Authors Blee and O’Brien talk about Monumental Mobility today

The Newberry Library (pictured below) in Chicago offered an hour-long virtual on-line program on June 17, 2020 that featured authors Lisa Blee and Jean M. O’Brien, moderated by Rose Miron. Click here for a 59-minute YouTube video of the presentation and the discussion that followed.

 

Taking off from Drs. Blee and O’Brien’s book (above), Monumental Mobility: The Memory Work of Massasoit, the authors went on to discuss how the monument to the Massasoit Ousamequin that was placed in Plymouth, MA in 1931 has functioned to interpret the history of the Pokaonket (Wampanoag) people.

 

(Above) The authors commented on the current spate of statues that have been taken down in protest across the country while noting that the numerous statues of the Massasoit across the country appear to engender different feelings.

 

The authors discussed the 1970 protest over Thanksgiving that resulted in a plaque (click on photo above) placed near the Massasoit statue in Plymouth recounting the reasons for Native people regarding the holiday as a National Day of Mourning.