Stonewall National Monument is a 7.7-acre U.S. national monument in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan, New York City.
Whose land does it reside upon?
Greenwich Village was once a Lenape village called “Sapokanik,” meaning “tobacco field” or the “land of tobacco growth.” In addition to tobacco farms, the area was an active trading settlement and canoe landing area. Foley Square.
When was it established?
June 24, 2016
About this park:
Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) person was illegal. The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in the quest for LGBTQ+ civil rights and provided momentum for a movement.
The monument sits across the street from The Stonewall Inn, a National Historic Landmark known for its involvement in the beginning of the modern struggle for civil rights of gay and lesbian Americans. The Stonewall Inn exists as a private establishment and working bar.
Why did we choose these colors?
This colorway is one of our faves, for so many reasons! The Stonewall uprising was a riot, and this skein contains a riot of colors. It’s also like we tossed every color from every pride flag into a cauldron and created this bright and beautiful rainbow of deliciousness. It represents the gayest pride, inclusion, love, and equality for all.
Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a National Forest located in southern Washington State.
Whose land does it reside upon?
Lands administered by the Gifford Pinchot National Forest have been home to indigenous people since time immemorial. Tribes with historic ties to the area include the Mishalpam, Táytnapam, Sλpúlmx (Cowlitz); Cathlamet, Multnomah, Cascades, Wasco, Wishram, Xwáłxwaypam (Klikitat), Wayám, Skínpah, Q’miłpah, and Yakama. Most descendants are today citizens of several federally-recognized Tribes, including the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Nisqually Indian Community, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation. Citizens of the Chinook Indian Nation continue their efforts to secure federal recognition.
When was it established?
July 1, 1908
About this park:
Gifford Pinchot National Forest includes over 1.3 million acres of forest, wildlife habitat, watersheds & mountains, including Mt. Adams & Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
Why did we choose these colors?
If you’ve ever hiked in the Pacific Northwest, you’ve seen a banana slug, and that’s our inspiration for this colorway. Banana slugs are a genus of North American terrestrial slugs in the family Ariolimacidae. They are often bright yellow and kind of look like a banana. But please do not eat them! 😉
Cape Hatteras National Seashore is a United States national seashore which preserves the portion of the Outer Banks of North Carolina from Bodie Island to Ocracoke Island, stretching over 70 miles.
Whose land does it reside upon?
The area was first inhabited by Native Americans such as the Algonquins, Chowanog, and Poteskeet tribes.
When was it established?
January 12, 1953
About this park:
Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the nation’s first national seashore, was established in 1937 to preserve significant segments of unspoiled barrier islands along North Carolina’s stretch of the Atlantic Coast. Barrier islands are narrow, low-lying, dynamic landforms which parallel ocean coasts, are separated from the mainland, and are constantly moving and reshaping in response to storms, ocean currents, sea level changes, and wave and wind action. These processes continue to influence the islands today through the processes of erosion and accretion of the shoreline; overwash across the islands; and the formation, migration, and closure of the inlets.
Nestled between the Painted Desert and ponderosa highlands of northern Arizona, Wupatki National Monument is an unlikely landscape for a thriving community. The early 1100’s marked a time of cooler and wetter weather, when the ancestors of contemporary Pueblo communities created a bustling center of trade and culture. For indigenous peoples, these sites represent the footprints of their ancestors.
We have been blessed by Beyonce’s newest album, Cowboy Carter, not only for the amazing music, but for all we have learned about country music and its roots in the African American diaspora. There has been lots of grumbling about a Black woman singing country, and we are here to confront those grumbles and dispel the incorrect beliefs that country music is somehow a white person thing. Country music, cowboys, and the banjo are all direct descendants of the music and knowledge that Africans brought with them when they were forcibly kidnapped from Africa and enslaved in America.
Linda Martell, born in 1941 and raised in North Carolina, was the first Black woman artist to play at the Grand Ole Opry. She was the first Black woman to be commercially successful as a country music artist, with her sole album, Color Me Country, reaching number 40 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart. She was the first Black woman to perform on Hee Haw. Due to all of the usual suspects (racism, misogyny, and more racism), her career didn’t advance the way her talent indicated it should, and her legacy became mostly known, honored, and recognized by other Black women in country music. Until, that is, Cowboy Carter.
Martell started her singing career in R&B, in a group with her sister and cousins that never achieved much commercial success. After their group disbanded, she was “discovered” while singing at an air force base, and encouraged to break into country music with a record label called (yikes): Plantation Records (and yes, the name bothered the heck out of her, but she didn’t feel she could pass up this opportunity). She recorded her album with this label, and three of the singles hit the country charts, but support for a Black female country music artist in 1970 was neither strong nor wide-ranging. When the combination of the label lessening its support and promotion for her music in favor of a white female performer and the constant heckling and racism she experienced while on the road got to be too much, and finding a new record label just plain didn’t happen, Martell stepped away from the country music lifestyle. She had an expansive and musical life: running a record store in Brooklyn, performing non-country music on cruise ships, and even driving a school bus back in North Carolina. But, for a long time, it seemed her short-lived success was a flash in the pan and, this ground-breaking artist had been all but forgotten due to that hallmark of America, white supremacy.
More and more in the past several years, Martell has been remembered, discussed, interviewed, and honored for the impact she made on country music. Her granddaughter is currently producing (and crowd-funding) a a documentary about her called Bad Case of the Country Blues: the Linda Martell Story; the trailer is up and available to watch (link here: https://youtu.be/uI-s7jK61UQ?si=UKUj8n00VOqQuMTO). Her influence is felt by every Black female country artist making music today, and many pay homage to her legacy. Rissi Palmer named her podcast Color Me Country, after Martell’s groundbreaking album of the same name. Maren Morris thanked Martell for her influence in her 2020 acceptance speech for winning Female Vocalist of the Year at a country music awards show. And, as we all know, Beyonce not only invited Martell to provide voice-over support on Cowboy Carter, but also named one of the tracks The Linda Martell Show.
Our April color is inspired by the Snapdragon, because they are ‘known to grow in rocky areas. The snapdragons tenacity and ability to bloom in poor conditions has led it being seen as a symbol of strength in trying circumstances, and we think Linda Martell has done just that!
