ANOTHER MAYFLOWER STORY

Doug Dunn

After visiting Plymouth for the first time and hearing the story of the Mayflower, I started to wonder how much of it was really true. I began to think about the story told from the other side for the ocean, from the American Indian point of view.

My second visit to Plymouth was to “The Box” museum.[i] There was much to see about natural history, art and the history of the port of Plymouth. But I was especially interested in the part they called Mayflower 400: legend and legacy. At the end of the exhibition I found a glass-topped wooden display cabinet containing what was called the ‘Suppresses Speech’. It was a speech that was planned to be delivered by Wamsutta Frank James, a descendant of the Wampanoag tribe. He was going to speak at at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts forming part of a 350 year Mayflower celebration dinner. But the planners asked to see his speech in advance of the occasion, and it turned out that Frank James' views — based on history rather than mythology — was not what the Pilgrims' descendants wanted to hear.[ii].  So the speak was suppressed.

I started taking photos of the speech so that I could read it later and, somewhat ironically, I was told by a museum attendant that taking photos was not permitted. But later I found the speech free to read online.

As I started reading the speech I imagined meeting Wamsutta and hearing what he had to say. I wondered what it would be like to have a conversation with him and ask what it was like for him that North Americans celebrated Thanksgiving every year...

“This is a time of celebration for you - celebrating an anniversary of a beginning for the white man in America. A time of looking back, of reflection. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my people.”

 “Do you know what actually happened back then in 1620?”

 

“The Pilgrims had hardly explored the shores of Cape Cod for four days before they started robbing the graves of my ancestors and steeling their corn and beans.”

Yet the Wampanoag people welcomed and befriended the settlers. Why would they do that? Perhaps it was because their people had been depleted by an epidemic or perhaps because they had knowledge of the harsh oncoming winter. Whatever their motives, this welcoming of the white man with open arms was a mistake. Within only 50 years the Wampanoag would no longer be a free people.

“So what happened next? What happened in the next 50 years?” I asked.

 “There were so many atrocities. Many were around land ownership and boundaries. We were not used to dealing with fences and stone walls. The white man had a need to prove himself by how much land he owned.”

I couldn't help thinking about the pandemic we are all part of right now and comparing it to their more deadly epidemic. I tried to imagine what it would be like to be invaded at the same time! “Not only were you in the middle of an epidemic but your land was being taken away from you.”

Wamsutta said the epidemic was hard to imagine, wiping out most of his village. “The Indian could only stand by powerless and watch while the white man took his land and used it for his personal gain. To me, land was survival, to farm, to hunt, to be enjoyed. It was not to be abused. They also called us ‘savages’ and tried to convert us to Christian ways of life. Time after time in the white man’s society we Indians were referred to as the ‘low man on the totem pole.’”

I felt a sense of shame and guilt for how my European ancestors acted.  “So what happened in those 50 years and the years after?”

“We don’t know exactly but the Wampanoag move west and joined the Cherokee and Cheyenne, Some even moved to Canada. We had to put aside our Indian heritage and accept the white man’s way of life just to survive.”

“What happened to the Wampanoags who chose to remain and live among the early settlers?” I asked thinking they would have at least lived a more ‘civilized’ life style.

“Many dealt with confusion and the change. Honesty, trust, concern, pride, and politics wove themselves in and out of their daily living. Hence, we were termed crafty, cunning, rapacious, and dirty.

“History wants us to believe that the Indian was a savage, illiterate, uncivilized animal. A history that was written by an organized, disciplined people. But what happened was that two distinctly different cultures met. One thought they must control life; the other believed life was to be enjoyed, because nature decreed it. The Indian is and was just as human as the white man with similar feelings and emotions. He is often misunderstood.”

“It is a shame and tragedy that even today he is still misunderstood,” I said, realizing how little I knew about their culture.

“The white man in the presence of the Indian is still mystified by his uncanny ability to make him feel uncomfortable.”

“That’s so true! I wonder why?”

 “It may be the image the white man has created of the Indian; his savageness has boomeranged and isn't a mystery; it is fear; fear of the Indian's temperament.”

“Yes I can see it might have turned to fear. Rather than wonder about a culture that is to be acknowledged for being so in tune with nature.” I felt what he said about feeling uncomfortable was the start of my new inquiry.

“Our spirit refuses to die. Yesterday we walked the woodland paths and sandy trails. Today we must walk the macadam highways and roads. We are standing not in our wigwams but in your concrete tents.

“What has happened cannot be changed, but today we must work towards a more humane America, a more Indian America, where men and nature once again are important; where the Indian values of honour, truth, and brotherhood prevail. You the white man are celebrating an anniversary. We the Wampanoags will help you celebrate in the concept of a beginning. It was the beginning of a new life for the Pilgrims. Now, 350 years later it is a beginning of a new determination for the original American: the American Indian.”

Each year since 1970, American Indians come together with people from many different cultures, for a National Day of Mourning[iii] on the day most American’s celebrate Thanksgiving. This has seemed to be the only way forward to voice the rights of the American Indians.  But what if, rather than being divided, Americans celebrate a ‘New Thanksgiving Day’ to mark a new beginning for both cultures. To mark the beginning of a new interest in diversity and a new want for engaging and sharing all cultures as they are now.       

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[i] The BOX - https://www.theboxplymouth.com/

[ii] UAINE - http://www.uaine.org/suppressed_speech.htm

[iii] National Day of Mourning — https://nationaltoday.com/national-day-of-mourning/