We've Been Hoodooed!

29 June 2022--We've been both hoodooed and disrespected here in Virginia. lol  (For those of you who don't know, "Hoodoo" is a slang word for bamboozle.)  So it appears our history books have hoodooed us, and I fear the state of Virginia has disrespected us--by 'us", I mean my peeps the Pilgrims, my ancestors. lol

Before we even get inside the Jamestown Settlement, this state flag display tells us that Jamestown, VA was the 1st settlement in America--oh, really?!  My history books told us it was the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock!  And then, to add insult to injury, they define my beloved Pilgrims on the MA slate as 'zealots'!  I have to wonder who wrote their history books?  (I think they must still be mad they lost the Civil War--or as they call it here in the south, "The War of Northern Aggression".) lol  Truth be told, St Augustine, FL and Santa Fe, NM both had Spanish settlements prior to 1600, so they beat all of us here!

  

  

So according to the Virginians, (lol) 144 people came over from England on these 3 ships in 1607.  They are named the Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed.  Never heard of them--all I remember is that we came over on the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.  lol

  

The Powhatan Indians were native to this area, and although that is actually the name of the tribe, it is also the name of the Chief when the Brits arrive.  They had numerous settlements throughout this area--they didn't say this was the chief, but as the only statue of a Native American, this is how I will forever see him in mind's eye. lol

  

The houses they built are called 'yehakins', and made from bending young saplings and covering them with mats made from woven reeds.  Cathy is pointing at what I can only believe to be the 1st bunk bed!

  

There were several spots where actors, dressed as natives, talked about how they cooked and how they hollowed out trees to make canoes.  These guys were as white as we are, so they enlisted me to give the class on mashing corn. lol  Blow up the pics, and you'll see that if the guy in the 3rd pic was a woman he would probably be arrested. lol 

  

So they hollowed out massive trees by slowly burning them and then scraping out the ash.  Depending on the size of the tree, it could take 3-6 months, and they could hold 40-50 people.  But I think they were very small people--Cathy could step in, but as thin as she is, her hips would not allow her to get all the way down. lol  In the 3rd pic, Cathy is holding the hoof of a dead deer, which was used to scrape the fur from the hide.  The last pic shows what we presume is a game of darts.

  

  

Off we go to the mock up of the English fort, Fort James.  By the way, Virginia was named after Queen Elizabeth I--the 'virgin' queen!

  

Lots of armor displayed and laying around.  I was once again enlisted to model the proper wear of said armor.  lol  It was surprisingly heavy--even the hat.

  

This is one of only 15 or so original 'flak jackets' that would protect against the Native American's arrows and spears.

  

This is tobacco the Powhatan grew--later the Brits grew some they brought from Trinidad--they liked the taste better.

  

Some of the rooms inside the houses.  That's Cathy waiting to be served in the 2nd pic.  And based on the bed in the last pic, I'm thinking that was a room for a high muckety-muck!

  

  

A church, of course.  I'm the 'zealot' giving the sermon in the 2nd pic. lol

  

1st pic, drying tobacco.  2nd pic, the armory (remember the right to bear arms).  

  

  

Here they go again!  Now the Virginians are trying to tell us they had a 'thanksgiving' feast 2 years before the Pilgrims--balderdash! lolol  Check out the facts page...the lady who wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb is there, but has never been included in any history I've ever read. lol 

   

Poor Pocahontas!  Kidnapped, then taken to England, then commercialized--who knew she had any interest in these products?

   

The people who got here originally on those 3 boats no one has ever heard of (lol) were all men, and it wasn't till later that they realized they needed women--surprised?  So they brought over cultured ladies, but some women even came as indentured servants of their own will.  This poor girl in the 3rd pic was forced here though--read her short snippet--horrible!

  

A little snippet for my Dutch friends.

 

Horror of horrors!  Waterboarding, exclusive punishment for gossiping women.  Men making the rules, women suffering the consequences. 

  

For the 1st few decades, the Brits used indentured servants as their labor force, but after that the Virginians used slaves.  They were the 1st state to have slaves, when 20 Angolans were stolen from a Portuguese slave ship.  This woman outwitted them in 1656 when she sued for her freedom because she was the common law wife of a Christian Englishman.  The law held at that time that no Christian could be a slave, and she won in court.  The law was changed in 1662 to keep that from happening again, and also to outlaw mix-raced marriages.  That law held until 1967--yes, 1967--when it was thrown out by the Supreme Court in the Loving vs Virginia case.

 

Last but not least, watch this very quick video--turn up your volume and you'll see the transformation of Native American lands to British lands in less than 70 years.

Ok, we're off to Williamsburg today.  I hope they are through hoodooing us!