National Museum of American History
Upending 1620: Where Do We Begin?
August 6, 2021 – September 5, 2022
Upending 1620: Where Do We Begin? is a display that examines the early encounters between Wampanoag peoples and English colonists, and the important legacies of those encounters over the next 400 years. Those initial meetings became the subject of powerful yet changing myths, when later Americans reimagined the English Pilgrims as “founders” of the U.S. nation. Exploring the evidence that upends these highlights Wampanoag experience and persistence through the centuries and invites a fuller understanding of the colonists’ views and motivations as well. Audiences will be able to look at the origins and evolution of Thanksgiving and the emergence of the National Day of Mourning, a protest first organized in 1970 as a reminder of the genocide of Native peoples. Objects on display include fragments of Plymouth Rock, a family chest used by a member of the Mayflower party, a 1998 Day of Mourning protest banner, a Wampanoag wood splint burden basket, and a handmade Narragansett drum.
Plymouth Rock fragment with painted inscription, 1830
