In 2019-2020 several American-Dutch Design Thinking Teams embarked on a Design Thinking Journey to commemorate Mayflower400 and Leiden400. We welcomed the mixed Dutch-American teams: How should we commemorate the migration of the pilgrims together?   

Our expert jury evaluated the designs and based their judgement on the Challenge Rubric. It all came down to student creativity, exchange of information and knowledge and joint history work. Two selected entries were invited by the jury to be prototyped in US (sept-dec 2020) and finalised in NL (nov 2021).

Mayflower 400 UK⁦‪@mayflower400uk‬⁩#Southampton has unveiled a new plaque on its Mayflower Memorial to remember the original inhabitants of Patuxet, which became Plymouth Colony under the settlement of the #Mayflower passengers. Read more >>> bit.ly/35anWcI
⁦‪@Mayflower400SC‬⁩ #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth pic.twitter.com/VYPhEIgDN2 09-11-20 14:30		 

The Teams worked on the basis of sources:

Section 1: Mayflower400 Websites

These are the websites created by the official organisations that want all people to learn about the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower. On these websites you can find a lot of information about activities and events. Sadly, many of the events were postponed in 2019-2020 because of the pandemic. Students and teachers managed to collaborate online! Enjoy your browsing here!

Section 2: Video resources

Around the special events for the 400th anniversary, there are some interesting (short) videos made. These might help you approach the topic and search further online!

Section 3: History Resources

A lot of people have studied and written about the history of the Pilgrims. In this section we collect a couple of websites which you can look into to learn more about this history:

  • The Pilgrim Story, on the website of the Leiden tourist agency, tells a general story to help you get more familiar with this history.
  • New England Beginnings is a large collection of information, some of it pretty difficult to understand, which may help you discover more!
  • Pilgrim Hall Museum Welcome Page gives you a good idea of how to understand this history and there are many more resources to discover there!
  • American History TV discussion by historians, is a long, and sometimes, pretty boring, discussion by University people, but it may help you see why this 400th anniversary seems to matter! If you want to explore this, you could decide to look at the first 10 minutes.

Section 4: Perspectives

In particular, it is important to consider what’s called a settler-colonial narrative. Settler-colonialism is when colonists take over a place – which has already been populated by people for thousands of years – by force with the intention of staying there and leads to the elimination of the native people. This concept is very much intertwined with the history of the Pilgrims and their migration from Europe to America, where the Wampanoag people had been living for thousands of years.

The following are resources that we encourage you to explore about this important perspective. As you watch/read, consider whether your proposal treats the Native Peoples as an aside, or as an equally important aspect of commemoration.

“Our” Story Plymouth 400 Wampanoag Exhibit – This website is part of an ongoing traveling exhibit telling the story of the Wampanoag people and commemorates 400 years of Wampanoag history. 

First Thanksgiving presentation by Linda Coombs, Wampanoag historian – In this talk, Ms. Coombs provides a critical perspective on the Thanksgiving myth and the importance of understanding the Native perspective and being critical of the English perspective that has been used to establish the Thanksgiving narrative we know today. 

Excerpt from An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (attached to this email) – In this excerpt, Dr. Dunbar-Ortiz briefly describes how violence between Puritan/Pilgrim Settlers and Native Peoples between 1620 and 1676 decimated the Native Peoples.

Frank James’ Speech – In 1970 (the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims), Wampanoag Frank James was invited to give a speech at a commemoration event. When the organizers of the event – descendants of the Pilgrims – read the remarks he intended to deliver, he was uninvited from speaking. This is the text of that speech. His words ring powerful as we – and you in this challenge – must reconcile what it means to ‘commemorate’ this history. Since he delivered this speech on Cole’s Hill in 1970, a National Day of Mourning has taken place each year on “Thanksgiving” to bring attention to the historical and ongoing oppression of Native Peoples.

Beloved Kin and Memory Lands Keynotes – This presentation by two scholars about the history of settler-colonialism in New England has very valuable insight into the problem of how indigenous people of this area have been remembered. One particular excerpt to consider is from 23:20-27:23 – Dr. DeLucia talks about the way in which artifacts are presented today and how that presentation erases the history of Native Peoples and/or tells this history through the settler-colonial perspective. Of particular note is the mention of how this relates to current controversy over statues and monuments.

BookTV: New England Puritans and Native Americans – This video was included in your original Challenge Resources list provided at the beginning of the project, but we encourage you to watch/rewatch from 8:00-41:36 as Drs. Blee and O’Brien as they discuss how settler-colonialism has impacted the way we view Native Peoples today and a great discussion about how the Wampanoag are commemorated by memorials in Plymouth today.

Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project – It is important to remember that the Wampanoag people are still here and their story continues today. This video explains the work of Jessie “Little Doe” Baird and her team to revive and reclaim the Wampanoag language and the impact of this work on their history and culture.

Again, we hope that these resources and this last component of your work help you to truly represent equally the story of all four nations in your commemoration proposal – especially that of the Wampanoag and Native Peoples of Massachusetts.