Thanksgiving Truth

On the last Thursday of every November, the nation of America celebrates the holiday of Thanksgiving. This holiday is cherished by millions across the country, used to celebrate prosperity, and the bond between Native Americans and colonists made early in the country, allowing our ancestors to thrive on the new land.

Although this narrative has become embedded in the minds of recent generations, a few minutes of pondering could lead you to question the validity of this story. How is it possible that our ancestors and Native Americans celebrated alongside each other, when it is common knowledge that early European settlers murdered and relocated the vast majority of Native Americans living on the land at the time?

The fact is, that this day of Thanksgiving wasn’t exactly as it is remembered these days. The original Thanksgiving was actually a day of celebration called upon by the governor of the Massachusetts Colony, John Winthrop, in 1637. They were celebrating the return of volunteer hunters from the colony from what is now Mystic, Connecticut, where they had massacred over 700 Pequot Indians.

After hearing the truth of Thanksgiving, it is inevitable that the question of how this story got so twisted comes up. The answer is a combination of plays, musicals, textbooks, and stories that have been told/shown to Americans throughout the years. It is well known that history is written by the victors, and America is no exception in this case.