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The Importance of the True History of Thanksgiving

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at South Carolina chapter.

With the famous American holiday approaching, I asked not what dish to make, not what cake to bake, but rather, what is the true history of Thanksgiving? I know that the story of the original celebration of Thanksgiving must have changed over the years, especially as it is often told without the stories of indigenous peoples included. As indigenous activists have garnered more attention and power on the political stage, I thought it would be beneficial to address their side of history when it comes to the American Day of Thanks, the events that followed, and how addressing those events can prevent such horrid things from replicating themselves.

Upon research, this famous celebration was not called Thanksgiving until the mid-1800s, and it was not an official holiday until President Abraham Lincoln declared it so in 1863. Many scholars have stated that harvest celebrations did not start with this particular one, as indigenous and European populations rejoiced in successful harvests for hundreds of years prior.

A vital story to bring to light is the tale of Squanto, or Tisquantum, and his role in the original Thanksgiving. After being enslaved and brought to Europe, Squanto learned English and returned to his village, only to find them completely wiped out by disease and possible violence. Today, children learn of his actions as a translator between the settlers and the indigenous people during the Thanksgiving celebration, but we do not address as a nation what followed.

After the first successful harvest with the help of Squanto and the Wampanoag people, the tides turned, and the pilgrims renounced the indigenous peoples and their existence once they became self-sufficient in growing their food. Countless acts of violence, oppression, and dehumanization followed in the centuries after, such as the Trail of Tears during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, the myriad of broken peace treaties with sovereign indigenous nations, residential schools with mass graves, forced assimilation, and the sequestering of indigenous populations on barely functional reservations. Indigenous tribes are still striving for the actual telling of Thanksgiving and the accounts of native history in the United States that are time and again not told.

The importance of learning such history is as simple as this: to not repeat the genocidal actions and ignorance created by the dismissal of native history in both our country and countries abroad. Indigenous voices should be listened to, as their stories could provide unknown and unheard context to events of history they were involved in and suffered through. The freedom of all persons, the acceptance of other cultures, and the revealing of accurate accounts are more imperative than ever in not repeating the same mistakes and harm committed in the past.

Numerous native tribes grieve and honor the loss of the millions of indigenous peoples in the Americas over the last few centuries on National Mourning Day. This is on the fourth Thursday of November, the same day as Thanksgiving. This article may make you question whether you want to continue celebrating the time-honored American tradition of Thanksgiving Day. However, I will not judge if you continue to do so, but ask you to consider and acknowledge the true history of the holiday and the events that succeeded it before you celebrate it.

Caitlyn Mayes

South Carolina '25

Caitlyn is a member of HerCampus at the University of South Carolina chapter. She's on the Editorial Team and loves writing about Culture more often than not. She is originally from Nashville, Tennessee and she has two brothers, one older and one younger. She is studying Political Science and Spanish with a minor in Social Work. A fun fact about her is that she lived in Spain for 6 months and loves any Spanish music that she can get access to. She's really interested in politics, especially social policy and how it affects Spanish speaking Americans and immigrants. She hopes to work for a nonprofit company in the future that sends and provides aid to marginalized groups of people that don't typically have access to information on policy processes in the United States. She loves rewatching her comfort shows, such as Ted Lasso and Gravity Falls, whenever she needs a serotonin boost, and is completely comfortable forcing her loved ones to love those shows as much as she does. She also loves switching up her piercing jewellery to match her mood, going for runs, listening to comedy podcasts, and buying way more books than she is capable of reading at once.