130 Rethinking Jamestown and America’s Origin Story

In The Past Lane - The Podcast About History and Why It Matters

This week at In The Past Lane, the American History podcast, we take a close look at America’s early colonial origins. Most Americans tend to think of their nation as beginning in Massachusetts with the 1620 establishment of a colony at Plymouth by the Pilgrims. But this view overlooks Jamestown, Virginia which had been established 13 years earlier in 1607. Why? Because, apart from periodic wars with local Native Americans, Massachusetts thrived, while further south in Virginia the Jamestown colony suffered through several periods of starvation and near extinction. And then in 1619 – 400 years ago this year – Jamestown was the site of the arrival of the first shipload of enslaved Africans. Plymouth, MA came to be seen as the New World utopia in contrast to the Jamestown dystopia. But there’s a lot more to the Jamestown story that’s really important to know about when considering the origins of the United States and American democracy. To explain this overlooked chapter of US history, I speak with Joseph Kelly, the author of a new book, Marooned: Jamestown, Shipwreck, and a New History of America’s Origin.

Recommended reading:

Joseph Kelly, Marooned: Jamestown, Shipwreck, and a New History of America’s Origin (Bloomsbury, 2018)

James Horn, 1619: Jamestown and the Forging of American Democracy

James Horn, A Land As God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America

William M. Kelso, Jamestown, the Buried Truth

Benjamin Woolley, Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America

More info about Joseph Kelly - his website

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Music for This Episode

Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com)

Kevin McCleod, “Impact Moderato” (Free Music Archive)

Andy Cohen, “Trophy Endorphins” (Free Music Archive) Blue Dot Sessions, “Sage the Hunter” (Free Music Archive)

Jon Luc Hefferman, “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive)

The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive)

Production Credits

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Podcasting Consultant: Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting

Podcast Editing: Wildstyle Media

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

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Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

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© In The Past Lane, 2019

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