A short essay to supplement one panel in the exhibition
“Deskaheh in Geneva 1923-2023: Defending Haudenosaunee Sovereignty,”
Quai Wilson, Geneva, Switzerland
July 3-August 16, 2023
by Dr. Debra Vidali (Emory University, Atlanta GA, USA)
July 13, 2023
The last speech of Chief Deskaheh (Levi General) in 1925 is well known as a powerful declaration of Haudenosaunee sovereignty. It is reprinted in its entirety in several sources such as Akwesanse Notes (1978) and Kelm and Smith (2008) and it is analyzed extensively in Montour (2015). Less well known are the specific circumstances under which the speech was broadcast live on radio. This short essay fills in some of the gaps.
Chief Deskaheh delivered his last speech live on WHAM Radio in Rochester, New York on March 10, 1925 at 7:30 pm. In the daily radio schedule columns published in newspapers across New York State, this speech was listed as: “A New Story of the Iroquois, by Chief Deskaheh” (Figure 1). The Rochester newspaper schedule also listed Deskaheh’s position, “Speaker of the Six Nations Council, Grand River Canada” (Figure 2).
New York Times
March 10, 1925
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
March 10, 1925
According to George P. Decker, a Rochester lawyer who worked closely with Deskaheh and who was an attorney for the Six Nations of the Grand River, Deskaheh’s talk “was heard by listeners within 1000 miles and who, no doubt, numbered many thousands and must have been heard in the principal cities of eastern Canada” (Decker 1925).
No known recording was made of Deskaheh’s live radio broadcast (see list of archives and experts consulted below). This is not surprising. During 1925 almost all radio programs were broadcast live (“straight to air”), and very few recordings of these live radio broadcasts were made. This was because the wax cylinder phonograph was the available recording technology at the time and it was used primarily to record music (classical, popular, patriotic, religious, etc.), folklore, and oral traditions across a range of cultures and languages. It was not used to record live speeches at radio stations.
WHAM Studio Microphone
1924 Federal Co. Radio Receiver,
with loudspeaker
In the 1920s WHAM Radio operated from the Eastman Theater at the Eastman School of Music, located at 433 East Main Street in Rochester, New York. Broadcasts during this period were primarily live music broadcasts from the concert hall. The Eastman School of Music and Eastman Theater are still at these locations. They are named after philanthropist George Eastman, the founder of the Rochester-based Eastman Kodak Company. In the 1920s, the University of Rochester held the WHAM broadcast license (which was typical for radio of this period) and the station operated on the frequency of 278 meters (1080 KHz). George Eastman helped the University of Rochester launch WHAM in 1922 McKelvey 1970; WHAM Radio 2022). It is the oldest surviving radio station in the area.
Deskaheh’s speech was also planned to be delivered live from a radio station in Philadelphia, but this did not happen (Rickard 1973). In the 1970s, publisher Akwesasne Notes produced a booklet with Deskaheh’s speech, and an audio recording of two men reading the booklet, one as Deskaheh and one as narrator (Figure 5). The audio was produced in reel-to-reel, cassette, and cartridge.
Figure 5. Advertisement (Akwesasne Notes c.1975)
At the time of his Rochester radio speech, Deskaheh was suffering from pneumonia. He was hospitalized in Rochester on March 14th, just four days after his radio speech. Deskaheh’s condition continued to worsen and he died less than three months later, on June 27, 1925 (Akwesasne Notes 1978).
For more information about Deskaheh, his enduring legacy, and the exhibition, please visit www.deskaheh.org. Additional information is on the City of Geneva website, Deskaheh in Geneva 1923-2023: Defending Haudenosaunee Sovereignty.
Archives and Individuals Consulted
Special thanks to: Exhibit curator Jolene Rickard; Joe Lomonaco, WHAM Radio (Rochester, NY); Michelle Price, St. John Fisher University; Lynn Bisha, Antique Wireless Museum (Bloomfield, NY); Brandon Fess, Rochester Public Library; Eastman School of Music Archive; Melissa S. Mead, University of Rochester; Elizabeth Pietrzykowski, Rochester Museum and Science Center; Noah Arceneaux and Chuck Howell, Radio Preservation Task Force (RPTF); Lori M. Jahnke, Emory University Library; and Ansley Jemison (Ganondagan Seneca Art and Culture Center).
Image Credits
Figures 1 and 2: Produced from ProQuest Newspapers source.
Figures 3 and 4: Photographs by Debra Vidali, with thanks to Antique Wireless Museum, Bloomfield NY.
Figure 5: Image from inside back cover of Akwesasne Notes (c. 1975) booklet.
Bibliography
Akwsesase Notes. c. 1975. Deskaheh, Iroquois Statesman and Patriot. Six Nations Museum Series. Rooseveltown: Mohawk Nation.
Akwesasne Notes, ed. 1978. “The Last Speech of Deskaheh.” In Basic Call to Consciousness, pp. 48-54. Summertown, TN: Native Voices.
Decker, George P. 1925. “Letter to M. Ed. Junod, Bureau International, Geneva, Switzerland. March 14, 1925.” Personal Correspondence. George P. Decker Collection, St. John Fisher University.
Kelm, Mary-Ellen and Keith D Smith, eds. 2018. “The New Story of the Iroquois, by Chief Des-ka-heh.” Talking Back to the Indian Act: Critical Readings in Settler Colonial Histories, pp. 72-79. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Monture, Rick. 2015. Teionkwakhashion Tsi Niionkwariho:ten: “We Share Our Matters”: A Literary History of Six Nations of the Grand River. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press.
Rickard, Clinton. 1973. Fighting Tuscarora: The Autobiography of Chief Clinton Rickard. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
WHAM Radio. 2022. “How It All Began,” WHAM 100 An Oral History, Episode 1. January 5, 2022.
Blog author, Dr. Debra Vidali (Emory University, Atlanta GA, USA) is an anthropologist, media scholar, and theater maker from Rochester NY. For more research reports and reflections, follow this blog Notes on the Path.
“Deskaheh’s Last Speech” by Debra Vidali. July 13, 2023.