WOW!!!!! What a GREAT article and most perceptive. I hope a copy reaches each member of the governing board of the Jamestown-Yorktown Society AND the State legislative bodies.
Of course GREAT is defined as agreeing with what I believe has happened, but it is phrased so more articulate than I. The thread that runs through the article, and indeed through the celebration reminds me of that classic line from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."....... "Who are those guys, anyway?"
"What are we celebrating, anyway?"
The issue is clouded right from the beginning, no doubt by those Plymouth-Rock Liberals.... i.e. The Puritans brought everything good to America. 'Pelarins c'est bon avec les peaux rouge.' Forget the massacre at Mystic early on, and burning witches.
And note that all the baggage of slavery is pinned upon Jamestown. And the THREE cultures? That's a new invention. But then Colonial Williamsburg fell all over itself a few years ago to make sure every visitor had something that appealed to his/her ethnicity, regardless of whether it was factual or not. Time and space are too short to follow these threads, though no doubt it will be grist for hundreds of VA-HIST notes.
And GOVERNOR John Smith!!!! Now, I really like the sound of that. Talk about what should be the motto of Jamestown-2007:
.............................."It never was 'like it was.' "
I draw strenghth from three Jamestown happenings. #1 is the leadership of John Smith... maligned at the time by the London Company because he told them how they should be running things, and maligned today because he was obviously a Myers-Briggs Extrovert at the extreme, who said and did things that 'nice' folks don't do. i.e. He was a George S. Patton when we needed such. Maybe, like the Kentucky Colonels, we can make an an honorary 'governor'.
#2 as mentioned inthe article is the 1907 Jamestown Exposition. But, even as it opened, it was maligned because it represented the worst of Imperial America, culminated by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt dispatching the big stick of THE GREAT WHITE FLEET from Hampton Roads. But it was the coming together of America... you only have to look at the words and music written for that celebration to see the 'coming together' of the North and South. And interestingly enough, the 'seal' of that Exposition were the two cultures(Native American and European) coming together, shaking hands. I am personally most disappointed that no Virginia Institution has stepped in to 'preserve, share and celebrate' anything at all about this event. In fact, with the exception of VIRTUAL JAMESTOWN out of Tech, Virginia Institutions of higher education act like they have never heard of Jamestown. Huh??? Jamestown??? Isn't that a city up in New York.
#3 The legacy of representative Government. About 40 or 50 years ago, somebody down in that area -- maybe Colonial Williamsburg -- published a nice little book/chart called "Where Justice Began." (Now that I say that, the title does not sound right.) But in any case, it was the evolution of Virginia Counties from that first legistature in Jamestown. The concept of an elected body is what Jamestown brought to Virginia, to America and to the world. This revolutionary concept was carried back to Europe, where it rolled across the empires still ruled by the Divine Right of Kings..... It fuled the fires of the Protestant Reformation, helped build toward the English Civil War, and back in America sowed the seeds which sprouted a century and a half later in form of the American Revolution, emblazoned with the motto of "No Taxation without Representation."
Music swells, credits roll, and...... whoops..... I have gotten carried away. Sorry...... But again (Dead Horse # 26,731), Jamestown is YOUR and MY celebration. Realistically, like the 1807 Jubilee and like the original idea of the 1907 celebration, it is a Virginia celebration. But the liberals have already twisted and tainted the message. Its going to get worse as we approach the big May weekend. Why I bet just to insult us, Public Television is going to re-run THE PILGRIM HOUSE. If they do, I suggest cards and letters to your local Public TV station to re-run the 'Massacre at Mystic' to counterbalance things.
Its up to you and me to do what we can to make Jamestown-2007 work. Its now D-minus-60 and counting.
Randy Cabell - The Trumpeter of Jamestowne
----- Original Message -----
From: "Melinda Skinner" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 8:35 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Jamestown exhibits reviewed in NY Times
> Both "museums" are mired in political correctness...
> the great bureacratic fear of the 21st century.
>
> --
> Melinda C. P. Skinner
> Richmond, VA
>
>
> -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: Sunshine49 <[log in to unmask]>
>> Very interesting, thanks for posting this. I mostly agree. History
>> had to be broadened and made more equitable [I shake my head at some
>> of the things we were taught in Richmond Public Schools] , but it
>> seems that in many ways it has gone too far. I can willingly
>> acknowledge my many failing to my fellow humans, the times I've been
>> stupid and careless, those I have hurt, but please, can I celebrate
>> my birthday without carrying around a total guilt package? I am more
>> than the compendium of my sins. As are we all. Hair shirts are never
>> productive garments to wear 24/7.
>>
>> Nancy
>>
>> -------
>> I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.
>>
>> --Daniel Boone
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mar 2, 2007, at 4:32 PM, Jurretta J. Heckscher wrote:
>>
>> > From another listserv. . . .
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > EDWARD ROTHSTEIN | Exhibition Review The New York Times, Mar. 2,
>> > 2007
>> >
>> > Captain Smith, the Tides Are Shifting on the James
>> >
>> >
>> > JAMESTOWN, Va. - At the banks of the James River here, not far from
>> > where an
>> > archaeological dig has found pottery shards and remains of settlers
>> > from 400
>> > years ago, a proud Capt. John Smith faces the waters and the
>> > setting sun. A
>> > wooden stockade extends near the shoreline - the water has moved
>> > inland over
>> > the centuries - showing where his frail fort once stood. But Smith
>> > stands
>> > heroically tall, his bronze cape seeming to ripple in the brisk winter
>> > winds. Even the inscription proclaims his importance: "Governor of
>> > Virginia,
>> > 1608."
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Governor? Virginia? At the time Jamestown consisted of a paltry
>> > isolated
>> > settlement of several dozen souls, with disease, starvation and
>> > battles with
>> > local Indian tribes regularly claiming almost as many lives as
>> > Virginia
>> > Company could send in delayed relief ships from England, the funds
>> > raised
>> > from wary investors. But the Smith statue does give an accurate
>> > sense of the
>> > scale of the leadership, strategic thinking, ruthlessness and
>> > courage Smith
>> > demonstrated during the brief period (not even two years) he led
>> > that first
>> > English colony in the Americas - qualities reflected in his own
>> > memoirs
>> > and other accounts (many of which are about to be republished by
>> > the Library
>> > of America). Nearby, offering further testimony to Jamestown's
>> > grandeur, a
>> > giant obelisk stands, erected, like the statue, a century ago, as
>> > part of
>> > the tercentennial celebrations of the founding.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > But now, two months before the 400th anniversary festivities
>> > begin , the
>> > monumental hardly matters anymore, and neither, it seems, does John
>> > Smith.
>> > Other kinds of commemoration have been prepared. It isn't that
>> > Jamestown is
>> > being treated as less important: it is still regarded as the place
>> > where the
>> > DNA of a nation was first laid out, where, in 1607, England
>> > established an
>> > early beachhead against the expanding empires of Spain and Portugal
>> > and so
>> > determined the main language we speak and many of the ideas we share.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > But a different understanding is made explicit here in the two
>> > historical
>> > museums and outdoor facilities devoted to the Jamestown theme.
>> > Jamestown
>> > Settlement, run by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation (a state
>> > agency), was
>> > established in 1957 just before the 350th anniversary so the nearby
>> > historical site would not be disrupted with the Settlement's outdoor
>> > "living-history" demonstrations, costumed guides, period crafts and
>> > reproductions of the Jamestown fort, an Indian village and the
>> > three ships
>> > that brought the first group of 104 men and boys to these shores. In
>> > October, Jamestown Settlement added a major 30,000-square-foot
>> > exhibition
>> > hall to its new visitors' center, telling an unusually detailed
>> > history
>> > of the area through the 17th century.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Meanwhile the original site, now called Historic Jamestowne, is
>> > part of the
>> > Colonial National Historical Park and jointly run by the National Park
>> > Service and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia
>> > Antiquities. It
>> > incorporates the monuments of past tributes - the statue, the
>> > obelisk, a
>> > memorial church - but has just added a modest historical
>> > exhibition in its
>> > visitors' center, and, last spring, opened a 7,500-square-foot
>> > museum -
>> > the Archaearium - devoted to the Jamestown artifacts unearthed by
>> > the
>> > on-site excavations, ranging from cooking utensils and weapons to
>> > bones and
>> > coins.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > These exhibitions are ambitious and often informative, particularly
>> > the
>> > Settlement's, and provide much of the detail needed to begin to
>> > understand
>> > Jamestown. Yet a price is paid for the latest in museumware and
>> > historical
>> > thinking: One isn't quite sure what is being celebrated or why,
>> > or whether
>> > in fact a celebration is even occurring.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > The exhibition created by the Park Service, for example, repeats
>> > the classic
>> > tribute: "Jamestown's notable legacies include the introduction of
>> > representative government, English culture and heritage, and
>> > Protestant
>> > religion," all of which had an impact on the evolution of
>> > Virginia and
>> > the other colonies. But those legacies also include conflicts with
>> > Indians
>> > and the introduction of "race-based slavery." These matters, once
>> > considered secondary, have become central. Now Jamestown is seen
>> > as the
>> > precursor to "a multicultural society grappling with a legacy of
>> > slavery
>> > and racism."
>> >
>> > Another panel emphasizes the point:
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > "Past Jamestown anniversaries were referred to as 'celebrations.'
>> > Because
>> > many facets of Jamestown's history are not cause for celebration,
>> > like human
>> > bondage and the displacement of Virginia Indians, the Jamestown 400th
>> > Anniversary is referred to as the Jamestown 2007 Commemoration."
>> > Throughout
>> > this introductory exhibition Jamestown is not the beleaguered
>> > settlement
>> > cheered on against all odds, but is a hothouse laboratory for
>> > conflict,
>> > oppression and perhaps accommodation.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > A similar, though slightly less polemical, vision suffuses the major
>> > Settlement exhibition, with its artifacts, textual panels, statues and
>> > dioramas. (Thomas E. Davidson was the curator and Gallagher &
>> > Associates the
>> > designers. ) When the institution was founded 50 years ago,
>> > accompanying
>> > exhibitions were about Virginia's British heritage and great
>> > achievements by
>> > Virginians. Now the theme is: "Three Cultures, One Century: America's
>> > Story." Jamestown becomes archetypal not because it laid the
>> > foundations for
>> > British influence on American political culture, eventually enshrining
>> > notions of rights and representation, but because it established a
>> > pattern
>> > of conflict with Indians and enslavement of Africans - something
>> > that is
>> > here homogenized into a more vague multicultural interaction.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > The first major galleries are devoted to the three cultures. They
>> > include
>> > descriptions of local Indian tribes (largely based on Smith's
>> > writings)
>> > accompanying a life-size diorama of a forest hunt; a depiction of West
>> > Central African ways of life with a diorama showing a man smoking
>> > outside a
>> > hut, a world from which the first blacks in Virginia had been
>> > wrested; and
>> > a depiction of an Elizabethan-era London street. The Indians, we
>> > read, were
>> > "in harmony with the land that sustained them" and formed an
>> > "advanced,
>> > complex society of families and tribes." English society - the
>> > society
>> > that gave us the King James Bible and Shakespeare along with
>> > stirrings of
>> > democratic argument - is described as offering "limited
>> > opportunity" in
>> > which a "small elite" were landowners; in London, we are told,
>> > "life was
>> > difficult," with social dislocation, low wages, unemployment, etc.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > True enough about England, except for the lack of perspective and
>> > the whiffs
>> > of implied equivalence between vastly different universes. Less
>> > true with
>> > its idea of an "advanced complex society" of Powhatans: all human
>> > societies,
>> > even agrarian ones, are complex in their methods of organization;
>> > in this
>> > case there is little information to suggest much more among these
>> > 30 warring
>> > tribes bound by a strong ruler's conquest. The overall impact of this
>> > three-culture mélange is only to diminish a visitor's sense of
>> > English culture.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > But finally the depiction of the three cultures begins to seem
>> > irrelevant,
>> > because it is never really shown that "it is from the interaction
>> > of these
>> > different cultural traditions that 17th century Virginia society
>> > was born."
>> >
>> > In what way, for example, apart from name places and types of food,
>> > was
>> > Powhatan culture a major influence on Virginia society? The
>> > continued state
>> > of conflict with the Indians was a major influence, in which
>> > negotiations,
>> > accommodations and episodes of trade were punctuated with battle. That
>> > conflict was not a simple matter. It was a confrontation between
>> > alien and
>> > opposing cultures possessing unequal powers, a conflict that has
>> > accompanied most cultures' migratory histories, from ancient times
>> > to our own.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > As for the influence of West Central African culture, with its
>> > described
>> > political hierarchies, and its own internal history of enslavement
>> > through
>> > conquest (referred to in the exhibition's text), it is also
>> > difficult to see
>> > just how Angolan or Kongo culture shaped early-17th-century
>> > Virginia. Even
>> > in later years the cultures created by American slaves are not
>> > replications
>> > of African cultures but distant echoes of it, something hinted at
>> > in one of
>> > the exhibition's later galleries.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > During the entire formative period of Jamestown - from 1607
>> > through 1619,
>> > when the nature of the settlement was established and its economy
>> > finally
>> > began to find a footing with the growing of tobacco - there were no
>> > Africans in Virginia at all. The first black chattel servants were
>> > brought
>> > to Jamestown during that latter year almost by accident, just as
>> > representative democracy was also being established. These unfortunate
>> > 20-some prisoners were looted during a piratical English attack on a
>> > Portuguese slave ship. Systematic slavery doesn't appear to begin in
>> > Virginia for decades.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > So the idea of mutual interaction is not too convincing. Still,
>> > there is
>> > much to learn in the exhibition's unfolding: it touches on the
>> > European
>> > drive for colonial power, on sea navigation, the establishment of
>> > Jamestown,
>> > the story of Pocahontas, conflicts with Indians, the discovery of
>> > tobacco as
>> > a major source of income leading to the development of Virginia's
>> > gentlemen
>> > farmers (and the drive toward the importation of slaves), the
>> > evolution of
>> > Virginia's legislature. But John Smith's extraordinary interactions
>> > with the
>> > Powhatan chief - matching him as a wary warrior and negotiator
>> > - are not
>> > explored. The dominant statues in the exhibition galleries are of the
>> > Powhatan rulers, Wahunsonacock and Opechancanough, along with the
>> > African
>> > Ndongo ruler, Queen Njinga, who fought against the Portuguese and
>> > from whose
>> > lands the first blacks brought to America were pulled.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > So what exactly is being celebrated here? A closing gallery makes some
>> > suggestions: "Principles of Law and Justice," "Exploration and
>> > Discovery,"
>> > "Representative Government." But also "Displacement of Indigenous
>> > People"
>> > and "Servitude and Injustice." What a change from the Tercentennial
>> > when
>> > Jamestown was the symbol of America's birth and President Theodore
>> > Roosevelt, Mark Twain and Booker T. Washington spoke. On the 350th
>> > anniversary Queen Elizabeth II made her first royal trip to the United
>> > States, and she is expected to come this time as well. But what
>> > will she
>> > find? Not the triumph of British influence, but the triumph of
>> > ambiguity,
>> > discomfort and vague multiculturalism.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Of course much has changed in 50 years; much had to. Those 1957
>> > celebrations
>> > themselves provided evidence of the sins of the past: the Virginia
>> > Chamber
>> > of Commerce withdrew some invitations to festivities after it found
>> > out they
>> > were sent to distinguished Virginians who happened to be black.
>> > Clearly too
>> > it is impossible to understand Jamestown without understanding the
>> > fate of
>> > Indian tribes. And, despite its flaws, the Settlement's exhibition
>> > does much
>> > to spur a greater understanding of Jamestown.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > But the impulse to commemorate rather than celebrate is a sign of how
>> > rigidly the Jamestown affair and its aftermath are now being
>> > seen. And
>> > unfortunately an extraordinary culture unable to celebrate itself
>> > and its
>> > past, with all its imperfections and failings, is not likely
>> > to have a
>> > clear vision of the present and future.
>> >
>> > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
>> > instructions
>> > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>>
>> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
>> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
|
