Identifying Myths about Thanksgiving
For years, the American education system has truly done a disservice to Indigenous people in its inaccurate teachings of the holiday and their damaging portrayal of the “First Thanksgiving”. I do not want to speak for everyone, but I know that growing up, my midwestern elementary school introduced Thanksgiving as an uplifting time of celebration by laying out crafts for the children to engage with.
The story that we have been fed about the Pilgrims being kindly welcomed by the Indigenous tribes spanned across Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts in 1620 has been riddled with inaccuracies plagued by the colonizers’ mindset. The idea that the Native people shared their harvest in a great feast after kindly greeting the Pilgrims, followed by the Indigenous tribes then simply “disappearing” for the new settlers to create their own community is one that perpetuates the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. It is vital to recognize that despite the misinformation and lack of education, Native lives were historical, alive, and thriving in what was Plymouth long before the Europeans came to claim their traditions.
Realistic Depictions of the Holiday
Additional fallacies come up about who was directly involved in the “First Thanksgiving”, with some speculation that Christopher Columbus was part of the group of Europeans who settled in Massachusetts. The English Pilgrims that settled in the land controlled by the Indigenous communities voyaged on the Mayflower, where Columbus was an Italian explorer that left Spain on his various trips on the la Santa Clara (Niña), la Pinta, and la Santa Gallega (Santa María) in 1492, landing in what is now the present-day Bahamas. While Columbus was not involved in this specific pillaging of indigenous lifestyles, he was involved in the destruction of other Native communities.
Along with the misconceptions of the first interactions between these two cultures, questions also arise about when the first Great Dinner actually occurred. It is recorded that the first shared harvest celebration took place in the fall of 1621, between the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony and the Wampanoag tribe, but the Native people were hardly invited as guests. They were used more as a political ploy in order to create a sense of trust between the two so the Native tribes were able to be manipulated at a later time. The word “thanksgiving” did not become recognized in history until 1637 after a long period of displacement of Indigenous communities and the brutal genocide of Native Pequot members in what is known as the Pequot War. It was after this massacre that the governor issued a statement in celebration of their efforts in defeating the Pequot people, which has been a center of celebration ever since.
How To Honor Native Communities at Thanksgiving Moving Forward
First and foremost, the most valuable way you can pay tribute to those who were sacrificed at the hands of the colonizer is to educate yourself from reputable sources about the true history of these events. The United States education system has not done nearly enough to pay respects to or appreciate the rich Indigenous culture that existed before their subjugation to the European settlers and it is up to every individual to cultivate accurate worldviews regarding the history of American property domination. This means researching the damaging effects of Indigenous stereotyping and avoiding costumes and decorations that play into what the cliché “Indian” looked like. There are numerous wonderful organizations led by amazing Indigenous individuals that are accepting donations in order to rebuild and heal their communities, including (but not limited to) the Association on American Indian Affairs, the Native American Capital, and the American Indian College Fund. While Thanksgiving has definitely transformed into a family-oriented occasion within the last couple of centuries that emphasizes giving thanks, it is so important to remember to express gratitude and sympathy for those who had been neglected for so long.
