Schools need tools and correct histories to teach ALL children about their
American history. Many teachers unknowingly perpetuate racist stereotypes
ignorantly as they have no knowledge or understanding about the true
shared history and homeland we call America. The Thanksgiving story that
millions of American school children re-enact every year never happened. Its
popularity stands testimony to the story telling skills of President Lincoln.
What better way to reunite the war torn country than to tell of how the early
settlers and Native Americans ate together in peace and harmony? Except it
never happened and the real story behind the first proclamation of a day of
thanksgiving is horrific.
Broken Mystic, in his blog, The Truth about Thanksgiving: Brainwashing of
the American History Textbook1, writes
When history is transformed into myths, tales, and bedtime
stories, we ignore historical research that enables us to learn
valuable and meaningful lessons about our present, as well as
about our future. History is meant to be an accurate and honest
account of civilizations, cultures, and events; not a body of
ethnocentric and selective alterations.
Thanksgiving is an example of such a distorted history that is retold across
American schools each year. Instead of a day of gratitude, this day reminds
many Native Americans of the genocide their people endured. In an article in
USA Today, Monica Vendituoli writes of this:
Carrie Billy, the president of the American Indian Higher
Education Consortium (AIHEC), claims many Native American
students suffer from the legacy of oppression of their ancestors
in the United States. "The issue of historical trauma ... really
affects the self-esteem of our students. That is a challenge,"
Billy says. There is a real conflict in the Native American
community over whether to celebrate Thanksgiving. 2
While I do celebrate Thanksgiving, I know of others who do not.
Those who are indigenous to this land we call “The United States of America”
1
https://brokenmystic.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/the-truth-about-thanksgiving-brainwashingof-the-american-history-textbook/
2
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/27/native-amer-thanksgiving/3759021/
have long been misrepresented and pushed out of American history
textbooks in favor of glorifying and justifying the past actions of this nation
and representing the dominant culture’s ideals but not their actions that
contradict said ideals.
What kind of democracy we actually have is questioned when teachers and
education institutions refuse to mention 10 to 30 million Natives were
“ethnically cleansed” (in other words, large scale genocide) at the hands of
European invasion and colonialism? We return to more words by Broken
Mystic:
There is no other way to put it, this attempt at erasing the
memory of an entire race of people through distorted history is
a systematic way of deceiving and lying to our children. Not only
are Native Americans presented with biased history, but are also
subjected to an ever-growing culture of capitalism, in which
commercialization of an ambiguous holiday merely pulls us away
from the actual facts of what has transpired. Turkeys are
associated with “Thanksgiving” in the same way Santa Claus
and the Easter bunny have become synonymous with Christmas
and Easter, respectively. Through the guise of innocence,
capitalism is constantly telling us to consume because
consumption equals “happiness.”3
Genocide is never mentioned on this day that everyone celebrates. Instead,
each year children dress up as Pilgrims and Natives to reenact history. Right?
How can anyone question this most sacred of American holidays and
tradition? Everyone knows the story- Consider a high school history textbook,
The American Tradition4, cited by Broken Mystic, which describes the scene
quite succinctly.
After some exploring, the Pilgrims chose the land around
Plymouth Harbor for their settlement. Unfortunately, they had
arrived in December and were not prepared for the New England
winter. However, they were aided by friendly Indians, who gave
them food and showed them how to grow corn. When warm
weather came, the colonists planted, fished, hunted, and
3
https://brokenmystic.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/the-truth-about-thanksgiving-brainwashingof-the-american-history-textbook/
4
Green, Jr. Robert P. The American Tradition: A History of the United States, Charles E. Merrill Publishing,
(1986)
prepared themselves for the next winter. After harvesting their
first crop, they and their Indian friends celebrated the first
Thanksgiving.5
Further, Gale Courey Toensing in Indian Country Today Media Network, cites
the version presented by Edward Winslow:
Plymouth Gov. William Bradford organized a feast to celebrate
the harvest and invited a group of “Native American allies,
including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit” to the party. The
feast lasted three days and, according to chronicler Edward
Winslow, Bradford sent four men on a “fowling mission” to
prepare for the feast and the Wampanoag guests brought five
deer to the party. And ever since then, the story goes,
Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday
of November.6
Not only do I question these accounts, but claim that any public school
teaching with this false history is perpetuating a stereotype. More
importantly, they’re continuing a brainwashing by embedding children with
lies.
So what really occurred - what is the truth? Broken Mystic turned to James
Loewen for the correct information:
As stated by James W. Loewen, author of “Lies My Teacher
Told Me,” many college students are unaware of the horrific
plague that devastated and significantly reduced the population
of Natives after Columbus’ arrival in the “new world.” Most
diseases came from animals that were domesticated by
Europeans. Cowpox from cows led to smallpox, which was later
“spread through gifts of blankets by infected Europeans.” 7
I want to note that Columbus discovering America is another myth as he
never set foot on the continent and also that these blankets were given by
5
https://brokenmystic.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/the-truth-about-thanksgiving-brainwashingof-the-american-history-textbook/
6
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/11/23/what-really-happened-firstthanksgiving-wampanoag-side-tale-and-whats-done-today-145807
7
https://brokenmystic.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/the-truth-about-thanksgiving-brainwashing-of-theamerican-history-textbook/
Europeans to the Natives knowing they would spread the fatal disease.
Evidence for this knowledge is found in the actions of Lord Jeffrey Amherst
who, in 1763, ordered the settlers to give these blankets and other items
filled with smallpox disease to the Ottawa people as gifts in order that “we
might extirpate this execrable race.”8
Lord Amherst’s order began the first record of germ warfare genocide used
against a people, and later Hitler would study and use many of the same
tactics to decimate the Jews. Why is it important to mention the plague?
Broken Mystic answered this question. He wrote that it reinforced
European ethnocentrisms which hardly produced a “friendly”
relationship between the Natives and Europeans. To most of the
Pilgrims and Europeans, the Natives were heathens, savages,
treacherous, and Satanic. Upon seeing thousands of dead
Natives, the Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, John
Winthrop, called the plague “miraculous.” In 1634, he wrote to a
friend in England:
“But for the natives in these parts, God hath so pursued them,
as for 300 miles space the greatest part of them are swept away
by the small pox which still continues among them. So as God
hath thereby cleared our title to this place, those who remain in
these parts, being in all not fifty, have put themselves under our
protection…”9
Governmental success of the planed genocide announced as god’s providence
to the people well at least the white people. Mystic further wrote:
The ugly truth is that many Pilgrims were thankful and grateful
that the Native population was decreasing. Even worse, there
was the Pequot Massacre in 1637, which started after the
colonists found a murdered white man in his boat. 10
Ward Churchill tells us more of the history:
8
9
https://unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/a-day-to-give-thanks/
https://brokenmystic.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/the-truth-about-thanksgiving-brainwashing-of-theamerican-history-textbook/
10
https://brokenmystic.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/the-truth-about-thanksgiving-brainwashing-of-theamerican-history-textbook/
The Pequot massacre came after the colonists, angry at the
murder of an English trader suspected by the Pequot’s of
kidnapping children, sought revenge. Rather than fighting the
dangerous Pequot warriors, John Mason and John Underhill led a
group of colonists and Native allies to the Indian fort in Mystic,
and killed the old men, women, and children who were there.
Those who escaped were later hunted down. The Pequot tribe
numbered 8,000 when the Pilgrims arrived, but disease and
murder had brought their numbers down to 1,500 by 1637. The
Pequot “War” killed all but a handful of remaining members of
the tribe.11
And Mystic continues with the final part of this horrific period of history,
Ninety armed settlers burned a Native village, along with their
crops, and then demanded the Natives to turn in the murderers.
When the Natives refused, a massacre followed. Captain John
Mason and his colonist army surrounded a fortified Pequot
village and reportedly shouted: “We must burn them! Such a
dreadful terror let the Almighty fall upon their spirits that they
would flee from us and run into the very flames. Thus did the
Lord Judge the heathen, filling the place with dead bodies.” The
surviving Pequot were hunted and slain.
The Governor of Plymouth, William Bradford, further elaborates:
Those that escaped the fire were slain with the sword;
some hewed to pieces, others run through with their
rapiers, so that they were quickly dispatched and very
few escaped. It was conceived they thus destroyed about
400 at this time. It was a fearful sight to see them thus
frying in the fire…horrible was the stink and scent thereof,
but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave
the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so
wonderfully for them.12
11
12
https://unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/a-day-to-give-thanks/
https://brokenmystic.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/the-truth-about-thanksgiving-brainwashing-of-theamerican-history-textbook/
"The surviving Pequot’s were hunted but could make little
haste because of their children, Mason wrote, They were
literally-run to ground...tramped into the mud and buried
in the swamp. ' The last of them were shipped to the West
Indies as slaves...John Winthrop.. .governor once more,
...[offered] ...forty pounds sterling for the scalp of an
Indian man, twenty for the scalps of women and children.
The name 'Pequot' was officially erased from the map. The
Pequot River became the Thames and their town became
New London." (7 History Manners and Customs of the
Indian Nations, (1876), Heckewelder, John, p. 53.)
Perhaps most disturbingly, it is strongly argued by many
historians that the Pequot Massacre led to the “Thanksgiving”
festivities.
The day after the massacre, the aforementioned Governor of
Massachusetts Bay Colony declared: “A day of Thanksgiving,
thanking God that they had eliminated over 700 men, women
and children.” It was signed into law that, “This day forth shall
be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for subduing the
Pequot’s.” (italics added)13
Squanto is another person who is often featured in the story of this time. He
too is misrepresented. Loewen writes of Squanto’s true story and is reported
by Mystic:
What about Squanto, the Wampanoag man who learned to
speak English and helped the hungry, ill, and poor Pilgrims? As
cited by Professor Loewen, an American high school textbook
called “Land of Promise” reads: “Squanto had learned their
language, the author explained, from English fishermen who
ventured into the New England waters each summer. Squanto
taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn, squash, and pumpkins.
Would the small band of settlers have survived without
Squanto’s help? We cannot say. But by the fall of 1621,
colonists and Indians could sit down to several days of feast and
13
https://brokenmystic.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/the-truth-about-thanksgiving-brainwashing-of-theamerican-history-textbook/
thanksgiving to God (later celebrated as the first
Thanksgiving).”14
In regards to Squanto, the correct question to ask is: How did
Squanto learn English? History textbooks neglect to mention
that the Europeans did not perceive Squanto as an equal, but
rather as “an instrument of their God” to help the “chosen
people.” It is also omitted that, as a boy, Squanto was stolen by
a British captain in 1605 and taken as a slave to England. He
worked for a Plymouth Merchant who eventually helped him
arrange passage back to Massachusetts, but less than a year
later, he was seized by a British slave raider. Along with two
dozen fellow Natives, Squanto was sold into slavery in Spain
once more a captive. He would manage to escape slavery,
journey back to England, and then talk a ship captain into taking
him along on his next trip to Cape Cod in 1619.
As Squanto walked back into his home village, he was horrified
to find that he was the only surviving member of his family and
village. Everyone he had known as a boy were either killed in
battle or died of illness and disease. Excluding Squanto’s
enslavement is to paint an incredibly distorted version of a
horrific history that suggests Natives like Squanto learned
English for no other reason but to help the colonists. It is to
glorify the Europeans and erase the struggles and experiences
of the Native people.
Thanksgiving is full of embarrassing facts. The Pilgrims did not
introduce the Native Americans to the tradition of giving thanks
to the creator; Eastern Indians had observed autumnal harvest
celebrations for centuries. Our modern celebrations date back
only to 1863; not until the 1890s did the Pilgrims get included in
the tradition; no one even called them ‘Pilgrims’ until the 1870s.
I did not write this article with intentions to offend or say we
shouldn’t celebrate “Thanksgiving.” None of us are responsible
for the atrocious deaths of Natives and Europeans. None of us
caused the plague or the massacres. But as human beings, I do
14
https://brokenmystic.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/the-truth-about-thanksgiving-brainwashing-of-theamerican-history-textbook/
feel that it’s important for each of us to approach history with
honesty and sensitivity. Perhaps some of you don’t believe this
history is relevant to you, but I would strongly argue that a
history that is not inclusive is a dangerously racist and prejudice
one. These ideas are the very building blocks all other
knowledge is built upon and if false it distorts our view of the
world and ourselves. Yes, we should spend time with our
families and loved ones, and yes, we should be grateful and
thankful for all that we have, but not at the expense of ignoring
an entire race of people, their culture, and the history all of this
is built upon. The fact that history textbooks and schools try to
glorify the Pilgrims while omitting significant facts about the
Natives represents that there is a lot to improve in the United
States15
So what is the truth? Mike Ely describes the general story of the first year,
1620, of the English settlement in an accurate way below:
In mid-winter 1620 the English ship the Mayflower landed on
the North American coast, delivering 102 exiles. The original
Native people of this stretch of shoreline had already been killed
off. In 1614 a British expedition had landed there. When they
left they took 24 Indians as slaves and left smallpox behind.
Three years of plague wiped out between 90 and 96 percent of
the inhabitants of the coast, destroying most villages completely
The Europeans landed and built their colony called “the
Plymouth Plantation” near the deserted ruins of the Indian
village of Pawtuxet. They ate from abandoned Pawtuxet
cornfields that were growing wild. Only one Pawtuxet named
Squanto had survived–he had spent the last years as a slave to
the English and Spanish in Europe. Squanto spoke the colonists’
language and taught them how to plant corn and how to catch
fish until the first harvest. Squanto also helped the colonists
negotiate a peace treaty with the nearby Wampanoag tribe, led
by the chief Massasoit.
15
https://brokenmystic.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/the-truth-about-thanksgiving-brainwashing-of-theamerican-history-textbook/
These were very lucky breaks for the colonists. The first Virginia
settlement had been wiped out before they could establish
themselves. Thanks to the good will of the Wampanoag, the
settlers not only survived their first year but had an alliance with
the Wampanoags…
In celebration of their good fortune, the colony’s governor,
William Bradford, declared a three-day feast of thanksgiving
after that first harvest of 1621.16
Note that this text states the first Thanksgiving was on 1621. Indeed, there
was a feast on that year, but it was not called a “Thanksgiving feast” nor was
it repeated until years later after the Pequot Massacre in 1637.
John K. Wilson asks the same question and presents this from 1637:
In 1637, the official Thanksgiving holiday we know today came into
existence. (Some people argue it formally came into existence during
the Civil War, in 1863, when President Lincoln proclaimed it, which
also was the same year he had 38 Sioux hung on Christmas Eve.)
William Newell, a Penobscot Indian and former chair of the
anthropology department of the University of Connecticut, claims that
the first Thanksgiving was not “a festive gathering of Indians and
Pilgrims, but rather a celebration of the massacre of 700 Pequot men,
women and children.”
In 1637, the Pequot tribe of Connecticut gathered for the annual Green
Corn Dance ceremony. Mercenaries of the English and Dutch attacked
and surrounded the village; burning down everything and shooting
whomever try to escape.
The next day, Newell notes, the Governor of Massachusetts Bay
Colony declared: “A day of Thanksgiving, thanking God that they had
eliminated over 700 men, women and children.” It was signed into law
that, “This day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for
subduing the Pequot’s.” 17
16
http://occupywallstreet.net/story/deep-thing-myth-thanksgiving
http://www.republicoflakotah.com/2009/cooking-the-history-books-the-thanksgivingmassacre/
17
David Ely takes a look at the holiday as a whole:
Looking at this history raises a question: Why should anyone celebrate
the survival of the earliest Puritans with a Thanksgiving Day? Certainly
the Native peoples of those times had no reason to celebrate.
The ruling powers of the United States organized people to celebrate
Thanksgiving Day because it is in their interest. That’s why they
created it. The first national celebration of Thanksgiving was called for
by George Washington. And the celebration was made a regular legal
holiday later by Abraham Lincoln during the civil war (right as he sent
troops to suppress the Sioux of Minnesota).
Washington and Lincoln were two presidents deeply involved in trying
to forge a unified bourgeois nation-state out of the European settlers
in the United States. And the Thanksgiving story was a useful myth in
their efforts at U.S. nation-building. It celebrates the “bounty of the
American way of life,” while covering up the brutal nature of this
society.18
Laura Eliff, Vice President of the Native American Student Union at the time
of her writing, added this to the overall view:
In 1620, Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower naming the land Plymouth
Rock. One fact that is always hidden is that the village was already
named Pawtuxet and the Wampanoag Indians lived there for
thousands of years. To many Americans, Plymouth Rock is a symbol.
Sad but true many people assume, “It is the rock on which our nation
began.” In 1621, Pilgrims did have a feast but it was not repeated
years thereafter. So, it wasn’t the beginning of a Thanksgiving
tradition nor did Pilgrims call it a Thanksgiving feast. Pilgrims
perceived Indians in relation to the Devil and the only reason why they
were invited to that feast was for the purpose of negotiating a treaty
that would secure the lands for the Pilgrims. The reason why we have
so many myths about Thanksgiving is that it is an invented tradition. It
is based more on fiction than fact.19
18
http://occupywallstreet.net/story/deep-thing-myth-thanksgiving
http://www.republicoflakotah.com/2009/cooking-the-history-books-the-thanksgivingmassacre/
19
Michelle Tirado, in a story in Indian Country Today Media Network, brings the
Wampanoag perspective to the holiday.
The English, in fact, did not see the Wampanoag that first winter at all,
according to Turner. “They saw shadows,” he said. Samoset, a
Monhegan from Maine, came to the village on March 16, 1621. The
next day, he returned with Tisquantum (Squanto), a Wampanoag who
befriended and helped the English that spring, showing them how to
plant corn, fish and gather berries and nuts. That March, the Pilgrims
entered into a treaty of mutual protection with Ousamequin
(Massasoit), the Pokanoket Wampanoag leader.
Turner said what most people do not know about the first
Thanksgiving is that the Wampanoag and Pilgrims did not sit down for
a big turkey dinner and it was not an event that the Wampanoag knew
about or were invited to in advance. In September/October 1621, the
Pilgrims had just harvested their first crops, and they had a good yield.
They “sent four men on fowling,” which comes from the one paragraph
account by Pilgrim Edward Winslow, one of only two historical sources
of this famous harvest feast. Winslow also stated, “we exercised our
arms.” “Most historians believe what happened was Massasoit got
word that there was a tremendous amount of gun fire coming from the
Pilgrim village,” Turner said. “So he thought they were being attacked
and he was going to bear aid.”
When the Wampanoag showed up, they were invited to join the
Pilgrims in their feast, but there was not enough food to feed the chief
and his 90 warriors. “He [Massasoit] sends his men out, and they
bring back five deer, which they present to the chief of the English
town [William Bradford]. So, there is this whole ceremonial gift-giving,
as well. When you give it as a gift, it is more than just food,” said
Kathleen Wall, a Colonial Food ways Culinarian at Plymouth Plantation.
The harvest feast lasted for three days. What did they eat? Venison, of
course, and Wall said, “Not just a lovely roasted joint of venison, but
all the parts of the deer were on the table in who knows how many
sorts of ways.” Was there turkey? “Fowl” is mentioned in Winslow’s
account, which puts turkey on Wall’s list of possibilities. She also said
there probably would have been a variety of seafood and water fowl
along with maize bread, pumpkin and other squashes. “It was nothing
at all like a modern Thanksgiving,” she said.
While today Thanksgiving is one of our nation’s favorite holidays, it
has a far different meaning for many Wampanoag, who now number
between 4,000 and 5,000. Turner said, “For the most part,
Thanksgiving itself is a day of mourning for Native people, not just
Wampanoag people.”20
Ramona Peters, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Tribal Historic Preservation
Officer, was interviewed by Indian Country Today Media Network in 2012.
She presented the Mashpee Wampanoag’s perspective on Thanksgiving in
the following session:
“It was Abraham Lincoln who used the theme of Pilgrims and Indians
eating happily together. He was trying to calm things down during the
Civil War when people were divided. It was like a nice unity story.” “It
was public relations. It’s kind of genius, in a way, to get people to sit
down and eat dinner together. Families were divided during the Civil
War.”
We made a treaty. The leader of our nation at the time—Yellow
Feather Oasmeequin [Massasoit] made a treaty with (John) Carver
[the first governor of the colony]. They elected an official while they
were still on the boat. They had their charter. They were still under the
jurisdiction of the king [of England]—at least that’s what they told us.
So they couldn’t make a treaty for a boatload of people so they made
a treaty between two nations—England and the Wampanoag Nation.
What did the treaty say?
It basically said we’d let them be there and we would protect them
against any enemies and they would protect us from any of ours. [The
2011 Native American copy coin commemorates the 1621 treaty
between the Wampanoag tribe and the Pilgrims of Plymouth colony.] It
was basically an ‘I’ll watch your back, you watch mine’ agreement.
Later on we collaborated on jurisdictions and creating a system so that
we could live together.
What’s the Mashpee version of the 1621 meal?
20
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/11/22/wampanoag-side-firstthanksgiving-story-64076
You’ve probably heard the story of how Squanto assisted in their
planting of corn? So this was their first successful harvest and they
were celebrating that harvest and planning a day of their own
thanksgiving. And it’s kind of like what some of the Arab nations do
when they celebrate by shooting guns in the air. So this is what was
going on over there at Plymouth. They were shooting guns and canons
as a celebration, which alerted us because we didn’t know who they
were shooting at. So Massasoit gathered up some 90 warriors and
showed up at Plymouth prepared to engage, if that was what was
happening, if they were taking any of our people. They didn’t know. It
was a fact-finding mission.
When they arrived it was explained through a translator that they were
celebrating the harvest, so we decided to stay and make sure that was
true, because we’d seen in the other landings—[Captain John] Smith,
even the Vikings had been here—so we wanted to make sure so we
decided to camp nearby for a few days. During those few days, the
men went out to hunt and gather food—deer, ducks, geese, and fish.
There are 90 men here and at the time I think there are only 23
survivors of that boat, the Mayflower, so you can imagine the fear. You
have armed Natives who are camping nearby. They [the colonists]
were always vulnerable to the new land, new creatures, even the
trees—there were no such trees in England at that time. People forget
they had just landed here and this coastline looked very different from
what it looks like now. And their culture—new foods, they were afraid
to eat a lot of things. So they were very vulnerable and we did protect
them, not just support them, we protected them. You can see
throughout their journals that they were always nervous and,
unfortunately, when they were nervous they were very aggressive.
So the Pilgrims didn’t invite the Wampanoag’s to sit down and eat
turkey and drink some beer?
[laughs] Ah, no. Well, let’s put it this way. People did eat together [but
not in what is portrayed as “the first Thanksgiving]. It was our
homeland and our territory and we walked all through their villages all
the time. The differences in how they behaved, how they ate, how
they prepared things was a lot for both cultures to work with each
other. But in those days, it was sort of like today when you go out on a
boat in the open sea and you see another boat and everyone is waving
and very friendly—it’s because they’re vulnerable and need to rely on
each other if something happens. In those days, the English really
needed to rely on us and, yes, they were polite as best they could be,
but they regarded us as savages nonetheless.
So you did eat together sometimes, but not at the legendary
Thanksgiving meal.
No. We were there for days. And this is another thing: We give thanks
more than once a year in formal ceremony for different season, for the
green corn thanksgiving, for the arrival of certain fish species, whales,
the first snow, our new year in May—there are so many ceremonies
and I think most cultures have similar traditions. It’s not a foreign
concept and I think human beings who recognize greater spirit then
they would have to say thank you in some formal way.
What are Mashpee Wampanoag’s taught about Thanksgiving now?
Most of us are taught about the friendly Indians and the friendly
Pilgrims and people sitting down and eating together. They really don’t
go into any depth about that time period and what was going on in
1620. It was a whole different mindset. There was always focus on
food because people had to work hard to go out and forage for food,
not the way it is now. I can remember being in Oklahoma amongst a
lot of different tribal people when I was in junior college and
Thanksgiving was coming around and I couldn’t come home—it was
too far and too expensive—and people were talking about,
Thanksgiving, and, yeah, the Indians! And I said, yeah, we’re the
Wampanoag’s. They didn’t know! We’re not even taught what kind of
Indians, Hopefully, in the future, at least for Americans, we do need to
get a lot brighter about other people.
So, basically, today the Wampanoag celebrate Thanksgiving the way
Americans celebrate it, or celebrate it as Americans?
Yes, but there’s another element to this that needs to be noted as
well. The Puritans believed in Jehovah and they were listening for
Jehovah’s directions on a daily basis and trying to figure out what
would please their God. So for Americans, for the most part there’s a
Christian element to Thanksgiving so formal prayer and some families
will go around the table and ask what are you thankful for this year. In
Mashpee families we make offerings of tobacco. For traditionalists, we
give thanks to our first mother, our human mother, and to Mother
Earth. Then, because there’s no real time to it you embrace your
thanks in passing them into the tobacco without necessarily speaking
out loud, but to actually give your mind and spirit together thankful for
so many things… Unfortunately, because we’re trapped in this cash
economy and this 9-to-5 [schedule], we can’t spend the normal
amount of time on ceremonies, which would last four days for a proper
Thanksgiving.
Do you regard Thanksgiving as a positive thing?
As a concept, a heartfelt Thanksgiving is very important to me as a
person. It’s important that we give thanks. For me, it’s a state of
being. You want to live in a state of thanksgiving, meaning that you
use the creativity that the Creator gave you. You use your talents. You
find out what those are and you cultivate them and that gives thanks
in action.
And will your family do something for Thanksgiving?
Yes, we’ll do the rounds, make sure we contact family members, eat
with friends and then we’ll all celebrate on Saturday at the social and
dance together with the drum.21
And since 1970, the Native Peoples have been gathering with the
Wampanoags near Plymouth. Michelle Tirado describes the event as it
happens in current times:
Plymouth Rock is believed to be where the Mayflower's passengers
disembarked in 1620. (Courtesy Massachusetts Office of Travel &
Tourism)
At noon on every Thanksgiving Day, hundreds of Native people from
around the country gather at Cole's Hill, which overlooks Plymouth
Rock, for the National Day of Mourning. It is an annual tradition
started in 1970, when Wampanoag Wamsutta (Frank) James was
invited by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to give a speech at an
event celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival and
then disinvited after the event organizers discovered his speech was
21
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/11/23/what-really-happened-firstthanksgiving-wampanoag-side-tale-and-whats-done-today-145807
one of outrage over the “atrocities” and “broken promises” his people
endured.
On the Wampanoag welcoming and having friendly relations with the
Pilgrims, James wrote in his undelivered speech: “This action by
Massasoit was perhaps our biggest mistake. We, the Wampanoag,
welcomed you, the white man, with open arms, little knowing that it
was the beginning of the end.”22
Read more at
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/11/23/what-reallyhappened-first-thanksgiving-wampanoag-side-tale-and-whats-donetoday-145807
Below is the suppressed speech of Wamsutta, Wampanoag Nation.
THE SUPPRESSED SPEECH OF
WAMSUTTA (FRANK B.) JAMES, WAMPANOAG
http://www.uaine.org/wmsuta.htm
To have been delivered at Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1970
ABOUT THE DOCUMENT:
Three hundred fifty years after the Pilgrims began their invasion of the
land of the Wampanoag, their "American" descendants planned an
anniversary celebration. Still clinging to the white schoolbook myth of
friendly relations between their forefathers and the Wampanoag, the
anniversary planners thought it would be nice to have an Indian make
an appreciative and complimentary speech at their state dinner. Frank
James was asked to speak at the celebration. He accepted.
The planners, however, asked to see his speech in advance of the
occasion, and it turned out that Frank James' views — based on
history rather than mythology — were not what the Pilgrims'
descendants wanted to hear. Frank James refused to deliver a speech
written by a public relations person. Frank James did not speak at the
anniversary celebration. If he had spoken, this is what he would have
said:
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I speak to you as a man -- a Wampanoag Man. I am a proud man,
proud of my ancestry, my accomplishments won by a strict parental
direction ("You must succeed - your face is a different color in this
small Cape Cod community!"). I am a product of poverty and
discrimination from these two social and economic diseases. I, and my
brothers and sisters, have painfully overcome, and to some extent we
have earned the respect of our community. We are Indians first - but
we are termed "good citizens." Sometimes we are arrogant but only
because society has pressured us to be so.
It is with mixed emotion that I stand here to share my thoughts. This
is a time of celebration for you - celebrating an anniversary of a
beginning for the white man in America. A time of looking back, of
reflection. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what
happened to my People.
Even before the Pilgrims landed it was common practice for explorers
to capture Indians, take them to Europe and sell them as slaves for
220 shillings apiece. The Pilgrims had hardly explored the shores of
Cape Cod for four days before they had robbed the graves of my
ancestors and stolen their corn and beans. Mourt's Relation describes a
searching party of sixteen men. Mourt goes on to say that this party
took as much of the Indians' winter provisions as they were able to
carry.
Massasoit, the great Sachem of the Wampanoag, knew these facts, yet
he and his People welcomed and befriended the settlers of the
Plymouth Plantation. Perhaps he did this because his Tribe had been
depleted by an epidemic. Or his knowledge of the harsh oncoming
winter was the reason for his peaceful acceptance of these acts. This
action by Massasoit was perhaps our biggest mistake. We, the
Wampanoag, welcomed you, the white man, with open arms, little
knowing that it was the beginning of the end; that before 50 years
were to pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a free people.
What happened in those short 50 years? What has happened in the
last 300 years? History gives us facts and there were atrocities; there
were broken promises - and most of these centered around land
ownership. Among ourselves we understood that there were
boundaries, but never before had we had to deal with fences and stone
walls. But the white man had a need to prove his worth by the amount
of land that he owned. Only ten years later, when the Puritans came,
they treated the Wampanoag with even less kindness in converting the
souls of the so-called "savages." Although the Puritans were harsh to
members of their own society, the Indian was pressed between stone
slabs and hanged as quickly as any other "witch."
And so down through the years there is record after record of Indian
lands taken and, in token, reservations set up for him upon which to
live. The Indian, having been stripped of his power, could only stand
by and watch while the white man took his land and used it for his
personal gain. This the Indian could not understand; for to him, land
was survival, to farm, to hunt, to be enjoyed. It was not to be abused.
We see incident after incident, where the white man sought to tame
the "savage" and convert him to the Christian ways of life. The early
Pilgrim settlers led the Indian to believe that if he did not behave, they
would dig up the ground and unleash the great epidemic again.
The white man used the Indian's nautical skills and abilities. They let
him be only a seaman -- but never a captain. Time and time again, in
the white man's society, we Indians have been termed "low man on
the totem pole."
Has the Wampanoag really disappeared? There is still an aura of
mystery. We know there was an epidemic that took many Indian lives
- some Wampanoags moved west and joined the Cherokee and
Cheyenne. They were forced to move. Some even went north to
Canada! Many Wampanoag put aside their Indian heritage and
accepted the white man's way for their own survival. There are some
Wampanoag who do not wish it known they are Indian for social or
economic reasons.
What happened to those Wampanoags who chose to remain and live
among the early settlers? What kind of existence did they live as
"civilized" people? True, living was not as complex as life today, but
they dealt with the confusion and the change. Honesty, trust, concern,
pride, and politics wove themselves in and out of their [the
Wampanoags'] daily living. Hence, he was termed crafty, cunning,
rapacious, and dirty.
History wants us to believe that the Indian was a savage, illiterate,
uncivilized animal. A history that was written by an organized,
disciplined people, to expose us as an unorganized and undisciplined
entity. Two distinctly different cultures met. One thought they must
control life; the other believed life was to be enjoyed, because nature
decreed it. Let us remember, the Indian is and was just as human as
the white man. The Indian feels pain, gets hurt, and becomes
defensive, has dreams, bears tragedy and failure, suffers from
loneliness, needs to cry as well as laugh. He, too, is often
misunderstood.
The white man in the presence of the Indian is still mystified by his
uncanny ability to make him feel uncomfortable. This may be the
image the white man has created of the Indian; his "savageness" has
boomeranged and isn't a mystery; it is fear; fear of the Indian's
temperament!
High on a hill, overlooking the famed Plymouth Rock, stands the statue
of our great Sachem, Massasoit. Massasoit has stood there many years
in silence. We the descendants of this great Sachem have been a silent
people. The necessity of making a living in this materialistic society of
the white man caused us to be silent. Today, I and many of my people
are choosing to face the truth. We ARE Indians!
Although time has drained our culture, and our language is almost
extinct, we the Wampanoags still walk the lands of Massachusetts. We
may be fragmented, we may be confused. Many years have passed
since we have been a people together. Our lands were invaded. We
fought as hard to keep our land as you the whites did to take our land
away from us. We were conquered, we became the American prisoners
of war in many cases, and wards of the United States Government,
until only recently.
Our spirit refuses to die. Yesterday we walked the woodland paths and
sandy trails. Today we must walk the macadam highways and roads.
We are uniting. We're standing not in our wigwams but in your
concrete tent. We stand tall and proud, and before too many moons
pass we'll right the wrongs we have allowed to happen to us.
We forfeited our country. Our lands have fallen into the hands of the
aggressor. We have allowed the white man to keep us on our knees.
What has happened cannot be changed, but today we must work
towards a more humane America, a more Indian America, where men
and nature once again are important; where the Indian values of
honor, truth, and brotherhood prevail.
You the white man are celebrating an anniversary. We the
Wampanoags will help you celebrate in the concept of a beginning. It
was the beginning of a new life for the Pilgrims. Now, 350 years later it
is a beginning of a new determination for the original American: the
American Indian.
There are some factors concerning the Wampanoags and other Indians
across this vast nation. We now have 350 years of experience living
amongst the white man. We can now speak his language. We can now
think as a white man thinks. We can now compete with him for the top
jobs. We're being heard; we are now being listened to. The important
point is that along with these necessities of everyday living, we still
have the spirit, we still have the unique culture, we still have the will
and, most important of all, the determination to remain as Indians. We
are determined, and our presence here this evening is living testimony
that this is only the beginning of the American Indian, particularly the
Wampanoag, to regain the position in this country that is rightfully
ours.
Wamsutta
September 10, 1970
ORIGINALLY POSTED TO DELICATEMONSTER ON THU NOV 23, 2006
AT 07:35 AM PST.