In October 1920, some 800 American Unitarians and their allies gathered in Plymouth, Massachusetts to commemorate a historical event that they believed to be the origin of America: the founding of the Plymouth colony by the “Pilgrim Fathers.” The year marked the 300th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ famous Mayflower voyage, and to celebrate their legacies, the Unitarians visited the Pilgrims’ original church, cemetery, and historic houses. Solemnly reflecting on the meaning of “1620,” they confirmed that “America was founded by a company of men and women who were convinced that nothing could sustain them but ‘the spirit of God and his grace.’”
At first glance, this gathering seems a very much ordinary American Protestant event. The myth of Plymouth has attracted generations of American Christians to this day, with the Pilgrims being an icon of America’s independence, freedom, democracy, and Christian piety. Particularly for those determined to see America as a “Christian nation,” the history of the Pilgrims was—and still is—a perfect “usable past,” with their voyage to the new world symbolizing a lofty, religious origin of America.
The Unitarians’ 1920 anniversary, however, ended up a different one. The event’s uniqueness had to do with the fact that Unitarianism was after all the leftist wing of American Protestantism, with a long history of openness to a diversity and dialogue with non-Christian faiths like Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. In the early twentieth century in particular, American Unitarians were invested in an international networking of liberal religionists across traditions, and it was exactly this “inter-religious” agenda that shaped the way they celebrated the Plymouth tercentenary anniversary. Avoiding a narrow-minded Christian nationalist narrative, the Unitarians argued that the Pilgrims had been pioneers of “liberal” religious principles such as freedom, tolerance, and harmony, and therefore, their history should be celebrated as a “common past” for all religious liberals in the modern world. To visualize this, the Unitarians arranged to have guests from many European countries and two Asian countries (Japan and India) who represented various Christian sects and even non-Christian faiths like Buddhism and Hinduism, making the event arguably the most international and inter-religious celebration of the Pilgrims ever held in history.
To explore their politics of memory, or what I call a “liberal appropriation of the Pilgrims,” I will analyze the speeches delivered at this anniversary. Admiring the Pilgrims for their progressive spirit, the speakers—such as Francis G. Peabody (American Unitarian), Christopher J. Street (British Unitarian), Swami Yogananda (Indian Hindu), Jien Rikunani (Japanese Buddhist), and Sakusaburo Uchigasaki (Japanese Unitarian)—tried to restore and apply their legacies to the modern world. Or, as one speaker boldly put it, “Let us become latter-day Pilgrims of the Spirit.” Attempted at this unique gathering was a radical transformation of the Pilgrims from a tiny community of seventeenth-century Calvinists to a global icon of modern liberal ecumenism.
In October 1920, American Unitarians and their allies gathered in Plymouth, Massachusetts to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers’ famous Mayflower voyage. While ostensibly following a familiar Christian nationalist narrative of the Pilgrims as the founders of a Christian America, the Unitarians ended up revising the history. The Pilgrims, they claimed, had been champions of “liberal” religious principles such as freedom, tolerance, and harmony, and therefore, their history should be celebrated as a “common past” for religious liberals across nations and traditions in the modern world. To visualize this, the Unitarians invited guests from many European countries and two Asian countries (Japan and India) who represented various Christian sects and even non-Christian faiths like Buddhism and Hinduism. Attempted at this international, interfaith commemoration was a radical transformation of the Pilgrims from a tiny community of seventeenth-century Calvinists to a global icon of modern liberal ecumenism.