Both of my sisters have sons who graduated, one from college, one from high school, this year. They decided to have a little joint celebration. Where better than a place where we could also celebrate half our heritage (one quarter and perhaps some minor fractions in the case of the kids): the Polish National Home. If you’ve never been there, you have a treat in store. We were given hand written menus, from which we could choose our favorite Polish foods. High on the menu: the kielbasa plate, the pierogi plate, the Golumpki plate, and the Polish platter. I hereby admit that my Polish bona fides were seriously undermined when I read the menu, as I couldn’t even recognize the Golumpki, despite the generous number of vowels, as the dish that I had always called Gwumpki.
You could get each of the first three dishes for $8.95, or you could get the Polish Platter for $10.95, which, so far as we could tell when it arrived, consisted of all three of the first dishes piled on a single plate. Only one of the brave souls who unwittingly chose to eat this massive amount of food was able to make an appreciable dent in it.
But I have not come to praise Polish cuisine, as distinguished as it is. I have come to help spread the word about the early Polish pioneers who may, nay must, have saved America at its very birth. For on the way out of the hallowed hall, my son noticed this plaque affixed to a rock near the entrance (click to enlarge):
So, on October 1st of this year, as the Google confirms, we will be celebrating the 400th anniversary of the settling of North America by the People of Poland, who apparently were accompanied by some people from England. According to some, it was the Poles alone who saved the hapless English at Jamestown, thereby saving the colony, and by extension, all of America. From a Book review of the seminal work, Jamestown True Heroes, by Arthur L. Waldo:
In “Jamestown True Heroes,” Waldo expands on the information he first presented in “First Poles…” The book is over 250 pages and contains a wealth of photos and illustrations. Much of the information that’s presented is based upon the lost Memorialum Commercatoris manuscript, supposedly written by Zbigniew Stefanski, alleged to be one of the Jamestown Poles. According to Waldo, an individual offered to sell the privately published manuscript to the Polish Museum of Chicago, where he was able to view it. We’re told the deal ultimately fell through and the mysterious manuscript was withdrawn, never to be seen again.
It would seem from the previous comments of Karen Majewski to this forum that professional Polish American historians doubt the veracity of the missing manuscript.
…
The names and backgrounds of the Jamestown Poles, their experiences as glassmakers, homebuilders, and well-diggers are documented in the manuscript along with an account of the Poles saving Smith from an Indian attack! The reader is told that the Jamestown colony had
absolutely no chance of survival if not for these five(?) talented and virtuous Poles. Waldo makes the correlation that, since the Poles saved Jamestown, and without Jamestown, there would have been no Plymouth, the Poles are responsible for the existence of America!
I haven’t witnessed such a degree of unabashed ethnic pride since watching Michael Constantine play Papa Gus in “My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding.”
It seems to me that the snark is uncalled for as is the skepticism of the “professionals”. Why should we doubt the existence of the Memorialum Commercatoris manuscript, in this, the age of the da Vinci code? Hey, if the Mormons are allowed to believe in the entire Book of Mormon, disappearing tablets and all, we Poles have every right to believe in the Memorialum, and consequently our primary role in saving the fledgling Jamestown colony. Waldo’s entire story just reeks of truthiness.
And how were we repaid for our heroic behavior on behalf of our incompetent Anglo-Saxon cousins? It appears that we Poles were subjected to the first documented voter suppression tactics in America, perhaps in history. That’s right, some 17th century Karl Rove tried to deprive us of our vote, but then, as opposed to now, truth and justice prevailed, at least for the Poles:
In 1619 the colonists were preparing to elect members of the new Virginia assembly. The governor announced that only men of English origin would be allowed to vote. The Poles responded to this announcement by laying down their tools. “No vote, no work” they announced.
This caused consternation and the court record of the Virginia Company for July 12, 1619, states: “Upon some dispute of the Polonians in Virginia, it was now agreed…they shall be enfranchised and made as free as any inhabitant there whatsoever.”
So, not only were we the first victims of voter suppression in the New World, we also organized the first strike. Apparently, the Poles were brought along in the first place because they had skills the adventuring English did not, so their work boycott was no empty threat. The above, by the way, is culled from sources other than the unjustly maligned Memorialum Commercatoris, sources that persons other than Mr. Waldo may access.
The Poles were granted equal rights, and they were allowed to vote, in the same year in which the first imported laborers from Africa were setting foot in Virginia. They unfortunately, didn’t have the leverage the Poles had, and they could not lay down their tools.
But that is another, sadder story. I write today to celebrate our Polish forefathers, few in number but huge in influence. Preservers of our first colony. The first Americans to fight for equal rights. All that, and Golumpkis too.
