Thanksgiving: A Day of Celebration or Mourning for Native Americans

By Nadra Kareem Nittle, About.com Guide

 
Thanksgiving has become synonymous with family, food and football over the years. But this unassuming American holiday is not without controversy. Schools still teach children that Thanksgiving marks the day that Pilgrims met helpful Indians who gave them food, farming techniques and more to overcome the bitter New England cold. The children color cutouts of happy Pilgrims and happy Indians which ignore that contact between the two led to the decimation of millions of Native peoples. To raise awareness about the price indigenous people paid for Thanksgiving, a group called the United American Indians of New England (UAINE) established Thanksgiving as its National Day of Mourning in 1970. The fact that UAINE mourns on this day poses a question to any socially conscious American: Should Thanksgiving be celebrated?

Why Some Natives Celebrate Thanksgiving

The decision to celebrate Thanksgiving divides even Native Americans. Jacqueline Keeler wrote a widely circulated editorial about why she, a member of the Dineh Nation and Yankton Dakota Sioux, celebrates the holiday. For one, Keeler views herself as “a very select group of survivors.” The fact that Natives managed to survive mass murder, forced relocation, theft of land and other injustices “with our ability to share and to give intact” gives Keeler hope that healing is possible.

In her essay, Keeler makes it clear that she takes issue with how one-dimensionally Natives are portrayed in commercialized Thanksgiving celebrations. The Thanksgiving she recognizes is a revisionist one. She explains:

“These were not merely ‘friendly Indians.’ They had already experienced European slave traders raiding their villages for a hundred years or so, and they were wary—but it was their way to give freely to those who had nothing. Among many of our peoples, showing that you can give without holding back is the way to earn respect.”

Award-winning author Sherman Alexie, who is Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, also celebrates Thanksgiving by recognizing the contributions the Wampanoag people made to the Pilgrims. Asked in a Sadie Magazine interview if he celebrates the holiday, Alexie humorously answered:

“We live up to the spirit of Thanksgiving cuz we invite all of our most desperately lonely white [friends] to come eat with us. We always end up with the recently broken up, the recently divorced, the brokenhearted. From the very beginning, Indians have been taking care of brokenhearted white people. …We just extend that tradition.”

If we’re to follow Keeler and Alexie’s lead, Thanksgiving should be celebrated by highlighting the contributions of the Wampanoag. All too often Thanksgiving is celebrated from a Eurocentric point of view. Tavares Avant, former president of the Wampanoag tribal council, cited this as an annoyance about the holiday during an ABC interview.

“It’s all glorified that we were the friendly Indians and that’s where it ends,” he said. “I do not like that. It kind of disturbs me that we...celebrate Thanksgiving…based on conquest.”

Schoolchildren are particularly vulnerable to being taught to celebrate the holiday in this manner. Some schools, however, are making headway in teaching revisionist Thanksgiving lessons. Both teachers and parents can influence the way children think about Thanksgiving.

This portrayal of the first Thanksgiving shows the Pilgrims

 feeding the Wampanoag people. Actually, the Pilgrims depended

 on Natives to prevent starving in the New England cold.

Thanksgiving in School

Thanksgiving in School 

An anti-racist organization called Understand Prejudice recommends that schools send letters home to parents addressing efforts to teach children about Thanksgiving in a manner that neither demeans nor stereotypes Native Americans. Such lessons will include discussions about why not all families celebrate Thanksgiving and why the representation of Native Americans on Thanksgiving cards and decorations has hurt indigenous peoples. The organization’s goal is to give students accurate information about Native Americans of the past and present while dismantling stereotypes that could lead children to develop racist attitudes. “Furthermore,” the organization states, “we want to make sure students understand that being an Indian is not a role, but part of a person’s identity.”

The Understanding Prejudice organization also advises parents to deconstruct stereotypes their children have about Native Americans by gauging what they already know about indigenous peoples. Simple questions such as “What do you know about Native Americans?” and “Where do Native Americans live today?” can reveal a lot. Of course, parents should be prepared to give children information about the questions raised. They can do so by using Internet resources such as the data the U.S. Census Bureau has compiled on Native Americans or reading literature about Native Americans. The fact that National American Indian and Alaskan Native Month is recognized in November means that plenty of information about indigenous peoples is always available around Thanksgiving.

Why Some Natives Don’t Celebrate Thanksgiving

The National Day of Mourning kicked off in 1970 quite unintentionally. That year a banquet was held by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival. The organizers invited Frank James, a Wampanoag man, to speak at the banquet. Upon reviewing James’ speech—which mentioned European settlers looting the graves of the Wampanoag, taking their wheat and bean supplies and selling them as slaves—banquet organizers gave him another speech to recite. Only, this speech left out the gritty details of the first Thanksgiving, according to UAINE.

Rather than deliver a speech that left out the facts, James and his supporters gathered at Plymouth. There, they observed the first National Day of Mourning. Since then UAINE has returned to Plymouth each Thanksgiving to protest how the holiday has been mythologized.

In addition to the misinformation the Thanksgiving holiday has spread about Natives and Pilgrims, some indigenous peoples don’t recognize it because they give thanks year-round. During Thanksgiving 2008, Bobbi Webster of the Oneida Nation told the Wisconsin State Journal that the Oneida have 13 ongoing ceremonies of thanksgiving throughout the year.

Anne Thundercloud of the Ho-Chunk Nation told the journal that her people also give thanks on a continual basis. Accordingly, marking one day of the year to do so clashes with Ho-Chunk tradition to a degree.

“We’re a very spiritual people who are always giving thanks,” she explained. “The concept of setting aside one day for giving thanks doesn’t fit. We think of every day as Thanksgiving.”

Rather than singling out the fourth Thursday of November as a day to give thanks, Thundercloud and her family have incorporated it into the other holidays observed by the Ho-Chunk, the journal reports. They extend Thanksgiving observance until Friday, when they celebrate Ho-Chunk Day, a large gathering for their community.

Wrapping Up

Will you celebrate Thanksgiving this year? If so, ask yourself just what you’re celebrating—family, food, football? Whether you choose to rejoice or mourn on Thanksgiving, initiate discussions about the holiday’s origins by not just focusing on the Pilgrims’ point of view but also on what the day meant for the Wampanoag and what it continues to signify for American Indians today.

Mistakes, Lies & Misconceptions 

about American Indian people 

The Thanksgiving Myth 

--------------------------------------…

Let me begin by stating that thousands of years before the 'official' 

Thanksgiving Day was proclaimed by Governor Winthrop of the 

Massachussetts Bay Colony in 1637, North American Indigenous 

people across the continent had celebrated seasons of Thanksgiving. 

'Thanksgiving' is a very ancient concept to American Indian nations. 

The big problem with the American Thanksgiving holiday is its false 

association with American Indian people. The infamous 'Indians and 

pilgrims' myth. It is good to celebrate Thanksgiving, to be thankful 

for your blessings. It is not good to distort history, to falsely portray 

the origin of this holiday and lie about the truth of its actual inception. 

Here are some accurate historical facts about the true origin of this 

American holiday that may interest you.....................................… 

'Thanksgiving' did not begin as a great loving relationship between the 

pilgrims and the Wampanoag, Pequot and Narragansett people. In fact, 

in October of 1621 when the 'pilgrim' survivors of their first winter in 

Turtle Island sat down to share the first unofficial 'Thanksgiving' meal, 

the Indians who were there were not even invited! There was no turkey, 

squash, cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie. A few days before this alleged 

feast took place, a company of 'pilgrims' led by Miles Standish actively 

sought the head of a local Indian leader, and an 11 foot high wall was 

erected around the entire Plymouth settlement for the very purpose of 

keeping Indians out! Officially, the holiday we know as 'Thanksgiving' 

actually came into existence in the year 1637. Governor Winthrop of the

Massachussetts Bay Colony proclaimed this first official day of Thanksgiving 

and feasting to celebrate the return of the colony's men who had arrived 

safely from what is now Mystic, Connecticut. They had gone there to 

participate in the massacre of over 700 Pequot men, women and children, 

and Mr. Winthrop decided to dedicate an official day of thanksgiving 

complete with a feast to 'give thanks' for their great 'victory'.... 

As hard as it may be to conceive, this is the actual origin of our current 

Thanksgiving Day holiday. Many American Indian people these days do 

not observe this holiday, for obvious reasons. I see nothing wrong with 

gathering with family to give thanks to our Creator for our blessings and 

sharing a meal. I do, however, hope that Americans as a whole will one 

day acknowledge the true origin of this holiday, and remember the pain, 

loss, and agony of the Indigenous people who suffered at the hands of 

the so-called 'pilgrims'. It is my hope that children's plays about 'the 

first Thanksgiving', complete with Indians and pilgrims chumming at 

the dinner table, will someday be a thing of the past. Why perpetuate 

a lie? Let us face the truths of the past, and give thanks that we are 

learning to love one another for the rich human diversity we share. 

(Written by John Two-Hawks)

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If you're convinced that Thanksgiving is just one giant Hallmark
moment, it's about time for a good old All-American paradigm adjustment

THE WAY WHITE AMERICA envisions that first Thanksgiving, through a
filter of sentimental hogwash, goes something like this: Plucky white
pilgrims--mostly guys--set out across the Atlantic Ocean, and were
rewarded with an entire continent of untold wealth that seemed
predestined by the Almighty for their use. Oh, sure, there were a few
unclothed savages already there--but that wasn't a problem. Journals
and letters written by those first settlers contain shameless accounts
of plundering native stores of food, tools and furs. If the Pilgrims
found it, they took it.

After working, praying and surviving a bitter winter, the Pilgrim
Fathers brought in a bountiful harvest produced by careful tending of
seeds that they had brought from home. Inviting their heathen
neighbors to join them, the Pilgrims gave thanks for their New World
and its riches at a meal consisting of turkey, squash, mashed
potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Afterwards, the men sat
around smoking and watching football while the women cleaned up.

What really happened was more like this: After two months and two
deaths on the Mayflower crossing in 1620, the Pilgrims landed on the
coast of Massachusetts, where an Algonquin-speaking group, the
Wampanoags, lived. Clad in leather garments--augmented by furs during
the winter--these native peoples skillfully cultivated corn, beans,
squashes and pumpkins; hunted the woods for deer, elk and bear; and
fished for salmon and herring. Like other members of what
anthropologists now call the Woodland Culture, the Wampanoags looked
upon deer, fish and turtle as totemic siblings, and had deep respect
for every natural creature. When they hunted, they left offerings for
other forest inhabitants, and they would never think of planting or
harvesting without giving ritual thanks for the fertility of Mother Earth.

From where the natives sat--especially one named Squanto, who'd
learned English after having been sold into slavery a few years
earlier by another friendly white man--these Pilgrims were in deep
buffalo chips. The wheat brought from Europe was completely unsuited
to the New England soil and failed to germinate. Half the settlers
died during the first winter. Many of the English refused to dirty
their hands with planting.

Most of them were incapable of successful hunting. Squanto and his
friends took pity on this sorry situation and brought venison and furs
to the luckless Anglos. He taught them how to plant corn
using fish as fertilizer, how to dig clams, how to tap maple trees for
syrup. The Algonquin tribes already had the custom of celebrating six
different thanksgiving festivals during the year, and one of those
happened to coincide with a dinner party thrown by Miles Standish and
company. Standish invited Squanto and a few of his friends and their
families to come on down and share a meal. More than 90 Indians--
we're talking extended family here--showed up. The Pilgrim menu wasn't
going to cover that many guests. So a few of the Algonquin guys went
out for an hour and came back with five deer, enough for three solid
days of cross-cultural feasting.

Here's what was actually on that menu: venison, wild duck, wild geese,
eels, clams, squash, corn bread, berries and nuts. That meal was one
of the last untroubled moments the whites and natives spent together.
Within 50 years, most of the Woodland peoples had been killed, claimed
by European diseases or--if lucky--disappeared into the woods.

Today, there are still 500 Wampanoags living in New England. They do
not celebrate Thanksgiving.