This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Hofstra chapter.
Ever since kindergarten, we have been fed this narrative of the “First Thanksgiving” — where Pilgrims and Native Americans came together, joined hands and ate a huge feast with a turkey at the center. But, this picture-perfect children’s story is not so simple and conveniently erases details that would paint a much more accurate history of America.
Now, that we are older, we know history is much more complicated and can’t be told with a twenty-minute Charlie Brown episode. It is our job and responsibility to further educate ourselves. So, let’s break down some of these myths and misconceptions and learn the real history of Thanksgiving.
The story we all know goes like this: A tribe of friendly Native Americans helps these Pilgrims adjust to life in America, help them harvest food, eat a large feast with them and then disappear. Once you look closer at the story, it is actually a tale of colonialism — the Native Americans are willingly accepting colonialism and handing off their land to white people. In many ways, the story we have been told for generations has been a way to justify colonization. According to David Silverman, a professor at George Washington University, the myth is “bloodless and in many ways an extension of the ideology of Manifest Destiny.”
The tribe in the story is based on the Wampanoag Tribe. Wampanoag’s leader Ousamequin reached out to the English at Plymouth for an alliance because his tribe had been decimated by epidemic disease. The Thanksgiving Myth creates this false idea that the origins of America were bloodless when in fact, the countless wars, violence and bloodshed were the real origins of the country.
It is true that the Mayflower brought the Pilgrims to North America in 1620 and that they settled in Plymouth. In 1621, they held a three-day feast to celebrate a successful harvest which was also attended by some of the Wampanoag tribe. However, it was only around the 1830s when this started being referred to as the first Thanksgiving. Then, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared the holiday official to celebrate victories in the Civil War.
This was also not really the “first” Thanksgiving as both European and Native American societies held feasts to celebrate a successful harvest for centuries.
Here’s What to Keep in Mind if You’re Still Celebrating
You can still celebrate Thanksgiving as a way to spend time with your family and give thanks to the people and things in your life that you’re grateful for. However, it is important to keep in mind that the holiday does oversimplify the beginnings of American history. The holiday disregards the knowledge of how America really failed Native Americans for centuries.
Sabrina Lee is a junior Journalism major with a minor in Design at Hofstra. She's passionate about writing about arts, culture, and entertainment. Sabrina's favorite place to be is in the audience of a Broadway show.
