For years I’ve been studying Native American history….and that studying has been slowly taking over my life.  When you study the history of a people (and a country), there are a lot of things you learn, some good and some bad, but it informs how you view the world today.
One of the events that I’ve been studying, with a great passion, has been an event that took place on this day November 29th 1864…The Sand Creek Massacre.
A village of peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians were attacked not far from Denver, Colorado and between 70-160 men, women and children were killed and their bodies mutilated.  The events leading up to, and following, the massacre are too many, and too complex, for a short blog post.  All I can hope for is that on this day we take a second and reflect on what took place long ago and yet still has lasting affects to this day.  

Here are some links to some things that you can read right now if you are interested:
Wikipedia 
History Channel
Indian Country Today

And here are some great books that will go more in depth into what exactly took place:
The Sand Creek Massacre by Stan Hoig
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
Black Kettle The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace but Found War by Thom Hatch
A Misplaced Massacre Struggling Over the Memory of Sand Creek by Ari Kelman

I’ve been working on a suite of music inspired by this event, and many others, that I have studied over the past few years.  I look forward to being able to share this music with everyone and I hope that what I’ve learned, and tried to process through music, will inspire others to try to understand the complicated history that we live with everyday.

thank you for all of the support…..

more soon…..