Recap of America's 400th Anniversary Partner Events

  

  


Event:   The New World
Debuted  January 20, 2005

New Line Productions and writer/director Terrence Malick will re-introduce Americans to the story of Jamestown with a dramatic major feature film. The film, which stars major Hollywood talents Colin Farrell as John Smith, newcomer Q'orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas and Christopher Plummer as Christopher Newport, focuses on the earliest days of the settlement and the settlers’ tumultuous relationship with the Virginia Indians. “The New World” was filmed near Historic Jamestowne.




Event:  Highlight of British Events
When:  July 2006 through 2007

Virginia Indian Festival in Gravesend (14 - 19 July 2006)
An international cultural exposition will take place in the town of Gravesend, the resting place of Pocahontas. This visit, the first trip of an official Virginia Indian delegation to England in over 250 years, will be an opportunity to educate the people of England on the commemoration as well as the history and culture of the native peoples before and after the settlement of 1607.  The event will also feature a symposium on Virginia Indian history, held at the University of Kent, an international webcast, as well as a programme of school visits in the local area.  Significant VIP attendance is expected from UK and USA.

 

Discovery Tour (2006 - 2007)

A reproduction ship will arrive from the USA and tour around the English coastline to tell the story of Jamestown and the early Virginian settlements.  These events are to be held at various English ports, and will mirror the 2006 Godspeed Sail up the east coast of the United States.

 

Rule of Law Lectures

This lecture series will highlight the democratic implications of the Jamestown settlement.

18 October 2006 Professor Sir David Williams (Gray’s Inn)

21 February 2007 Rt Hon Lord Bingham of Cornhill (Middle Temple)

 

New World Exhibition (November 2006 – May 2007)

The Museum in Docklands is planning an exhibition of the history of the settlement and its descendents, with educational elements for school-age children.

 

Launch Event (19 December 2006)

An event at Virginia Quay, Blackwall, will take place to mark the departure of the three ships that left England on December 19th 1606 for the New World.  A VIP reception will be held at the Museum in Docklands.  The British Committee is working with the US Embassy in London and the Federal Commission on this event.

 

UK Wide Tourism Promotion

London’s prominence throughout the commemorations will build into a UK wide promotion of the locations related to the expedition. Kent, Suffolk and Lincolnshire have already made a start. www.beginyouradventure.co.uk

 

Jamestown, USA - The Breaking and Making of America

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

Saturday 21 April, Study day 10.30 – 16.30

This year sees the 400th anniversary of the founding of Virginia, America’s first permanent English colony – 13 years before the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. This event sparked a series of cultural encounters that helped define the American nation. This study day addresses European imperialism in America by placing Jamestown within the wider context of English colonization in order to discuss whether what was established in 1607 was aberrant or exemplary and by examining Spain and France’s role in this international political drama. It will also explore the encounter between the English and Native Americans, the extraordinary life of John Smith and the voyage out.

Speakers include:

  • Trevor Burnard – Professor of American History and Head of American Studies University of Sussex
  • Bruce Lenman - Professor of History University of St Andrews
  • John Haden – Historian and Jamestown 2007 British Committee member
  • Chris Ware - Visiting Lecture at the Greenwich Maritime Institute University of Greenwich

    Contact: Helen Whiteoak, Adult Programmes Officer, Learning & Interpretation, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London SE10 9NF, T: 020 8312 6595, E: hwhiteoak@nmm.ac.uk, W: http://www.nmm.ac.uk

 



Event:  The American Republic Project
When:   July 2004, 2005, 2006

American Democracy will take center stage as The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia plans a series of academic programs in 2007 to explore the legacies of Jamestown as they relate to the formative legislative institutions or representative government in America and around the world.  The three conferences will be entitled “The House of Burgesses Today,” “Representative Government at the Federal Level,” and “Searching for the New World.”  Each conference will feature a commissioned lecture and will be designed for production as a public television documentary.  Ideas generated at the conferences will be presented in a larger Future of Democracy Conference planned for 2007.


 



Event:   Opening of the National Museum of the Marine Corps
When:   November 10, 2006


The National Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia will serve as the centerpiece of the Marine Corps Heritage Center, a complex of facilities that will include the museum, a memorial park, parade grounds, artifact restoration facilities, and an on-site conference center and hotel. Visitors will learn about the evolution of the Marine Corps and its history through exhibits that put visitors in the middle of the action, from witnessing a grueling boot camp experience, to walking through a winter battlefield scene to listening to recordings of Marine oral histories. The museum's exhibits will use both cutting-edge multimedia and priceless vintage artifacts to tell the Marine story. The galleries will all be designed to bring visitors face-to-face with the scope of Marine contributions to many of the significant events in American history. Each exhibit addresses the political climate at the time, the specific role of the Marines and how those experiences affected the trajectory of military - and American - history.

 


Event: Commemorative Coin
When:  January 2007

In partnership with Jamestown 2007 gold and silver commemorative coins issued by the United States Mint in honor of Jamestown’s 400th anniversary were made available for purchase at Jamestown Settlement living-history museum Robins Foundation Theater on January 11 following a brief public ceremony.

Edmund C. Moy, director of the United States Mint participated in the release ceremony. Mr. Moy was on hand for a limited time to sign Certificates of Authenticity. Certificates were limited to two per customer.

Congress authorized the production of up to 100,000 $5 gold coins and up to 500,000 silver dollars honoring Jamestown and America’s 400th Anniversary. The coins will be sold by the United States Mint through the end of 2007 or until the coins sell out.

The coins tell the story of Jamestown as America’s first permanent English settlement that established democracy, free enterprise and a culturally diverse society in what became the United States.

The obverse of the $5 gold coin depicts Captain John Smith conversing with a Virginia Indian. The coin’s reverse pictures the Jamestown Memorial Church—the only structure remaining from the settlement’s earliest years. The gold coin sells for $255.

The obverse of the silver dollar depicts "Three Faces of Diversity," representing the Indian, European and African cultures that converged at Jamestown. The reverse depicts the three ships—Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery—that brought the first settlers to Jamestown. The silver coin sells for $39.

Coins may be ordered online at http://catalog.usmint.gov or by calling 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468).






African American Trailblazers - March 30-31, 2007

Richmond Region’s 2007 Community is producing a nationally televised salute to distinguished African-Americans from around the nation for their trailblazing accomplishments in the world of business, banking, civil rights, education, entertainment, medicine, politics, etc.  Each award will be named in honor of historical African-Americans from the Commonwealth of Virginia, (i.e. Carter G. Woodson, Maggie Walker, Ella Fitzgerald, Max Robinson, etc.), who have made a significant impact and historical contribution to America, and have helped pave the way for future generations. The honorees will be contemporary Americans who are exhibiting those heroic characteristics. Dr. Maya Angelou and Mayor L. Douglas Wilder have agreed to be Honorary Co-Chairpersons.



 


Event:  Commemorative Stamp and Cachet
When:  May 11, 2007
Where:  Jamestown Settlement

One and a half million Virginia public/private and home schooled youth (kindergarten through college) had the opportunity to be involved in the design of six Jamestown 2007 cachets through a statewide Jamestown 2007 art contest.  The finalists were announced  in May 2006 and their designs were showcased at the Washington 2006 World Philatelic Exhibition.  The exhibition is held once every decade.  The U.S. Postal Service issued three stamps in 1907 to honor Jamestown’s 300th anniversary and a single stamp for the 350th anniversary, one to four stamps are being sought from the Postal Service for Jamestown’s 400th anniversary. The issuance of stamps and cachets will increase awareness worldwide of Jamestown’s significant role in the creation of modern America.  Cachet proceeds will support student scholarships, educational publications and audiovisual presentations. 



Event:    African Imprint Day at Jamestown Settlement

When:    June 2, 2007
Where:  Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg, Virginia

In partnership with Jamestown 2007 and the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the Virginia African American Forum  held a family-fun day highlighting the African American Imprint on America. African Imprint Day was an opportunity to bring family and friends to Jamestown Settlement, to explore the new galleries and the three original cultures, Virginia Indian, European and Africans who first coverged there in the 17th century. 

Highlights of the event included a presentation of $1,000 scholarship checks to each of Virginia's Historically Black Colleges and Universities, a workshop on African American genealogy, children art activities, dance by Suwabi African Ballet and music by the Virginia Mass Choir, Gator Allmond and the Spice of Life Band, Bit and Pieces Band and the Legacy of Weyanoke. Later in the evening Dr. Joseph C. Miller, University of Virginia history professor and African Studies Association president, presented a lecture entitled “Journeys Through Time:  African and African American Lives in Virginia.



 

Event:  Virginia Arts Festival 
When:   May 2007

The Virginia Arts Festival and Jamestown 2007 presented a series of events including Britain's leading classical ballet touring company production of the world of imperial Russia with THE SLEEPING BEAUTY and the world premier performance of a new work by a preeminent American composer commissioned in honor of the 400th Anniversary of the Jamestown landing.  Maestro JoAnn Falletta and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra performed this work.

 



Event:  Sail Virginia
When:  June 7 -12, 2007

Norfolk FestEvents, Ltd., a major production company, and the city of Norfolk  sponsored the tall and replica ship event entitled “Sail Virginia.”  The three-day “parade of sails” included ships from around the nation and the world in recognition of the Jamestown 1606–1607 voyage.  Over 700 water vessels sailed into Downtown Norfolk. The parade roster included tall ships USCG Eagle, BLUENOESE II from Nova Scotia, GAZELA of Philadelphia, SCHOONER VIRGINIA, KALMAR NYCKEL, SCHOONER ALLIANCE, the MEKA II, and the 450' USS Mitscher - an Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer. In addition to majestic tall ships the parade featured character vessels, military craft and tugs.