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Secondary sourcePainting1911

Squanto Teaching the Plymouth Colonists to Plant Corn

The German Kali Works, New York · 1911

A 1911 illustration showing Squanto teaching the Plymouth colonists to plant corn with fish.

This later illustration depicts Squanto teaching the Plymouth colonists to plant corn with fish.

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Black-and-white illustration of a shirtless man with a long braid and a feather in his hair, kneeling on grass beside a small mound of earth, with a fish and a planting mound. Trees and a flat landscape are behind him.
The German Kali Works, New York, Squanto teaching the Plymouth colonists to plant corn, 1911.

About this source

What it is

This is a black-and-white illustration from 1911, made by The German Kali Works of New York, showing a man identified as Squanto (Tisquantum) kneeling beside a planting mound with a fish, teaching corn-planting methods.

Why it matters

This image was created nearly 300 years after the events it shows, as part of an advertising-style illustration. It reflects how later generations imagined and depicted Squanto's role in helping the Plymouth colonists, rather than showing an eyewitness record.

  • Who made this image, and for what purpose?
  • What details seem based on fact, and what might be imagined or stereotyped?
  • How does this image compare to firsthand accounts of Squanto's actions?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Tisquantum (Squanto) on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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