The Hmong people are an ethnic group in East and Southeast Asia. They are a sub-group of the Miao people, live in Southern China and Laos, they have been members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization since 2007. The Hmong traditions and historical evidence indicates that they originated near the Yellow River region of China. According to linguist Martha Ratliff, there is linguistic evidence to suggest that they have occupied some of the same areas of southern China for over 8,000 years. Evidence from mitochondrial DNA in Hmong–Mien–speaking populations supports the southern origins of maternal lineages further back in time, although it has been shown that Hmong-speaking populations had comparatively more contact with northern East Asians than had the Mien; the ancient town of Zhuolu is considered to be the birthplace of the proclaimed legendary Hmong king, Chi You. Today, a statue of Chi You has been erected in the town; the author of the Guoyu, authored in the 4th to 5th century, considered Chi You’s Jui Li tribe to be related to the ancient ancestors of the Hmong, the San-Miao people.

In 2011, White Hmong DNA was sampled and found to contain 7.84% D-M15 and 6%N DNA. The researchers posited a genetic relationship between Hmong-Mien peoples and Mon-Khmer people groups dating to the Last Glacial Maximum 15-18,000 years ago. Conflict between the Hmong of southern China and newly arrived Han settlers increased during the 18th century under repressive economic and cultural reforms imposed by the Qing Dynasty; this led to armed conflict and large-scale migrations well into the late 19th century, the period during which many Hmong people emigrated to Southeast Asia. The migration process had begun as early as the late-17th century, before the time of major social unrest, when small groups went in search of better agricultural opportunities; the Hmong people were subjected to genocide by the Qing Dynasty government. Kim Lacy Rogers wrote: "In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while the Hmong lived in south-western China, their Manchu overlords had labeled them'Miao' and targeted them for genocide when they defied being humiliated and enslaved."Since 1949, Miao has been an official term for one of the 55 official minority groups recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China.

The Miao live in southern China, in the provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, Hainan and Hubei. According to the 2000 censuses, the number of'Miao' in China was estimated to be about 9.6 million. The Miao nationality includes Hmong people as well as other culturally and linguistically related ethnic groups who do not call themselves Hmong; these include the Hmu, Kho Xiong, A Hmao. The White Miao and Green Miao are Hmong groups. A number of Miao lineage clans are believed to have been founded by Chinese men who had married Miao women; these distinct Chinese-descended clans practice Chinese burial customs instead of Hmong style burials. In Sichuan, they were known as "Chinese Hmong"; the Hmong were instructed in military tactics by fugitive Chinese rebels. Chinese men who had married into Hmong clans have established several Hmong clans. Chinese "surname groups" are comparable to the Hmong clans which are patrilineal, practice exogamy. Hmong women married Han Chinese men who pacified the Ah rebels who were fighting against the Ming dynasty, founded the Wang clan among the Hmong in Gongxian county, of Sichuan's Yibin district.

Hmong women who married Chinese men founded a Xem clan in a Hmong village among Northern Thailand's Hmong. Lauj clan in Northern Thailand is another example of a clan created through Han and Hmong intermarriage. A Han Chinese with the family name of Deng found another Hmong clan there as well. Jiangxi Han Chinese have held a claim as the forefathers of the southeast Guizhou Miao. Children were born to the many Miao women who had married Han Chinese soldiers in Taijiang before the second half of the 19th century; the Hmong Tian clan in Sizhou began in the seventh century as a migrant Han Chinese clan. Non-Han women such as the Miao became wives of Han soldiers; these soldiers fought against the Miao rebellions during the Qing and Ming dynasties and at that time Han women were not available. The origin of the Tunbao people can be traced to the Ming dynasty, when the Hongwu Emperor sent 300,000 Han Chinese male soldiers in 1381 to conquer Yunnan and the men married Yao and Miao women; the presence of women presiding over weddings was a feature noted in "Southeast Asian" marriages, such as in 1667 when a Miao woman in Yunnan married a Chinese official.

In Yunnan, a Miao chief's daughter married a scholar in the 1600s who wrote that she could read and listen in Chinese and read Chinese classics. The Sichuan Hmong village of Wangwu was visited by Nicholas Tapp who wrote that the "clan ancestral origin legend" of the Wang Hmong clan, had said that there were several intermarriages with Han Chinese and one of these was their ancestor Wang Wu; the Chinese were supported by the Wang Hmong clan. A Hmong woman was married by the non-Hmong Wang Wu according to The Story of the Ha Kings in Wangwu village. Hmong people have their own terms for their subcultural divisions. Hmong Der, Hmong Leng are the terms for two of the largest groups in the United States and Southeast Asia; these subgroups are known as the White Hmong, Blue or Green Hmong, respectively. These names originate from the color and designs of women's dresses in each respective group, with

The Harlem Fire Watchtower known as the Mount Morris Fire Watchtower, is the only surviving one of eleven cast-iron watchtowers placed throughout New York City starting in the 1850s. It was built by Julius H. Kroehl for $2,300 based on a design by James Bogardus, it is located in Marcus Garvey Park in Manhattan. The Mount Morris Park tower went into service in 1857 in response to Harlem residents’ demand; the towers gave volunteers a perch from which to watch for fires that were common in the wooden structures that made up much of New York City, the watchers spread the word via bell ringing. Electric telegraphs were installed but the bell provided local alarms; when pull boxes and other technological advances rendered the fire watchtowers obsolete, the system was discontinued and the other towers were destroyed. Harlem's, protected in the middle of a park, endured. During the New Deal, the area surrounding the Watchtower was rebuilt by government employees as part of the Works Project Administration jobs program.

This project created a gracious plaza, stone retaining wall, wide steps approaching the summit from several sides for pedestrians. The tower was designated a city landmark in 1967 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976; the last work on the watchtower came in 1994, but cracks in the overall structure and in the bell remained. The granite parapet along the top was in need of restoration. Weather, lack of maintenance, neglect took their toll over the years. Roof damage allowed water into the structure rusting structural members; the original copper roof fell off, exposing the interior to more damage. Many of the internal steps were missing and park visitors may no longer climb them or get near the structure, protected by a fence. In 2013, the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association partnered with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to raise $4 million to restore the Harlem Watchtower: Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association. Starting in late 2014, NYC Parks disassembled the tower to restore the structure and ensure its soundness and stability before reconstruction.

The tower reopened to visitors in December 2019. Media related to Harlem Fire Watchtower at Wikimedia Commons Official Site Historic American Engineering Record No. NY-104, "Harlem Fire Watchtower, Marcus Garvey Park, New York, New York County, NY", 13 photos, 5 data pages, 1 photo caption page Firewatchtower.com - An online resource for the conservation of Mount Morris Fire Watchtower in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park, New York, NY

Zorgvlied is a cemetery on the Amsteldijk in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on the left bank of the river Amstel. The cemetery was opened in 1870 by the city of Amstelveen which still owns and operates it, though since 1896 it is located within the boundaries of the city of Amsterdam. One of the country's best-known cemeteries, it is notable for the large number of celebrities from the literary and theater worlds, buried there; the cemetery takes its name from the villa. The design, by Jan David Zocher, is in the English garden style. Zorgvlied was expanded in 1892 by Zocher's son, Louis Paul Zocher, again in 1900, 1919, 1926, when it became a burial place for the upper classes, buried in Westerveld in Driehuis. An atrium was added in 1930. Perceptions of death and burial have changed considerably. After the 1994 burial of Manfred Langer, whose monument features him holding a glass of beer, some burials have become more extrovert. After a dispute over the burial of visual artist Peter Giele, the board of directors of Zorgvlied set aside a special area, called Paradiso, for monuments with extraordinary appearance or dimensions.

The cemetery itself, as well as a number of grave sites, were added to the list of Rijksmonuments in March 2008: Park construction, 1869-1931 Pathways, 1869-1931 Villa, 1869 Gates and fences, 1926 Atrium, 1931 Monument for Oscar Carré, 1891 Monument for Dorrepaal family, 1886 Monument for Von Rath-Bunge family, 1894 Monument for Margot G. Mulder, 1889 Monument for Sophie de Vries, 1892 Monument for P. W. Jansen, 1906 Monument for Hartog van Banda family, 1873 Monument for the Johanna Elisabeth Sophia Knoll family, 1900 Jan van Aartsen, politician Ab Abspoel, actor Ben Albach, theater historian Gerard A. N. Allebé, doctor August Allebé, painter Martin van Amerongen, journalist Hans Andreus, writer Sjef Annink, dancer Milo Anstadt, TV producer and writer Feliks Arons, director Abraham Asscher, business person and president of the Jewish Council René van Ast, cellist Elisabeth Augustin, writer Anneke van Baalen, feminist Tabe Bas, singer Martinus Beek, theologian Wim Beeren, museum president Fritz Behrendt, cartoonist Jacob Bendien, painter Rik van Bentum, painter Ans van den Berg, painter Chris Berger, athlete Eva Besnyö, photographer Willem van Beusekom, TV producer Paul Biegel, writer Ronny Bierman, singer, removed Rina Blaaser, actress Riny Blaaser, actress Hetty Blok, cabaret artist and actress Jan Blok, guitarist Ton Blommerde, visual artist Felicien Bobeldijk, painter Laurens Bodaan, preacher Nelly Bodenheim, painter Lodewijk de Boer, musician Gerrit Bolkestein, politician 2010 Thom Bollen, pianist Andries Bonger, art collector Kees Boomkens, TV producer, removed Johan Borgman, artist Emile van Bosch, singer Henri Bosmans, cellist Henriëtte Bosmans, composer Sara Bosmans-Benedicts, pianist Louis Bouwmeester, actor Rafaël Bouwmeester, actor Jack Bow, choreographer Johan Braakensiek, graphic artist Gerard den Brabander, poet Louis de Bree, removed Frans Breukelman, theologian Dunya Breur, writer Martin Bril, writer Joop van den Broek, painter Chris Broerse and landscape architect Herman Brood, singer Huib Broos, stage actor Gré Brouwenstijn, opera singer Hein de Bruin, writer Harry Buckinx, cartoonist Jan Buskes, preacher Hélène Cals, opera singer Oscar Carré, director Circus Carré Louis Chrispijn, removed Chun Wei Cheung, Olympian rower Jojanneke Claassen, writer Clovis Cnoop Koopmans, city councilman for Amsterdam Arie Colijn, mayor of Amstelveen 1916-1932 Kitty Courbois, actress Eduard Cuypers, architect Julia De Gruyter, actress Paul Deen, actor Lex van Delden, composer Jetty van Delden-van Dijk, actress Daniel Delprat, politicus Cristina Deutekom, opera singer Jef Diederen, artist Ko van Dijk sr. actor, removed Marinus van Dijke, translator Theo Dobbelman, artist Joop Doderer, actor Andrea Domburg, actress Jan Hein Donner, chess master Cornelis Dopper, composer Gert-Jan Dröge, TV presenter Jan Duiker, architect Ton van Duinhoven, acteur Kerwin Duinmeijer, murder victim Wim Duisenberg, banker Arend Jan Dunning, cardiologist Theodor Duquesnoy, translator Dirk Durrer, cardiologist Louis Dusée, songwriter Mien Duymaer van Twist, actress Wick Ederveen Janssen, director Willem Endstra, business person (

John L. Heatwole was an artist, tour guide, storyteller who gathered and preserved hundreds of oral history and folklore stories from the Shenandoah Valley and throughout Virginia and West Virginia through writings and radio programs. Heatwole grew up in Northern Virginia, where he met his wife Miriam. After high school, he served in the U. S. Marine Corps, he worked at the Library of Congress. Heatwole moved to the Shenandoah Valley at the persuasion of his uncle and began work at the Virginia Craftsmen Furniture Company in Harrisonburg, Virginia in March 1974 as head woodcarver, he opened his own shop in Bridgewater, Virginia in 1976. Heatwole died of inoperable cancer on November 22, 2006. Heatwole began working in clay, but turned to woodcarving in his early 20s, seeking out two mentors who taught him to use woodcarving tools. Heatwole exhibited his art publicly for many years before finding a strategic success when his art was showcased in the Neiman Marcus department store's 1979 Christmas window in Washington, DC.

He continued shows there until 1985. The Delaware Art Museum invited Heatwole to show his work in 1989, in 1990 added a piece to its permanent collection. In 2004, the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society displayed more than 200 pieces at its museum in Dayton for a 30th anniversary celebration of the artist's career-change decision. In 1991 Heatwole became the first artist from Virginia to display art in the Capitol Rotunda; as of 2004, Heatwole estimated. Heatwole's interest in Civil War history began as a child, he salvaged bullets, pot pieces and other war-related artifacts from a field near his home. Heatwole was the author of many books and booklets, including the Virginia and West Virginia Mountain and Valley Folk Life Series and The Burning: Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, which concerned the effects of Sheridan's fall 1864 campaign on civilians. Heatwole's Shenandoah Voices: Folklore and Traditions of the Valley, published in 1995, featured recollections of people he interviewed who grew up in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Beginning in 1992, Heatwole hosted WSVA Radio's "Civil War on the Air" – a monthly, two hour call in radio program about the American Civil War. He hosted a WSVA program on Valley folklore, an additional show at a Lexington radio station, he served as adviser to the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia in Staunton and has consulted with Time-Life Books. Heatwole served on many committees and boards related to art and history throughout his life, including service as chair of the Rockingham County Bicentennial Committee. By 1998, Congress appointed Heatwole to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District Commission. Heatwole served on the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, created by the Commission, his preservation efforts included the site of the shooting of Union Lt. John Rodgers Meigs near Dayton, Virginia. Heatwole, John L.. "The Upland Witches". Daily News-Record. Harrisonburg, Virginia: Byrd Newspapers. Heatwole, John L.. "'Let The Belsnicklers In!'". Daily News-Record.

Harrisonburg, Virginia: Byrd Newspapers. Heatwole, John L.. The Burning: Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. Charlottesville, VA: Rockbridge Pub. ISBN 9781883522186. Heatwole, John L.. Shenandoah voices: folklore and traditions of the Valley. Berryville, VA: Rockbridge Pub. Co. ISBN 9781883522070. Heatwole, John L. Chrisman's Boy Company: a history of the Civil War service of Company A, 3rd Battalion, Virginia Mounted Reserves. Bridgewater, Virginia: Mountain and Valley Pub. ISBN 9781893934085. Virginia and West Virginia Mountain and Valley Folk Life Series, 11 booklets Jefferson Davis Historical Medal, Turner Ashby Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. "for his life-long work to preserve history, including the publication of his latest book, "The Burning." Shenandoah University President's Award for Outstanding Service in Community History, Shenandoah University Carrington Williams Preservation Award, The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation Rockingham County Board of Supervisors Resolution.

Senate Joint Resolution No. 430: Celebrating the life of John L. Heatwole, U. S. Congress Bolgiano, Chris. "A Guide to the John L. Heatwole Personal Papers, 1973-1995". Special Collections, James Madison University. Retrieved 24 November 2016. Clarke, Jessica. "Awl In The Family Teacher And Master Woodcarver Is Also Author Of `The Burning'". Daily News-Record. Harrisonburg, Virginia. DeHart, Carol Maureen. John L. Heatwole,The Word Gatherer. Staunton, VA: Lot's Wife Publishing. ISBN 9781934368022. Heatwole, David. "John L. Heatwole: The Wizard of Wood". Retrieved 24 November 2016. Melliot, Jeff. "30 Years Of Creativity". Daily News-Record. Melliot, Jeff. "Valley Loses An Eloquent Voice - Heatwole Gained Prominence As Artist, Preservationist". Daily News-Record. U. S. Senate. "Senate Joint Resolution No. 430". Retrieved 24 November 2016. Wright, Dan. "Historian-Author Heatwole Is The Man To See About Valley History". Daily News-Record. Harrisonburg, Virginia: Byrd Publishing; the Art of John L. Heatwole III, Flickr gallery maintained by David Heatwole A Guide to the John L. Heatwole Collection, 1802-1901, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University.

A Guide to the John L. Heatwole Personal Papers, 1973-1995, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University

The 424th Tactical Air Support Training Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 68th Tactical Air Support Group at Eglin Air Force Base, where the unit was inactivated on 31 March 1944; the unit conducted crew training for special operations forward air control from 1970 through 1972. The unit was first activated as the 424th Night Fighter Squadron; the squadron was one of the first dedicated night fighter operational training squadrons of the Air Force. It trained replacement night fighter pilots who were deployed overseas into combat until its inactivation in March 1944 due to a reorganization of Army Air Forces training units; the squadron was activated on 24 November 1943 at Orlando Army Air Base, Florida as the fourth night fighter training squadron of the 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group. Its mission was to be a Replacement Training Unit for Night Fighter pilots, it accepted Army Air Forces Training Command's twin-engine flying training and B–25 transition school graduates and trained them as night fighter pilots.

It was equipped with Douglas DB-7s and Douglas P-70s. As 1943 progressed additional aircraft and equipment arrived and the program expanded. In September, the first American-built dedicated night fighter began to arrive, the Northrup YP-61 Black Widow and a few production P-61As. In January 1944 the entire program moved to Hammer Field and was placed under IV Fighter Command; the move placed the squadron near Northrop manufacturing facility at Hawthorne and most programmed P-61 squadrons were planned for operations in the Pacific and China Burma India Theaters. In March 1944 the 420th was disbanded when the AAF found that standard military units, based on inflexible tables of organization were proving less well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit during a reorganization of units in the United States; the squadron's personnel and equipment were transferred to Squadron C of the 450th Army Air Forces Base Unit.

Constituted as the 424th Night Fighter Squadron on 23 November 1943Activated on 24 November 1943 Disbanded on 31 March 1944Redesignated 424th Special Operations Training Squadron on 9 June 1970Activated on 1 July 1970 Redesignated 424th Tactical Air Support Training Squadron 15 Jul 1972 Inactivated 31 Oct 1972 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group, 24 November 1943 – 31 March 1944 1st Special Operations Wing 1 July 1970 68th Tactical Air Support Group, 1 January 1972–31 October 1972 Orlando Army Air Base, Florida, 24 November 1943 Hammer Army Airfield, California, 28 January– 31 March 1944 Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, 1 July 1970 – 31 October 1972 P-70 Havoc, 1943–1944 YP-61 Black Widow, 1944 Operational - Replacement Training Units Notes This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/. Craven, Wesley F; the Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.

LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158. Maurer, Maurer, ed.. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556. Mueller, Robert. Air Force Bases, Vol. I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-53-6. Retrieved 17 December 2016. Pape, Garry R.. Northrop P-61 Black Widow: The Complete History and Combat Record. Minneapolis, MN: Motorbooks International. ISBN 978-0-879385-09-5. Ravenstein, Charles A.. Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9. Retrieved 17 December 2016

Charles O'Neill was a Canadian bandmaster, organist and music educator of Scottish birth and Irish parentage. Although he wrote many symphonic and choral works, the majority of his compositional output was devoted to band music. Born in Duntocher to Irish parents, O'Neill began his musical training in the piano as a young child, he studied the organ with Albert Lister Peace in Glasgow and music theory with Archibald Evans in London. From 1897 to 1901 he serves as organist at Grimsby and was a cornet player in a local band in that city. In 1901 O'Neill moved to the United States, settling first in Boston, Massachusetts and in New York City in 1903, he moved again in 1905 to Kingston, Ontario in Canada, where he played in the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery Band as a cornet soloist. In 1908 he returned to England to receive training as a bandmaster for at the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall through the support of the Canadian Department of National Defence. After earning a diploma from the RMSM in 1909, O'Neill returned to Canada in 1910 to succeed Joseph Vézina in the post of music director of the Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery Band at the Citadelle of Quebec.

He obtained the rank of captain in 1919. While directing the band he pursued further studies in music composition and theory with Herbert Sanders in Ottawa and entered the music program at McGill University, he earned a Bachelor of Music degree from McGill in 1914. Ten years he earned a Doctor of Music from McGill with an emphasis in composition, he composed his largest work, the cantata The Ancient Mariner for chorus and orchestra, for his doctoral exercise. In 1922 O'Neill was appointed the director of the band of the newly formed Royal 22nd Regiment; the band was selected as the featured band of the 1927 Canadian National Exhibition, he conducted the Composite Permanent Force Band of Canada at the CNE in 1930. He served as an adjudicator at the CNE from 1923 on. In 1928 he was a co-adjudicator with John Philip Sousa and Edwin Franko Goldman at the US State and National Band Contests, he was the vice president of the Dominion College of Music during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1933 to 1934 O'Neill served as the president of the American Bandmasters Association.

From 1935 to 1937 he was the conductor of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's orchestra in Quebec. He worked as a guest conductor with several orchestras in Canada and the United States. In 1937 he was a guest conductor at the coronation of George VI of the United Kingdom in London. O'Neill resigned from his post with the Royal 22nd Regiment in 1937 in order to take a position on the faculty of the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam where he taught music composition and conducting through 1947, he served as the head of the school's music department from 1942 to 1947. During these years he served as the director of the summer music program and a summer school instructor at the University of Wisconsin. In 1948 O'Neill returned to Canada to join the music theory and composition faculty at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, he taught there until his retirement in 1954. He served as honorary president of the Canadian Band Association from 1960 to 1964.

He lived the remainder of his life in Quebec City and continued to compose up until his death in September, 1964 at the age of 82