What are the myths we tell ourselves, the lies we perpetuate as Presbyterians in the Pacific Northwest?
In 1836 Presbyterian missionary doctor Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa were sent west; eleven years later they were murdered at the mission. In the years following, a story manufactured by Rev. Henry Spalding, an embittered Presbyterian missionary and colleague of the Whitmans, launched the role of Whitman as a Christian role model and martyred frontier hero who saved the Oregon Territory for the United States.
By 1899 scholars exposed Spalding’s story as a deliberate fraud.
And yet to this day the “Whitman lie” is perpetuated by the larger public, including Presbyterians.
Blaine Harden explains: “The Whitman lie is a timeless reminder that in America a good story has an insidious way of trumping a true one, especially if that story confirms our virtue, congratulates our pluck, and enshrines our status as God’s chosen people.”
Join Seattle Presbytery as we engage a crucial conversation about demythologizing, grapple with the real story of Native American history, and search for a healing and equitable path forward.