Did the Pilgrims Have a Sense of Humor?

There were no Black comedians on the Mayflower when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. (But that is not at all surprising considering there were no Black people on board at all.) As for White comedians, the proof is not as definitive, but we would be willing to go out on a limb and say there weren’t any seriously funny White guys, either. (We get the idea that those Pilgrims took themselves pretty seriously.)

Hopefully, there were at least a few funny women, though. With 102 passengers crammed onto the Mayflower for more than 60 days, they probably could have used a laugh.

“The boat would have been rolling like a pig,” Conrad Humphreys, a professional sailor and skipper for a recreated sea journey of Captain William Bligh, told History. “The smell and stench of illness and sickness down below, and the freezing cold on deck in the elements, it would have been pretty miserable.”

400th Anniversary of the Mayflower’s Arrival in the New World

You might have been distracted by the pandemic and the elections and not realized that this year marks an important milestone in our nation’s history. “After more than two months (66 days) at sea, the Pilgrims finally arrived at Cape Cod on November 11, 1620,” the BBC reports.

“The Mayflower, like other 17th-century merchant ships, was a cargo vessel designed to haul lumber, fish and casks of French wine—not passengers. The 41 Pilgrims and 61 “strangers” (non-Separatists brought along as skilled craftsmen and indentured servants) who boarded the Mayflower in 1620 made for unusual cargo, and their destination was no less foreign,” History reports.

When they talk about the Pilgrims as “separatists,” they are talking about separating from the Church of England. If you paid attention during history class, you might remember that they thought the church needed to get back to a simpler form of worship.

Now, if you want to really make your head spin, just imagine how very VERY different the history of this country might have been if they had had black comedians like Lori Ann Rambough – aka Sommore! – in the group!