The Real Thanksgiving
We have arrived at the time of the year when we should give thanks for all that we have. Unfortunately, this is also the time of the year when millions of school kids are fed a malicious piece of propaganda called: "The first Thanksgiving."
It will take YEARS for a child to un-learn this "history lesson." Some never do. They will grow up with this perverted view of the first settlers in The New World.
I noticed just recently, the History Channel is running a special about the pilgrims. In the promo for this special, they have a child telling a group of assembled adults that the pilgrims were "stealing from the Natives and robbing graves.." I have no doubt that the History Channel has facts to back up what they say. I am sure some misguided pilgrims did resort to thievery. But by and large, this was rare.
In case you forgot the old school version of The First Thanksgiving. Here it is a brief sample...
A bunch of pilgrims land here in the New World. They are stupid and white. They have no idea how to feed themselves and they spend all day praying to God. The pilgrims throw a party called: Thanksgiving. But they don't have enough food. A Native American named Samoset, who speaks English (Because Native Americans are far more advanced then the stupid white people) spies the pitiful pilgrims. He snaps his fingers. Deer and turkey arrive ready to eat. Everybody feasts.
Then the pilgrims KILL the Native Americans and take their land.
That is it kiddies. Now write an essay on why America is BAD...
This is so far from the truth, but many American kids learn this crap and it can haunt them for the rest of their life.
The early settlers had many Harvest Feasts. As corn or wheat matured and was ready to be 'put up.' Settlers would have a huge meal. If the hunters bagged more game then the pilgrims could use, they would have a feast. Native Americans were welcome at many of these feasts.
The first feasts took place on Roanoke Island. 1585. What the English settlers couldn't grow was supplied by ship. This was the pet project of Queen Elisabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh .
There was trading between the settlers and the Native Americans. England kept this colony well stocked until the war with Spain. The colony then disappeared.
This is where many people are confused. Some history teachers seem unwilling to define this fact:
"White settlers and friendly Native Americans never really had any problems with each other." Their relationship was mutually beneficial. Native Americans taught the settlers how to grow potatoes and corn. The white settlers helped fight off the savages. Savages were the enemy of both the settlers and friendly Native Americans. Savages were nomadic tribes who stole, raped and murdered the friendly Natives, years before white settlers arrived. The settlers had musket riffles, this was magic to the natives.
White settlers took Native Americans to England. Not as slaves, as guests. (This is how the native American- Samoset learned to speak English.) They both tried to learn each other's language. Together, they fought off the savages and both prospered in the New World.
There was one harvest feast that was recorded, many, many years after the time period I was just speaking about. Many historians believe this is where the "First Thanksgiving" schoolbook version comes from. Governor William Bradford declares a feast to give thanks to God for their first harvest in the New World, October 1621.
During this feast, the settlers invited 3 prominent natives. There was a misunderstanding and the whole tribe showed up. (87 Natives) There was not enough food to feed all the settlers and Indians. BOTH settlers and Natives headed for the woods and returned hours later with 4 deer and 2 turkeys for the feast. This would be a better example of the first 'pot luck' dinner then how it is represented today as the First Thanksgiving with white settlers not preparing enough food. But this isn't the FIRST feast between whites and natives. The first meeting took place almost a hundred years earlier.
Let me stop for a moment.. In no way am I trying to belittle the contributions of Native Americans to the early settlement. It would have been near impossible to settle North America, at that time, without the help of friendly Natives.
Also, I am not talking about Western Expansion of America. That was a war and a land grab that took place much later.
I am not trying to paint a picture of a paradise between White settlers and Native Americans. Yes, there were white settlers that didn't trust any Natives. They did some evil things. Also, there are stories of savages dressing up like friendly Natives and attacking the pilgrim towns. Killing innocent people.
I just hate this school book, "Let's teach a morality tale" version of the First Thanksgiving that depicts the white settlers as stupid people who came to American and had no idea how to survive. It isn't the truth. They were brave pioneers and many died trying to settle North America. You do them and Friendly Natives an injustice when you tell the story that way.
The REAL Thanksgiving
The first feast took place on Roanoke Island. 1585. Picture John White drawing sketches of the natives. He drew hundreds, like he would never see these natives again.
John White was the official illustrator of the New World expedition. Here are two of his drawings.
Most of the food for the meal came from off the ship. But the friendly Croatian Natives brought corn and fresh turkey. Neither could understand each other, but they used a type of sign language and drawings. Richard Grenville, the leader of this expedition, points out into the ocean, showing a Croatian where the explorers came from.
As one of the three ships readies to sail back, two natives board the ship for England. These Croatians have never ventured out further then the eye can see. Now they are heading on a journey that will last 22 days. They will see wonders no native has ever dreamed.
Back on Roanoke, Croatians show the settlers all the splendors of the New World. A bond is formed on that day which will last for generations between white settlers and friendly natives.
That is the first Thanksgiving.
Originally written on November 20, 2005
Updated on November 23, 2006
Written by AR Babonie
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Happy Thanksgiving! |
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Thanks!![HEART][THUMBUP] |
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Hmmm. An interesting post, this one really got me thinking. You yourself pointed out the discrepancy that exists as to when the "First Thanksgiving" actually occurred. This creates problems, because on different select "First Thanksgiving" dates different events obviously took place.
I think that this is a perfect example of a problem that most people have with Thanksgiving. People have the erroneous tendency to take a "snapshot" of a period or relations between two groups and apply it to the larger picture. The difficulty that many people (especially people with Native American background) have with Thanksgiving is that this single “snapshot” is used as a SYMBOL of early Native American and colonialist relations. These relations are depicted as mutual, caring and equal. At times (such as some Harvest celebrations) this is how relations between the two groups could be classified. HOWEVER (come on, you knew there had to be a ‘however’), I think we all know what the big picture is. Though there were some periods of mutual co-operation in the infant period of settlement, European settlers chose to conquer an entire population (east coast, I’m not talking Western Expansion either here). Now by no means am I arguing that early European settlers were intrinsically evil, this is just how conquest operated in their day. Additionally, your claim that white settlers took Native Americans to England as guests in some sort of “academic exchange” and not as slaves is just plain wrong. It was common practice by both the Spanish and English to capture Native boys and train them as interpreters. You mentioned Sir Walter Raleigh, the main force behind the Roanoke settlement. Raleigh logically believed that this interpreter training would be easier if the Native boys came by choice, so he put them up in Durham House, London and hired tutors. However, to assume that these boys were willing participants and guests is erroneous. As an example, when two Native translators returned to Roanoke Island in 1858, one of them (Wanchese) escaped upon landing, turned on the English and convinced his people to make war against them. As well, please don’t use the term Savage. There is firm evidence of the complexity of what were essentially kingdoms and inter-tribal warfare. To separate Native Americans into “Friendly” and “Savage” is not simply politically incorrect, it is insulting and racist. Raids conducted by Native Americans weren’t simply about stealing, raping and murdering “friendly Natives”, there were complex trade disputes and territorial disputes involved, they were not simply animalistic acts involving “Savages. |
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As usual Dan,
You are laboring over small points and missing the big picture. What is the big picture? That the "First Thanksgiving", the way it is taught in some schools, is not actual or factual. It IS WRONG to mix up history like some kind of omelet and serve it to students as a morality tale. There were many harvest feasts. However, I only spoke about two. (and I was NOT talking about the Spanish- They stole the natives gold in central America. The Spanish have nothing to do with Thanksgiving, Dan.) I was talking about the first feast between the English settlers and natives. I also talked about the first feast of October 1621. When Governor William Bradford declares a feast to give thanks to God. Samoset, a native who spoke English, was in no way a slave. In fact he willingly helped the English. Two of the first natives to travel to England where Manteo and Wanchese. They were adults and went on their own free will. They were not educated by a tutor. In fact, they were taught English by John White and a Math professor of that day. The reason they were treated nicely by the English was simple. Sir Walter Raleigh needed support for his dream of colonizing The New World. He wanted the English people to believe in his project. HE DID NOT NEED A WAR BETWEEN the natives and the settlers. No one would go to America if there was a war between the natives and English. That is why Raleigh had his relative- Richard Grenville, command the expedition. He wanted no monkey business. When you study this time period like I did, what you will find is that the English DIDN'T keep very good records of each event. (This is a good trivia question- Do you know why the English didn't keep good records of this time period..??) I will give you the answer if you cannot find it. Without good records, it is hard to debate this period in time. Two different books on Roanoke will have two different accountings. Why are you afraid of the word "savage?" This is not my word, I didn't make it up. Savage is the word the natives and settlers used to describe the nomadic natives who terrorized other natives long before white men arrived on North America. These nomadic tribes held no land. They did not farm. They would attack the villages of other natives and steal food. They would kill the men and rape the women. They would make slaves of the children. They were savages because they had no respect for others. The white settlers helped the native Croatians fight off the savages. This is why there was a bond between the white settlers and the native Croatians. There is no evidence that the early settlers wanted to "conquer" anyone. The first decades were mutually beneficial to both. So we come to this.. In your comment, you seem to agree that the "first Thanksgiving" as it is taught is simplistic and not factually true. I agree. But, what gains do you make by keeping people pitted against each other..?? The white man and the Native American. Maybe the first "stone was thrown" by a savage who dressed up like a friendly native and robbed a white mans village because he wanted a "firestick," (a gun.) Maybe the first stone was thrown by a white man who robbed a native's food. "Who really knows..??" The "Big Picture." The way the "Thanksgiving" morality tale is taught is keeping two groups of people angry with each other. Each ethnic group in America has a story of hardship. There is nothing to be gained by keeping two nationalities pitted against each other. That is the big picture. |
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That’s some reply AR.
As you mentioned, we agree that the way the first Thanksgiving is taught is simplistic and not factually true. I personally believe that this applies to both the classic and revised view. You made an interesting point with your statement regarding Bradford, Raleigh and the tutoring of Natives. We are obviously referring to separate sources and have different opinions. As you mentioned, records were sparse and often conflicting, so arguing over these details would be a long and arduous endeavour that I don’t think either of us want to get into. Regarding the use of the word savage AR, you are just plain wrong on this one. I realize that it is not your word, that you didn’t make it up. I would also like to point out that I have a sneaking suspicion you are not responsible for the n word. Yes, at one time this word was used (just like the big N), but it is now racist and outdated. Refer to my original statement regarding inter-tribal warfare and the complexity of Native relations. For someone who claims to be so well informed on this subject, I’m surprised that you can be so off-base on this term. Again, separating Natives into “Friendly” and “Savages” is wrong. Simply because a people is nomadic and holds no land does not make it savage. Many Europeans (need I mention Ireland-English relations) did not have respect for each other and participated in attacks and the raping of women. I’m not even going to begin to address your argument of slavery. Wow AR, its impressive how you avoided my main argument. I’ll post it again for your convenience. “The difficulty that many people (especially people with Native American background) have with Thanksgiving is that this single “snapshot” is used as a SYMBOL of early Native American and colonialist relations. These relations are depicted as mutual, caring and equal. At times (such as some Harvest celebrations) this is how relations between the two groups could be classified. HOWEVER (come on, you knew there had to be a ‘however’), I think we all know what the big picture is. Though there were some periods of mutual co-operation in the infant period of settlement, European settlers chose to conquer an entire population (east coast, I’m not talking Western Expansion either here). Now by no means am I arguing that early European settlers were intrinsically evil, this is just how conquest operated in their day.” That’s the big picture, AR. |
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And AR, stop referring to me as Dan. I'm familiar with Dan's postings and though he isn't always off-track, he's a little abrasive for my liking. |
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Do you know why the English didn't keep good records of this time period..?? |
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Are you referring to a lack of printing presses?
Of course there were first-hand accounts (such as John Smith), but I realize that official records can be hard to come by. |
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[THUMBUP][THUMBUP]
This was a great read I am native american Cheers Dan |
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Yes, there was a lack of printing presses.
But one of the major reasons why the British didn't take detailed accounts of each trip to the New World during 1585-6 was because the British would attack the Spanish ships returning from South and Central America. (Chuck full of gold.) Yes, the British would lower the British Flag and raise the pirate "skull and cross-bones" and raid Spanish ships that were full of gold and moving very slow in the water. The British were afraid that if they had detailed nautical records and they lost a ship to the Spanish, it would prove what the British were up to. Weird situation. The British and the Spanish were on the verge of war. The British spies found out that the Spanish were killing natives and stealing gold and getting rich. Using the money to build bigger and faster ships. The Spanish would travel in packs of 4 or 5 ships, most filled with gold. So the British would disguise themselves as pirates and attack. They would try and retrieve the gold, but many times the Spanish ships would sink. Gold and all heading to the bottom of the Atlantic. |
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We live in a time when so-called "poltically correct" revisionist history is the fashion. Just another step on the road to perdition. |
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Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving...... whether it be politically correct or not! [WINK][SMILE] |
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[SMILE] And that's the way it was ,, THANK YOU for telling it like it is , and not the way some group of elite liberal pinhead democrats want it to be ,, Hope you saved room for that "pumpkin pie"[THUMBUP][THUMBUP][THUMBUP] |
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American history that was taught 50 years ago was too simplistic. That taught recently has been corrupted by political correctness. The good news; current historians are giving us a much more balanced view. A great new book on the Pilgrims and Indians is "King Phillips War'" by Michael Tougias. It shows that the first generation Pilgrims and Indians got along because of mutual needs. Greed on both sides led the second generation to the bloodiest conflict in our history. Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. |
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I did have a good Thanksgiving,
Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I will have to try and check out that book. When I talk about this period, some people think I am trying to "cover up" the evil white mans deeds. That is not the reason I talk about this. I just think the holiday of Thanksgiving shouldn't be used as a time to show how the "evil white man" raped the Natives. I believe Thanksgiving should be used to talk about the good that took place. There are plenty of other days to talk about the evil. Thanks for the comment! |
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Thanks for the information AR, a good bit of trivia.
I'm still interested in your comments regarding our discussion below, or have you moved on? Great posting as usual. |
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Happy Thanksgiving..!! |
Jenn[WINK]