title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Research shows that epigenetic changes can be observed in genes associated with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which coordinates the body's stress response system. The glucocorticoids, including cortisol, are neurohormones triggered by stress which trigger the "fight-or-flight" response which includes increased blood pressure and heart rate. NR3C1 is a gene that codes for glucocorticoid receptors. In rodent studies, it was found that the pups born to neglectful mothers showed increased methylation in the NR3C1 gene compared to those with high grooming mothers. Increased expression of this glucocorticoid receptor due to demethylation of the gene leads to a decrease in the offspring's stress response. Pups born to a low licking and grooming mother but raised by a high licking-grooming mother had less NR3C1 gene methylation thus lower stress levels. This shows that maternal grooming behavior is responsible for the changed methylation state of the glucocorticoid receptor. Findings show that the grooming is linked with demethylation of the NR3C1 gene, which increased glucocorticoid receptor expression resulting in decreased stress levels in the mice. These cross-fostered pups were found to be indistinguishable from the pups born and raised by neglectful mothers or high grooming mothers. In animal models, maternal stress and trauma during pregnancy has been shown to reduce the expression of placental enzyme 11B-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11 β-HSD2), which converts the mother's cortisol to inactive cortisone. This leads to increased fetal exposure to the mother's glucocorticoids, which affects the development of glucocorticoid-sensitive systems like the HPA axis. In some studies, abnormal cortisol levels compared to controls and alterations in DNA methylation were observed in infants of mothers who endured trauma while pregnant, particularly in the NR3C1 glucocorticoid receptor gene.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Another major way that stress can be transmitted across generations biologically is through the uterine environment. The gestational stage is a developmentally sensitive stage in an individual's lifespan. Exposure to harmful stimuli during this stage can have long-lasting, detrimental effects. The uterine environment with its unique blend of the mother's cellular secretions and proteins is a major source of stimuli. Empirical evidence has shown that trauma experienced by a mother during pregnancy can affect offspring's physiology and psychology. One possible method of transmission is through transport vesicles transferring amino acids and microRNA from the uterine fluid to the fetus. These molecules may then alter gene expression in a way that affects the developmental trajectory of the fetus. Hormones such as leptin and insulin, as well as nutrients, trigger the regulation of amino acid transporters in the placenta. Amino acid transport is necessary for fetal growth, and its restriction can have life-long effects on the offspring's health. Amino acid transport is also regulated by DNA methylation of amino acid transporter genes, modifying their expression in the placenta throughout the fetus's development. There are questions of whether transmission occurs via maternal care or in utero changes, or perhaps both. A study by Alhassen et al. found that mothers who were exposed to a predator's scent, thus inducing stress, were more likely to rear pups who expressed depressive-like behaviors and social deficits. However, non-traumatized mothers' maternal care was not sufficient enough to reverse prenatal trauma-induced behavior.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Trauma-induced behavior in female mice mothers was also linked to changes in the brain metabotranscriptome of their offspring, which were significantly different from the pups from mothers who did not experience trauma. The study finds that a large upregulation in 2-hydroxyglutaric acid in pups and adults exposed to trauma prenatally induces changes in epigenetic mechanisms and mitochondrial function. In their model, 2-hydroxyglutaric acid is upregulated due to hypoxic conditions prenatally, as the mother during her fight-or-flight response has less oxygen delivered to the pups. Researchers were able to counteract long-term intergenerational trauma-induced depression using acetyl-L-carnitine, which counteracts the prenatal modifications in many mechanisms which stem from hypoxia.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: There have been animal studies reporting the link between adverse childhood experiences and epigenetic modifications.  Although, these studies were in animal models, they study epigenetic mechanisms that may occur in humans. Three of those and their findings are mentioned below: Similar to the study above, reduced methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene was found in the offspring of high-licking canine mothers. In contrast, offspring that face early adversity exhibit endocrine dysregulation, as well as reductions in neuronal plasticity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) that persist into adulthood. Another study provides evidence of increased methylation of stress-response genes including brain-derived neurotrophic factor and nuclear protein phosphate-1 in neurons in rats who exhibit PTSD-like behavior. And one particular study, McGowan et al., the "subject group was suicide completers, which reported that childhood abuse was associated with greater methylation levels at CpG sites in the exon1F of the promoter region of the glucocorticoid receptor gene." This study examined epigenetic modifications in neurons but did not provide insight into links of adverse childhood experiences and epigenetic modifications.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Research has also been conducted on mothers who were pregnant on 9/11. Cortisol levels between pregnant mothers who did not develop PTSD due to the event versus pregnant mothers who did develop PTSD indicate that the latter group had a decrease in cortisol levels. Furthermore, children of these mothers who developed PTSD also had lower cortisol levels. Low cortisol is previously known to increase the risk for PTSD, so the fact that both mother, after traumatic exposure, and the child, presumably due to maternal stress levels, had lower cortisol suggests some sort of epigenetic modification to cortisol levels was made during the traumatic event that was able to be passed down. It was also found that children whose mothers lived close to the World Trade Center had higher levels of stress agents in their saliva. Altogether these studies suggest an intergenerational transmission of trauma that creates a higher susceptibility to PTSD in the child due to lower cortisol levels. The development of PTSD due to parental PTSD was also studied in adult offspring of Holocaust survivors. Here, researchers also found a link between enhanced suppression of cortisol found via urinary samples and saliva samples and parental PTSD.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: The fetal environment is influenced by the maternal diet. This environmental history can cause the fetal developmental response to change to produce a metabolic phenotype that suits the anticipated environment.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Epigenetic effects of nutrition include the methylation of genes involved in energy metabolism, anti-inflammatory processes, and tumor suppression. Studies examine gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a condition where the mother experiences insulin resistance during pregnancy to avoid low blood glucose levels. This is a response to the shift of nutrients from the mother to the fetus. GDM results in maternal hyperglycemia, fetal hyperinsulinism, and fetal overnutrition.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: DNA methylation can act as the mechanism for the transmission of intergenerational trauma. Methylation typically takes place at relevant CpG islands and maintains its transcriptional repression effect across cell divisions, but can also be dynamically regulated. DNA methylation has been found to be significant in regulating fear memory via methylation of immediate early genes (IEGs) in the hippocampus dentate gyrus of mice models.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Histones can be modified via acetylation, methylation, phosphorylation, and SUMOylation. Acetyl and phosphate groups, which are modifiers typically associated with an upregulation of gene expression, attach onto lysine, serine, threonine, and tyrosine residues of histones. Methylation (on lysine or arginine residues) and ubiquitylation (on lysine residues of histones H2A and H2B) are associated with both activating and repressing genes. SUMO stands for small ubiquitin-like modifier and it binds to lysine residues. SUMOylation is widely associated with repression and is also typically found with other epigenetic modifiers. These histone modifications alter the structure of chromatin, thus affecting the transcription of the genes associated with the altered histones. Many post-translational modifications are affected by acute and chronic stress via glucocorticoid cascades.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Another pre-clinical study finds that the use of histone deacetylase inhibitors can aid in "exposure-based approaches in anxiety and trauma therapy". Histone deacetylase inhibitors block the deacetylation of histones, which then allows genes to remain active by preserving the active acetyl mark on the histone on the DNA. In the context of anxiety and trauma therapy, this allows the preservation of a long-term extinction memory that is able to replace the traumatic memory. Histone deacetylase inhibited the formation of an extinction memory which consequently preserved the fearful memory, and by inhibiting it individuals in exposure therapy are able to create new memories with harmless or safe associations to their traumatic memory.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Non-coding RNAs, or ncRNAs, have been seen altering gene expression and being responsive to traumatic stress. miRNAs, or micro RNAs, can be used to silence genes via the RISC complex. They are able to degrade mRNA targets thus repressing translation of a gene. In PTSD studies, miRNAs were found to be involved in responding to trauma. Some evidence also supports long non-coding RNA, lncRNA, and PIWI-interacting RNA, piRNA, being affected by trauma.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Post-transcriptional RNA modifications are generally known to alter the folding of RNA as well as their affinity for complementary strands. Not much is known about it and its role in altering gene expression post-trauma, but there has been evidence of contextual fear conditioning altering FTO mRNA, that encodes an RNA demethylase. This suggests RNA modifications may have been altered in response to this fear conditioning and may play a role in altering gene expression in response to trauma.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: There are many current transgenerational studies that have been done on adults that have experienced natural disasters or adversities. One study found that the children of torture victims showed more symptoms of anxiety, depression, post‐traumatic stress, attention deficits and behavioral disorders compared with the comparison group of those who had not experienced the specific trauma. A qualitative study was done on the Brazilian children of Holocaust survivors. This study was able to propose not only a supported model of the transgenerational transmission of traumatic experiences, but one also of resilience patterns that can be transmitted in between generations and developed within generations. According to Froma Walsh, Resilience Theory suggests that individuals' and families' responses to traumatic experiences is an ever-changing process that involves both exposure to challenges and the development of coping mechanisms that aide in one's ability to overcome such challenges. Regardless of risk, there also exists opportunities for the development of resilience via exposure to meaningful resources that support one's ability to overcome adversity. Researchers Cowan, Callaghan, & Richardson studied the impact of early-life adversities on individuals and their descendants. Their research was also consistent with the transmission theory, in which their findings revealed that the stress phenotype that was expressed in individuals who experienced the adversity was also observed in children and even grandchildren.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: The famous study of Harlow's monkeys also revealed that the adversity of a maternal variable which would create stress in the individual was also witnessed in their offspring although not having experienced the adversity. One last study displayed that if children were exposed to high postnatal maternal licking/grooming and arched-back nursing then they were likely to do the same to their offspring. Vice versa, if children experienced low LG-ABN mothers, then they were likely to provide the same to their offspring. Consequently, this causes a decrease in serotonin and expression, and an increase in methylation. Ultimately, a more stressed pup is created, causing this phenotype to be passed on through experience and genes.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Theses studies allude to the fact that oftentimes adversity, especially early on and for longer periods of time, can impact development in individuals and their offspring.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: The oppression that black people experienced through slavery and racism has a psychological impact on how they view achievement. In terms of the social aspects of this, seem to make it difficult for black people to surpass a certain SES threshold, to escape a certain neighborhood, to move beyond a certain lifestyle or status.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: For Native Americans, past government policy and internal displacements are theorized to have an effect generations later. The social enforcement of their ostracization causes them to be generally removed from society, to be powerless and uninvited in government, and to be left to fend for themselves. The transgenerational transmission of colonial trauma is also considered a contributing factor in the high rates of mental health difficulties Canadian Indigenous communities experience. Displacement and maltreatment during colonization had led to negative effects in the children of Indigenous peoples who survived such experiences. This is passed down generationally via ongoing social marginalization and lateral violence. The loss of Indigenous cultures and resulting lack of community cohesion poses a further challenge for Indigenous groups in resolving transgenerational trauma.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Because transgenerational trauma is a form of indirect traumatic exposure, it often goes unrecognized or is misdiagnosed by clinicians. Moreover, there is a general lack of trauma therapy specialists in the US, which significantly affects treatment accessibility. A lack of treatment accessibility can have several consequences such as health, behavioral, and social issues that may persist across an individual's lifespan.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: The experience of traumatic stress can modify cognitive, behavioral, and physiological functions, which can increase susceptibility to both mental and physical health issues. Because transgenerational trauma is a form of traumatic stress, it can increase risk for developing psychological disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, and substance use disorders.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Several therapy modalities have been found to be effective in treating various trauma and stress disorders, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive processing therapy, prolonged exposure, compassion focused therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and narrative therapy. Each of these therapies share similar components that are useful in addressing trauma, such as psychoeducation, emotion regulation and processing, cognitive processing and reconstruction, and trauma processing. Given that transgenerational trauma is a unique form of traumatic exposure, such therapy modalities can be effective in reducing its negative long-term effects. However, there are specific components of transgenerational trauma that must be addressed directly despite the modality of therapy chosen. Because the attachment relationship between parent or caregiver and child is a dominant mechanism through which transgenerational trauma is transmitted, treatment should focus on the importance familial and interpersonal patterns relative to the client, and utilize attachment-focused interventions.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Effective treatment for those experiencing transgenerational trauma also focuses on exploring, developing, and maintaining protective factors that can reduce the negative impact of transgenerational trauma. Some protective factors include fostering secure attachment between parent and child, as well as having access to several sources of support (i.e., family, peers, community). One treatment model that places focus on the parent-child relationship is the Intergenerational Trauma Treatment Model (ITTM). The model incorporates several features from existing empirically supported methods of treatment, such as trauma exposure, cognitive processing and reframing, stress management, and parent education. ITTM gives specific attention to the intergenerational nature of traumatic experiences and targets the parent's or caregiver's ability to respond to a child's traumatic experiences. Fostering secure attachment and a supportive home environment can mitigate the potential negative impact of transgenerational trauma.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Other less conventional modalities of therapy have also been found useful in addressing the negative impact of transgenerational trauma. Music therapy has been found to be an effective form of treatment for those who have witnessed or experienced a traumatic event. For example, music therapy has been successfully implemented with military personnel, traumatized refugees, and Holocaust survivors. Specifically, analytic music therapy (AMT) was found to be effective in facilitating a degree of healing through self-exploration that mitigates the negative impact of transgenerational trauma. Movement and dance therapy was also found to be effective in reducing trauma held within the body and its subsequent negative effects. Specifically, this therapy modality allows the therapist to directly decipher specific movement patterns and determine how to challenge any identified negative cognitive patterns. For example, experiences of trauma may be reflected in the particular movements of a client. Within these movement patterns, the therapist can interpret a client's means of emotional coping and work towards cultivating better emotion regulation through creative expression.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Outside the treatment modalities described, several tools and techniques were also found to be helpful in bringing awareness to the effects of transgenerational trauma, as well as decreasing its psychological impact. For example, the Transgenerational Script Questionnaire (TSQ) has been used to compliment psychotherapy sessions as a means of helping to develop consciousness of both the internal and external family system. The TSQ targets transgenerational scripts, which are unconscious systemic patterns that persist in families and groups, and are perpetuated through emotions, beliefs, and behaviors. These scripts are then used to explore a client's implicit and explicit perceptions about their family dynamic and system. In using the TSQ, the clinician can guide the client to separate their ancestors' experiences from their own. In more complex cases of intergenerational trauma, the Transgenerational Trauma and Resilience Genogram (TTRG) can help guide clinicians to better understand and assess the impact of such trauma. The TTRG targets the various components that contribute to the maintenance of transgenerational trauma by implementing an ecosystemic view of trauma, as well as attention to specific sociopolitical concerns. The TTRG maps out the family unit, marking those who have experienced trauma and their experience, as well as relationships between individuals, and patterns of functioning. This process allows for clinicians to better assess the origins and maintaining factors of an individual's experience of transgenerational trauma, which ultimately contributes to a more comprehensive conceptualization of treatment.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: In conceptualizing treatment for individuals experiencing transgenerational trauma, it is critical to take into account the ways in which various cultural factors impact how different treatments may be received or perceived. Although the mechanisms through which transgenerational trauma are consistent across cultures, there are variations in the degree of salience regarding sociocultural factors that may exacerbate the effects of transgenerational trauma in different marginalized communities. Additionally, therapists must incorporate a culturally responsive perspective to whichever modality of therapy they chose to implement. It is imperative for therapists to focus on establishing a concrete basis of trust and safety within the therapeutic relationship, as several minoritized groups who have transgenerational trauma may have developed significant mistrust within interpersonal interactions, as well as mistrust of larger organizations or institutions.


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Professor of genetics and neuroscience Kevin Mitchell argues that a mechanism for transgenerational trauma is implausible, and that many have looked at it as a "get out of genetics free card", adding "I think people don't like the idea, some people anyway, that we are born with certain predispositions that are hard to change". Mitchell says that experiences are expressed through changes in human neuroanatomy, not patterns of gene expression. He says that scientists in this area have contributed to the misleading research in this area: "There is a hype industry around science, which I think is corrosive. And I think scientists are willing participants in it in a way that I find more and more distasteful the older I get, because it does a massive disservice cumulatively to how science is understood by the general public because we have this constant hype".


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: Biologist Ewan Birney criticised a paper entitled "Holocaust Exposure Induced Intergenerational Effects on FKBP5 Methylation" which used a sample size of 32 people to back its claim that children of Holocaust survivors showed evidence of inherited stress. He argues that "It is particularly difficult to show true trans-generational inheritance in humans" and thus it is hard to prove that trans-generational epigenetic inheritance can apply to mammals commonly due to the numerous factors including "complex societal forces that persist over time".


title: Transgenerational trauma

text: "Time, trauma, and the brain: How suicide came to have no significant precipitating event" published in June 2021 by Stephanie Lloyd and Alexandre Larivée discusses the framing with which we have and continue to discuss trauma and its consequences within scientific communities. Particularly with the research done in epigenetics, trauma has been reframed as biochemical deviations from a perceived normal individual due to a traumatic event which then put individuals at higher risk for symptoms of trauma, such as high stress. Deviations from supposed normal and healthy levels are seen as deficits and dysfunctions, further decentering the individual's consciousness and highlighting their ailing body. These observations underline how the definition of trauma has shifted and changed with time and now is hyper-focused on the body's supposed deficits and predispositions rather than the individual's consciousness and experiences.


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan is the third studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on September 29, 1987 by EMI Manhattan. Due to prior obligations resulting in temporary personnel changes following the band's formation in 1983, "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan" is the only studio album to feature all four founding members of the band on every track: vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons. This is also the last album with Slovak before his death from a drug overdose in 1988, and the only full-length album to feature Irons. "Fight Like a Brave" was released as the album's only single, although "Me and My Friends" received minor radio airplay. In 1992, "Behind the Sun" was released as a single and music video to promote "What Hits!?".


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: The album features the band's signature funk rock musical style, but also is influenced by reggae and heavy metal. For the album, the Red Hot Chili Peppers recruited new producer Michael Beinhorn, who encouraged the members to expand their musical horizons in order to create a more diverse work. Bass player Flea later referred to the album as "the 'rockingest' record" the band has ever made.


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: The album was much more successful than its predecessors, both critically and commercially, and was the band's first album to enter the "Billboard" 200, where it charted at number 148. Although "Uplift"'s follow-up "Mother's Milk" would reach Gold first, "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan" would go on to become the band's earliest effort to do so. Following the tour to promote the album, Slovak died of a heroin overdose, and shortly thereafter, Irons decided to leave the band, unable to cope with his friend's death.


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: After Red Hot Chili Peppers signed a record deal with EMI in 1983, founding members Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons left the group to focus on their group What Is This?, which had also signed a record deal. Vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea hired Jack Sherman as guitarist and Cliff Martinez as drummer, and established themselves as a prominent funk rock band with their 1984 debut album "The Red Hot Chili Peppers". Disappointed with the results of the production, Kiedis and Flea replaced Sherman with Slovak, who had quit his band, What Is This?, several weeks earlier. The group's George Clinton-produced second album, "Freaky Styley" (1985), was Slovak's first studio album with the band. In early 1986, the band began work on their upcoming album, and EMI gave the Chili Peppers a budget of $5,000 to record a demo tape. The band chose to work with producer and former Public Image Ltd. guitarist Keith Levene, because he shared the members' interest in drugs. Levene and Slovak put aside $2,000 of the budget to spend on drugs without telling the rest of the group, which created tension between the members. Martinez' "heart was no longer in the band", but he did not quit, so Kiedis and Flea fired him. After the firing of Martinez, original drummer Jack Irons rejoined the band, which marked the first time all four founding members were together since 1983.


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: Both Kiedis and Slovak struggled with debilitating heroin addictions, which grew worse as the band was preparing to record "Uplift". Due to his addiction, Kiedis lacked the motivation to contribute to the band musically, and appeared at rehearsal "literally asleep." He was asked to leave the band in order to undergo drug rehabilitation. During that time, the band won the "LA Weekly" Band of the Year award, prompting Kiedis to quit using heroin cold turkey. He visited his mother in Michigan for guidance, who drove him to drug rehabilitation immediately after picking him up from the airport upon seeing his unhealthy appearance. He checked into Salvation Army rehabilitation clinic in Grand Rapids, an experience which he initially detested until he noted that the other people in the clinic were understanding of his struggles and were trying to help him. He moved in with his mother after 20 days at the clinic, a time which marked the first time he was completely abstinent from drugs since he was 11 years old. After Kiedis completed his stint in rehab, he felt a "whole new wave of enthusiasm" due to his sobriety and wrote the lyrics to a new song entitled "Fight Like a Brave" on the flight home. He rejoined the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Los Angeles to record the group's next album.


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: While Kiedis was in rehab, the band sought a new producer for their next album. Aspiring producer Michael Beinhorn was looking for work at EMI Records after several unsuccessful projects on other labels, when a man working at EMI approached Beinhorn and suggested that he work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as "no one [knew] what to do with them". Beinhorn recalled of the situation, saying, "Though their music all seemed kind of abstract, there was definitely an excitement to it. I thought they needed a lot of arrangement help ... I also quickly learned that [executives] at the record label actually hated the Chili Peppers, like openly reviled them so bad that they didn't even want them to succeed. It was the weirdest thing." He contacted the band to meet up, and instead of arranging a formal meeting, the band proposed to meet him at a club in New Orleans called Tipitina's. Beinhorn was impressed by the band's originality and its non-conformist attitude; as a result, he decided to work with the band. Kiedis then sat down with Beinhorn to discuss the album's recording; Kiedis planned to record the album in ten days and write the songs during the recording sessions.


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: The album was recorded in Capitol Studios Studio B on the ground floor of the Capitol Records Building in Hollywood. Although Kiedis had recently become clean, his withdrawal symptoms increased; therefore, this affected his musical contributions to the group. After fifty days of sobriety, Kiedis decided to take drugs again as a one-time attempt to celebrate his new music, which caused his resumed addiction. The recording process for the album became difficult, as Kiedis would often disappear to seek drugs. Beinhorn recalled that "There were points in pre-production where I really thought the record wasn't gonna get made." Kiedis felt "excruciating pain and guilt and shame" whenever he'd miss a recording session, so he tried writing lyrics and searching for drugs all at once; although the band was so upset about his drug use and frequent disappearances, they were impressed with his musical output at the time.


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: Kiedis's drug use disrupted the early recording process, but the band still had such an enjoyable time recording the album. They were musically inspired by the rejoining of their original drummer Jack Irons, which added "such an important and different element to [their] chemistry." Beinhorn encouraged the band to expand their musical horizons on the album; although the band was initially uncomfortable stepping out of their comfort zone, the members began thinking that Beinhorn was helping them produce their best work. Slovak helped Kiedis record his vocals on the album. In between takes, Slovak ran around the studio out of excitement and said, "This is the most beautiful thing we've ever done." He reflected on his deep connection to the album in his diary, saying, "It was so fun. I'm so extremely proud of everybody's work—it is at times genius." During a jam session, the guitarist created a melodic riff which differed greatly in style from the band's previous work. While Slovak nearly abandoned the riff out of fear that it was too much of a departure stylistically, Beinhorn saw potential in the new melody-based style and encouraged the guitar player to turn the short tune into a full song. While the band was skeptical at first, all members began writing their own musical parts, and the song became one of the album's three singles, "Behind the Sun".


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: In the book "Give It Away: The Stories Behind Every Song", author Rob Fitzpatrick writes "As far as sheer power goes, "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan" is the Chili Peppers at their most virile, most chest-beating, most unabashedly macho." However, Kiedis recalls that during the composition of the album, Beinhorn encouraged him to step away from his improvisational speed-rap style in favor of slower, crooning vocals. At the time, Kiedis was very uncomfortable with his singing voice, and felt that the new style was "sappy". Kiedis also observed that guitarist Hillel Slovak's playing evolved during his time away from the group in What Is This?, and that Slovak had adopted a more fluid style featuring "sultry" elements as opposed to his original hard rock techniques.


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: On "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan", Slovak experimented with genres outside of traditional funk music including reggae and speed metal. His melodic riff featured in the song "Behind the Sun" inspired the group to create "pretty" songs with an emphasis on melody. Kiedis describes the song as "pure Hillel inspiration". Slovak also used a talk box on the song "Funky Crime", in which he would sing into a tube while playing to create psychedelic effects. Flea incorporated a "slap" bass style on the album, which would become a staple of the band's early work. "Backwoods" features a "loose, swinging groove" and a "sky-scraping" guitar solo. "Skinny Sweaty Man" contains a rapid tempo and has been described as "hardcore garage psychedelic funkabilly", while "No Chump Love Sucker" displays punk rock and thrash influences. The album also features a cover of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues", which abandons nearly all of the original song's folk stylistics in favor of the band's signature funk-rock leanings.


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: The majority of the lyrics in the album focus on friendships between the band members, sex, and life in Los Angeles. The reunion of the four original members of the group had a great influence over the lyrics; Kiedis explained that "a lot of the jubilation in the lyrics of that record are about being united." Kiedis was also inspired by personal experiences of himself and rest of the band members. During the recording of "Freaky Styley", Kiedis and Slovak indulged in heavy cocaine use. When Slovak was under the influence, he would often wear brightly colored clothing and dance in a "shuffling" fashion, which became the inspiration for the song "Skinny Sweaty Man" from "Uplift". The song "No Chump Love Sucker" was also inspired by Slovak; during the recording of the album, Slovak had been "left high and dry" by a girlfriend who left him for someone who had "more money and more drugs". The song served as a revenge song against "that type of evil, materialistic woman."


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: "Funky Crime" was reflective of a conversation between the band and George Clinton while writing and recording "Freaky Styley". Kiedis described the song as a lyrical description of the conversation, about how music itself is "color-blind" but is "segregated by the media and radio based on their perceptions of the artists." Kiedis wrote "Me and My Friends", a song which "came together nicely", while driving home from San Francisco with his childhood friend Joe Walters. "Backwoods" details the history of rock and roll. Kiedis said that "Love Trilogy" became one of the group's all-time favorite songs; it is about "loving the things that aren't necessarily perfect or always lovable". He explained that "For years, whenever someone would question our lyrics, Flea would say, 'Read 'Love Trilogy' and you'll know what real lyrics are all about.'"


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: EMI originally refused to release the album unless the Chili Peppers changed the name of the song "Party on Your Pussy"; the band subsequently renamed the song "Special Secret Song Inside". "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan" was released on September 29, 1987 and peaked at number 148 on the "Billboard" 200, which was far more successful than any of the band's previous releases. It was the band's first album to enter the "Billboard" 200, and has since been certified Gold in the United States. The band filmed a music video for the album's lead single, "Fight Like a Brave", but the song failed to make an impact on any "Billboard" charts. "Behind the Sun" was not released as a single until 1992, after the band had released two subsequent albums, "Mother's Milk" and "Blood Sugar Sex Magik". The single, which was released to promote the Chili Peppers' "What Hits!?" compilation album, peaked at number 7 on the "Billboard" Alternative Songs chart.


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: The album also helped the Red Hot Chili Peppers earn a dedicated cult fanbase in Los Angeles. One of these fans was John Frusciante, who would later join the band as guitarist after Slovak's death. Frusciante recalled: "The first time I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers live was at the Variety Arts Center, and that was really amazing ... They were going for this real hard sound. Hillel was doing all this awesome feedback and stuff. It was the most magical experience I ever had in the experience of a show." Frusciante based a lot of his playing style on Slovak's work, and explained, "I learned everything I needed to know about how to sound good with Flea by studying Hillel's playing and I just took it sideways from there."


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: The album received mixed reviews from critics upon its release. Duncan Strauss of the "Los Angeles Times" described the album as "hit-and-miss"; while he praised the "tender tunefulness" of "Behind the Sun", he felt that the majority of the songs "wear pretty thin pretty fast, further suggesting that this is a band that's in command on stage—but in trouble in the studio." Bill Meredith of AllMusic observed that "the energy of having these four friends from Los Angeles back together jumps out of the opening anthem 'Fight Like a Brave' and the experimental 'Funky Crime' ... Slovak and Irons brought things to the Chili Peppers that no one else ever has." Blaine Sayers of "Consequence of Sound" praised Slovak's guitar work on the album, saying that "Slovak proves with these tracks that he was not just a funk guitarist, but he could rock with the best thrash metal bands of the 80s as well." In "The Rolling Stone Album Guide" (2004), Greg Kot was less impressed, writing that the album was a minor improvement over the band's last two efforts, but felt that the group's offbeat humor detracted from the album: "The California quartet brings a modicum of structure to "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan", but their humor—as their famous 'party on your pussy' chorus demonstrates—wouldn't merit an audience in a high-school locker room."


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: The band embarked on an extensive international tour to promote the album. The Chili Peppers noted that during the tour, their fan base had rapidly increased both in size and enthusiasm. Kiedis recalled "During the "Uplift" tour I remember actually feeling a change taking place not just in the amount of people showing up at the gigs but the intensity of the fan base." Flea added that "We were in love with those songs and how much fun we were having playing them."


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: Despite the band's new enthusiasm, Kiedis and Slovak continued to struggle with their worsening drug addictions. Both Kiedis and Slovak stopped using heroin prior to the tour and decided to help each other "steer clear" of the drug. During the tour both experienced intense heroin withdrawal, with Slovak much more unstable than Kiedis. His withdrawal symptoms took a toll on his ability to play his instrument; at one point Slovak had a mental breakdown and was unable to play a show, leaving the rest of the band to play an entire set with no guitar. He recovered a few days later, but his bandmates felt he was not healthy enough to perform and replaced Slovak with DeWayne McKnight for a few shows. After a few days with McKnight, the band decided to give Slovak another chance, and he rejoined for the European leg of the tour. Kiedis attempted to take Slovak to drug addiction counseling, but Slovak had difficulty admitting that his addiction was serious enough to require medical help.


title: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan

text: Upon returning home, Slovak isolated himself from the rest of his bandmates, and struggled to resist the drug without the mutual support provided by his friends, Kiedis in particular. A few weeks after the band returned from the tour, the members attempted to get in contact with Slovak, but were unable to find him for several days. Slovak was found dead by police in his Hollywood apartment on June 27, 1988. During his autopsy, authorities determined that he had died on June 25, 1988 due to a heroin overdose. Irons subsequently left the group, saying that he did not want to be part of a group where his friends were dying. Kiedis and Flea debated whether they should continue making music, ultimately deciding to move ahead, hoping to continue what Slovak "helped build". The two recruited eighteen-year-old guitarist John Frusciante, who was a fan of the group and idolized Slovak. To replace Irons, the group held a lengthy open audition process, and eventually chose drummer Chad Smith.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: Thomas Rolfe (January 30, 1615 – ) was the only child of Matoaka (Pocahontas) and her English husband, John Rolfe. His maternal grandfather was Chief Wahunsenacawh (or Powhatan), the leader of the Powhatan tribe in Virginia.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: Thomas Rolfe was born in the English colony of Virginia to John Rolfe and his wife, Matoaka, in January 1615. It is believed he was born at the Rolfe family plantation, Varina, in what was then the corporation of James Cittie. Rolfe's birth was recorded as the first time a child was born to a Native American woman and a European man in the history of Virginia. In 1616 John Rolfe and Matoaka accompanied Governor Sir Thomas Dale on a trip to England to promote the Colony of Virginia, they sailed aboard the "Treasurer" captained by Samuel Argall, arriving at Plymouth, England on 12 June 1616. Less than two years of age, Thomas Rolfe accompanied his parents on this voyage.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: In March 1617, the Rolfe family had boarded ship, preparing to set sail back to Virginia, when Rebecca (Matoaka) was taken seriously ill and died. They disembarked at Gravesend in Kent, where Matoaka was buried. Thomas was sick as well, and fearing he would not survive the sea journey home, John Rolfe appointed Sir Lewis Stukley as his guardian on 21 March 1617. Grieving for his wife and worried for the life of his son, John Rolfe was persuaded by Admiral Argall and other members of the party to continue the voyage. Father and son would never see each other again. John Rolfe, Tomocomo, the governor and other surviving Native Americans returned to Virginia. Stuckley later transferred custody and care of Thomas Rolfe to his uncle, Henry Rolfe.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: After returning to Virginia, John Rolfe married a third time, to Jane Pierce, and gave Thomas a younger half-sister, Elizabeth.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: Paramount Chief Wahunsenacawh, better known as Chief Powhatan, the grandfather of Thomas, died in 1618, happy in the knowledge that he had a living grandson in England.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: John Rolfe wrote his will on March 10, 1622 and died not long after that. In his will John appointed his father in law, William Pierce, as executor of his estate and guardian of his 2 children, Thomas and Elizabeth.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: In October 1622, Henry Rolfe petitioned the Council of Virginia, claiming entitlement to a portion of John Rolfe's land for maintenance of Thomas Rolfe. Thomas remained in his uncle's care until he reached roughly 21 years of age. Sometime before June 1635 Thomas returned to Virginia, his transportation paid for by his Virginia guardian and grandfather by marriage, William Pierce. This is known with certainty because Pierce patented land on June 22, 1635, claiming headright for the transportation of 40 individuals, including Thomas Rolfe. There is no further mention of his whereabouts or doings until 1641.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: Once established in Virginia again, Thomas Rolfe fostered both his reputation as a plantation owner and member of his mother's lineage.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: As Rolfe was a child of a white settler and a Native American woman, some aspects of his life were particularly controversial. He expressed interest in rekindling relations with his Native American relatives, despite societal ridicule and colonial laws that forbade such contact. In 1641, Rolfe petitioned the governor for permission to visit his "aunt, Cleopatra, and his kinsman Opecanaugh".


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: Rolfe married Jane Poythress, the daughter of Captain Francis Poythress, a prosperous landowner in Virginia. Their daughter, Jane Rolfe, was born at Varina Plantation, Charles City County, Virginia, on October 10, 1650. There is no record of any other children, and no record of any other marriages for Thomas Rolfe.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: According to his father's will, both Thomas and Elizabeth, his half-sister, received named land. There is no extant proof that some land came from the Native Americans. However Native Americans did not have the same concept of land ownership as the white settlers. There is no mention of former Native American land in John Rolfe's will; however, John Rolfe names Thomas as the rightful heir of all his land, profits and any royalties pertaining to such land.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: There were rumors in 1618 that when Thomas came of age, he would inherit a sizable portion of Powhatan territory; this information was transmitted through Argall to London, stating, "'Opechanano and the Natives have given their Country to Rolfe's Child and that they will reserve it from all others till he comes of yeares..." (Mossiker). There is no extant documentation that when Thomas arrived in Virginia in 1640, the land was recorded as "Varina," his patrimonial property sixteen miles below Richmond.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: Thomas's step-grandfather, named Captain William Peirce, received a grant of 2000 acres of land on June 22, 1635, for the "transportation of 40 persons among whom was Thomas Rolfe". He then listed Thomas as heir to his father's land. Prior to March 1640, Thomas took possession of this land which was located on the lower side of the James River.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: Thomas also inherited a tract of some 150 acres on June 10, 1654, in Surry County, across from Jamestown; the land was described in a later deed as "Smith's Fort old field and the Devil's Woodyard swamp being due unto the said Rolfe by Gift from the Indian King".


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: The year after the 1644 Native American attack on the colony, four forts were established to defend the frontier: Fort Henry, Fort Royal, Fort James, and Fort Charles. Fort James was to be under the command of Thomas Rolfe as lieutenant as of October 5, 1646. He was given six men, and was instructed to fight against the Native Americans—his own people;


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: Then, on October 6, 1646, Thomas was put in charge of building a fort at Moysonec, for which he received of land. This fort was located on the west side of Diascund Creek.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: Several years later, Rolfe patented 525 acres on August 8, 1653, "...lying upon the North side of Chickahominy river commonly called and known by the name of James fort...", apparently including the 400 acres he had received in 1646. This James Fort land was re patented by William Browne on April 23, 1681. The tract was described in the patent as "formerly belonging to Mr Thomas Rolfe, dec'd", thus establishing that Rolfe had died before that date.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: The last recorded mention of Thomas Rolfe exists in a land patent from September 16, 1658. While some sources claim that Thomas died in 1680, others claim that the exact year is unknown. Some evidence purports that Thomas Rolfe died in James City County, Virginia; however the records of the county were destroyed in 1685 during a fire.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: Rolfe's daughter, Jane Rolfe, married Robert Bolling of Prince George County, Virginia; the couple's son, John Bolling, was born on January 27, 1676. Jane Rolfe is said to have died shortly after giving birth. John Bolling married Mary Kennon, daughter of Richard Kennon and Elizabeth Worsham of Conjurer's Neck. John and Mary Bolling had six surviving children, each of whom married and had surviving children.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: The Sedgeford Hall Portrait, now in King's Lynn Town Hall, once believed to represent Matoaka and her son Thomas Rolfe, has been re-identified as being Pe-o-ka, wife of the Seminole leader Osceola, and their son.


title: Thomas Rolfe

text: The birth of Thomas Rolfe, as he was both of European and Native American descent, reinstated peace between the Powhatans and the European settlements. Early in his career as deputy governor, Argall reported in a letter published within the Virginia Company Records that Powhatan "goes from place to place visiting his country taking his pleasure in good friendship with us laments his daughter's death but glad her child is living so doth Opachank".


title: Nick Searcy

text: Nicholas Alan Searcy (born March 7, 1959) is an American character actor best known for portraying Chief Deputy United States Marshal Art Mullen on FX's "Justified". He also had a major role in the Tom Hanks–produced miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" as Deke Slayton, and directed "", a film released on October 12, 2018.


title: Nick Searcy

text: Nicholas Alan Searcy was born in Cullowhee, North Carolina. He is a graduate of Cullowhee High School. He then briefly attended the North Carolina School of the Arts and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in English in the summer of 1982.


title: Nick Searcy

text: From 1982 to 1989, Searcy lived in New York where he did Off-Broadway plays. Some of these included "Guys and Dolls", "Cabaret" and "Jesus Christ Superstar". When he moved back to North Carolina, he began to act in features that were shooting locally. Small parts in "Days of Thunder" (1990) and "The Prince of Tides" led to the role of the malicious Frank in "Fried Green Tomatoes" (1991).


title: Nick Searcy

text: Searcy has appeared in several television series. He had a recurring role as Brett on "Thunder Alley", was a series regular on "American Gothic" and guest starred on "Murder One" and "Nash Bridges" with Don Johnson. He was a regular character on the UPN series "Seven Days" from 1998 to 2001, and played Barry Martin on the ABC series "Rodney", which starred Rodney Carrington, from 2004 to 2006. He has also starred in several TV movies, including "" (1994), "Stolen Innocence" (1995). In 2014 he appeared in the CBS drama "Intelligence".


title: Nick Searcy

text: In the summer of 1996, Searcy produced, directed and acted in his independent feature, "Paradise Falls" (1997), written by Sean Bridgers, and they won the Southeastern Media Award at the Atlanta Film Festival, the Hollywood Discovery Award at the Hollywood Film Festival for Best Feature Film (Under $1 Million) and Best Dramatic Feature at the Charleston, S.C., 1997 WorldFest. Since then, he has appeared in films such as "Cast Away" (2000), "One Hour Photo" (2002), "Runaway Jury" (2003), "The Assassination of Richard Nixon" (2005), "The Ugly Truth" (2009), "Greater" (2016), "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" (2017) and "The Shape of Water" (2017).


title: Nick Searcy

text: In 2015, Searcy was named the director of the movie "", a true crime drama based on convicted infant murderer Kermit Gosnell.


title: Nick Searcy

text: Searcy resides in Southern California with his wife, actress Leslie Riley, and their two children, Chloe and Omar.


title: Nick Searcy

text: Searcy is an outspoken conservative; his political and interpersonal behavior on social media, such as Twitter, has been highlighted in several news outlets. Searcy has stated, "I know people have feelings. That's why I try to hurt them."


title: Nick Searcy

text: In 2013, Searcy mocked Sean Penn's political views upon the death of Penn's friend dictator Hugo Chavez. Later that year, he responded to professional wrestler Kevin Nash's remarks on the Affordable Healthcare Act by calling him an "ass-kissing statist". In 2014, Searcy responded to several individuals in a discussion of same-sex marriage and incest, during which he mocked individuals and journalists on the basis of their weight, after they had called him and other Republicans "racist." Searcy also routinely ridiculed people because of their weight in 2015, again in response to their charges that those who opposed Democratic policies were "racist". Searcy was also noted for his criticism of Donald Trump in 2016, and reported that friends were angry at him for jokes he made about the presidential candidate at the time. Searcy reported, "I have trouble finding this election anything other than ridiculous." In 2017, he expressed uncertainty over whether he has lost work due to his political views.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: Da Vinci's Demons is a historical fantasy drama series that presents a fictional account of Leonardo da Vinci's early life. The series was conceived by David S. Goyer and stars Tom Riley in the title role. It was developed and produced in collaboration with BBC Worldwide and was shot in Wales. The series has been distributed to over 120 countries.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: The show follows Leonardo as he is implicated in the political schemes of the Medici and Pazzi families and their contrasting relationships with the Catholic Church. These events occur alongside Leonardo's quest to obtain a mystical text called the "Book of Leaves", which leads him to become entangled with a cult known as the Sons of Mithras.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: The series premiered in the United States on Starz on 12 April 2013, and its second season premiered on 22 March 2014. The series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on 24 October 2015. On 23 July 2015, Starz announced that the third season would be the show's last. However, Goyer has left it open for a miniseries return.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: A fictionalised story based on historical persons, the series explores the early life of Leonardo da Vinci during the Renaissance in Italy. He is an eccentric genius who has struggled to deal with his inner demons and unruly imagination, as he yearns for acceptance from his estranged father. Their sometimes antagonistic relationship results in Leonardo's working for the House of Medici. While doing so, he becomes embroiled in a political scheme to control Florence, as he hunts for a spy who is revealing information to the Catholic Church and the Pazzi family. He also begins an affair with Lucrezia Donati, Lorenzo de' Medici's mistress. The series depicts many of Leonardo's inventions and subsequent works as a military engineer for the Duke of Milan and the Borgias.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: These events coincide with Leonardo's quest to uncover the "Book of Leaves", which a mysterious cult known as the Sons of Mithras also consider very important. Mystics and the cult guided him to unlock the 'hidden areas of his mind' by accessing the "Fountain of Memory", and inform him that he has the power to see the future and also to shape it.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: In terms of historical accuracy, the show is highly fictionalized, and this is already (and deliberately) made explicit the first episode, playing 1475–1476 (persecution for sodomy 1476; before the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478), when potatoes and tobacco (this one even in the very first dialog) are presented as something commonplace – 15 years before America was even discovered. Likewise, Mithraism had already fully disappeared during Late Antiquity.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: Tom Riley was the first actor to be cast in the series, as "The Hollywood Reporter" announced he had landed the role as Leonardo da Vinci. Goyer and managing director Carmi Zlotnik revealed he was cast as he could portray the character with many dimensions that would appeal to a worldwide audience. They later reported that Laura Haddock had been cast in the female lead as Lucrezia Donati.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: The series has marked the first collaboration between Starz and BBC Worldwide following a new production agreement. Fox International Channels picked up the series for global distribution. The show was created by Goyer, who directed the first two episodes and wrote several others along writers such as Scott Gimple, Brian Nelson and Joe Ahearne.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: Filming for the series took place in the United Kingdom, at Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot and Margam Castle in Wales. A studio in Swansea Gate Business Park was also used and several sets were built to resemble 15th-century Florence. Annie Symons was brought on board as the lead costume designer. Bear McCreary composed the score for the series, and orchestrated the main theme to reflect Leonardo's use of mirror writing. Goyer had a scene in episode five depicting a kiss between Leonardo and Jacopo Saltarelli filmed in secret as he feared network interference.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: Goyer revealed to "USA Today" at the New York Comic Con that season two would also be set in South America and would feature Machu Picchu and the Inca Empire. Goyer claimed that this was justified by "new research" that has revealed Chinese and European explorers may have arrived in the New World earlier than was originally believed.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: There is widespread belief that Leonardo was primarily if not exclusively sexually attracted to and involved with men. Goyer acknowledged this and said that the show would not shy away from the subject. Riley cited that because the speculation exists it is something that should be honoured.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: In a later interview with the gay-interest website The Backlot, Riley expressed his hope that the episode addressed concerns about the show's depiction of Leonardo's sexuality in a way that is satisfactory and respectful to any historical beliefs.


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: Season 1 has received favourable reviews from critics. It holds a 63% approval rating on aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 32 collected critic reviews, with an average score of 6.1/10. The sites consensus reads: "Despite its preposterous plotting and lack of historical accuracy, "Da Vinci's Demons" is energetic, enjoyable escapist television." It also holds a Metacritic score of 62 out of 100, based on 27 critics reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Da Vinci's Demons

text: "Da Vinci's Demons" received three nominations for Outstanding Main Title Design, Outstanding Main Title Theme Music and Outstanding Special Visual Effects at the 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. The series won Main Title Design and Main Title Theme Music, but lost Visual Effects to the Cinemax series "Banshee".


title: Toby Turner

text: Toby Joseph Turner (born March 3, 1985), also known by his stage name Tobuscus, is an American Internet personality and actor. Originally from Niceville, Florida, he is best known for his YouTube videos. As of November 5, 2021, Turner has a total of over 14.33 million subscribers and over 3.867 billion video views over his three YouTube channels.


title: Toby Turner

text: Toby Joseph Turner was born on March 3, 1985 in Osborn, Mississippi and grew up in Niceville, Florida. He attended the University of Florida, and having an interest in filmmaking, graduated with a degree in telecommunication production. Turner's mother later took out a loan and bought him a video camera, an act he appreciated, as it helped begin his YouTube career.


title: Toby Turner

text: Toby Turner has grown to become a popular personality on YouTube, achieving his early notability through his Tobuscus channel, and later through his secondary vlogging channel, as well as his gaming channel. Turner's style of content is often extroverted, rambling, and energetic, but he always avoids using severe profanity and censors any explicit content due to his target audience.


title: Toby Turner

text: Aside from his channels, Turner also worked with Philip DeFranco on "Like Totally Awesome" (LTA) and "Cute Win Fail", after befriending and being employed by DeFranco. LTA was a gaming and review channel that ran during the late 2000s and early 2010s. In 2010, Turner signed with the multi-channel network Machinima, before switching to Maker Studios in July 2013.


title: Toby Turner

text: Toby Turner first joined YouTube on May 14, 2006, when he created a channel under the name of "Tobuscus". The first video that remains on the channel is a sketch based on the 2006 film "Click". One of Turner's earliest popular videos is "Don't Tase Me, Bro!", a remixed recording of the University of Florida Taser incident in which his classmate Andrew Meyer was stunned with a taser gun by a police officer. Interviewed about the video by MTV, Turner explained that, after watching the clip, "as soon as [he] heard [Andrew] yelling, [he] knew it would fit in a hip-hop song", and that he "wanted to give [Andrew] the profits" from sales of related merchandise. The Tobuscus channel has since continued to focus on comedic skits and animated sketches, achieving recognition for those such as "I Can Swing My Sword", "Safety Torch" and "Nugget In A Biscuit". Turner's "Literal Trailers" series is also one of his most popular, earning him mainstream recognition from "CBS News", who described his rendition of the "Dead Island" trailer as "amazing" and "hilarious", and "Wired", who praised Turner's "Literal Trailer" of "Iron Man 3".


title: Toby Turner

text: In April 2009, Turner began using his "TobyTurner" channel to upload daily unedited vlogs detailing his personal life, which he dubbed "lazy vlogs." In July 2010, Turner registered his fourth (third in use) YouTube channel under the name "TobyGames", designating it for a new series of comedic Let's Play videos. The channel has featured playthrough videos of numerous indie and AAA games since its inception, including the long-running "Minecraft" and "Happy Wheels" series.


title: Toby Turner

text: In addition to producing his own original content over three channels, Turner has worked together with a wide range of other YouTube personalities on various projects. In 2009 he performed a guitar collaboration with Joe Penna (MysteryGuitarMan) using two separate videos played simultaneously; in 2010 he made an appearance on the fifth episode of "The Annoying Orange", titled "A Cheesy Episode"; in early 2011 he worked with iJustine on a number of "LittleBigPlanet 2" Let's Play videos; since 2011 he has worked on many projects with Jack Douglass, including parody "Tobjackscus", sketch "Dubstep Tobuscus", and music videos "Take Off Your Clothes (Like Scarlett Johansson)", "Razors in Your Apple (On Halloween)", and "The Valentine's Day Song"; and in 2012 he starred in a short with Olga Kay entitled "Olga Kay Goes Haywire"., as well as starring in an episode of the YouTube series, "Retarded Policeman". Tobuscus has also appeared alongside notable celebrities on several occasions, including the music video for the song "Whistle While I Work It", featuring Chester See and Wayne Brady, as well as starring in a three-parter YouTube series "Terminator Genisys: The YouTube Chronicles" to promote the film "Terminator Genisys". A range of well-known personalities were involved in the series, including Arnold Schwarzenegger himself, and YouTube stars such as Lilly Singh, Olga Kay, Sean Klitzner, Epic Lloyd, The Warp Zone, and Kevin Lieber.


title: Toby Turner

text: Aside from these works, Turner has also presented a web series called "CuteWinFail", created by Turner and co-produced with Philip DeFranco and his production company FishBowl Worldwide Media, since its inception in October 2010, although in November 2012 his involvement ended after 100 episodes of the show. He also works as a host on "Tagged", a gaming-themed YouTube series produced by NODE Studios, and plays the Satan character in the Fine Brothers web series "MyMusic".


title: Toby Turner

text: Turner's first feature-length film role came in 2010 romantic comedy film "New Low", in which he played stand-up comedian Dave, the best friend of main character Wendell played by writer, producer and director Adam Bowers. The film was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010, before it received coverage at the Austin Film Festival in October and at the Glasgow Film Festival the following February, and was later released on DVD in 2012. Later, in 2012, he starred in psychological horror film "Smiley", written and directed by Michael Gallagher and starring fellow YouTube partner Shane Dawson. Turner also starred alongside Dawson in the 2015 comedy "" and played a minor role in the 2015 film "The Great Gilly Hopkins".


title: Toby Turner

text: From 2012–2014, Turner starred in the Cartoon Network animated series "The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange". Turner played Nerville, the only human character who can interact with the fruits.


title: Toby Turner

text: On April 8, 2016, Turner's ex-girlfriend April Fletcher, known online as AprilEfff, made several allegations against the YouTuber, including that he was addicted to drugs, that he had cheated on several of his former partners (including Fletcher), and that he drugged and raped her in February 2013. Writing a blog post on Tumblr, Fletcher claimed that she had contemplated suicide following the episodes, and that Turner had likely committed the same acts to other women. YouTuber and ex-girlfriend of Turner, Amelia Talon, corroborated Fletcher's accounts shortly after, alleging that she had been drugged by Turner as well. On April 9, 2016, Jaclyn Glenn, another of Turner's ex-girlfriends, posted a video on YouTube responding to the allegations. Glenn claimed that Turner had affairs in their relationship, and that while she thought the rape allegations were possible, she personally believed that they were untrue. Former Turner girlfriends Olga Kay and Melanie Murphy both denied that they were ever assaulted by Turner, though Murphy admitted Turner was not faithful to her. While not endorsing the rape allegations, both former Turner girlfriend Tara Babcock and former collaborator with Turner, Philip DeFranco, attested that Turner has a drug problem, is non-monogamous in his relationships and needs mental help.


title: Toby Turner

text: Turner responded to the accusations on April 11, 2016. In a short video, he dubbed Fletcher's claims as "false" and claimed that he had "never done anything without her consent [and] never tried to trick her into anything".


title: Toby Turner

text: On June 14, 2018, Turner released another video titled "#MeToo ...late?" where he claims he was advised not to say anything when the Tumblr post was published, then proceeds to give his accounts of what happened. In the video he insists nothing wrong occurred that night, just him letting a friend (Fletcher) sleep over at his house, due to her insisting she was too afraid to return home that late at night. He also claims that Fletcher wanted a romantic relationship with him, while he wanted only to remain friends. In the video, Turner also suggests Fletcher hinted at making a Tumblr post falsely accusing him of rape.


title: Toby Turner

text: As a result of the allegations, Turner was replaced as the voice of Ant-Man/Scott Lang for "Marvel Avengers Academy".


title: Toby Turner

text: Aside from video production and other entertainment, Toby Turner – who is described on his official website as a "viral marketer ... [and] consultant for viral video and social media platforms" – has worked with a number of major companies on advertising campaigns, including NBC, Disney, and others. Among his online commercial credits are adverts for Fox crime drama series "Lie to Me", footwear manufacturer and retailer Timberland, snack food product Pop-Tarts, and social network aggregation website Ouibox.


title: Toby Turner

text: Turner has also secured hosting roles for a number of events and series, including reporting on the Toshiba "Set Me Free Tour" for MTV in August 2009 and presenting holiday special web shows for Comedy Central, Spike and VH1. In December 2012, Turner was nominated for the award of Best Host at the 2013 Streamy Awards, although eventually lost out to KassemG.


title: Toby Turner

text: In May 2013, Turner set up a fundraising campaign on crowdfunding website Indiegogo for an iOS (and later Android) game based on his "Tobuscus Adventures" YouTube series, called "Tobuscus Adventures: Wizards!". The fundraiser surpassed its goal of $240,000 within two days, reaching more than $644,000. The game features Turner as main character Tobuscus as he fights off hordes of zombies to get to the Wizard of Darkness, and also cameos Gabe Hohreiter as Gabuscus, and Turner's dog Gryphon. The game was released in March 2015 for iOS and later for Android, and in May 2018 for PC, with plans to extend this to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Before the release of "Tobuscus Adventures: Wizards!", Turner also revealed that a second, albeit smaller game, was in development at the same time and based on the popular sandbox game "Minecraft", titled "Mine The Diamond", which was later released in June 2015 for iOS.


title: Toby Turner

text: In May 2014, Turner signed a three-book deal with Tegen Books, an imprint of Harper Collins, to help create an illustrated journal-style series based on "Tobuscus Adventures". The first, second, and third books were published in the fall of 2015, summer of 2016, and winter 2017, respectively. As of 2018, Turner had written a fourth book in the series.


title: Toby Turner

text: Turner was chosen to voice the character of Ant-Man/Scott Lang for the 2016 mobile game "Marvel Avengers Academy".


title: Toby Turner

text: Within the first few years of his three channels running concurrently, Turner was considered one of the most popular YouTube personalities, later recognised as a "mainstay", "pioneer", and "one of the site's greatest innovators." Turner has on occasion expressed how his channels have suffered from management issues on YouTube that ultimately restricts how many video views he receives. For example, in an interview with "Heavy" in 2018 and a video uploaded in 2019 titled "Dear Algorithm", he stated that content creators such as himself were occasionally not appearing in subscribers feeds and as a result the majority of his subscribers were not notified when he uploaded new content. Turner has also attempted to reach out to YouTube directly, such as in 2017 tweeting to their administration that neither the subscribe button nor the more recently introduced bell icon, which immediately notified subscribers of new uploads, were working properly at the time.


title: Toby Turner

text: Harrison Jacobs of "Business Insider" in 2014 meanwhile wrote of how Turner had been pursuing various projects outside of YouTube. He found that while he still published frequently to his channels, he seemed particularly devoted to other work in the hope that it could direct him into more "traditional media", citing Turner's first book based on his web series "Tobuscus Animated Adventures", as well as his mobile game "Tobuscus Adventures: Wizards!". Jacobs noted how the development of the game, which ultimately took place over an almost two-year period, had run over-budget, despite having received more than double the requested funds, and had been met with a number of delays, which Turner himself ascribed to a lack of experience.


title: Toby Turner

text: Having begun his video-making career in Niceville, Turner moved to Los Angeles in 2008. Turner has speculated that he may have ADHD and some have similarly made this assumption due to his boisterous and sometimes inappropriate behavior.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the 2020 census, has a population of 34,494, making it Montana's fifth largest city. It is served by Bert Mooney Airport with airport code BTM.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Established in 1864 as a mining camp in the northern Rocky Mountains on the Continental Divide, Butte experienced rapid development in the late-nineteenth century, and was Montana's first major industrial city. In its heyday between the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, it was one of the largest copper boomtowns in the American West. Employment opportunities in the mines attracted surges of Asian and European immigrants, particularly the Irish; as of 2017, Butte has the largest population of Irish Americans per capita of any city in the United States.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Butte was also the site of various historical events involving its mining industry and active labor unions and socialist politics, the most famous of which was the labor riot of 1914. Despite the dominance of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, Butte was never a company town. Other major events in the city's history include the 1917 Speculator Mine disaster, the largest hard rock mining disaster in world history.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Over the course of its history, Butte's mining and smelting operations generated in excess of $48 billion worth of ore, but also resulted in numerous environmental implications for the city: The upper Clark Fork River, with headwaters at Butte, is the largest Superfund site in the United States, and the city is also home to the Berkeley Pit. In the late-twentieth century, cleanup efforts from the EPA were instated, and the Butte Citizens Technical Environmental Committee was established in 1984. In the 21st century, efforts at interpreting and preserving Butte's heritage are addressing both the town's historical significance and the continuing importance of mining to its economy and culture. The city's Uptown Historic District, on the National Register of Historic Places, is one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the United States, containing nearly 6,000 contributing properties. The city is also home to Montana Technological University, a public engineering and technical university.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Prior to Butte's formal establishment in 1864, the area consisted of a mining camp that had developed in the early 1860s. The city is located in the Silver Bow Creek Valley (or Summit Valley), a natural bowl sitting high in the Rockies straddling the Continental Divide, positioned on the southwestern side of a large mass of granite known as the Boulder Batholith, which dates to the Cretaceous era. In 1874, William L. Farlin founded the Asteroid Mine (subsequently known as the Travona); Farlin's founding of the Asteroid Mine attracted a significant number of prospectors seeking gold and silver. The mines attracted workers from Cornwall (England), Ireland, Wales, Lebanon, Canada, Finland, Austria, Italy, China, Montenegro, Mexico, and more. In the ethnic neighborhoods, young men formed gangs to protect their territory and socialize into adult life, including the Irish of Dublin Gulch, the Eastern Europeans of the McQueen Addition, and the Italians of Meaderville.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Among the migrants were many Chinese who set up businesses that created a Chinatown in Butte. The Chinese migrations stopped in 1882 with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act. There was anti-Chinese sentiment in the 1870s and onwards due to racism on the part of the white settlers, exacerbated by economic depression, and in 1895, the chamber of commerce and labor unions started a boycott of Chinese owned businesses. The business owners fought back by suing the unions and winning. The history of the Chinese migrants in Butte is documented in the Mai Wah Museum.


title: Butte, Montana

text: The influx of miners gave Butte a reputation as a wide-open town where any vice was obtainable. The city's saloon and red-light district, called the "Line" or "The Copper Block", was centered on Mercury Street, where the elegant bordellos included the famous Dumas Brothel. Behind the brothel was the equally famous Venus Alley, where women plied their trade in small cubicles called "cribs." The red-light district brought miners and other men from all over the region and remained open until 1982 after the closure of the Dumas Brothel; the city's red-light was one of the last such urban districts in the United States. Commercial breweries first opened in Butte in the 1870s, and were a large staple of the city's early economy; they were usually run by German immigrants, including Leopold Schmidt, Henry Mueller, and Henry Muntzer. The breweries were always staffed by union workers. Most ethnic groups in Butte, from Germans and Irish to Italians and various Eastern Europeans, including children, enjoyed the locally brewed lagers, bocks, and other types of beer.


title: Butte, Montana

text: In the late nineteenth century, copper was in great demand because of new technologies such as electric power that required the use of copper. Three industrial magnates fought for control of Butte's mining wealth. These three "Copper Kings" were William A. Clark, Marcus Daly, and F. Augustus Heinze.


title: Butte, Montana

text: The Anaconda Copper Mining Company began in 1881 when Marcus Daly bought a small mine named the Anaconda. He was a part-owner, mine manager and engineer of the Alice, a silver mine in Walkerville, a suburb of Butte. While working in the Alice, he noticed significant quantities of high grade copper ore. Daly obtained permission to inspect nearby workings. After Daly's employers, the Walker Brothers, refused to buy the Anaconda, Daly sold his interest in the Alice and bought it himself. Daly asked George Hearst, San Francisco mining magnate, for additional support. Hearst agreed to buy one-fourth of the new company's stock without visiting the site. While mining the silver left in his mine, huge deposits of copper were soon developed and Daly became a copper magnate. When surrounding silver mines "played out" and closed, Daly quietly bought up the neighboring mines, forming a mining company. Daly built a smelter at Anaconda, Montana (a company town) and connected his smelter to Butte by a railway. Anaconda Company eventually owned all the mines on Butte Hill.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Between 1884 and 1888, W.A. Clark constructed the Copper King Mansion in Butte, which became his second residence from his home in New York City. He also, in 1899, purchased the Columbia Gardens, a small park which he developed into a full amusement park, featuring a pavilion, rollercoaster, and a lake for swimming and canoeing. Clark's expansion of the park was intended to "provide a place where children and families could get away from the polluted air of the Butte mining industry." The city's rapid expansion was noted in an 1889 frontier survey: "Butte, Montana, fifteen years ago a small placer-mining village clinging to the mountain side, has now risen to the rank of the first mining camp of the world... [It] is now the most populous city of Montana, numbering twenty-five thousand active, enterprising, prosperous inhabitants." In 1888 alone, mining operations in Butte had generated an "almost inconceivable" output of $23 million () worth of ore.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Copper ore mined from the Butte mining district in 1910 alone totaled ; at the time, Butte was the largest producer of copper in North America and rivaled in worldwide metal production only by South Africa. The same year, in excess of of silver and of gold were also discovered. The amount of ore produced in the city earned it the nickname "The Richest Hill on Earth." With its large workforce of miners performing in physically dangerous conditions, Butte was the site of active labor union movements, and came to be known as "the Gibraltar of Unionism."


title: Butte, Montana

text: By 1885, there were about 1,800 dues-paying members of a general union in Butte. That year the union reorganized as the Butte Miners' Union (BMU), spinning off all non-miners to separate craft unions. Some of these joined the Knights of Labor, and by 1886 the separate organizations came together to form the Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly, with 34 separate unions representing nearly all of the 6,000 workers around Butte. The BMU established branch unions in mining towns like Barker, Castle, Champion, Granite, and Neihart, and extended support to other mining camps hundreds of miles away. In 1892 there was a violent strike in Coeur d'Alene. Although the BMU was experiencing relatively friendly relations with local management, the events in Idaho were disturbing. The BMU not only sent thousands of dollars to support the Idaho miners, they mortgaged their buildings to send more.


title: Butte, Montana

text: There was a growing concern that local unions were vulnerable to the power of Mine Owners' Associations like the one in Coeur d'Alene. In May 1893, about forty delegates from northern hard-rock mining camps met in Butte and established the Western Federation of Miners (WFM), which sought to organize miners throughout the West. The Butte Miners' Union became Local Number One of the new WFM. The WFM won a strike in Cripple Creek, Colorado, the following year, but then in 1896–97 lost another violent strike in Leadville, Colorado, prompting the Montana State Trades and Labor Council to issue a proclamation to organize a new Western labor federation along industrial lines.


title: Butte, Montana

text: In 1899, Daly joined with William Rockefeller, Henry H. Rogers, and Thomas W. Lawson to organize the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company. Not long after, the company changed its name to Anaconda Copper Mining Company (ACM). Over the years, Anaconda was owned by assorted larger corporations. In the 1920s, it had a virtual monopoly over the mines in and around Butte. Between approximately 1900 and 1917, Butte also had a strong streak of Socialist politics, even electing Mayor Lewis Duncan on the Socialist ticket in 1911, and again in 1913; Duncan was impeached in 1914 for neglecting duties after a bombing in the city's miners' hall in 1914.


title: Butte, Montana

text: It had also established itself as "one of the most solid union cities in America." After 1905, Butte became a hotbed of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, or the "Wobblies") organizing. Rivalry between IWW supporters and the WFM locals culminated in the Butte, Montana labor riots of 1914, and resulted in the loss of union recognition by the mine owners. After the dissolution of the Miners' Union, the Anaconda Company attempted to inaugurate programs aimed at enticing employees. However, a number of clashes between laborers, labor organizers, and the Anaconda Company ensued, including the 1917 lynching of IWW executive board officer Frank Little. In 1920, company mine guards gunned down strikers in the Anaconda Road Massacre. Seventeen were shot in the back as they tried to flee, and one man died.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Sparked by a tragic accident more than below the ground on June 8, 1917, a fire in the Granite Mountain mine shaft spewed flames, smoke, and poisonous gas through the labyrinth of tunnels including the connected Speculator Mine. A rescue effort commenced, but carbon monoxide was contaminating the air supply. Several men barricaded themselves against bulkheads to save their lives, but many others died in a panic to try to escape. Rescue workers set up a fan to prevent the fire from spreading. This worked for a short time, but when the rescuers tried to use water, the water evaporated, creating steam that burned those trying to escape. Once the fire had been extinguished, recovery of the deceased began; many of the bodies, however, were mutilated beyond recognition, leaving many unidentified. The disaster claimed a total of 168 lives. As of 2017, the event remained the largest hard rock mining accident in history. The Granite Mountain Memorial in Butte commemorates those who died in the accident.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Protests and strikes were initiated after the Speculator Mine disaster, as well as the establishment of the Metal Mine Workers Union; approximately 15,000 workers abandoned their jobs in the wake of the disaster. Between 1914 and 1920, the U.S. National Guard occupied Butte a total of six times to restore civility. In 1917, copper production from the Butte mines peaked and steadily declined thereafter. By WWII, copper production from the ACM's holdings in Chuquicamata, Chile, far exceeded Butte's production.


title: Butte, Montana

text: In 1919, women's rights activist Margaret Jane Steele Rozsa became a food inspector for the city, and immediately began pressing for change to questionable practices by several county commissioners who had been keeping the community's cost of living artificially high by, among other things, allowing carloads of perishable foods to rot on unloaded trains at the railroad station. She also "was instrumental in getting senate bill No. 19 through the legislature," that year to ensure that 199 tubercular soldiers who had served in World War I would be given "preference of entry to the Galen hospital," and that the legislature would authorize $20,000 in state funds to build additional dormitories at the hospital to make that care possible since hospital admissions were already at capacity. In 1921, she became the first female prohibition inspector in the city.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Disputes between miners' unions and companies continued through the 1920s and 1930s in Butte, with several strikes and protests, one of which lasted for ten months in 1921. On New Year's Eve 1922, protestors attempted to detonate the Hibernian Hall on Main Street with dynamite.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Further industrial expansions included the arrival of the first mail plane in the city in 1928, and in 1937, the city's streetcar system was dismantled and replaced with bus lines. After the 1920s, the ACM began to reduce its activities in Butte due to the labor-intensivity of underground mining, as well as competition from other mine holdings in South America. This ultimately led the Anaconda Company to switch its focus in Butte from underground mining to open pit mining.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Since the 1950s, five major developments in the city have occurred: the Anaconda's decision to begin open-pit mining in the mid-1950s, a series of fires in Butte's business district in the 1970s, a debate over whether to relocate the city's historic business district, a new civic leadership, and the end of copper mining in 1983. In response, Butte looked for ways to diversify the economy and provide employment. The legacy of over a century of environmental degradation has, for example, produced some jobs. Environmental cleanup in Butte, designated a Superfund site, has employed hundreds of people.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Thousands of homes were destroyed in the Meaderville suburb and surrounding areas, McQueen and East Butte, to excavate the Berkeley Pit, which opened in 1954 by Anaconda Copper. At the time of its opening, the Berkeley Pit was the largest truck-operated open pit copper mine in the United States. The Berkeley Pit grew with time until it began encroaching on the Columbia Gardens. After the Gardens caught fire and burned to the ground in November 1973, the Continental Pit was excavated on the former park site. In 1977, the ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company) company purchased Anaconda, and only three years later started shutting down mines due to lower metal prices. In 1983, all mining in the Berkeley Pit was suspended. The same year, an organization of low income and unemployed residents of Butte formed to fight for jobs and environmental justice; the Butte Community Union produced a detailed plan for community revitalization and won substantial benefits, including a Montana Supreme Court victory striking down as unconstitutional State elimination of welfare benefits. After mining ceased at the Berkeley Pit, water pumps in nearby mines were also shut down, which resulted in highly acidic water laced with toxic heavy metals filling up the pit.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Anaconda ceased mining at the Continental Pit in 1983. Montana Resources LLP bought the property and reopened the Continental Pit in 1986. The company ceased mining in 2000, but resumed in the fall of 2003.


title: Butte, Montana

text: From 1880 through 2005, the mines of the Butte district have produced more than 9.6 million metric tons of copper, 2.1 million metric tons of zinc, 1.6 million metric tons of manganese, 381,000 metric tons of lead, 87,000 metric tons of molybdenum, of silver, and of gold.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Fourteen headframes still remain over mine shafts in Butte, and the city still contains thousands of historic commercial and residential buildings from the boom times, which, especially in the Uptown section, give it an old-fashioned appearance, with many commercial buildings not fully occupied; according to a 2016 estimate, there were "hundreds" of unoccupied buildings in Butte, resulting in the city introducing an ordinance to keep record of owners. Preservation efforts of the city's historic buildings began in the late 1990s. As with many industrial cities, tourism and services, especially health care (Butte's St. James Hospital has Southwest Montana's only major trauma center), are rising as primary employers, as well as industrial-sector private companies. Many areas of the city, especially the areas near the old mines, show signs of urban blight but a recent influx of investors and an aggressive campaign to remedy blight has led to a renewed interest in restoring property in Uptown Butte's historic district, which was expanded in 2006 to include parts of Anaconda and is one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the United States with 5,991 contributing properties.


title: Butte, Montana

text: A century after the era of intensive mining and smelting, environmental issues remain in areas around the city. Arsenic and heavy metals such as lead are found in high concentrations in some spots affected by old mining, and for a period of time in the 1990s the tap water was unsafe to drink due to poor filtration and decades-old wooden supply pipes. Efforts to improve the water supply have taken place in the past few years, with millions of dollars being invested to upgrade water lines and repair infrastructure. Environmental research and clean-up efforts have contributed to the diversification of the local economy, and signs of vitality, including the introduction of a multimillion-dollar polysilicon manufacturing plant nearby in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, Butte was recognized as an All-America City and as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Dozen Distinctive Destinations in 2002.


title: Butte, Montana

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, Butte-Silver Bow has a total area of , of which is land and (0.08%) is water. The city is situated on the U.S. Continental Divide. Every highway exiting Butte (except westbound I-90) crosses the Divide (eastbound I-90 via Homestake Pass; eastbound MT 2 via Pipestone Pass; northbound I-15 via Elk Park Pass and southbound I-15 via Deer Lodge Pass).


title: Butte, Montana

text: The city was named for a nearby landform, Big Butte, by the early miners. Butte's urban landscape is notable for including mining operations set within residential areas, visible in the form of various headframes throughout the city.


title: Butte, Montana

text: The concentration of wealth in Butte due to its mining history resulted in unique and ornate architectural features amongst its homes and buildings, particularly throughout the uptown section of Butte. Uptown, named after its steep streets, is located on a hillside on the northwestern edge of the town and is characterized by its abundance of lavish Victorian homes and Queen Anne style cottages built in the late-nineteenth century. Several of Butte's "painted ladies"-homes were featured in the 1987 book "Daughters of Painted Ladies" by Elizabeth Pomada. Butte-Silver Bow County has an established Urban Revitalization Agency which works to improve building façades to "enhance and promote the architectural resources of historic uptown Butte." In 2017, a television pilot titled "Butteification" aired on HGTV, which focused on a couple restoring a Victorian home in Butte.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Butte's South district, situated at a lower elevation below the hillside that comprises northern Butte, has historically been home to working-class neighborhoods. Gold mines originally populated south Butte before it was platted for the Union Pacific Railroad in 1881.


title: Butte, Montana

text: The expansion of the Anaconda Company in the 1960s and 1970s eradicated some of Butte's historic neighborhoods, including the East Side, Dublin Gulch, Meaderville, and Chinatown. The St. Mary's section of Butte, which borders uptown to the east, comprised the Dublin Gulch (an enclave for Irish immigrants) and Corktown neighborhoods. It takes its name from the eponymous Roman Catholic parish located within it, which was historically known as the "miner's church," scheduling masses around miners' shifting schedules. Historically, the St. Mary's section of Butte had a prominent population of Slavic and Finnish immigrants in addition to Irish prior to the mid-twentieth century.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Butte has a cold semi-arid climate ("BSk") under the Köppen Climate Classification. Winters are long and cold, January averaging at , with 30.9 nights falling below 53.8 days failing to top freezing. Summers are short, with very warm days and chilly nights: July averages . Like most areas in this part of North America, annual precipitation is low and largely concentrated in the spring months: the wettest month since precipitation records began in 1894 has been June 1913 with , while no precipitation fell in September 1904. The wettest calendar year has been 1909 with and the driest has been 2021 with . Snowfall is somewhat limited by dryness: the most in one month being in May 1927 and the greatest depth on the ground on December 28 and 29, 1996.


title: Butte, Montana

text: The coldest month has been January 1937 with a daily mean temperature of , while the coldest complete winter was 1948–1949 with a three-month mean of and the mildest 1925–1926 which averaged . July 2007 has been easily the hottest month, with a mean maximum of , although the hottest day, reaching , occurred on July 22, 1931. The coldest temperature recorded was on February 9, 1933, and December 23, 1983.


title: Butte, Montana

text: As of the 2020 census, there were 34,494 people and 14,605 households residing in Butte-Silver Bow, giving a population density of 48.2 people per square mile (18.6/km). Per the US Census' 2019 American Community Survey, the racial makeup of the city was 94.3% White, 0.6% African American, 2.3% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, and 1.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race accounted for 4.6% of the population. Of ethnic groups in Butte, the Irish make up a significant portion, with over one-quarter of the city's population claiming Irish descent, exceeding the percentage of Irish Americans in Boston. Per capita, Butte has the highest percentage of Irish Americans of any city in the United States.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Per the 2019 American Community Survey, the average household size was 2.24 persons, 6.0% of the population is under the age of 5, 20.1% under the age of 18, and 18.7% are 65 years of age or older. 49.3% of residents were female. From 2015–2019, the median income for a household in the city was $45,797, and 17.3% of families were below the poverty line.


title: Butte, Montana

text: While some sources state that Butte had a peak population of nearly 100,000 around 1920, there is no documentation to corroborate this, though it has been reasoned by local journalists based on city directory data. The city's population sank continually to a minimum around 1990 and has stabilized since then; the apparent jump in the 1980 census was due to the city's consolidation with all of Silver Bow County except Walkerville.


title: Butte, Montana

text: As a mining boomtown, Butte's economy has historically been powered by its copious mining operations which were economical driving forces from the late-nineteenth century into the late-twentieth century. Silver and gold were initially the primary metals mined in Butte, but the abundance of copper in the area would further invigorate the local economy with the advent of electricity, which created a soaring demand for the metal. After World War I, Butte's mining economy experienced a downward trend that continued throughout the twentieth century, until mining operations ceased in 1985 with the closure of the Berkeley Pit. Over the course of its history, the city's mining operations generated over $48 billion worth of ore, making it for a time the richest city in the world.


title: Butte, Montana

text: Much of the city's economy post-millennium has been focused in energy companies (such as the Renewable Energy Corporation and NorthWestern Energy) and healthcare. In 2014, NorthWestern Energy constructed a $25-million facility in uptown Butte.


title: Butte, Montana

text: In 1977, Butte consolidated with Silver Bow County, becoming a consolidated city-county. It operates under a city-county government. The office of the mayor was eliminated. Mario Micone was the last mayor of Butte. In 1977, Micone became the first Chief Executive of Butte-Silver Bow County.