“The First Thanksgiving 1621” (1899) by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. Natives are placed below Whites in the picture and are less clothed.
The First Thanksgiving is the idea that the Pilgrims started the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States when they held a harvest feast in 1621 after their first year in North America. Along with that often comes the idea that they were the first people to settle what is now the US and found its democracy through the Mayflower Compact of their Plymouth colony.
None of it holds up:
- Mayflower Compact: Those who wrote the US constitution paid it little attention. The Iroquois constitution was more important.
- Pilgrims were always a part of Thanksgiving: not till the 1890s.
- Pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving as a holiday: There was in fact a feast with the neighbouring Wampanoags in 1621 after the Pilgrims made a military alliance with them. But it was probably in October, not November, it featured deer meat, not turkey, and did not become a yearly event. The Pilgrims were bigots who generally did not like Wampanoags as guests.
- Pilgrims were the first to settle what is now the United States: When their ship the Mayflower landed, there were:
- Natives in all 50 states,
- Latinos in Florida, New Mexico and Puerto Rico,
- Blacks in Virginia and Puerto Rico,
- Asians in California,
- Whites in Virginia, New York and Puerto Rico,
- and Juan Rodriguez, an Afro-Latino, in Manhattan.
- Plymouth was the first Anglo American colony to succeed – it came after Virginia and Newfoundland.
- Pilgrims were the first White people in New England: When they were robbing graves they found a White man buried in Native fashion along with a little child. English fishermen and slave raiders had been working along the New England coast every summer for years. It was their unwitting spread of English and disease that made the Pilgrim’s success possible.
Why people think the Pilgrims are so important:
- They became part of the origin myth of the Thanksgiving holiday.
- Most US high school history books are written by Whites and not, say, Latinos (some of whom tell US history from west to east instead of east to west).
The secret of Pilgrim success: disease. They had better natural defences against measles, bubonic plague, smallpox and other diseases that had long ravaged Europe but were new to North America.
Not technology or “civilization”: They did not have much of a technological edge over Natives. Their guns, for example, were loud and slow-loading compared to bows and arrows.
Not culture or religion: Pilgrims thought they succeeded because God was on their side and because they were English. In fact, if disease had not killed nearly all the Natives along the coast of New England between 1617 and 1619, they probably would have been driven out, as the English were from Maine in 1607.
And, had it not been for the non-Christian, non-English Wampanoags showing them how to live in North America – how to plant maize, what was poisonous, what arrows wrapped in snakeskin meant, etc – they probably would have failed.
Sources: Mainly “Lies My Teacher Told Me” (2007) by James Loewen and “American Indian History” (2004) by Robert W. Venables.
See also:
Abagond 
No. one believes Plymouth was the first permanent colony. Few with any concept of America’s past do not know that there were other people here already. Other Europeans. Other non-Europeans. The Spanish and Portuguese already had established civilizations here by the time the English arrived.
What the Plymouth colony did do was establish the Puritan character of the New England region. The establishment of Jamestown and Plymouth marks the genesis of the difference between North and South, the distinction between the planter-based Southern civilization and the self-reliant Yankee North.
In my (white, though ghetto influenced) estimation, Abagond is an outstanding cultural critic. In history and social theory, sometimes good, but too often off the mark. This commentary is pretty good, but off in the particular noted.
The development of civilization in the Americas, post 1492, is highly misrepresented. By the time of the American revolution, the Spanish civilization was highly developed and so was the English. And the French, at that. According to one source, the American colonies had the highest standard of living in the world. And maybe some of the highest educational levels too. The political intuition of the founders was no anomaly. They particularly were aware of the potential abuses government could perpetrate on the people. We today ought to pay attention to the issue. All of us. Most of us do, each of us from the cusp of our own concerns.
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Dear Anonymike,
Your unnecessary focus of minutiae does not hide the fact that your “white” estimation is skewed towards tipping the scales in its favor. 😊
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The Thanksgiving story may indeed be false.
Even if it is, it doesn’t detract from the value of the holiday.
1. The food is still good.
2. It is still a good time to meet with family, which is always fun.
3. All of the other traditions associated with it (Macy’s parade, turkey pardon, etc…) are still good.
4. It is a good starting point for the Christmas season.
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@Bobby,
Make sure you gobble up all the beets in what ever state you can. May be the most nutritious component of any traditional thanksgiving meal.
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It should be no surprise that a society founded on invasion ,conquest and enslavement would also have as its national holidays traditional that are lies.
Its like if a criminal gang celebrated its biggest crimes every year.
And its captured victims follow suit not because they choose to but because they are forced to.
Slowly and painfully we reject and abandon the “traditions,lies ” forced upon us.
I’d rather not have any celebrations based on crime and I can always enjoy good food and good company.
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The latest info in the “first”‘such celebration with White people goes to 1598 in present-day New Mexico. http://www.texasalmanac.com/topics/history/timeline/first-thanksgiving
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I really would like to see these history books:
Anonymike’s comment does give me some food for thought. It is possible that the Pilgrims established what ended up being the dominant puritan Anglo culture of the Northeast, and that of the United States in general.
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Jefe: thank for the rare kudo around here. Many have pointed out that the history of the Americas goes in many directions. In North America, East to West, that is true. But West to East also. And North to South. And South to North (think the Great MIgration, along with other events). Meso America to North America (ongoing today). The Islands to the Mainland. The South Pacific to South America. Asia to North America. And now the world to the Americas by jumbo jet (still ongoing).
Just a note on how I got to be “ghetto”. Grew up on the South Side of Chicago. Talked to my brother just the other day about how we both exhibit occasional black elements in our speech. But whites who actually are ghetto are not what people think they are. There a few who grow up actually almost entirely in the company of black kids, who talk black and act black. But not too many. Being authentically ghetto, for a white, does not mean acting black, talking black or even always getting along with black people or having one’s ghettoness recognized by either whites or blacks. It is reflected more in a way of looking at the world. I’ve been a Republican voter since the late 1980s, but I make the following observation about the presidency of Barack Obama. The way I put it, I say, if I was a black guy with the same frame of mind, I probably would be a Democratic voter.
But what I say I would think about Obama, in that alternate incarnation, is that it doesn’t seem to make much difference who holds the office. So why not have one of us in there for once. I think his main accomplishment is that he has kept us out of any gratuitous wars. That’s not something John McCain probably would have done. Or Hillary Clinton either.
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@Anonymike: So what does “ghetto” mean? Are “acting black” and “ghetto” completely separate in the sense that one can have either one without the other? Why and how is “ghetto white” different from “ghetto black” in terms of culture?
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@Anonymike: Also, why would you be a Democratic voter as black? How would being black change it, even if you had the “same frame of mind”?
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If what we were taught in school as young children about the first Thanksgiving is just myths then the truth needs to be taught. So here it is in 2014 and i am learning that the cute little pilgrims and indians story is not true. I suppose it’s incumbent on me to learn these things on my own. I am glad that Abagond is here to help me engage my brain and become more enlightened.621 In regards to the painting “The First Thanksgiving 1621” by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. “Natives are placed below whites in the picture as less clothed. I have a newsletter that i subscribe to called “Today I Found Out.” It’s a knowledge website. I enjoy collecting different trivial pursuit type facts. But the newsletter bought up an interesting fact about Natives wearing loin cloths, during that time of year in New England. And the weather is very cool and that painting shows the Natives as partially clothed. This is a myth because New England weather is very chilly that time of year. This just goes to show how the Natives are depicted as savages through the white lens.The newsletter titled “10 Thanksgiving Myths Dispelled.” Went on to say how the Natives would have had more suitable clothing for the chilly New England weather. Through the white lens Natives are seen always as half naked savages. I am having to relearn things that were taught to me that were lies. “Lies My Teacher Told Me” By James Loewen” would be a good investment.
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@Anonymike,
I am not sure if we communicated our meanings clearly or not. Maybe.
What I mean is, what is missing from Abagond’s post is not only when, but also why the Pilgrim Thanksgiving myth got started in the first place.
I suspect it was from Anglos in New England, who wanted to get their mythical narrative in there ahead of the Jamestown one, just to show that they were the “original” people that established what is now (socially and culturally) the United States. If they made it Jamestown, then it would have been Southerners. But the New England writers of US history books knew no way in he11 could the country, as “we” know it, have started in the South. Was this done after the Civil War? Where there any US history textbooks used in the Confederacy that did not promote the Pilgrim origin hypothesis.
But since the West Coast encountered occupation by Europeans and Asians before the English colonists ever arrived to Virginia, much less Massachusetts, it would really be interesting to learn US history in a West to East fashion. I don’t want to see California pop up in the History books in 1848 but in 1587 at least.
Then we need a US history from a Native perspective that depicts the Europeans were invaders.
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“They did not have much of a technological edge over Natives. Their guns, for example, were loud and slow-loading compared to bows and arrows.”
I disagree. Even the muskets of the seventeenth century made a major military difference. They were highly desired by indigeneous people everywhere and helped those who had access to them. For example the Mohawk of the Five Nations were the most eastern and hat first and most contact with the Dutch colony. The trade access to firearms strengthened their position within the Five Nations considerably.
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mike4ty4: Being “ghetto”, which means in my usage, ghetto influenced, is a completely different thing from acting black. I don’t act black though I use occasional black idioms, with great naturalness and fluency, and usually without forethought or calculation. Later on, in California, I got barrio-influenced. I sometime speak of the idea of growing up under ghetto-barrio conditions. Being poor, along with growing up in a ghetto proximate and interracial community helped my along. As noted, the kind of ghettoness I am talking about has little to do with what music you listen to, your politics, how you speak or who you hang out with. It’s something that’s in your bones . It’s part of your cultural DNA. It schools your view of the world.
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@Anonymike: So in what way does it “school your view of the world”, and how is this world-view different (if it is different) from the one a black would obtain as they were “schooled” by it?
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I am quite intrigued by this notion of “ghetto influence”.
What are the benefits and drawbacks of being “ghetto influenced”?
How does someone wake up one morning and realize he’s been ghetto influenced all along or is that something you decide for yourself ?
How does it relate with other influence, like wasp influence, viking influence or Call of Chtulhu influence ?
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What does the ghetto have to do with Thanksgiving?
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@MB, Indeed, I am also wondering how this ghetto theme ties to Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims.
Regarding the actual topic, I would to know:
– when did the Pilgrim Thanksgiving story started.
– who started it
– what narrative was being used before this myth was promoted
– what other alternate narratives are / were being promoted
– was this myth created mainly to promote thanksgiving in schools and business
– what happened to the alternate narratives
– what is the truth anyhow – the post talks more about what the first Thanksgiving was not than what it was
This post has opened up more questions than answers for me. Anyone know anything?
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@ Jefe
According to Loewen the narrative was first pushed in the 1890s. That was after the Civil War when northern Wasps pretty much ran the country. It is kept in place by Thanksgiving and by the fact that Whites still write most history schoolbooks. He says Whites prefer the Pilgrims over Jamestown since they give the country a nobler beginning.
The now-banned Mexican American studies that were being taught in Tucson’s schools started history with Mesoamerica, not Columbus and certainly not the Pilgrims.
An alternative White narrative is that of Colin Woodard’s Eleven Nations:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/the-eleven-nations/
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@ Anonymike
When James Lowen taught college freshmen he would ask them “When was the country we now know as the United States first settled?” Their consensus: 1620.
They were all taught in high school that the Spanish, Native Americans and the English of Virginia all came first, yet they still gave that answer.
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This might explain why the Pilgrim founding of America myth at Plymouth Rock gained traction over the Jamestown story – it was written by Northern WASPs after the Civil War, who ended up writing most of the textbooks. Then they linked it with Thanksgiving to make sure that it was fixed in American culture. Even when I was in elementary school I was confused how the Pilgrims founded America after the British formed settlements in Jamestown years earlier.
The 11 nations model suggests that there are at least 11 different versions of the founding of America story and how it is that Yankeedom seems to dominate as the Pilgrim story is the one most fiercely promoted. (Although people are familiar with the Tidewater version that is based on Jamestown). But I would like to learn what the narrative is for the other 10 – is it explained in the book?
What is the cultural explanation for the southern half of Florida? Hawaii? Alaska? I would like to know how strong the Pilgrim narrative is in all those places too.
What narratives were being taught in the USA before the 1890s?
Also, has there been any push back regarding Mexican American studies in Arizona? I suspect that the need for it will grow and will eventually confront the Yankeedom version promoted in Arizona.
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@ Jefe
A multiethnic narrative is Ronald Takaki’s “A Different Mirror” (1993, 2008). It interleaves the histories of Native, Black, British, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Irish, Jewish, Vietnamese and Afghan Americans.
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^ I only read chapter one from that book previously online. I need to get my own copy of the book or find it in a library.
Is that book banned in Arizona’s schools too?
But that narrative is based on ethnic divisions, not the same idea as the 11 nations divisions in Colin Woodard’s book.
But do we agree that “Yankeedom” is the dominant culture in America, at least running politics and education? Who is pushing the Pilgrim story and pushing the others out?
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@Abagond,
My comment has been in moderation for the past 10 days, but it looks like you replied to it without removing it out of moderation. Was it your intention to delete it? But I didn’t see any comment violation.
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@ jefe
I sounds like a mistake on my part. I will bring out of moderation in an hour or so.
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@ Jefe
Your comment is out of moderation.
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How Native Americans respond to Thanksgiving.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGc34FeFqH0)
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Let’s All Tell the True Story About Thanksgiving
Yatibaey Evans
Yatibaey Evans, a public school teacher in Alaska, is the president-elect of the National Indian Education Association.
UPDATED NOVEMBER 25, 2015, 3:22 AM
Let me tell you a story, a true story.
The other night, while reading Howard Zinn’s, “A People’s History on the United States,” my 7-year-old son came into my room and asked if I would read the book aloud to him. A description of Columbus’ invasion and the genocide of the Arawak people was told.
My son interrupted me, “Mom, is this true? Why don’t they teach me this in school? I learned that Columbus was a good man.”
I responded by saying, “It’s difficult to tell of a history that is sad.”
I began reading more, but my son stopped me and said, “You don’t have to read aloud anymore; this is so sad. Why would someone do this?”
My eyes welled up as I began to explain a person’s ego and drive for power and privilege. He began to cry as he felt the pain of our ancestors, our people, our grandmas and grandpas. As we held each other closely, with tears falling, I went on to talk about forgiveness and love.
Like the misconceptions of Columbus, the truth about Thanksgiving is often left out of children’s education. Turkeys line hallways; happy Pilgrims and Wampanoag are featured in projects and glamorized in stories. Over the years, the real Thanksgiving story that included thievery and death of a people was recreated to tell only a happy story. A happy story makes us feel good. Is telling a lie perpetuating happiness or rather covering a frightful truth in hopes of creating assimilated citizens? Stopping to give grace or be thankful is not bad, but maybe by telling a fuller story we can open opportunities for healing dialogues.
As a teacher, I know that the majority of my fellow educators have positive intentions and are required to follow the curriculum. It takes effort, time and energy to go above and beyond the requirements of today’s academic objectives. For all who endeavor to change what is taught in our schools, you must be willing to give of yourself, to stay up late, to think a little harder and bring forth that extra effort.
We have grown up in a time where we know the truth, we know what injustices are, and we know we can make a difference. I call on teachers, parents and grandparents to share a fuller truth, shine light on a fuller picture. By tending the soil for deeper roots we sow the seeds of stronger plants; and we can transform a generation of people.
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