National Day of Mourning—The “First” Thanksgiving
Photo by Miranda Duarte
The real history behind Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving has always been a time of gathering and sharing thanks with friends and family. For many, it is a day of joy and celebration—recognizing the community you have all around you; for Indigenous people, however, it is a day of grief and sorrow.
The story of the “First Thanksgiving” is memorialized throughout the United States as a symbol of unity across our nation: of two groups joining together in gratitude for the food before them regardless of their differences. While a harvest and alliance did occur between the Puritans (or Pilgrims as we call them today) and the Wampanoags, it lasted only a generation before war broke out. The Wampanoags helped the Puritans establish themselves; they used their own resources and land to aid in the founding of Plymouth, and it is believed that the Puritans likely would not have survived without the Wampanoag’s help. Despite all this, the Puritans did not recognize the Wampanoag, or any Indigenous group for that matter, as equals and believed God had given them the right to own and colonize this new land.
Europeans brought over unique and deadly diseases (namely smallpox) that wiped out about 90% of Native American communities—this did not go unnoticed by the settlers who “saw the demographic collapse of the local population as evidence that God favored their colonial ambitions and condoned the destruction of those who lived there before” (Christophe Boucher). The Puritans rejoiced in the death of the Indigenous people around them and proceeded to wage multiple brutal wars on the Native American populations, including one against the Wampanoag people themselves. This was just a single part of the genocide that would occur all throughout the Americas, a genocide that has been largely ignored and covered up by the United States government.
National Day of Mourning (NDOM) was first created in 1970 by the Indigenous organization: United American Indians of New England. Every year on Thanksgiving Day, they gather at noon and march through the streets of Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is a day of remembrance, yes, for the millions of lives that have been lost, but primarily NDOM is a protest against the Thanksgiving Holiday. They believe that Thanksgiving has been used as a way to indoctrinate the public, and primarily children, into believing that European arrival onto the American continent should be celebrated.
Schools all across the nation present this white-washed image of Thanksgiving that furthers racial stereotypes. Teachers dress up in feathered-headdresses and teach a propagandized version of history that leaves children believing that “white people were the saviors of the Native People” (Rachel Byington). They ignore the atrocities that were committed against Indigenous tribes; the marginalization, cultural erasure, and socioeconomic situation many Native Americans are in as a direct result of colonization. I do not think anyone should be surprised that Thanksgiving, for many, is seen as a day of mourning and suffering. A day that represents the arrival of the west into North America, and therefore the beginning of Native American oppression in the United States.
None of this is to say that you cannot continue to celebrate Thanksgiving. As a holiday Thanksgiving has come to mean so much more than the supposed event that inspired it. It represents a time of reflection and love amongst family—a day of good food and thankfulness for the life we have been blessed with. Continue to celebrate Thanksgiving, but do so with the understanding that it is not the day of peace we were taught. Thanksgiving is a day of injustice and oppression of the Native American people. This is Indigenous land we are celebrating on, and Indigenous blood that was spilled in order for the United States, and so many others, to be able to steal it. Until Indigenous people are given the land, resources, and acknowledgement they are entitled to, Thanksgiving cannot be a day of unity—just a day of division.
Sources:
https://visit.archives.gov/whats-on/explore-exhibits/thanksgiving-historical-perspectives
https://today.charleston.edu/2024/11/21/what-is-the-real-story-of-thanksgiving/