Ken Burns Map Data

[Logan Bolan]

Hi,

Just discovered the GIS data for the new American Revolution Documentary.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=00fbd14393dc49369267c03bbef6b474

This should be standard practice in this field!

Thanks,

Logan

[Jason Palmer]

Great resource, Logan. 

I agree this should be standard practice because it creates more transparency. It reaveals how fundamentally anti-Indigenous Ken's documentary is. His view comes from a place that assumes that the only land claims that matter are those founded on the Doctrine of Discovery. This is especially evident in the "none" part of the map in the entire Pacific Northwest. None?!!!!  So, what about the Haida? The Tlingit? They literally count for nothing in Ken's view, and I'm pretty sure that will be evident in his documentary, though I haven't seen it. Maybe I'll be surprized. Granted, he will probably have a few factoids about Indigenous Peoples, and I know he worked with a few Native consultants, but similar to American Primeval, the authentic Native veneer will only serve to obscure the truth behind the USA's foundation: the USA, as a settler state, has no legitimate motherland to shrink back down to. If it ever decolonized like the British or Belgian empires, it would either simply dissapear or have to choose some arbitrary stopping point. I doubt the UAINE would like it if the USA shrunk all the way back down to Plymouth and suddenly decided that enough decolonization was enough. Now that would be an American Revolution!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone,

Jason Palmer PhD

Educator, Anthropologist, and Independent Researcher

 

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From: globalmor...@googlegroups.com <globalmor...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Logan Bolan <bolan.l...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2025 08:51 AM
To: globalmor...@googlegroups.com <globalmor...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Ken Burns Map Data

 

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[Joel Campbell]

I have access to doc through PBS Passport and just finished Part 3. I am no expert about indigenous land claims, but have found the treatment of indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans thorough and thoughtful. In all, the doc so far is as Burns promised -- not following our inherited mythology, but showing the complexity and not-so-pretty parts of the Revolution.  I will say, I am a PBS fan and bigger Burns fan.  I will be interested to see what scholars in this area think.

Best,

Joel J. Campbell
Visiting Faculty
Faculty of Arts & Letters

Brigham Young University - Hawaii

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeljcampbell/

801-362-4298

foi...@gmail.com

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[Ignacio Garcia]

I’m not sure anyone can do complete justice to any nonwhite community in telling their story. The most we can hope for is enough material that allow people to validate those diverse stories. When I was growing up there were no “sensitive” presentation of my community’s history, so we had to piece it together from the images we saw. If we were comfortable, even proud of being whom we were, it was much easier. For those who were ashamed, embarrassed, or self-haters, it was so much more difficult. Also, those whose families did not tell them stories of their family, of the little history they knew of back home, it was hard to feel anything but disillusion.

Today, we want all historical interpretations solved by the same institutions and people who have marginalized our diverse histories. I’ve always believed that the first inklings of history and racial/ethnic acceptance start at home, and in our local institutions—schools, churches, cultural celebrations etc. When that happens, our children and our communities will not be totally misled or marginalized by what they see in television. 

Educating people will never be easy without institutional help, but when that is not available someone has to take up the slack.

Ignacio

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[Jason Palmer]

That is an important perspective, Ignacio. 

And, looking at the map again, I stand corrected. I still haven't seen the documentary (how does one stream it without cable or local TV channels?), but I looked closer at the map and there is a toggleable eye feature next to American Indian/First Nations Information that was unclicked when I first went in. When I "showed" that, it became clear that "none" referred to "no colonial presence" in the Pacific Northwest because it showed thousands of Native nations. 

Pretty cool, Ken. Sorry I doubted. 

I'm just very wary about the topic of the so-called revolution era because even Ned Blackhawk's book Rediscovering America falls a bit short of comign to the only logical conclusion about the USA, given that it was a more perfect union against the United Indian Nations.

I'm glan Ken is generating dialogue. 

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From: Ignacio Garcia <Ignacio...@byu.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2025 07:17 AM
To: foi...@gmail.com <foi...@gmail.com>; Jason Palmer <jasonchar...@hotmail.com>
Cc: Logan Bolan <bolan.l...@gmail.com>; globalmor...@googlegroups.com <globalmor...@googlegroups.com>