Let's Fix Thanksgiving

Like most popular American history, the story that pre-school children learn about Pilgrims and Indians sharing a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving is not exactly how it happened. Nor does it accurately convey the early relationships between the Indians who had lived on the land for thousands of years and the new arrivals from England. But worse, the story is part of the conscious and unconscious justification for European occupation of North America. Young American children are led to believe that good Christian white people made friends with the natives. And the Indians accepted the legitimacy of white people occupying the land so that America could become a country for white people.

How did we get to this point where a story of a feast is used to describe who we are as a nation without even hinting at the larger picture of the true relationships between Europeans and Native Americans? Only telling about a feast and never mentioning that 55 years later Europeans and Indians fought a terrible war called King Philips War is very misleading. In the conflict, thousands of Europeans and Natives died. At the end of the war, the native population was so soundly defeated that they were almost completely driven out of New England. This war was the beginning of many programs organized by white people in following years to consolidate white power and privileges and exclude people of color, including Native Americans.

So, what do we do today with a story that justifies white dominance that is so embedded in Thanksgiving? As with much of our anti-racism work, we need a more complete understanding of our history. For starters, what we call the story of Thanksgiving was forgotten between 1621 and 1769. Then in 1769, a group of descendants of the early colonists became interested in developing tourism in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They promoted the idea that the Pilgrims were the “Fathers of America.” The story of the “first Thanksgiving” as they reconstructed it was important in their project of claiming historical significance for the New England colonies.

These Pilgrim descendants also distorted the character of their ancestors. They claimed that the Pilgrims came to America seeking religious freedom. The Pilgrims were not promoters of freedom of religion in the way that term is used today. As Calvinist Christians, they believed that only they practiced the true religion. The colonists persecuted dissenters. And they had no appreciation for Indian culture. The exception to religious intolerance in the New England colonies proves the general rule. In 1636, Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, was banished from the Massachusetts colony because he was a Baptist. Unlike the Massachusetts colonists, he believed in religious tolerance and the separation of church and state.

New England colonial governments proclaimed days of Thanksgiving. These were intended for prayer and fasting, although, they were often accompanied by family feasts. Thanksgiving proclamations were not as popular in the southern colonies. However, military victories were sometimes celebrated with a day of giving thanks. So it is not surprising that George Washington called for a National Day of Thanks in 1789 shortly after he was inaugurated President. The day was intended to celebrate both the end of the Revolutionary War and the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Notably, Washington’s proclamation does not mention the Pilgrims or Indians. The proclamation is an expression of his religious faith. He included a call to prayer: “that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions.” He ends with a hope for all humanity, “To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease (sic) of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.”

As the second President, John Adams made similar proclamations. He didn’t mention the Pilgrims from his native state of Massachusetts. Rather, he called on all Americans to set the day aside as “a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer.” After one term, Adams was defeated by Thomas Jefferson. Some historians, and Adams himself, believe that a critical factor in his defeat was his Thanksgiving proclamations. Some of Adam’s enemies circulated a conspiracy theory without evidence that Adams wanted to turn the government over to the Presbyterian Church.

As President Jefferson proudly boasts on his tombstone, he was the author of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom. Using his presidential power for the religious purpose of calling Americans to prayer was not his inclination. None of the fourteen Presidents who followed Jefferson proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving.

However, the idea was not forgotten. Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879) was from New England, but she had no interest in reviving the story of the Pilgrims and Indians eating together. Her idea was that a National Day of Thanksgiving would bring national unity. She was a novelist and writer. For years she edited the most popular magazine of the time for women. Hale is also famous as the author of the nursery rhyme, “Mary had a Little Lamb.” She saw the family as the foundation of American society and encouraged women to proudly claim their role in the moral education of children. It is not surprising that she advocated for a national holiday with prayers for unity and a family feast.

After years of lobbying politicians, in 1863 Hale wrote a letter proposing a National Day of Thanksgiving. She sent it to President Abraham Lincoln and his Secretary of State William Seward. Within two weeks of receiving the letter and in the middle of the Civil War, Seward wrote a proclamation. Most of the text is about the accomplishments of the Lincoln administration in improving the lives of people living in the northern states, but the proclamation also calls for healing “the wounds of the nation.” Again, there is no mention of Pilgrims and Indians. Lincoln signed the proclamation establishing “the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise.”

Since 1863 Thanksgiving has been a national holiday. However, the holiday has evolved. One early addition is college football games. The first Thanksgiving football game was between Yale and Princeton in 1876. In the 1920s, retailers in cities across the country saw an opportunity to use the day to kick off the holiday shopping season. Gimbel’s department store in Philadelphia sponsored a parade in 1920 with Santa Claus at the end of the procession. Macy’s was not far behind. In 1924 they organized a parade on Thanksgiving, bringing Santa clause to New Yorkers.

Another addition appeared in 1970. Descendants of the Native people who lived and continue to live in New England began gathering at Cole’s Hill above Plymouth Rock in the Plymouth, Massachusetts historic waterfront area. The invitation to the 2021 event explains, “Day of Mourning is a solemn, spiritual and highly political day. Many of us fast from sundown the day before through the afternoon of that day. We are mourning our ancestors and the genocide of our peoples and the theft of our lands.” The invitation adds, “Although we very much welcome our non-Native supporters to stand with us, it is a day when only Indigenous people speak about our history and the struggles that are taking place throughout the Americas.”

In 1975, Native people on the west began celebrating The Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony (Also known as the Un-Thanksgiving). It is held on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay to honor the indigenous peoples of the Americas and promote their rights.

As well as these Native American events, there are tens of thousands of houses of worship that have special events or worship services to mark Thanksgiving. In addition, families have developed Thanksgiving traditions. When I was growing up, we went pheasant hunting on Thanksgiving. Today we have diversity in how individuals, families, and communities celebrate on the last Thursday of November. So, why is a story about Pilgrims and Indians that misrepresents the truth about the relationship between white people and Native Americans used to explain the meaning of the holiday?

No President before 1961 mentioned the Pilgrims in their Thanksgiving proclamation. Then President Kennedy from Massachusetts included the Pilgrims in his proclamation,

More than three centuries ago, the Pilgrims, after a year of hardship and peril, humbly and reverently set aside a special day upon which to give thanks to God for their preservation and for the good harvest from the virgin soil upon which they had labored. (Note: The soil was not virgin. It had been occupied and cultivated by Native people for hundreds of years.) Grave and unknown dangers remained. Yet by their faith and by their toil they had survived the rigors of the harsh New England winter. Hence they paused in their labors to give thanks for the blessings that had been bestowed upon them by Divine Providence.

He added,

“I urge all citizens to make this Thanksgiving not merely a holiday from their labors, but rather a day of contemplation. I ask the head of each family to recount to his children the story of the first New England thanksgiving, thus to impress upon future generations the heritage of this nation born in toil, in danger, in purpose, and in the conviction that right and justice and freedom can through man’s efforts persevere and come to fruition with the blessing of God. Let us observe this day with reverence and with prayer that will rekindle.”

A reference to the Pilgrims was picked up by all the Presidents who followed Kennedy until President Biden. They expanded on the idea that America is a country of hardworking white people. President Trump’s final proclamation is typical. It says that the Pilgrims “forged friendships with the Wampanoag Tribe, fostered a spirit of common purpose among themselves, and trusted in God to provide for them. The following year, they celebrated a successful harvest alongside their Native American neighbors — the first Thanksgiving. This seminal event in the history of our nation is a continual reminder of the power of faith, love, perseverance, prayer, and fellowship.” He also reminded Americans that “The Mayflower’s arrival to the New World in 1620 also marks the arrival of the first seeds of democracy to our land. Absent the rule of a monarch in an uncharted wilderness, (Note: There may not have been maps, but the land was not empty.) these early settlers resolved to create their own government through what is known as the Mayflower Compact.”

Presidential Thanksgiving proclamations have been unnecessary since 1941. Both houses of Congress passed a resolution in that year, and President Roosevelt signed a joint resolution establishing the fourth Thursday in November as a national holiday. With Thanksgiving established in law, President Biden chose to “proclaim November 21 through November 27, 2021, as National Family Week.” He invited “States, communities, and individuals to join together in observing this week with appropriate ceremonies and activities to honor our nation’s families.”

As we work for the day when America is a multicultural nation without racism, what can be done with the Thanksgiving holiday? Together let’s use this Thanksgiving to reflect on American history as it happened rather than the way it is told to support racism and white privileges. To start the conversation, I have four suggestions.

First, as families, we can stop telling our children the “traditional” Thanksgiving story about a dinner with Pilgrims and Indians. There are many other stories from history that build on the dream of a multicultural nation. For example, we can tell our families the story of a woman who believed Americans should have a day of national unity and giving thanks with family dinners. Sarah Josepha Hale persisted until President Lincoln, while he led the war that freed the slaves, proclaimed the Thanksgiving holiday. Since then, every November, Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving.

Or this year, we can tell our children the story about the first time Americans celebrated Thanksgiving as a nation. Shortly after he was inaugurated, George Washington responded to a resolution from Congress to declare a National Day of Thanksgiving. The President encouraged Americans to pray and give thanks for the ratification of the Constitution and the end of the Revolutionary War.

Then, on Thanksgiving and forward, we can support dropping the story about Pilgrims and Indians from pre-schools and early grade school curriculum. Instead, we can encourage all educators to adopt age-appropriate history lessons that are true to history and tell the full story of history rather than versions that support continued white domination of America’s cultural, political, and social life.

Finally, we can practice and promote the recommendations from a story in the New York Times published on Thanksgiving after Lincoln’s second Thanksgiving proclamation:

Thanksgiving day has come--let us make the most of it. It has a threefold nature...Spend it simply as a day of religious exercises and it would answer a good turn for men in this irreligious age. Spend it as a day of feasting simply, and one may have a very pleasant recollection of it during the coming year, and perhaps see nothing to regret on its recurrence to memory. Or give it over entirely to the deeds of charity and works of benevolence, and one may make a good friend of conscience and lay fat streaks of comfort upon the ribs of his experience. Each is good, but the style which most fully meets our ideal of a Thanksgiving is where the three ways are twisted together into one. (New York Times, November 30, 1854 p. 4)