring Valerie Harper. Kavner played Harper's younger, socially awkward sister Brenda, a role for which she won an Emmy Award. Kavner was at the top of the list of people Brooks wanted to be part of the show. Brooks on Kavner: "When somebody's intrinsically funny – you know, in-their-bones funny – they never have to work at (being funny), so they're free to work on other things. We were all nuts about her work. She was the person we most wanted to work with Tracey." Actor Sam McMurray read for a guest spot on the show playing William, lover of 13-year-old valley girl Francesca's (Ullman) father. McMurray recalled his casting: "The first Francesca sketch, they said, 'Play the guy not so gay.' And I said 'I disagree.' I had a big mouth then -— still do. I said, 'I think he’s more the woman. I think he's more out there.' So I read and I read it big, and they cast me. It was just a one-off, and then we were on hiatus. I did the one week, and I had a friend coincidentally who used to write, a guy named Marc Flanagan, and he was on the show as a staff guy. He called me up and said, 'Did they call your agent?' I said, 'No, why?' He said, 'They wanna make you a regular.'" McMurray, who did not become a full-fledged cast member until the sixth episode, did not find himself feeling terribly comfortable at first with the show. McMurray: "[T]he social dynamic of the show is an odd one. I spoke with (executive producer) Jim Brooks about this later and I said, 'You know, it's like we're all square pegs, aren't we?' And he said, 'Yeah,' and that the same thing occurred on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". Everybody was from a different discipline on that show, – somebody had been from sitcoms, somebody came from the stage, and somebody had been a stand-up comic, and yet whatever the dynamic that was forged from it, it's singular and it works." The last to be cast was dancer Joseph Malone. He was originally hired for a guest shot– acting as a cop who also danced with a possible jumper on a ledge, which led to him becoming a series regular. He had worked with Michael Jackson, Lily Tomlin, and Barbara Mandrell. The show now had its cast. During the 1987–1988 season, Julie Kavner asked to be let out of her contract to be able to concentrate on making movies; Kavner had been living in New York while "The Tracey Ullman Show" taped in Los Angeles. Actress Anna Levine was subsequently cast, with Kavner putting in special appearances.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: James L. Brooks knew the importance of good writers, and quickly assembled a team for the show, most notably, Heide Perlman and Ken Estin of "Cheers" fame. Estin also worked on Brooks's "Taxi". The pair would also act as executive producers. Also joining the team was Jerry Belson; he also acted as executive producer. Belson had written for such television comedies as "The Dick Van Dyke Show". Belson was the writer to whom Ullman warmed immediately; he was always in her corner. In an interview with "The Nerdist Podcast", she recalled Belson saying, "'Leave her alone, Jim, she's tired.' [...] He was one of those funny writers [who] if you said that you didn't like a joke in the room, he'd say, 'What is this, Nazi, Russia?'" When they won an Emmy, Belson's response was, "This is my first Emmy in color." Sam Simon, like Estin, wrote for "Taxi", as well as executive produced the show. Brooks discovered writer Marc Flanagan after watching a piece performed by Meryl Streep and Kevin Klein at a benefit. He asked to speak to the writer and kept him in mind when he worked on the "Ullman" show as writer and producer. "SCTV" writers Dick Blasucci and Paul Flaherty wrote and co-produced as well.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: For each show, a table read would take place on Monday mornings in the presence of writers and producers. Not unusually, rewrites could go past midnight. What worked in the writers room would sometimes fall flat once in the hands of the actors. The best readings were the result of numerous rewrites. "I love cracking a run-through," said Ullman in 1989. "It's like a drug. If I can get them looking at me and respecting me, and thinking, 'She's done it!' – it's the best feeling.'" But she knew that the only performance that truly counted was the final one recorded in front of a live studio audience. "You just gotta pray you hit that happy, energetic mood on Friday." The cast rehearsals would take place into lunch and dinner hours, usually under the tutelage of director Ted Bessell. Around 3:30 pm each day, writers and producers, led by Brooks and Belson, would arrive for a run-through. They would observe, shout out suggestions, make additions and subtractions, and work out any kinks in the production. The show would then be ready to tape by Friday at 7:00 pm. One "writer" frequently credited on the show, Bonita Carlisle, was actually a "nom de plume" chosen by the writers' room indicating that the sketch had been a group effort. Guest stars such as Steve Martin and Mel Brooks also got heavily involved in their sketch's writing, as well.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: While the Fox network was liberal when it came to the material it would allow the show to put on, by 1989, after controversy stemming from "Married... with Children", the network's standards and practices department began monitoring the scripts and kowtowing to advocating groups. A sketch consisting of a nun (played by Ullman), a priest, and last rites was pulled midproduction. Producers were given the option of either watering down the skit or not doing it at all. Ullman had no problem with the piece. Brooks responded: "They're smart enough to know that they can't have a bland network that responds every pressure and be successful ... If we really believe a piece should be broadcast, then we will take a stand. We do care about doing characters accurately and in them taking a comic view of life, but when censorship interferes with that, we've got to scream."


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: A typical episode of "The Tracey Ullman Show" consists of two or three sketches (or playlets) featuring Tracey Ullman playing an array of characters, along with her supporting cast of Julie Kavner, Dan Castellaneta, Sam McMurray, Joseph Malone, and in season three, Anna Levine. The final sketch of the night usually includes a musical or dance number featuring Ullman either solo or with other members of the cast. Paula Abdul was responsible for choreographing all of the show's dance routines. Interstitial cartoon shorts ("Dr. N!Godatu", "The Simpsons") were featured before and after each commercial break.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: The show's producers toyed with the format during the show's first season. A variety act was added and then scrapped by the third episode. Ullman began opening the show as herself by episode five; this was dropped altogether by season three in favor of an elaborate opening title sequence.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: The final segment of all four seasons has Ullman, clad in a pink robe, delivering a closing monologue to the studio audience before ending the show with her signature catchphrase, "Go home! Go home!" and dancing as the credits roll. She chose the phrase "Go home," because she could not think of anything clever for the ending. Her closing monologue is, "Oh, you got sore bums. Go home!"


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: George Clinton was hired to write and perform the show's funk-infused theme song, "You're Thinking Right". Brooks hired animation and graphic-design company Klasky Csupo to design the show's title sequence. It would become the studio's big break. In addition to handing the show's opening, they also produced the show's animated bumpers. The opening title sequence in seasons one and two followed a brief introduction by Ullman to the studio audience. For season three, however, the opening was scrapped, and in its place, a live-action farce was used; Ullman pulls up to the 20th Century Fox lot in her car and hits a pedestrian. She attempts CPR in front of onlookers and revives her victim. She then rushes into the studio and meets George Clinton; a person tries to get her opinion on a costume; Paula Abdul attempts to go over choreography with her. Next, she visits the makeup room and greets her fellow castmates – this includes the Simpson family. She then looks at a pushpin board, and stills of that week's sketches are posted. Season four featured a title sequence similar to the first two seasons.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: After four seasons, Ullman decided to end the show, stating that she was "constantly challenged and happily tortured by a unique group of people." She also thanked Fox "for letting somebody no one ever heard of do a show on a network that didn't exist." Brooks stated that "The Tracey Ullman Show" was "the hardest work any of us ever did, and we would have continued forever if she had wanted us to [...] I'm just glad I appreciated it as it was happening and not just in retrospect ... Tracey is one of the most talented people alive." The show earned Fox its first Emmy Award, racking up a total of 13 nominations, and garnering four wins, by the end of its run.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: Brooks did not mince words when in 1992 that Fox chairman, Barry Diller, was announced to be stepping down. "I thought "The Tracey Ullman Show" should have stayed on as long as she wanted to do it." Diller had been dragging his feet in renewing the show. Tired of waiting, Ullman decided to pull the plug herself. When Ullman and the show won at the 1990 Emmy Awards, newspaper critics hailed: "Tracey Ullman Gets Last Laugh." Later, Ullman admitted that she would have liked an additional year to try out all the characters she wanted to play. She was proud, though, of what they achieved: "no compromises, no giving up, always wanting the best."


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: Over the course of four seasons, Tracey Ullman played upwards of 100 characters; some were repeated, but not on a weekly basis. The show's supporting cast also had their own characters, usually playing opposite Ullman's, but sometimes in solo sketches of their own. The following is a list of recurring characters performed by Tracey Ullman, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, and Sam McMurray. They are listed in order of appearance.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: "The Tracey Ullman Show" regularly featured short, animated cartoons as interstitials in the first three seasons.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: "Dr. N!Godatu" was a series of animated shorts created by M.K. Brown, and animated by Klasky-Csupo. It was seen during season one only, and was the first cartoon seen on Ullman's show. The shorts followed the somewhat surreal life of Dr. Janice N!Godatu, who calmly and cheerfully addressed the camera as she detailed her latest misadventure. The character was voiced by Julie Payne.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: The feature appeared in the first two "Ullman" episodes, then alternated more-or-less every other week with the "Simpsons" shorts (see below). After appearing six times, "Dr. N!Godatu" was dropped at the conclusion of the first season. Two additional "Dr. N!Godatu" cartoons that were prepared for the show never aired.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: The Simpson family debuted in short animated cartoons on "The Tracey Ullman Show", beginning with episode three of the first season. The shorts originally were presented on an occasional basis, alternating episodes with "Dr. N!Godatu", but the reaction to the Simpsons shorts was very positive, and after appearing seven times during season one, the feature was quickly promoted to full-time status, appearing in every episode of seasons two and three, before being spun off into a half-hour series. These shorts, also called "bumpers", aired before and after commercial breaks during the first and second seasons of the show. They eventually had their own full segments between the live-action segments during season three. Except for a repeat airing of the short "Simpson Xmas", they did not appear in the fourth and final season of "The Tracey Ullman Show", as they had their own half-hour TV series by then.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: All of them were written by Matt Groening and animated at Klasky Csupo by a team of animators consisting of David Silverman, Wes Archer, and Bill Kopp. "Tracey Ullman Show" cast members Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner provided the voices of Homer Simpson and Marge Simpson, respectively. In the beginning, the drawings appeared very crude because the animators were more or less just tracing over Groening's storyboards, but as the series developed, so did the designs and layouts of the characters and the "Simpsons drawing style" was ultimately conceived. This style evolved even more throughout the first few seasons of "The Simpsons", and was used more than a decade later on "Futurama", another animated series created by Groening.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: While the show was a critical darling, it was never a ratings juggernaut; although none of the early newly launched primetime Fox network shows generated a significant return (Fox did not crack the top 30 in the Nielsen ratings until 1990 with "The Simpsons"). On the show's ratings, Fox president Jamie Kellner was quoted in 1988 as saying, "We're too new new to be discouraged by ratings [...] It's true that it's harder to discover Tracey on Fox than on NBC." As critic Howard Rosenberg of "The Los Angeles Times" and "The Washington Post" pointed out, though, it was probably easier for her to survive, as the show she was producing was probably too "rule-bending" for NBC to be interested in, in the first place.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: The show faced practical obstacles reaching viewers, one of which was the network broadcasting via UHF signal in many areas. Ullman was personally critical of Fox messing with the show's timeslot, something network chairman Barry Diller later conceded. "I think there was real anger about the shifting time a lot, and that it was legitimate. Networks do many things that are not necessarily in the interests of a particular show, and those things are not always smart. We had a very large audience for a very special show-but it wasn't large enough. Certain things take time. As the world speeds up, the rhythm of this show will become consistent with the rhythm of the audience. But it might take 10 years. I think the 80-something shows they did will be like "The Honeymooners". I don't know when. But it's going to be pure, driven gold. We expect to get every nickel back. Plus, plus, plus." "It should've been on Sunday night. I think a great lineup would've been "The Simpsons" followed by Tracey, on Sunday night.", said Matt Groening in 1991. Despite its issues in the ratings, the show retained a devoted fan base and became a cult hit up until the end. It also helped the Fox network gain credibility within the industry. "Married... with Children", the series that launched the same night as the "Ullman" show, was mired in controversy and soon became branded low-brow humor.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: The show won a total of 10 Primetime Emmy Awards including Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program in 1989 and 1990, and Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program in 1990. Also in 1989, choreographer Paula Abdul won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for her work on the show.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: When "The Tracey Ullman Show" first appeared in Ullman's native England, the BBC decided to cut six minutes from the show, specifically the Simpsons shorts. "The BBC said the only thing they didn't like about the show was those weird little animated characters and suggested maybe they could get rid of them because they would never catch on," recalled Ullman. Despite their aversion to the cartoon shorts, she attempted to convince the broadcaster to buy the rights to "The Simpsons" television series, telling them it would be a mistake not to; Sky ended up buying the show. "The Tracey Ullman Show" aired on BBC Two in the UK, Network 10 in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: Reruns of the show appeared on Lifetime and Comedy Central throughout the 1990s in the United States.


title: The Tracey Ullman Show

text: , "The Tracey Ullman Show" has never been commercially released through any home media platform. In 2017, in an interview, Tracey Ullman theorized that music clearance issues may be the reason for this. A selection of the Simpsons shorts was released from 1997 through 1999 on "The Simpsons" VHS home video releases. The sketch "Due Dilligence" featuring actor-comedian Mel Brooks was released as an extra on "The Incredible Mel Brooks: An Irresistible Collection of Unhinged Comedy" in 2012.


title: Plains Indians

text: Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of North America. While hunting-farming cultures have lived on the Great Plains for centuries prior to European contact, the region is known for the horse cultures that flourished from the 17th century through the late 19th century. Their historic nomadism and armed resistance to domination by the government and military forces of Canada and the United States have made the Plains Indian culture groups an archetype in literature and art for Native Americans everywhere.


title: Plains Indians

text: The Plains tribes are usually divided into two broad classifications which overlap to some degree. The first group became a fully nomadic horse culture during the 18th and 19th centuries, following the vast herds of American bison, although some tribes occasionally engaged in agriculture. These include the Arapaho, Assiniboine, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Comanche, Crow, Gros Ventre, Kiowa, Lakota, Lipan, Plains Apache (or Kiowa Apache), Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwe, Sarsi, Nakoda (Stoney), and Tonkawa. The second group were sedentary and semi-sedentary, and, in addition to hunting buffalo, they lived in villages, raised crops, and actively traded with other tribes. These include the Arikara, Hidatsa, Iowa, Kaw (or Kansa), Kitsai, Mandan, Missouria, Omaha, Osage, Otoe, Pawnee, Ponca, Quapaw, Wichita, and the Santee Dakota, Yanktonai and Yankton Dakota.


title: Plains Indians

text: The earliest people of the Great Plains mixed hunting and gathering wild plants. The cultures developed horticulture, then agriculture, as they settled in sedentary villages and towns. Maize, originally from Mesoamerica and spread north from the Southwest, became widespread in the south of the Great Plains around 700 CE.


title: Plains Indians

text: Numerous Plains peoples hunted the American bison (or buffalo) to make items used in everyday life, such as food, cups, decorations, crafting tools, knives, and clothing. The tribes followed the seasonal grazing and migration of the bison. The Plains Indians lived in tipis because they were easily disassembled and allowed the nomadic life of following game.


title: Plains Indians

text: The Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado was the first European to describe the Plains Indian culture. He encountered villages and cities of the Plains village cultures. While searching for a reputedly wealthy land called Quivira in 1541, Coronado came across the Querechos in the Texas panhandle. The Querechos were the people later called Apache. According to the Spaniards, the Querechos lived "in tents made of the tanned skins of the cows (bison). They dry the flesh in the sun, cutting it thin like a leaf, and when dry they grind it like meal to keep it and make a sort of sea soup of it to eat. ... They season it with fat, which they always try to secure when they kill a cow. They empty a large gut and fill it with blood, and carry this around the neck to drink when they are thirsty." Coronado described many common features of Plains Indians culture: skin tepees, travois pulled by dogs, Plains Indian Sign Language, and staple foods such as jerky and pemmican.


title: Plains Indians

text: Siouan language speakers may have originated in the lower Mississippi River region. They were agriculturalists and may have been part of the Mound Builder civilization during the 9th–12th centuries. Wars with the Ojibwe and Cree peoples pushed the Lakota (Teton Sioux) west onto the Great Plains in the mid- to late-17th century. The Shoshone originated in the western Great Basin and spread north and east into present-day Idaho and Wyoming. By 1500, some Eastern Shoshone had crossed the Rocky Mountains into the Great Plains. After 1750, warfare and pressure from the Blackfoot, Crow, Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho pushed Eastern Shoshone south and westward. Some of them migrated as far south as Texas, emerging as the Comanche by 1700.


title: Plains Indians

text: The settlers brought diseases against which the Indians had no resistance. Between a half and two-thirds of the Plains Indians are thought to have died of smallpox by the time of the Louisiana Purchase. The 1837 Great Plains smallpox epidemic spread across the Great Plains, killing many thousands between 1837 and 1840. In the end, it is estimated that two-thirds of the Blackfoot population died, along with half of the Assiniboines and Arikaras, a third of the Crows, and a quarter of the Pawnees.


title: Plains Indians

text: The Plains Indians found by Coronado had not yet obtained horses; it was the introduction of the horse that revolutionized Plains culture. When horses were obtained, the Plains tribes rapidly integrated them into their daily lives. People in the southwest began to acquire horses in the 16th century by trading or stealing them from Spanish colonists in New Mexico. As horse culture moved northward, the Comanche were among the first to commit to a fully mounted nomadic lifestyle. This occurred by the 1730s, when they had acquired enough horses to put all their people on horseback.


title: Plains Indians

text: The horse enabled the Plains Indians to gain their subsistence with relative ease from the seemingly limitless buffalo herds. Riders were able to travel faster and farther in search of bison herds and to transport more goods, thus making it possible to enjoy a richer material environment than their pedestrian ancestors. For the Plains peoples, the horse became an item of prestige as well as utility. They were extravagantly fond of their horses and the lifestyle they permitted.


title: Plains Indians

text: The first Spanish conqueror to bring horses to the new world was Hernán Cortés in 1519. However, Cortés only brought about sixteen horses with his expedition. Coronado brought 558 horses with him on his 1539–1542 expedition. At the time, the Indians of these regions had never seen a horse. Only two of Coronado's horses were mares, so he was highly unlikely to have been the source of the horses that Plains Indians later adopted as the cornerstone of their culture. In 1592, however, Juan de Oñate brought 7,000 head of livestock with him when he came north to establish a colony in New Mexico. His horse herd included mares as well as stallions.


title: Plains Indians

text: Pueblo Indians learned about horses by working for Spanish colonists. The Spanish attempted to keep knowledge of riding away from Native people, but nonetheless, they learned and some fled their servitude to their Spanish employers—and took horses with them. Some horses were obtained through trade in spite of prohibitions against it. Other horses escaped captivity for a feral existence and were captured by Native people. In all cases the horse was adopted into their culture and herds multiplied. By 1659, the Navajo from northwestern New Mexico were raiding the Spanish colonies to steal horses. By 1664, the Apache were trading captives from other tribes to the Spanish for horses. The real beginning of the horse culture of the plains began with the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 in New Mexico and the capture of thousands of horses and other livestock. They traded many horses north to the Plains Indians. In 1683 a Spanish expedition into Texas found horses among Native people. In 1690, a few horses were found by the Spanish among the Indians living at the mouth of the Colorado River of Texas and the Caddo of eastern Texas had a sizeable number.


title: Plains Indians

text: The French explorer Claude Charles Du Tisne found 300 horses among the Wichita on the Verdigris River in 1719, but they were still not plentiful. Another Frenchman, Bourgmont, could only buy seven at a high price from the Kaw in 1724, indicating that horses were still scarce among tribes in Kansas. While the distribution of horses proceeded slowly northward on the Great Plains, it moved more rapidly through the Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin. The Shoshone in Wyoming had horses by about 1700 and the Blackfoot people, the most northerly of the large Plains tribes, acquired horses in the 1730s. By 1770, that Plains Indians culture was mature, consisting of mounted buffalo-hunting nomads from Saskatchewan and Alberta southward nearly to the Rio Grande. Soon afterwards pressure from Europeans on all sides and European diseases caused its decline.


title: Plains Indians

text: It was the Comanche, coming to the attention of the Spanish in New Mexico in 1706, who first realized the potential of the horse. As pure nomads, hunters, and pastoralists, well supplied with horses, they swept most of the mixed-economy Apaches from the plains and by the 1730s were dominant in the Great Plains south of the Arkansas River. The success of the Comanche encouraged other Indian tribes to adopt a similar lifestyle. The southern Plains Indians acquired vast numbers of horses. By the 19th century, Comanche and Kiowa families owned an average of 35 horses and mules each – and only six or seven were necessary for transport and war. The horses extracted a toll on the environment as well as required labor to care for the herd. Formerly egalitarian societies became more divided by wealth with a negative impact on the role of women. The richest men would have several wives and captives who would help manage their possessions, especially horses.


title: Plains Indians

text: The milder winters of the southern Plains favored a pastoral economy by the Indians. On the northeastern Plains of Canada, the Indians were less favored, with families owning fewer horses, remaining more dependent upon dogs for transporting goods, and hunting bison on foot. The scarcity of horses in the north encouraged raiding and warfare in competition for the relatively small number of horses that survived the severe winters.


title: Plains Indians

text: The Lakota or Teton Sioux enjoyed the happy medium between North and South and became the dominant Plains tribe by the mid 19th century. They had relatively small horse herds, thus having less impact on their ecosystem. At the same time, they occupied the heart of prime bison range which was also an excellent region for furs, which could be sold to French and American traders for goods such as guns. The Lakota became the most powerful of the Plains tribes.


title: Plains Indians

text: By the 19th century, the typical year of the Lakota and other northern nomads was a communal buffalo hunt as early in spring as their horses had recovered from the rigors of the winter. In June and July the scattered bands of the tribes gathered together into large encampments, which included ceremonies such as the Sun Dance. These gatherings afforded leaders to meet to make political decisions, plan movements, arbitrate disputes, and organize and launch raiding expeditions or war parties. In the fall, people would split up into smaller bands to facilitate hunting to procure meat for the long winter. Between the fall hunt and the onset of winter was a time when Lakota warriors could undertake raiding and warfare. With the coming of winter snows, the Lakota settled into winter camps, where activities of the season ceremonies and dances as well as trying to ensure adequate winter feed for their horses. On the southern plains, with their milder winters, the fall and winter was often the raiding season. Beginning in the 1830s, the Comanche and their allies often raided for horses and other goods deep into Mexico, sometimes venturing 1,000 miles (1,600 km) south from their homes near the Red River in Texas and Oklahoma.


title: Plains Indians

text: The U.S. federal government and local governments promoted bison hunting for various reasons: to allow ranchers to range their cattle without competition from other bovines and to starve and weaken the Plains Indian population to pressure them to remain on reservations. The bison herds formed the basis of the economies of the Plains tribes. Without bison, they were forced to move onto reservations or starve.


title: Plains Indians

text: Bison were slaughtered for their skins, with the rest of the animal left behind to decay on the ground. After the animals rotted, their bones were collected and shipped back east in large quantities.


title: Plains Indians

text: The railroad industry also wanted bison herds culled or eliminated. Herds of bison on tracks could damage locomotives when the trains failed to stop in time. Herds often took shelter in the artificial cuts formed by the grade of the track winding through hills and mountains in harsh winter conditions. As a result, bison herds could delay a train for days.


title: Plains Indians

text: As the great herds began to wane, proposals to protect the bison were discussed. Buffalo Bill Cody, among others, spoke in favor of protecting the bison because he saw that the pressure on the species was too great. But these were discouraged since it was recognized that the Plains Indians, often at war with the United States, depended on bison for their way of life. In 1874, President Ulysses S. Grant "pocket vetoed" a federal bill to protect the dwindling bison herds, and in 1875 General Philip Sheridan pleaded to a joint session of Congress to slaughter the herds, to deprive the Plains Indians of their source of food. This meant that the bison were hunted almost to extinction during the 19th century and were reduced to a few hundred by the early 1900s.


title: Plains Indians

text: Armed conflicts intensified in the late 19th century between Native American nations on the plains and the U.S. government, through what were called generally the Indian Wars. Notable conflicts in this period include the Dakota War, Great Sioux War, Snake War and Colorado War. Comanche power peaked in the 1840s when they conducted large-scale raids hundreds of miles into Mexico proper, while also warring against the Anglo-Americans and Tejanos who had settled in independent Texas. Expressing the frontier anti-Indian sentiment, Theodore Roosevelt believed the Indians were destined to vanish under the pressure of white civilization, stating in an 1886 lecture:


title: Plains Indians

text: Among the most notable events during the wars was the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. In the years leading up to it the U.S. government had continued to seize Lakota lands. A Ghost Dance ritual on the Northern Lakota reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, led to the U.S. Army's attempt to subdue the Lakota. The dance was part of a religious movement founded by the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka that told of the return of the Messiah to relieve the suffering of Native Americans and promised that if they would live righteous lives and perform the Ghost Dance properly, the European American colonists would vanish, the bison would return, and the living and the dead would be reunited in an Edenic world. On December 29 at Wounded Knee, gunfire erupted, and U.S. soldiers killed up to 300 Indians, mostly old men, women, and children.


title: Plains Indians

text: The semi-sedentary, village-dwelling Plains Indians depended upon agriculture for a large share of their livelihood, particularly those who lived in the eastern parts of the Great Plains which had more precipitation than the western side. Corn was the dominant crop, followed by squash and beans. Tobacco, sunflower, plums and other wild plants were also cultivated or gathered in the wild. Among the wild crops gathered the most important were probably berries to flavor pemmican and the Prairie Turnip.


title: Plains Indians

text: The first indisputable evidence of maize cultivation on the Great Plains is about 900 AD. The earliest farmers, the Southern Plains villagers were probably Caddoan speakers, the ancestors of the Wichita, Pawnee, and Arikara of today. Plains farmers developed short-season and drought resistant varieties of food plants. They did not use irrigation but were adept at water harvesting and siting their fields to receive the maximum benefit of limited rainfall. The Hidatsa and Mandan of North Dakota cultivated maize at the northern limit of its range.


title: Plains Indians

text: The farming tribes also hunted buffalo, deer, elk, and other game. Typically, on the southern Plains, they planted crops in the spring, left their permanent villages to hunt buffalo in the summer, returned to harvest crops in the fall, and left again to hunt buffalo in the winter. The farming Indians also traded corn to the nomadic tribes for dried buffalo meat.


title: Plains Indians

text: With the arrival of the horse, some tribes, such as the Lakota and Cheyenne, gave up agriculture to become full-time, buffalo-hunting nomads.


title: Plains Indians

text: By the 1870s bison herds were depleted and beef, cereal grains, fats and starchy vegetables became more important in the diet of Plains Indians. Fruits and nuts were, especially plums and grapes were dried as winter store. Flour was made from the Indian breadroot ("Pediomelum esculentum"). Indian tea ("lespedeza") is still sometimes consumed by Plains Indians who have retained these cultural traditions. Plums were one of the most important wild plant foods on the Oklahoma reservation.


title: Plains Indians

text: Although people of the Plains hunted other animals, such as elk or pronghorn, buffalo was the primary game food source. Before horses were introduced, hunting was a more complicated process. Hunters would surround the bison, and then try to herd them off cliffs or into confined places where they could be more easily killed. The Plains Indians constructed a v-shaped funnel, about a mile long, made of fallen trees or rocks. Sometimes bison could be lured into a trap by a person covering himself with a bison skin and imitating the call of the animals.


title: Plains Indians

text: Before their adoption of guns, the Plains Indians hunted with spears, bows, and various forms of clubs. The use of horses by the Plains Indians made hunting (and warfare) much easier. With horses, the Plains Indians had the means and speed to stampede or overtake the bison. The Plains Indians reduced the length of their bows to three feet to accommodate their use on horseback. They continued to use bows and arrows after the introduction of firearms, because guns took too long to reload and were too heavy. In the summer, many tribes gathered for hunting in one place. The main hunting seasons were fall, summer, and spring. In winter, adverse weather such as snow and blizzards made it more difficult to locate and hunt bison.


title: Plains Indians

text: Hides, with or without fur, provided material for much clothing. Most of the clothing consisted of the hides of buffalo and deer, as well as numerous species of birds and other small game. Plains moccasins tended to be constructed with soft braintanned hide on the vamps and tough rawhide for the soles. Men's moccasins tended to have flaps around the ankles, while women's had high tops, which could be pulled up in the winter and rolled down in the summer. Honored warriors and leaders earn the right to wear war bonnets, headdresses with feathers, often of golden or bald eagles.


title: Plains Indians

text: While there are some similarities among linguistic and regional groups, different tribes have their own cosmologies and world views. Some of these are animist in nature, with aspects of polytheism, while others tend more towards monotheism or panentheism. Prayer is a regular part of daily life, for regular individuals as well as spiritual leaders, alone and as part of group ceremonies. One of the most important gatherings for many of the Plains tribes is the yearly Sun Dance, an elaborate spiritual ceremony that involves personal sacrifice, multiple days of fasting and prayer for the good of loved ones and the benefit of the entire community.


title: Plains Indians

text: Certain people are considered to be "wakan" (Lakota: "holy"), and go through many years of training to become medicine men or women, entrusted with spiritual leadership roles in the community. The buffalo and eagle are particularly sacred to many of the Plains peoples, and may be represented in iconography, or parts used in regalia. In Plains cosmology, certain items may possess spiritual power, particularly medicine bundles which are only entrusted to prominent religious figures of a tribe, and passed down from keeper to keeper in each succeeding generation.


title: Plains Indians

text: Historically, Plains Indian women had distinctly defined gender roles that were different from, but complementary to, men's roles. They typically owned the family's home and the majority of its contents. In traditional culture, women tanned hides, tended crops, gathered wild foods, prepared food, made clothing, and took down and erected the family's tepees. In the present day, these customs are still observed when lodges are set up for ceremonial use, such as at pow wows. Historically, Plains women were not as engaged in public political life as were the women in the coastal tribes. However, they still participated in an advisory role and through the women's societies.


title: Plains Indians

text: In contemporary Plains cultures, traditionalists work to preserve the knowledge of these traditions of everyday life and the values attached to them.


title: Plains Indians

text: Plains women in general have historically had the right to divorce and keep custody of their children. Because women own the home, an unkind husband can find himself homeless. A historical example of a Plains woman divorcing is Making Out Road, a Cheyenne woman, who in 1841 married non-Native frontiersman Kit Carson. The marriage was turbulent and formally ended when Making Out Road threw Carson and his belongings out of her tepee (in the traditional manner of announcing a divorce). She later went on to marry, and divorce, several additional men, both European-American and Indian.


title: Plains Indians

text: The earliest Spanish explorers in the 16th century did not find the Plains Indians especially warlike. The Wichita in Kansas and Oklahoma lived in dispersed settlements with no defensive works. The Spanish initially had friendly contacts with the Apache (Querechos) in the Texas Panhandle.


title: Plains Indians

text: Three factors led to a growing importance of warfare in Plains Indian culture. First, was the Spanish colonization of New Mexico which stimulated raids and counter-raids by Spaniards and Indians for goods and slaves. Second, was the contact of the Indians with French fur traders which increased rivalry among Indian tribes to control trade and trade routes. Third, was the acquisition of the horse and the greater mobility it afforded the Plains Indians. What evolved among the Plains Indians from the 17th to the late 19th century was warfare as both a means of livelihood and a sport. Young men gained both prestige and plunder by fighting as warriors, and this individualistic style of warfare ensured that success in individual combat and capturing trophies of war were highly esteemed


title: Plains Indians

text: The Plains Indians raided each other, the Spanish colonies, and, increasingly, the encroaching frontier of the Anglos for horses, and other property. They acquired guns and other European goods primarily by trade. Their principal trading products were buffalo hides and beaver pelts. The most renowned of all the Plains Indians as warriors were the Comanche whom "The Economist" noted in 2010: "They could loose a flock of arrows while hanging off the side of a galloping horse, using the animal as protection against return fire. The sight amazed and terrified their white (and Indian) adversaries." The American historian S. C. Gwynne called the Comanche "the greatest light cavalry on the earth" in the 19th century whose raids in Texas terrified the American settlers.


title: Plains Indians

text: Although they could be tenacious in defense, Plains Indians warriors took the offensive mostly for material gain and individual prestige. The highest military honors were for "counting coup"—touching a live enemy. Battles between Indians often consisted of opposing warriors demonstrating their bravery rather than attempting to achieve concrete military objectives. The emphasis was on ambush and hit and run actions rather than closing with an enemy. Success was often counted by the number of horses or property obtained in the raid. Casualties were usually light. "Indians consider it foolhardiness to make an attack where it is certain some of them will be killed." Given their smaller numbers, the loss of even a few men in battle could be catastrophic for a band, and notably at the battles of Adobe Walls in Texas in 1874 and Rosebud in Montana in 1876, the Indians broke off battle despite the fact that they were winning as the casualties were not considered worth a victory. The most famous victory ever won by the Plains Indians over the United States, the Battle of Little Bighorn, in 1876, was won by the Lakota (Sioux) and Cheyenne fighting on the defensive. Decisions whether to fight or not were based on a cost-benefit ratio; even the loss of one warrior was not considered to be worth taking a few scalps, but if a herd of horses could be obtained, the loss of a warrior or two was considered acceptable. Generally speaking, given the small sizes of the bands and the vast population of the United States, the Plains Indians sought to avoid casualties in battle, and would avoid fighting if it meant losses.


title: Plains Indians

text: Due to their mobility, endurance, horsemanship, and knowledge of the vast plains that were their domain, the Plains Indians were often victors in their battles against the U.S. army in the American era from 1803 to about 1890. However, although Indians won many battles, they could not undertake lengthy campaigns. Indian armies could only be assembled for brief periods of time as warriors also had to hunt for food for their families. The exception to that was raids into Mexico by the Comanche and their allies in which the raiders often subsisted for months off the riches of Mexican haciendas and settlements. The basic weapon of the Indian warrior was the short, stout bow, designed for use on horseback and deadly, but only at short range. Guns were usually in short supply and ammunition scarce for Native warriors. The U.S. government through the Indian Agency would sell the Plains Indians guns for hunting, but unlicensed traders would exchange guns for buffalo hides. The shortages of ammunition together with the lack of training to handle firearms meant the preferred weapon was the bow and arrow.