The nearly 75 year old historical museum located in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Plimoth Plantation, is changing their name. They have made the decision after a year of mulling it over, that they will remove "plantation" from it's title. Why, you might ask? According to a statement from the museum, they said: "although our educational mission is inclusive of Indigenous history as well as European colonial history, the name of the Museum underscores only half of the story." Plimoth Plantation said during the name change discussions over the past year they asked themselves this question: “Does our name reflect the full, multivalent history that is at the core of the museum’s mission?” Plimoth Plantation went on to say: "The conversations generated by that fundamental question have moved us toward a new, more balanced name demonstrating that the history and culture of the Indigenous people of this region are as integral to the Museum’s educational mission as the history and culture of the English colonists."
So, what will be the new name? They have already started incorporating "Patuxet" into their name, as a nod to what the Indigenous people called the land at the time of the Pilgrims arrival. This has not been officially deemed the new name, or it is not final as of yet. Plimouth Plantation is celebrating their 400th anniversary or marking of when the Pilgrims first set foot in Plymouth Harbor and created their settlement on the lands, which indeed was called "Patuxet" and thus why they thought it was appropriate to include the name. According to the museum, the Pilgrims landed in 1620.
To read the museum's full statement regarding the name change, you can do so on their website, HERE.
What do you make of this name change? Are you for or against it? Upon first learning of this, I'll be honest, I thought it was a stretch and a bit absurd. I thought they were removing the name "plantation" due to what is connected or thought of when you hear plantation, and that is slavery. Plimouth Plantation was the first settlement in the United States, before there was slavery in this country and so the name in this example has nothing to do with slavery. When I heard the reason is due to the fact that the museum wanted to be more inclusive of the "other half of the story", the story outside the settlement or plantation and that being the Indigenous people that lived there's story, then I was a bit more understanding. If they were to change it based on strictly the idea that "plantation" reminds them of slavery, that would be ridiculous because in this case, slavery was not here and there were indeed plantations or settlements without slaves, such was the case with the settlement that is Plimouth Plantation. I can see why they would want to change the name and be more inclusive, that's fine. After learning more about the reasons why and not hearing about it just on the surface, it makes sense to me but I will say I do hope they fairly represent both the settlers and the Indigenous people and not make the museum one sided. As they said, so far they believe the name was not representative of both groups of people and with that, I hope they don't try to over compensate and forget about the settlers who came because they too are part of the story. Yes, include the indigenous people but make sure you represent both groups equally. What's your take on the name change?
-Producer Lightning