•  
  •  
 

Abstract

History often finds ways of retaining information deemed "valuable," while discarding information no longer of interest or importance to its scrivener. During this process, those who recount history intentionally or unintentionally forget some details while retaining others, perhaps even embellishing them for later generations. At the nexus of this amnesia and purposeful anamnesis (the way history is remembered), rests American mythmaking. Each layer of mythmaking connects with place or geography representing forgotten as well as recollected details, a reclamation of past events and altered memories that aggrandize, justify, and construct out of messy, complex, and often brutal reality, a sanitized hero's journey. In America, such tales often take the form of courageous pioneer families who selflessly settled the wilds ofa young nation to do their bit to expand the civilized reach of Mom-and-Apple-Pie. In turn, these personal mythologies shore up and reassert the national mythology of the United States being the home of the brave and land of the free. This dictate forced dominant society to assure themselves of their moral rectitude while simultaneously annihilating the Indian "Brave" and radically curtailing indigenous peoples' liberties. In return, a whitewash of respect and a token of remembrance was bestowed. Native place names such as Apalachicola, which comes from the Apalachicola tribe meaning "people on the other side," dot the map of Florida. Other names include "Withlacoochee," which is possibly Muskhogean for "crooked river," and "Tallahassee," also the name of Chief Tallahassee, nephew of Chief Chipco, the latter the namesake of a once prominent town in Pasco County.

Accessibility Status

PDF accessibility verified using Adobe Acrobat Pro Accessibility Checker

Download

Share

COinS