The American Indian has always been seen as the supporting and helpful character in the altered Thanksgiving story.
Many try and teach the first Thanksgiving as the story of how the Native Americans were welcoming and peaceful with the European immigrants. This depiction is inaccurate and wrong. Many cover up how Columbus came and ordered mass executions and enslaved Native Americans.
This is how the actual story went. The first American Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth 1621, after the English came and killed the Indians for their land. So the idea of the Native being “helping” the pilgrims is not correct at all.
I don’t like how this story is not shared in schools regardless of how old children are. If you teach about African American history you should also teach the true story of Native Americans. Comparisons such as these teach us that it is critical to be aware of factual history.
Don’t believe everything you read. The Wampanoag tribe were the people who occupied the land at the time. The Wampanoag tribe already had a system and knew the land. They, like all other Native American tribes, had their own system before the immigrants came and robbed them of it. They had their own society which had occupied the region for thousands of years. They had their own form government, their own religious beliefs, their own knowledge, and their own culture.
It was also important to know “thanks” was a part of their daily life. In the Americanized telling of the First Thanksgiving, the Mayflower settlers and the Wampanoag tribe members sat at the table together and shared a peaceful meal. This is a revamped whitewashing of history.
Also, since the Natives were known for being hunters, farmers, leaders, people of the land, fishermen, who shared their foods and techniques, they “helped” the colonists survive. In my opinion the true story is not “fuzzy” and “warm” but “dark” and “brutal.” It’s not happy and now Thanksgiving is commercialized.
The truth isn’t being shared and taught in schools. It is imperative that children have a proper educational background. I don’t agree necessarily with how information is brought about.
It is important to learn from past mistakes so it will not be repeated again in the future. What we should do is teach this original story and talk about the dedication of November as National Native American Heritage Month.
We shouldn’t hide and cover up the past mistakes, but instead acknowledge the faults and work to better them. I think it is a tough part of history to tell.
So many people like to give the Americanized story of Thanksgiving that includes pilgrims and happy Native Americans. People deserve to know true facts in history, and how things came about. It is very important to teach history, truthfully.
It is not saying that what happened was right, but it is owning up to the facts. Natives and their history deserve to be given recognition, and deserve the truth to be shared. Native Americans don’t deserve lies being told and a different version of reality.
Priscilla Vargas
Opinions Columnist