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Tragedy and loss -

For Native Americans, Thanksgiving coincides with the darkest period in their history, and, some would say, one of the darkest periods in human history.

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The context -

A few years before the arrival of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock in 1620, other European fishermen and slave traders had already started exploring New England. Some of them stormed the villages of the indigenous people, kidnapping them and selling them into the slave trade in Europe.

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Disease from Europe -

These invaders unwittingly brought an even greater threat with them: disease. Before European explorers found their way to the Americas, the continent was isolated and thus protected from diseases from other parts of the world.

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No immunity -

This meant that the indigenous people of North America had not built up any kind of immunity to diseases that had already wreaked havoc in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

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Rapidly declining population -

When Europeans started to arrive in North America, they brought with them a host of new illnesses that wiped out the Native American population with devastating speed.

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Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) -

This pattern began in South America with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, where large cities were particularly badly hit. Diseases like smallpox, measles, and influenza ravaged community after community as the colonizers moved in.

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Driven to near-extinction -

During the following century, it’s estimated that 56 million indigenous people from South, Central, and North America were killed by these new illnesses. That’s 90% of the Native American population wiped out in just 100 years. This was an estimated 10% of the world’s population at the time.

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The Little Ice Age -

Researchers believe that this rapid reduction in the population and the resulting drop in CO2 levels were enough to cool the planet, causing a climate event known as the Little Ice Age.

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A land for the taking -

The decimation of the indigenous population of the Americas played an essential part in the story of Thanksgiving. The population was so greatly reduced that the European settlers found plenty of fertile farmland to take over.

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A nation built on tragedy -

Researchers have concluded that the near-extinction of the native people directly contributed to the success of the European settlers.

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Tragedies and atrocities -

As Jolene Rickard and Paul Chaat Smith wrote in their exhibition entitled ‘Our Peoples: Giving Voice to Our Histories,’ “That initial explosion of death is one of the greatest tragedies in human history because it was unintended, and unavoidable, and even inevitable. But what happened in its wake was not.”

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The Wampanoag of the Northeast -

The Wampanoag people living in present-day Rhode Island and Massachusetts were particularly badly hit. They consisted of 69 villages spread across the region, but entire villages were lost during the epidemic of European disease. Only a fraction of their people remained by the time the pilgrims landed in 1620.

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Struggling for survival -

They were struggling to fend off the neighboring Narragansett people, who remained strong having been less affected by the plague of disease. The arrival of the English provided an opportunity for survival.

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A mutually beneficial relationship -

The Wampanoag met with the English and struck a deal with them. In exchange for European weapons that would help them defend themselves against the Narragansett, they would provide the English with food and show them how to farm this unfamiliar land.

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Tisquantum -

The deal was made with the assistance of a Wampanoag man named Tisquantum. He is often incorrectly called “Squanto” in historical sources. Tisquantum was able to speak English because he had previously been kidnapped by Europeans and sold into the slave trade in 1614.

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Escape from slavery -

Tisquantum was sold to monks in Spain, who made it possible for him to travel to England in 1615. He worked for a shipbuilder there for four years and developed a good grasp of the English language. In 1619, he was able to make his way home to North America by joining an exploring expedition.

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Tisquantum the interpreter -

In 1620, the pilgrims arrived, and Tisquantum’s English skills were used to broker a deal. The relationship between the Wampanoag and the pilgrims was relatively beneficial for both sides. The pilgrims survived for a year until their first harvest was complete, and the Wampanoag were able to defend themselves against the Narragansett.

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The real story of Thanksgiving -

While it’s true that the pilgrims celebrated their first harvest with the Wampanoag, it’s not true that they introduced the concept of Thanksgiving to the native people.

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Thanksgiving every day -

Like most Native American peoples, the Wampanoag had a deep connection with nature and believed that the Earth would provide them with everything they needed as long as they gave thanks for the bounty they received.

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Constant appreciation for nature's gifts -

The Wampanoag practiced gratitude to nature on a daily basis and hosted regular feasts and ceremonies to celebrate and give thanks.

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The "first Thanksgiving" -

When the pilgrims decided to throw a Thanksgiving celebration following their first harvest, they invited Wampanoag leader Massasoit to join them.

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A shared feast -

He came with around 90 warriors and brought an abundance of local food including lobsters, venison, oysters, eels, corn, squash, and maple syrup. They stayed with the pilgrims for three days before returning home.

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Years of harmony -

What followed was more than a decade of relative peace between the Wampanoag and the pilgrims, as the settlers continued to build up their colony. However, it wasn’t to last.

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Attack on the Pequot -

In 1637, the pilgrims of Plymouth teamed up with other groups of European settlers to attack the Pequot tribe of Connecticut. They ambushed a settlement while the warriors were away, and reportedly massacred between 400 and 700 people, all women, children, and elderly men.

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Massacre and slavery -

The men that returned were also killed, and many of the women who weren’t killed were sold into slavery and sent to Bermuda and the West Indies.

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The atrocities of the Northeast -

The other native people throughout New England met a similar fate, and an estimated 300,000 died violently over the next few decades.

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A very different occasion for some -

This attack on the native people of North America, particularly New England, is considered an attempted genocide by many. The yearly holiday of Thanksgiving is a day of remembrance rather than a day of celebration for many Native American people.

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National Day of Mourning -

Since 1970, a yearly demonstration called the National Day of Mourning has been held to commemorate the countless lives lost during that dark period in history. It aims to raise awareness of the atrocities committed against the Native American people that have historically been omitted in education about Thanksgiving, as well as the ongoing challenges Native American communities face today.

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Native American Heritage Day -

Ironically, the day after Thanksgiving, which most people recognize as Black Friday, is also Native American Heritage Day.

Sources: (Smithsonian Magazine) (CU Denver) ( National Museum of the American Indian)

Sources: The greatest Native American heroes in history

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