In Search of the American Dream: Acknowledging Our Past

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The Traveling Writer Takes You Back

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

For Thanksgiving, I'd like to take you back to my bus journey circumnavigating the continental U.S.  I ended that seven-week trip on Thanksgiving Day, with a visit to Plymouth Rock.

Statue of Massasoit, Chief of the Wampanoags, the tribe that enabled the Pilgrims survive their first winter, on Cole's Hill, overlooking Plymouth Harbor.
More pics at the links underlined below.

Every year, Native Americans gather at the Rock to protest the theft and murder by which the Europeans turned this country into America. It's sponsored by United American Indians of New England (UAINE). I met Native Americans at the protest who came all the way from Montana to attend.

You can see pics from the event here. 

While I was at Plymouth Rock, I visited a replica of the Mayflower. It's a very small ship. When it landed in 1620, it wasn't the first time Europeans set foot on North America, but the colony founded at Plymouth turned out to be the only one that lasted -- and grew. See pics of the ersatz Mayflower here.

Making a New American Dream

Now that we're here in North America, with the damage done to the native peoples, let's each help a disadvantaged person this Thanksgiving weekend. Or how about just helping with the dishes? You'll be helping someone's American Dream come true -- of a chance to relax and stop working on Thanksgiving!

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

National Day of Mourning, aka Thanksgiving Day

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Since Thanksgiving Day 1970, the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts has hosted the National Day of Mourning, when Native Americans from all over the country demonstrate against all that happened after they kept the Pilgrims alive during the first winter.

Statue of Massasoit, Chief of the Wampanoags, the tribe that enabled the Pilgrims survive their first winter, on Cole's Hill, overlooking Plymouth Harbor.

The plaque reads, in part:  "To [Native Americans], Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and the relentless assault on their culture.  Participants in national Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today...It is a protest of the racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience.  Erected by the Town of Plymouth on behalf of the United American Indians of New England."

The United American Indians of New England (UAINE) sponsor the event annually.  In spite of the fact that it was held on Thanksgiving Day, it was well attended by a diverse crowd.

This was the last official day of my America bus trip.  But my blog is not over!  I had the opportunity to travel further, not in America but in "the Americas," Costa Rica to be exact.  My son is an expat there, teaching ESL and loving all the Costa Ricans who are just like him, happy and not riddled with angst.  Businesses in CR accept dollars, so that makes it official, my travels there were American.  Stay tuned.