British Mayflower Exhibit Centers on Native American History

 

Much has been written about the 102 Europeans who crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the Mayflower ship in 1620. Much less has been written about the Wampanoag Native American community that the Europeans met on the other side.

Four centuries later, a new exhibition has begun in the place where the ship left Europe. The exhibition aims to bring attention to the mostly ignored history of the Wampanoag people.

In the year 1620, the Mayflower left the port of Plymouth in southern England and arrived 10 weeks later in what is now the American state of Massachusetts. The story of the religious separatists and colonists¹ has been well documented over the centuries. But it leaves out the experiences of the Wampanoag Nation that was already living there.

The exhibition marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower journey.

Steven Peters is a citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe. He was involved in putting together the exhibit in Britain. He told VOA the arrival of the Mayflower has historically been told from a European perspective.

"We think that once everyone has a chance to listen to all perspectives...they can then come to an understanding of what this history was and what those impacts were on the native communities..." Peters said.

The arrival of the Mayflower is commonly connected with the American holiday of Thanksgiving.

On the subject of Thanksgiving, the exhibition's website states that a large, successful harvest led to a three-day celebration for the colonists. However, it says there is no documentation of "when, if or how the Wampanoag People may have joined this event."

Many Native Americans today call Thanksgiving the National Day of Mourning to remember the killing² of their ancestors and taking of their land.

Peters said working on projects related to the history of his people is part of a difficult journey.

"Often the history and the stories that that we're retelling are tragic³ and there's a lot of death and sickness. And so, it's emotional for us," he said.

Jo Loosemore of Britain is a co-curator of the exhibition. She said she hopes it brings new information to light.

A lot of information exists about the journey across the Atlantic Ocean, the religious perspective and the separatists' movement. But for most British people, she said, the story only begins in 1620.

"What the Wampanoag people have enabled us to see is that the Mayflower certainly wasn't the first ship to cross the Atlantic with traders or settlers or colonists," Loosemore said.

And for the Wampanoag, the story does not begin in the year 1620, she added. "You're talking a 12,000-year civilization and society, a history and a culture."

An estimated 30 million Americans have an ancestral connection to the Mayflower.

In the 1600s, there were as many as 40,000 Wampanoag in the 67 villages that made up their nation. Today, about 4,000 to 5,000 Wampanoag remain in the present-day states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Words in This Story

exhibition - n. an event at which objects (such as works of art) are put out in a public space for people to look at

journey - n. an act of traveling from one place to another

curator - n. the person in charge of the things in a museum, zoo or something else

perspective - n. a way of thinking about and understanding something (such as a particular issue or life in general)

1 colonists   

n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。