The second book in my Andover series is with the editor and while I await feedback, I thought it would be a good time to introduce the subject.
Andover, a small town with a huge history. Witches arrested in the 1690’s, active participation in the Revolutionary War, home of the first gunpowder factory, and standing homes that housed the enslaved on their way to freedom.
Resistance Rising, the Revolutionary War story, started out as a historical fiction book but has become so much more. The hotbed of rebellion in the 1770’s began in Boston, only twenty minutes away from where I live and it heightened the feeling of pride I’ve always carried. Re-reading the Declaration of Independence brought home the willingness of men of character and integrity, to stand firm in their principles, and to sacrifice their very lives for the cause.
It got me thinking about what it meant to be an American and in the course of the story, Ida Wolfe, one of the primary females, wrote a by-line on it and I wanted to share it. I believe we forget sometimes that we are a unique population, created by the energy of an idea, that of freedom.
Genealogy research has become extremely popular over the last several decades. Thousands, if not millions, have joined websites like Ancestry.com. and MyHeritage or subscribed to Family Search Centers. Shows like Who Do You Think You Are and Finding My Roots continue to flourish, as more and more people try to connect to the branches on their family tree.
Why the insatiable curiosity about where we come from and who our ancestors were?
Perhaps it’s to understand our heritage, one that was buried back in the eighteen hundreds when immigrants feared the inability to fit in. Perhaps it has to do with our identity, which encompasses family, ethnicity, values, and cultural experiences or to foster a sense of belonging, which is a strong human instinct.
We want to understand our origins and today it’s easier than ever. Between technologies and DNA testing we are able to access a multitude of information from census data, birth records, and even travel documents such as steam ship information. We learn which of our ancestors was the first one to step foot on American soil, and at times we can even guess as to why they risked the journey and the unknown.
Did our people immigrate during the potato famine, or were our ancestors brought here to meet some financial need? Were they trying to escape poverty or a brutal regime?
Interesting enough, there are times that the information gleaned is a surprise. I have a small percentage of Saudi Arabian in my genes. I know others who have found an African lineage in theirs.
The more we know about our origins, the more likely it becomes that we can bridge a cultural divide. It can spark a curiosity about different cultures or create a moment of self-reflection that can open us up to a new perspective.
So, who are we? What makes us American?
In all the sites I’ve visited, and all the pie charts I’ve seen that break down ethnicities, and our origins, one thing is glaring; there is no American slice. Unless you have evolved from a native tribe, born Innuit, or Hawaiian, you have come from someplace else.
Which means most of us are part of the immigrant experience.
Greek, German, Norwegian, Irish, Slavic, Mexican, Liberian, Ghanan, Chinese, Japanese… the list goes on.
This country is truly a melting pot of all ethnicities, a tapestry of cultures, beliefs, traditions, and values. Our faces are different, and our skin tones vary, but our stories are similar. There has been struggle and adversity, poverty and discrimination, the American dream urging us on, to do better, be better. And it has made us strong, resilient, innovative, and adaptable. We’ve fought wars for freedom, against fascism, have fought battles for human rights, for gender protection, for women’s suffrage, in the hope we can become the country we want to be. Free, with liberty and justice for all.
I am proud to be an American, even when the cycle of our governance is at a breaking point. We’ve survived McCarthyism, the Vietnam Conflict, Nixon’s resignation, civil rights protests, presidential assassinations and World Wars, overcoming many obstacles in our quest to create a more perfect union and although it seems to some that we are slow to react, when we choose to resist inequities, we fight hard and usually win.
The energy of the 1770’s is swirling once again and we are gearing up to throw off the chains of injustice, just like we did back then. The democracy we cherish, was an experimental form of government that has lasted two hundred and fifty years. We need to reignite the vision and reclaim our identity of who we want to be as a country.
So, let’s roll.