A monument depicting Massasoit welcoming the Pilgrims was installed in Plymouth, MA in 1921 to mark the 300th anniversary of the landing of the English. In an on-line presentation, historian Jean O’Brien considers if the monument prompts us to reckon with the structural violence of settler colonialism, or further entrenches celebratory narratives of national origins. Click here for a 56-minute on-line presentation sponsored by Vermont Humanities on April 1, 2024. Click here, here, here and here for previous presentations by O’Brien.

Jean M. O’Brien (above, White Earth Ojibwe Nation) is Regents Professor, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, and Northrop Professor of History at the University of Minnesota. She is a co-founder and past president of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association.

O’Brien discusses the Colonial House PBS television series and its attempt to accurately describe what happened in Plymouth in the 1620s among the many tribes that populated the area at the time.

O’Brien cites Frank James’s 1970 speech at the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth and the more recent “Our Story” display developed by Paula Peters as examples of efforts to re-interpret the history of Plymouth.