While perusing The Economist site recently, I came across this book review for S.C. Gwynne's Empire of the Summer Moon and thought (as I often do when I come across similar stories) that I should grab a book on local Native American tribes. It also made me wonder how much most people know about the peoples who once lived on their land. How well do you know your land's history?
Every time I read, watch or hear something about Native American tribes, I'm fascinated at their sense of culture, some of the advancements they made that aren't much publicized and the pride with which they conducted themselves as they were forced off their lands. I know that my area in particular once housed Illinois, Miami and Potawatomi tribes and I know a bit about the tribes that lived in the Detroit area where I grew up- but not a whole lot.
Anyone who's traveled to a famous and ancient place knows the strange and awesome feeling of standing in a spot that a person stood in a thousand (or two thousand, or more) years ago and wondered who they were and what they felt. Why don't we ever get that feeling in our own hometowns? I know my non-American readers have a different history to their homes than we do over here, but it certainly isn't any less impressive or fascinating and, at the same time, I'm sure it's just as ignored.
I'm sure there are important lessons we can pick up from our own local histories- as there are with any study of history- and along the way of reading up on those histories, hopefully we learn them. But I'm a big fan of knowledge for its own sake, and learning about the peoples who stood where you are now is simply interesting. Who were these people? What did they do with their time? What did they leave behind? How did they live? (Maybe most interesting to consider) what would they think if they saw it now? No doubt, local historians have done scores of research and writing on what your town/region/city was well before you lived there. Give it a read, I can't imagine you wouldn't find it interesting.
Every time I read, watch or hear something about Native American tribes, I'm fascinated at their sense of culture, some of the advancements they made that aren't much publicized and the pride with which they conducted themselves as they were forced off their lands. I know that my area in particular once housed Illinois, Miami and Potawatomi tribes and I know a bit about the tribes that lived in the Detroit area where I grew up- but not a whole lot.
Anyone who's traveled to a famous and ancient place knows the strange and awesome feeling of standing in a spot that a person stood in a thousand (or two thousand, or more) years ago and wondered who they were and what they felt. Why don't we ever get that feeling in our own hometowns? I know my non-American readers have a different history to their homes than we do over here, but it certainly isn't any less impressive or fascinating and, at the same time, I'm sure it's just as ignored.
I'm sure there are important lessons we can pick up from our own local histories- as there are with any study of history- and along the way of reading up on those histories, hopefully we learn them. But I'm a big fan of knowledge for its own sake, and learning about the peoples who stood where you are now is simply interesting. Who were these people? What did they do with their time? What did they leave behind? How did they live? (Maybe most interesting to consider) what would they think if they saw it now? No doubt, local historians have done scores of research and writing on what your town/region/city was well before you lived there. Give it a read, I can't imagine you wouldn't find it interesting.
2 comments:
I feel this sense of sacred place every day when I walk through my neighborhood in Philadelphia. Not to the very distant past of native Americans, but to the last several centuries, and to America's intellectual, political, and cultural past. I know that George Washington stood in 'that' spot, 'there' when I walk past it on my way home from work. Or, that in 'that' room, that I can see dimly lit at night when walking my dog, that Americans debated and then committed to signing the Declaration of Independence, and becoming traitors of Great Britain.
I feel it when I walk over Washington Square and know that below me are the bones of thousands of slaves and free Blacks who buried their dead in this Potter's Field, and these bones are mixed with the bones of thousands more American Revolutionary War soldiers who died in the British prison just across the park. John Adams also felt it when he walked across that park one night and wrote to Abigail about the sorrow he felt for the dead soldiers.
We build on the humus of our ancestors. No matter how much we intellectualize, generalize and abstract the accomplishments of the past, there is still a deep human need to be in places made sacred not just by great accomplishments, but just by the living of each of us. As social beings it seems that we not only need to connect with those who are now living, but also with those who came before us and the places where the stood.
-Ed
Couldn't have said it better myself! Also, it's such an interesting mix of feelings I get in such situations where I stand at the same spot as some great historical figure: on the one hand, I'm even more impressed by the fact that they made such a great contribution to the world and were simply people like you or me; and at the same time I'm emboldened by the thought that you don't have to be born a hero with superhuman abilities to make an impression. It makes history so much more tangible.
Just as eating local, drinking local, shopping local, etc. is becoming more and more fashionable, so too should be understanding local history.
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