Thanksgiving is a nationally celebrated holiday, with over 85% of Americans taking part in festivities on the fourth Thursday of November every year. Families and friends gather around one big table to carve the turkey, dig into the traditional stuffing and mashed potatoes, and give thanks to family and friends surrounding them. From an early age, children are taught about the friendship that sprouted between the Native Americans and pilgrims that led to a massive feast, and in turn, created the holiday known today. But the truth of the beginning of this famous holiday bears almost no resemblance to the fiction we are fed every Thanksgiving.
In 1620, 102 European Puritans, commonly known as Separatists, and often referred to as pilgrims in our schoolbooks, landed in Plymouth Bay. They had decided to create their own colony, to search for religious freedom away from the persecution of the Church of England. After arriving, the Puritans immediately robbed the graves of the Native American Wampanoag tribe and stole their food supplies for winter. Already, trouble and distrust formed between the two groups. The Wampanoag tribe leader, Massasoit, created a treaty and formed an uneasy alliance with the pilgrims, so they could aim their focus towards defending their land from other encroaching tribes. Other tribes also joined in on the treaty, to create peace between themselves and the newcomers. The alliance, as well as a key Native American, helped the pilgrims live through their first winter. This key Native American, Tisquantum, was part of the Patuxet tribe. He was enslaved in 1614 as part of the expanding European Slave Trade, and when he arrived back at his homeland in 1619, he found that his entire tribe had been wiped out from a terrible plague. Tisquantum, commonly known as Squanto, was taken in by the Wampanoag tribe to be a translator, for he spoke perfect English after his years in Europe. Later, when the Separatists arrived, Squanto was part of the group that greeted the newcomers. Squanto helped to translate and keep the peace between the two groups, as well as teach the Englishmen how to farm and where to fish. Even with the help from the Wampanoags, only 52 of the original 102 passengers of the Mayflower survived their first winter. Even so, a feast was held to celebrate the survival of the Puritans through the harsh season, but no Native Americans, apart from Squanto, were invited to the gathering. The festive feast of 1621 was accompanied by a game that included guns, and the gunshots alerted the Wampanoag tribe. A group of 90 armed Wampanoag tribe members, led by Massasoit, arrived at the English camp to make sure that the pilgrims weren’t up to something suspicious. The Puritans explained the cause for the gunshots, and the Wampanoags joined the pilgrims for dinner, but the feast had turned into one of distrust and suspicion instead of celebration.
During this first winter, Squanto quickly became aware of his supreme power as the only English speaker in his tribe. With this power, he planned to overthrow Massasoit. However, his plan soon came to light, and he was sentenced to death at the hands of the Wampanoag leader. But before Squanto could be rightfully killed, a new group of 60 Englishmen arrived in America to build another colony. The Wampanoags were full of concern about the new group of people, so the execution was delayed. The new Englishmen proved to be trouble when they repeatedly mistreated and harassed the Native Americans. As a result of the frequent abuse many tribes suffered, a new rumor and conspiracy spread throughout the Native American tribes that the new Englishmen had to be killed. This rumor travelled to the ears of the first group of pilgrims, and in efforts to protect their own countrymen, they struck first against the Native Americans. This was the beginning of the great divide between Native Americans and English settlers. As more English colonists came to America, more and more viewed the “godless” Native Americans as inferior, and sought to force their religion and ways onto the tribes. The colonists believed that if the Natives did not abandon their heritage and culture for Puritan ways, they deserved to be killed.
The next Thanksgiving was 16 years later, in 1637, and was another celebration for the Englishmen. Another Native American tribe, the Pequot tribe had not agreed to the treaty created by Massasoit many years before, causing the bloodiest battle in Native American history, because the brave tribe fought back against the encroaching Englishmen. About a year later, on the day of the Pequots’ Green Corn festival, Englishmen surrounded the longhouse used for the celebration and demanded the Pequots to exit the building. Any Native American that left the longhouse was immediately killed, and the remaining were burned to death along with the longhouse. The Englishmen then had a large feast and celebration, landing upon the day of Thanksgiving.
The first two Thanksgiving days and feasts were those of distrust, suspicion, animosity, and death. The pilgrims that are shown to children from the earliest of ages, thought to be friends of the Native Americans, in reality, stole from their graves, deceived their open arms, and killed their future generations. So while you spend time and celebrate with family during this Thanksgiving, take a few moments to remember and pay respect to the Native Americans that passed so long ago.