Why is the struggling winter of the Pilgrims portrayed in a better light than the Starving Time of Jamestown? Why has the story of the Pilgrims and Indians become the foundation of Americana? And how can we show kids that the way history is told may be biased? Let’s look at the stories of Columbus,…
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America
Pilgrims – God’s Provision at the Expense of Other People
“Thanksgiving was the third and most exalted of Plymouth’s trinity, holier even than the Mayflower and the Rock. It carried the story of America’s founding out of Plymouth and into millions of homes, renewing memory of the Pilgrims each autumn over turkey, sweet potato, and pumpkin pie. The only people who might be surprised by…
The Myth of America – Jamestown – The Wrong Story to Tell
The viewpoint taken on Jamestown in Light and the Glory is interesting, and contributes to how we talk about the myth that is America. Why do some stories get prioritized over others? “Gosnold formed the Virginia Company to raise money for the new colony. This Company told everyone that the colony was a missionary outreach. …
The Myth of America – Columbus, Christ-Bearer
Let’s set the stage with a neutral description of who Columbus was. “Most scholars believe Columbus was born in 1451, to a family of wool weavers in Genoa. After working in the wool trade, he went to sea and literally washed ashore in Portugal after an attack on his ship by the French. He…
The First Thanksgiving and the Myth of America
“This book is a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today. Parents might wish to discuss with their children how views on race have changed before allowing them to read this classic work.” – Note at the beginning of Stories of the Pilgrimsby…
Day 9 – Introducing Structural Racism to Kids
[blockquote cite=”James Baldwin, Go Tell It On the Mountain” type=”left”]She looked out into the quiet, sunny streets, and for the first time in her life, she hated it all – the white city, the white world. She could not, that day, think of one decent white person in the whole world. She sat there, and…
When I say ‘Most White Christians’…
The tendancy is to group people together. To use a broad brush. The tendancy is for most white Christians to brush things under the rug. When I say ‘most white Christians’, I mean everyone I know in person, except for a handful. When I say most white Christians, I mean how my FB feed is filled,…
A Little Peroxide for the White, Wounded Quest
‘But make no mistake. Privilege is real, and so is oppression. We live in the same country, in different worlds. The town of Ferguson is speaking up; this is the time to listen, and pray for justice.’ This is the time to listen, he says. Well then. Listen up. Racial work is hard. I’m kind…
Knowing the Underside of History
We are shaped by the stories we tell, by the unspoken plotlines that seep into us. Individually and collectively, the histories we know and the ones we don’t turn us into a specific kind of people. What do we choose to know? Why do we choose to remember? I’ve always loved history, especially American history. …
Segregation Faded Away and Other Lessons on Race from the South
Segregation faded away. I read that phrase in an article a couple of weeks ago, and I could only laugh at the denial that must be present, to choose that wording. It was an article about local beaches, telling a short history of a particular beach (a mere 3 miles away from a black university…