The Truth about Thanksgiving
When I was young, I was taught the traditional Thanksgiving story of the Pilgrims and Indians feasting together in peace and harmony, grateful for a successful harvest in the new world. Since the 1960s, revisionists and Native American activists have put forth a very different story. I decided to do some research in hopes of determining the true story.
The information I was able to find online, at what I would consider reputable sites, is too extensive to fit into one short column. Not only that, but the various sources, while not explicitly contradicting one another, do represent several different points of view. I'd like to present a summary, with links to the sources. I hope you will take the time to follow these links and form your own opinions.
The Truth About the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving and Where to Get Help: Re-creating a Seventeenth-Century Style Harvest Feast or "The First Thanksgiving"
This site attempts to dispel historical inaccuracies, separating truth from fiction. For example, turkeys and pumpkin probably were on the menu, and Indians were among the guests. However, the feast in 1621 lasted three days, did not take place in November and was not repeated.
Plimoth Plantation Takes New Look at Thanksgiving
The official Plimoth Plantation site gives the date of the 1621 feast as July 15 - but it was autumn by the English calendar and Keepunumuk, the time of the harvest, for the Wampanoag (the Native tribe). More than 90 Wampanoag men shared food with 52 English people; of the 52, about half were children, less than half were men and there were only four married women.
bostonkids.org
This resource offers quotations from contemporary Wampanoag people, including one who states that Pilgrims would never have broken bread with Indians. "Wampanoag people have always held many seasonal thanksgiving ceremonies. But there is a big difference between these ancient and ongoing celebrations and the Pilgrims' first harvest festival which led to the establishment of the National holiday now known as Thanksgiving. For Wampanoag people, this holiday evokes painful feelings about the consequences they are forced to endure for European settlement and the establishment of America."
pilgrims.net
This site elaborates on the history of relations between the Wampanoag and the English, including current issues. It includes an article written by a student at Plymouth South High School in Plymouth, Ma., which discusses the philosophical differences between the two peoples.
Thanksgiving Information, provided by the Fourth World Documentation Project:
Thanksgiving Information, provided by the Fourth World Documentation Project: includes a heartfelt essay on the difficulties of teaching Thanksgiving history for a Native teacher. "Every year I have been faced with the professional and moral dilemma of just how to be honest and informative with my children at Thanksgiving without passing on historical distortions, and racial and cultural stereotypes... So what do we teach to our children? We usually pass on unquestioned what we all received in our own childhood classrooms. I have come to know both the truths and the myths about our 'First Thanksgiving,' and I feel we need to try to reach beyond the myths to some degree of historic truth. This text is an attempt to do this."
As you can see, there is a wealth of provocative information available for the online researcher. Happy surfing, and Happy Thanksgiving!
Lauren Stara
Director, San Juan Island Library
phone number 360.378.2798
e-mail lstara@sjlib.org
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