| November 2026
An American History Series
Welcome to November at Sunstone Grove. The coffee’s hot, the porch is open, and this month we’re going to have some conversations about history.
Not necessarily the history we learned in school.
The history behind the history.
The stories that were shortened to fit a textbook chapter. The people who were left out of the telling. The events that became legends, the legends that became accepted facts, and the uncomfortable truths that sometimes got swept under the rug.
Because here’s the thing about history: What we were taught isn’t always the whole story.
And what we don’t know can shape how we understand everything that came afterward.
This November, we’re exploring American history through a different lens. We’ll revisit familiar names, national monuments, celebrated traditions, and some decidedly uncomfortable chapters of our shared past.
Some stories may surprise you. Others may challenge things you’ve believed for years. A few might make you angry.
That’s alright.
We’re not here to rewrite history or erase it. We’re here to look at it more closely, ask better questions, and recognize that understanding our past requires more than memorizing dates and names.
Curiosity is welcome. Respectful disagreement is welcome. And nobody is expected to know everything when they pull up a chair.
After all, you don’t know what you don’t know.
So pour yourself something warm, get comfortable, and come sit a spell.
There’s more to the story.
November’s Journey Through History
New stories will be linked here as they’re published.
Week One | The Stories We Thought We Knew
- November 1: The Trail of Tears: More Than a Footnote in American History
- November 2: Mount Rushmore — The Monument and the Land Beneath It
- November 3: The Liberty Bell — What’s the Story Behind the Crack?
- November 4: Betsy Ross — Separating Legend from History
- November 5: Who Really Discovered America?
- November 6: Indian Boarding Schools — The History We Didn’t Learn
- November 7: Highways and Stolen Land
Week Two | Myths, Laws, and Legacies
- November 8: The Salem Witch Trials
- November 9: Prohibition — The Noble Experiment
- November 10: Repatriation — Who Owns the Past?
- November 11: Veterans Day — The History Behind the Holiday
- November 12: Redlining — The Lines That Shaped Communities
- November 13: Native American Citizenship
- November 14: The Statue of Liberty — Beyond the Symbol
Week Three | Rights, Power, and Consequences
- November 15: The Civil War — What Was It Really About?
- November 16: The Defense of Marriage Act
- November 17: The Confederate Flag — History and Symbolism
- November 18: The Great Depression — What Really Caused It?
- November 19: Sundown Towns — The History of Exclusion
- November 20: Women’s Pockets — A Surprisingly Revealing History
- November 21: Confederate Monuments — Memory and Meaning
Week Four | The Stories That Demand a Closer Look
- November 22: My Lai — An American Tragedy
- November 23: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
- November 24: The Atomic Bombings — A Humanitarian Question
- November 25: Christopher Columbus — Myth and Reality
- November 26: Thanksgiving — Beyond the Familiar Story
- November 27: National Parks — The History Behind the Beauty
- November 28: The Bonus Army
- November 29: The Land of Opportunity — Promise and Reality
- November 30: History Isn’t a Straight Line
The Final Days | Looking Forward by Looking Back
History isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes learning something new means reconsidering something we’ve believed for a very long time.
A Note from the Grove
That’s not a failure. That’s growth.
Our goal this month isn’t to tell you what to think. It’s to offer stories, evidence, context, and questions worth considering.
We’ll approach these subjects with curiosity, compassion, and a commitment to historical accuracy. And when the evidence is complicated, we’ll acknowledge that, too.
Because the past belongs to all of us, even the parts we’d rather not talk about.
Come sit down. There’s more to the story.
Y’all Come Sit a Spell.
Sunstone Grove
