American History

[Bob]

http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/britishlibrary/controller/subjectidsearch?id=1802&startid=39140&width=4&height=2&idx=2

[Bob]

http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/pd--12258448/sp--A/The_Indian_Village_of_Secoton.htm

Powhatan village by White--gives you an idea of the villages spoken of ion the book.

[weezo]

Liquid,

That is exactly the impression of the pilgrims that I got from reading Conquest of America by Francis Jennings and/or The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. I read the two one behing the other, so I'm not sure which had the most information on how the Pilgrims manipulated the Indians to get their land. They set one group of Indians against the other with lies and rumors, and fought with their sister colonies in New England rousing the Indians to forment trouble.

Anne in Virginia

[Bob]

PBS NOVA Special is very good. I'm watching it now -- Rountree is featured in some sections. I'll post again tomorrow...

[Bob]

Before I  go back to NOVA: I'm reading SAVAGE KINGDOM: THE TRUE STORY OF JAMESTOWN  by Benjamin Woolley. So far it's excellent. I'll post stuff from it as we go along as it fills in some gaps and answers some questions not answered by Rountree.

[Bob]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pocahontas/

Link to the Nova Special online.

Not a bad presentation at all. I enjoyed it...

[thanatopsy]

weezo,

Thanks for that link for Jamestown. Very interesting site, indeed.

[thanatopsy]

Ah, grand! Bob posted a couple of good links as well...

[weezo]

The PBS Special just went off. I recorded it on our new DVD machine, and I hope I will be able to turn the volume up when I re-watch it. I forgot to set the volume before I started recording, and couldn't change it once the DVD was running for some reason.

It was very good. Helen Roundtree, our author, was featured a number of times. She expressed her doubt on the "saving" of John Smith story. The special seemed to put a lot of credence to it being an adoption ceremony, but Rountree discounted that in the book.

It was very interesting to learn that they have found the site of Powhatan's Long House, have unearthed an earthwork setting it off from the rest of the village, and have found the holes for at least one side of it. As far as I could hear, they may have found some of the holes for the other side before the end of the summer dig. It was interesting how they determined that the copper found on the Wecomoco site was indeed English copper, and a lot of it!

I liked the girl who played Pocahontas in the special. She was pretty enough to get the attention Pocahontas commanded. But, she didn't have the shaved head - her hair was pulled back with a decorative band. I guess it would be too much to ask a youngster to have her head shaved for a non-speaking actress part! I did notice that some of the Indian actors had the part-shaved heads.

I may get the "Savage Kingdom" book, since I now have a fast-growing collection of books on Jamestown. I can make room for one more! (grin)

Anne in Virginia

[weezo]

NY Temps,

I didn't realize the next program was about Jamestown - I would have put it on the disk. It looked too scary for me --- I've always had nightmares after scary movies, so I avoid them with a passion.

It was good to see Ms. Rountree. She looks like a jolly person to be standing in front of a class!

The question of poison at Jamestown would have been interesting, but I suspect it wasn't if you fell asleep on it. Roundtree says that Powhatan tried to poison some of the corn the colonists were demanding, but was not able to get the poison from the Accomacs when they found out what it was to be used for. It is interesting that the rats that could have been a good reason for poison, were not common to Tsenecomoco before Chawnschmit came to visit.

The colonists were successful in poisoning Opechacanough in later years, but instead of killing him outright, he survived after a very long illness.

It is interesting to compare the behavior of the Invaders, always carrying and brandishing their arms even in the first encounters, and Smith consistently refusing to disarm. If you watch the Star Trek episodes (the additional series especially), the away team always goes armed, even when they have to explain to the peaceful people that they came as explorers and intend no harm. When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?

Anne

[Dzimas]

I noted Savage Kingdom at amazon.  Would also be curious what people think.  I see that Library of America has also released a collection of writings by Captain John Smith and other narratives of Jamestown, Roanoke and other early settlements.  It really is amazing the amount of literature now available on these early settlements, so it surprises me that certain myths continue to be perpetuated.

[playa]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_9_58/ai_103565083


I guess I don't know how to open up a new thread on American History.

I have a book that  I'm  currently reading by Lerone Bennett Jr called "BEFORE THE MAYFLOWER".

I find the information in the book  totally shows how wrong  American historic writers have been when educating americans on african american history.

[playa]

Another book of intrest "Germany's Black Holocaust" 1890-1945 The Untold Truth !

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0963129341/ref=dp_proddesc_0/102-4011569-3979354?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

[caclark]

".... It really is amazing the amount of literature now available on these early settlements, so it surprises me that certain myths continue to be perpetuated."

The meaning one finds in history is often what one goes looking for. Myths endure because they instill a sense of hope and nobility that transcends all the dirt and pain a people had to go through to become what they became as a people. Histories come and go but myths will live on.

[Dzimas]

I guess it depends upon the myth.  Some myths are hardlly noble but endure simply because they are perpetuated through popular media.